Surprises

This past Wednesday, as I was driving home from North Lawrence (after helping to move all of the DRC-East "stuff" to their new facility), the word surprise, along with a picture of my baby, Kenzie sitting on my living room couch - flashed onto my phone screen. What? How? All the questions sped through my mind.

Somehow, my entire family had been plotting, scheming, and planning their visit, from Portland, OR, to surprise me for my birthday since my son's wedding in August. And then, after the giant hugs, they hit me with the second surprise. My niece and nephew were arriving from central MA to celebrate an early Thanksgiving, my brother's birthday (this past Fri.), and my birthday this coming week - with my mother and two brothers at our family's hunting camp outside Santa Clara in the ADKs. 

They could not believe that I was surprised. You see, I am, by my very nature extremely hard, to catch unaware - when it comes to anything like this.  

Surprises, by their very definition, are things that seemingly spring from nowhere. They can be amazingly wonderful or seriously dreadful. Few fall in between those two extremes. I have learned that it is how I respond to the unpleasant shocks that will determine how I ultimately deal with them - both emotionally and outwardly. 

When I react to them with frustration, anger, and disappointment, they seemingly grow to an unwieldy, unbearable size that completely overwhelms all my senses.  

If I can view them from a perspective of curiosity and adjust to problem-solving mode almost immediately, I can accept whatever it is much more quickly and move on.  

To be clear, both of the above scenarios have been present in my life as of late. Even with the  understanding that positive begets positive, I fall into the trap of reacting with despair and "why me's" way more than I care to admit.  

Here is wishing that all of your surprises are pleasant - but if they are not, that you will be able to respond with inquisitiveness, creativity, love, and kindness. 

Weekly Creative Meditation

DRC News

Both Centers will be open in person again this week!   We are so excited to see all of our Peeps again. 

DRC-East is now located at 1952 St. Hwy 11C in North Lawrence in the Life in His Arms Community Church.  Thanks to the help of a few kiddos and their families, we moved everything from the old space last Wednesday.  They are excited to hop back into all of the projects and activities they had begun early in the year.

DRC has a few potential opportunities for fundraising and general development.  One: DRC is seeking folks who appreciate our work, may have fundraising, grant writing, or networking skills, and would be excited to join our board of directors.  Two: We are investigating the potential of putting together several pieces of a puzzle that will enable us to purchase the church that DRC-East is now renting.  We are seeking funding, but also people who can help with the entire endeavor.  Please get in touch with Maria to learn more about either of these opportunities.

Our annual appeal is below.  If you have not already, please consider contributing to our work.  Thank you!