You would think I'd have loads to blog about...

...since it's been so long since I've posted. But no. My mind is totally blank. Funny how that happens :). I must apologize, once again, for my long absence. It's not there is nothing going on; there's plenty going on! I just don't think about blogging about it.. but I promise to do better!

Some general things you might be interested in:

• The thrift store has been doing wonderful! We've been trying some different things with clothes this past week and it's been working out well. We have the nicest clothing, in great condition and brand names, on the racks (with various prices). The rest of the clothes are in bins for just fifty cents a piece. It's a great deal -you should go check it out ;).
• Our web site's (http://www.victoryhomerecovery.com/) hosting company recently upgraded their platform, causing some issues with out website. Please excuse the mess, and rest assured that we are working on making it look nice again :).
• Melanie (my mother) has started a blog. It's not a Victory Home blog, but sometimes she does post about Victory Home, the thrift store, etc. She's very entertaining :). The URL is http://gpbcmelanie.blogspot.com/.
• As of this week, we have a box truck again! God gave us the money last week, we bought it, and it's getting "lettered" today. We are so excited. We will now be able to do a lot more donation pickups and be able to pick up more furniture.

That's all I can think of right now, but I'll do my best to keep you updated better from now on.. I might even post tomorrow --depends on what happens this afternoon, ha ha. :)

In His Service,
Bethany

New Thrift Store!

Hi!

I realize that probably everyone reading this knows by now that we have a new thrift store, but, in the hopes that someone does NOT, I'll continue. :) Once again, I apologize for not posting in such a long time. It has been very busy, though.

The Thursday after arriving back from vacation (I believe the date was the 17th) we decided to shut down our huge thrift store. And so, in that one day, we managed to get just about everything out and by the end of the week it was completely cleaned out. We weren't sure at the time what God had in mind for us -if we were going to open another store, just do auctions, or stop everything all together. However, very soon after closing, we found a warehouse space to rent for a very reasonable price. It was also right around the corner (literally) from the church and offices. So we got it! All the donations started going there and we sorted and sent stuff to auction. Almost immediately after getting that place, we got a thrift store place! The cool thing? It's two doors down from the warehouse. It's also, however, much smaller than our last one; less than half the size.

We found out that we had the space on a Monday; unfortunately, all the staff but one are off on Mondays. But several staff members came out and worked with the residents like dogs to get all the fixtures in and set as fast as possible. By the end of Tuesday the store was ready to stock! Wednesday morning we stocked fast and furiously! We got as many people as we could to come out and didn't worry much about pricing; the priority was to open ASAP, and the only way to do that was to get the store full. We managed to do it and were able to open at 10am on Thursday morning -a huge God-thing -but those happen a lot around here. :)

Even though the store is less then half the size of our previous one, God has blessed us through it! We make, on average, more than the other store brought in, and have, more than a few times, exceeded $1,000.

Melanie, manager of the store, says, "We're getting a lot of enthusiastic feedback about this store - people are loving it! So much more fun for me, and less stressful - it's a lot smaller, newer, cleaner and easier to make look good. We are making almost the same amount of money, though, which is wonderful. Every morning I go to the warehouse and walk through and point to all the 'stuff' I want sent over."

In case you're reading this and want to check it out, the address is 941-C Canal Dr, Chesapeake, 23323.

UPDATE: I'm still working on getting our website up to par -unfortunately the hosting company just upgraded their platform and it's harder to keep up with now. It will be back to normal soon, though! For now, just keep checking here. :)

That's all for now; I'll leave you with some pictures of our new store.

More pics will be on the website soon!

His,

Bethany

A Belated Christmas

Happy Belated Christmas!! I hope you all had a wonderful day of celebration. It was a great day for us here at Victory Home of relaxation and reflection on the Great Gift that God gave us.

Nancy and Paul Long came out and served the residents an awesome breakfast! Then they guys watched the Christmas movie "Elf" while Nancy and Paul and a few others got dinner prepared so they could eat when the movie finished. After dinner the guys were able to go to their homes or out with family and friends the rest of the afternoon. It was a great day!

We also have gotten several new guys for the program and are full! Our total right now is 20 guys. We had to rent another house, but God provided and we were able to find one close by and for a reasonable price - and owned by Christians! We have 4 houses now, but will need another one soon because we are still receiving multiple calls every day for people wanting to come to Victory Home. But God always provides!

Speaking of God providing, we are earnestly praying and would like to ask you to pray, as well, for a few things:

• Our finances: we need $75,000 to be current by January 2, 2008.
  
• Another house, to either buy or rent, so we can accept more guys into the program.
  
• For the Thrift Store to make $1,000 a day.
  
• That the vehicles we have for sale would sell!
  
• For the salvation and growth of the guys that are here.
  
