Saturday, February 23, 2019

Ash and family share their journey 10 years later


To the mothers who call Sheffield Place home,

I’m a beneficiary of the tremendous work that the staff at SP does.  From providing a safe roof over one’s head, to nurturing a person’s health and mental wellbeing, to encouraging self sufficiency by teaching life skills to make it back from whatever pulled you down to begin with.  My wish is that each of you start with the knowledge that you are at a safe place, not being judged for your past.

Ash and Twins 2008
Take this opportunity to rethink a whole new and better life for yourself and your children.  Take the help and resources that SP provides, and chart your dreams for the future. Then break it down into small steps, and diligently tackle each task.

The way out of the depths is a struggle, and will challenge all your faculties – physical emotional and mental.  Take a break when it gets overwhelming, but don’ t lose sight of the big dream. 

I’m here to tell you it can only get better.  And with each small accomplishment you will get stronger, in resolve  but also in character.  For me as for all of us, "We Are A Work in Progress.”

Twins 2018
I was a resident at Sheffield Place in 2007 and 2008.  My children were one year old then.  I needed so much and I got even more than I could ask for. The work that the staff do to manage the facility, implement best practices in family rebuilding, help clients like me repair a broken heart, and organize and understand the mental damage, and put the "baggage"  in a safe place, so that it would not fall and wreck my new-found peace.  Remember to take that outstretched hand that wants to help...as you will need all the strength you can gather to overcome whatever it was that got you down.

I moved in 2014 to Houston and resumed my work as a home care nurse, now that the children are middle schoolers.  Today, I have learned to put my self respect as my priority. When I walk with respect for myself first, everything is done right. I say No to all injustice to myself, and keep My Temple (body and mind) clean and in the best health I can.

So during this 13 year journey, I have often given thanks for that moment in my life that brought me to the doors of Sheffield Place where the Sheffield Place staff, who seemed like family, held my hand and got me through a dark phase.

Hoping that from these beginnings, your journeys are as beautiful and enriched as mine have been. Go make the Sheffield Place family proud of you!

God Bless the Sheffield Place family, and may you always shine your Beacon of Hope to those in need.

Much Love,

Ash and Twins