NOT JUST A TRICKLE...

The story of Melinda Lascurain

 

Next to my house there is a trailer parked on the side of the street piled high with branches, weeds, and other debris collected from my yard. As I peek through the front door, I can already sense a vast improvement has been made to my landscaping. Outside, Harrison (7) and his dad, Andy, are busy laying a bed of rocks next to my house. I asked Harrison what his favorite part of WaterStone Community Church’s Day 2 Serve was, and he said “Raking the rocks up really high!” The stones they are raking are sharpening the appearance of both my house and my family who lives inside. Prior to the new rocks, we were dealing with weeds, tree and bush overgrowth, and a generally unsafe yard in which our daughter Reyna couldn’t play.

 

It didn’t start out like this. Seth and I bought this home with every intention of making improvements to it. But then Seth lost his job, I found out I was pregnant with our second child, and then at my 20-week ultrasound we discovered it was a boy and he would be born with a cleft lip and palate among other developmental problems. Once Logan was born, our home improvement projects took a backseat to caring for our family and learning about and working with Logan’s special needs. As a result, our yard became terribly overgrown and we were reported to our neighborhood’s HOA.

 

Seth and I are like two ships passing in the night. Seth thankfully has found another job and now works nights while I work days as a teacher, but  our opposite schedules leave little time for yard work. Logan requires constant care and we worry about how his demands are affecting Reyna. We worry about medical bills and future surgeries.

 

In addition to the landscaping work, a member from WaterStone had a coworker donate a swing set to our family. Several church members were in the backyard setting it up. It was almost complete, and Reyna was already trying to play on the slide that was laying flat on the ground waiting to be attached to the rest of the swing set. You could tell she was excited as she ran up and down the length of the bright yellow plastic; it symbolized the new rays of hope our family was soaking up as we watched all these people in our yard who were busy doing anything and everything that needed to be done.