• That everything would go smoothly while my dad (Pastor Mike), mom (Melanie) and I are out of town from the 31st of December through the 12th of January.

These are just a few things we would appreciate your prayers about. We have a daily prayer-partner email that Pastor Mike sends of a short list of 4 or 5 things for you to pray for that day. If you would like to receive that so you can be praying about our current needs, you can email him here. If you'd rather not get them in your inbox you can read them online at http://www.genevaparkministries.com/ -just click on "Prayer Partners."

That's all for now! Have a great day!

In His Service,
Bethany

Happenings

Greetings! It's been very busy around here lately...here are a few highlights:

• We sold a van this week for $1,400. Praise the Lord!
  
• We have three cars for sale right now! All three are in great condition, thanks to our mechanic Tim.
  
• We've started picking up clothes on Wednesdays and Saturdays, neighborhoods at a time, and have had a great response!
  
• We've still been getting lots of donations in, even though yard sales have slowed down.
  
• The Thrift Store is now accepting Credit Cards!!
  
• Last week the Thrift Store made over $5,000 -another thing to praise the Lord about!
  
• We were able to start a new construction job yesterday, and have others lined up.
  
• Last night I was able to put something on eBay for auction to benefit Victory Home. It's not on the Victory Home ID because we haven't set it up for pay pal yet, but if you'd like to check out, click here. It'd make a great gift for a teen or pre-teen girl.

And that's just a preview.. things are always happening around here! The guys in the apprenticeship program (a three-year ministry preparation program with an opportunity to be ordained at the end, for those who have graduated Victory Home and feel called to ministry) go out on visitation twice a week and have been getting some good responses.

Here are some events you might want to mark on your calendar:

• "An Evening of Praise" at Geneva Park Baptist Church with Deep Creek Community Church on Sunday, December 16th at 6pm. Many of the Victory Home residents are a part of the choir. We'd love to see you there!
  
• Christmas Blowout Sale at VH Thrift Store! The week of December 17-22. All Christmas items will be half price all week!
  
• Christmas Carol Sing-Along at VH Thrift Store on Saturday, December 22nd. Come to thrift store and enjoy your favorite Christmas songs while you shop. Free coffee and treats, too!
  
• Christmas Eve Candlelight Service at Geneva Park Baptist Church on Monday, December 24th, at 6pm. What better way to prepare for Christmas day, than to focus our hearts on the Reason for the season, in an intimate setting filled with lovely music, candlelight and friends.

I hope you can take advantage of all these great happenings! I've got to get back to work now, but I'll update you on some other things in a few days. Have a great Wednesday!

For His Glory,
~Bethany

Busyness!

Good afternoon!

I hope you all had a wonderful Day of Thanks last Thursday. We sure did here! It was nice to be able to take a day to relax and, well, eat. :-)

Things have been very busy around here lately, but I wanted to take a few minutes to write about what I've been up to.

One thing is business cards. We make our own and I'm the one who usually cuts them... but this time I managed to get someone else do it (because I'm a perfectionist about them and our cutter is crooked, not to mention that the copier copied them crooked). In the picture you'll see the Construction business cards for Dusty Smith, the go-to guy for all things construction, and the Pastoral Counseling cards that Steven Long, head of evangelism, hands out during the week.

Speaking of construction, have you been to our website yet? That's another thing I'll be working on this week, particularly the "Construction" page. Right now it's blank, but I can let you in on a few things... we've had the opportunity to do a lot with the construction team lately. Did you know that can hire Victory Home for your handyman projects? Our residents work as part of the program, and all the proceeds offset their expenses. Here are some of the things we can do:

• Gutter cleaning
• Home improvement & construction projects
• Yard maintenance
• Garage/attic clean-outs
• Repairs
• Moving assistance

If you would like to find out more, just call the offices at 757-487-2633. We'd love to help.

More busyness: Tonight we have Discipleship Training at 6pm, Overcomers In Christ (addiction recovery) meeting at 7pm, and Friends & Family (a Christian alternative to al-anon) at 7pm. If you're in the neighborhood, we'd love for you to stop by! The meetings are all open to the public.

I better get back to work - I'll let you know when there's more info on the website or if anything exciting comes up.

For His Glory,
Bethany

Welcome!!

Hi, and welcome to the kaleidoscope blog!

My name is Bethany and I will be blogging regularly (Lord-willing!) about the goings on at Victory Home. In case you don't know about Victory Home, it is a 6-month, in-house, Christ-centered addiction recovery program in Chesapeake, Virginia. We also have a Thrift Store in the South Norfolk section of Chesapeake. For more information about Victory Home, click here. Please note that the website is still under construction - we are going to try very hard to complete it very soon!

Thanks for stopping by - the interesting stuff will be showing up here soon, so check back.

In His Service,
Bethany