Thursday, March 11, 2010
The beginning of the story
Room For Joy is the four year old, faith based (more on this later) non profit organization I began to make a difference in the world. We create dream bedrooms for chronically ill children, focussing on their individual wishes, needs and medical conditions. The kids are referred to us from local children's hospitals and are from families who are struggling financially and would be unable to provide a dream room for thier child on their own. As well as providing the rooms for the kids, when appropriate,we strive to connect them to local churches in the community for ongoing support.
How did you come to start this, you ask? It comes from my belief in a loving God, who can create amazing things out of pain, sorrow and strife, if we let Him. I was born with scoliosis, which is a fancy name for curvature of thes spine. For the majority of my childhood I was in and out of the hospital, fitted for braces and casts and eventually had corrective spinal surgery. By the time I turned 16 and got out of my final back brace, I had become a bitter, rebellious teenager. Besides the usual teenage craziness, I was making up for lost time and a frustrated childhood. Suffice to say, my parents were thankful when I moved out and launched into adulthood without any major incidents. As I look back, I can testify, for a fact, that God had guardian angels watching over me to protect me and keep me out of trouble!
Flash forward to the 90's: I am married to my highschool sweetheart, have two amazing daughters, went to design school and am working as an interior designer for a local company. I spent 10 years with the same company, helping to build a design business within the walls of a warehouse type of setting, training other designers, doing some design segments for a local women's magazine show, etc. etc. Don't want to bore you with my resume, just setting the stage as it helps put into perspective how I got where I am.
So! Working 40+ hours a week, raising kids, living the American Dream, right!? And yet, there was something missing. I know it is cliche, but I felt like a hamster on one of those exercise wheels. Working really hard, moving fast, but going nowhere with no purpose in life. In the late 90's my husband and our kids joined a local "mega church" that some friends recommended. We had been feeling like we needed a new church and wanted our girls to have God in their life. I hope I'm not losing you, but this part coming up is soooo important, as it is the catalyst for where I am now.
After attending this same church for several years, my husband and I both began to talk about walking away from our current life and doing something more meaningful than just "working to pay the bills". Don't get me wrong, we all know it's important to pay the bills, but we were neck deep in debt, living paycheck to paycheck, working longer hours and feeling like their was just no point to any of it. Around the same time, I had come in contact with a local children's home through my tv segment contacts, and after touring it, found myself very intrigued with their mission. Long story short-my husband and I went and interviewed with them to become houseparents. If I'm honest about it, we went out of curiosity more than anything. They offered us a position but we told them we owned a home that we had listed to sell for the last two years and the only way we could move there and accept a position was if our house sold. The director told us to pray about it. So, we prayed that if God really wanted us to move out there and become houseparents to 10 little boys, He would have to sell our house for us.
Just let me pause here and offer a word of advice: Don't ever challenge God with a prayer unless you are prepared to move into His will for you!!
Our house sold within two weeks. We sold most of our furniture and stuff (at the time our personal living quarters would consist of a very small two bedroom apartment and we lived in an 1800 sq.ft. house), stored our "valuable possessions, and packed up the essentials to move. We both quit our jobs as being a houseparent is a 24 hour a day, 7 days a week, year around responsibliity. It would end up taking every bit of energy and teamwork we could produce to do the job.
Ok, stay tuned until tomorrow, if you aren't bored to tears! Thanks for beginning this journey with me!
Blessings,
Tory
How did you come to start this, you ask? It comes from my belief in a loving God, who can create amazing things out of pain, sorrow and strife, if we let Him. I was born with scoliosis, which is a fancy name for curvature of thes spine. For the majority of my childhood I was in and out of the hospital, fitted for braces and casts and eventually had corrective spinal surgery. By the time I turned 16 and got out of my final back brace, I had become a bitter, rebellious teenager. Besides the usual teenage craziness, I was making up for lost time and a frustrated childhood. Suffice to say, my parents were thankful when I moved out and launched into adulthood without any major incidents. As I look back, I can testify, for a fact, that God had guardian angels watching over me to protect me and keep me out of trouble!
Flash forward to the 90's: I am married to my highschool sweetheart, have two amazing daughters, went to design school and am working as an interior designer for a local company. I spent 10 years with the same company, helping to build a design business within the walls of a warehouse type of setting, training other designers, doing some design segments for a local women's magazine show, etc. etc. Don't want to bore you with my resume, just setting the stage as it helps put into perspective how I got where I am.
So! Working 40+ hours a week, raising kids, living the American Dream, right!? And yet, there was something missing. I know it is cliche, but I felt like a hamster on one of those exercise wheels. Working really hard, moving fast, but going nowhere with no purpose in life. In the late 90's my husband and our kids joined a local "mega church" that some friends recommended. We had been feeling like we needed a new church and wanted our girls to have God in their life. I hope I'm not losing you, but this part coming up is soooo important, as it is the catalyst for where I am now.
After attending this same church for several years, my husband and I both began to talk about walking away from our current life and doing something more meaningful than just "working to pay the bills". Don't get me wrong, we all know it's important to pay the bills, but we were neck deep in debt, living paycheck to paycheck, working longer hours and feeling like their was just no point to any of it. Around the same time, I had come in contact with a local children's home through my tv segment contacts, and after touring it, found myself very intrigued with their mission. Long story short-my husband and I went and interviewed with them to become houseparents. If I'm honest about it, we went out of curiosity more than anything. They offered us a position but we told them we owned a home that we had listed to sell for the last two years and the only way we could move there and accept a position was if our house sold. The director told us to pray about it. So, we prayed that if God really wanted us to move out there and become houseparents to 10 little boys, He would have to sell our house for us.
Just let me pause here and offer a word of advice: Don't ever challenge God with a prayer unless you are prepared to move into His will for you!!
Our house sold within two weeks. We sold most of our furniture and stuff (at the time our personal living quarters would consist of a very small two bedroom apartment and we lived in an 1800 sq.ft. house), stored our "valuable possessions, and packed up the essentials to move. We both quit our jobs as being a houseparent is a 24 hour a day, 7 days a week, year around responsibliity. It would end up taking every bit of energy and teamwork we could produce to do the job.
Ok, stay tuned until tomorrow, if you aren't bored to tears! Thanks for beginning this journey with me!
Blessings,
Tory
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1 comments:
Yay Tory! What a great blog this will be, I look forward to reading it!
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