Well well, again I had a call from Zoning yesterday. This time, not about a shelter, but the fact somebody in our neighborhood had called and said we were housing people. I explained to the lady, who knows I am not doing this. Once again, people are basing this association on our black friends and Jes. A married couple that we are friends with and also are big volunteers that pick up donations for us have been in a jam the past week and a half. Why haven't we blogged about them? Well, they aren't homeless! As I explained to the lady at Zoning, yes, they rent a house in the next city over, but both work in Williamsburg. The basement of the house has a bad leak and had flooded, to where all the sheetrock had to be replaced. Since we are all friends, they asked my husband about doing the work. We are just waiting for the go ahead from the landlord of getting the supplies. But, they were staying with friends in Croaker. That is no problem. The big problem they ran into was the fact their car (the only one they have) broke down 2 Sundays ago. Since their work schedule was different from each other and the couple they stay with, we help them out with rides to and from work. This is convenient for us as well since one of them works at a hotel that donates all their 'old' linen to us for the future use of a shelter. (So if you have ever seen them at the house at night or in the morn dragging big trash bags into our house, it is bath linen, bedding and blankets the hotel sent with them for us.) Unfortunately, where they stayed, the other people's schedule was different, they usually got dropped off here about 6 am have coffee, fold the donations for storage and morning devotionals while they wait for my husband to get ready leave for his work and drop them off. I usually go and pick the husband up, who gets off work 5 hours earlier than his wife. Sometimes he'd come here and goes fishing with my husband or goes with him to help on a job and sometimes not. The good news is that their car should be completed by this afternoon. Today, actually, we let them use our car, since Geoff has the truck and they had some errands to run on their lunch break. Will you see them over here again? Yes. They are our friends, go to our church, part of our Bible Study and volunteers with our ministry.

Jes, well this is a temporary foster situation. As I have said before, she will be leaving us to move in with her parents at the end of the week. We rarely get to see Geoff's kids, since they are in summer school and since we have had Jes, we have only been able to have Geoff's oldest son for a weekend. I never complain about your kids or the kids that occassionally come to visit and/or stay with you.

Robert, yes, many times he is here throughout the day. He is now going past 50+ days of sobriety and no alcohol. Because his Mother has had both legs amputated and is just learning to walk with prothstetics (mostly she is in a wheelchair) and Robert needs to be watched 24 hours a day, he spends the day with either Geoff or myself. His resident is with his Mom. Although he can't ever work again (or at least until he finds out about a heart transplant,) he goes with Geoff and 'hang's out. Or sometimes he will stay with me and help prep food or work on testimonials since he is wanting to start going out with me to speak on homelessness and alcoholism. Sometimes he has us drop him off to see his kids. But yes, he is with us until after dinner. His diet is very very restricted due to a blood clot in his lung and the weakness of his heart.

I will gladly open our door any time of the sleeping hours for you to inspect, if you do the same for me. What people in this area doesn't understand is that others have done things against the zoning here. Others have businesses in their home with traffic constantly going in and out from the house. Others have people staying with them in their house. Many on the street have parties/social gatherings on a regular basis. There have been a drug incident during the 4th of July by a person's party guest. And many let their dogs run free. Few cause problems except for one who has attacked me on 3 occassions, busted through our screens and attacked our dogs on our property.

I don't complain when you have a daytime party of over 30 cars parked along the street and it becomes hard to get through to our house. I don't complain about the guy who runs a business out of his home with people coming and going; fedex drop offs constantly. I have rarely complained with the dogs running free, unless it is the one who has been causing a problem at our house and even that took a while before I did say something (and yes, to have them not on leashes and off the property is against zoning.) I don't complain about the 2 property owners who rent their house out to friends or others as a weekly get away or resort house (which is also against zoning.) I don't question people who stay with you overnight, whether they are related to you or not or even the ones who live with you. I can accept a party into the night, but not early into the morning with guest being rude and not respecting others who are sleeping next door or even the guest park on the easement of our property smoking pot. No, that is unacceptable! And I don't think I would be the only one to think so. I didn't even have a problem when a lady called me from above accussing that a homeless guy was wandering the street looking for me and it turned out to be the father of the guy who has a business here and his father has alzheimers. I just laughed that people again assume anyone who looks homeless is associated to us. I don't complain when you have people over to your house in the daytime, go fishing play outside or whatever. It isn't my business or place to as long as you aren't bothering me. So with all this also going on within this area, why complain against us, when yall do in many ways the same as we do? Again, I don't want to go back to the issue of race, but I find it odd, you never complain when it is our white friends who come over.