Mothers’ Day Plant Sale 

Thursday, April 28^th – Saturday, May 1^st

10 a.m. until 6 p.m. 

Former Goody’s Family Store

180 N. Peters Road

“By purchasing one of these stunning plants, you are making the journey of life a little easier for women and children seeking self-sufficiency and breaking the cycle of abuse and poverty one person at a time.

Order today to ensure availability of your favorites! 

Return by e-mail to info@joshuaresourcecenter.com, fax 865.691.0025,  or call 865.441-1674 to order. 

Plants will be available for pick up during the sale.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a mentor, a teacher or a student in this program. Everyone needs a balanced life. Too many times we don’t know we are not in balance until our lives are way out of control. Then we wonder how we got that way and try to get back to a manageable lifestyle.

Time management is a key in obtaining a balanced life, preventing over load and helping us to focus on priorities.  The mothers in the class appreciated the idea that they could have time for themselves even with the full time job of being a mother. It is all in making ‘time’ your friend and not your enemy. So the next ‘time’ that you find yourself saying that you don’t have the ‘time’ and that you’re too busy, maybe it is ‘time’ to take a look at your ‘time’ management skills.

One of the most wonderful experiences in life is walking into a house and realizing that it is yours.

This week we took our ladies on a tour of FCD Housing.  The reason is to show the options that are available.  Kelly Spears told the ladies that this dream is not impossible. You just have to want and work for it.

On our way back from the tour, one of our ladies told us that no matter what, she and her son would be living in a house that they owned.  She said that seeing the houses, made her want to strive even harder to accomplish her dream. She is so determined that she started visualizing the furniture that she would have and the color of the drapes. Now that is seeing your dream and going for it.

For more info go to www.foothillscdc.org/

Yes, there can be bright futures for those who were abused in their childhood. It has been said that you are doomed to repeat the mistakes of your parents and continue the furious cycle .  If your parents were in an abusive situation, than it would be more likely that you would end up in an abusive situation too.  But, with the help of our Savior, we can break free from those patterns and choose a better life.

That was the message from one of our graduates of Joshua Resource Center. “You can choose to have control over your thoughts and feelings” said our speaker.  After sharing her story and the various millstones in her spiritual journey,  Sue Duchow, inspired the ladies to take charge of their destinies.

We are so excited to see our graduates of the program come back and share how they have grown after JRC.  It is amazing to hear the successes that they have gone on to achieve.

The Hidden Rules of Class- Job Ready Life Skill

What are the hidden rules of class?  Are we not all equal in the United States?  Yes, but there is a class system in the US that we know about but don’t talk about. There is the lower class, the middle class and the upper class. Each having its own values and customs. How we act in one group of people we may act differently in another group.

In this week’s session, we demonstrated to the ladies how we would act within the different class systems in a job interview situation. The instructor dresses up for an interview in the different outfits that could be used for each of the classes.

The ladies learned that it would not be appropriate to come to an interview in a low cut top and flip flops.  Then they were shown how to dress and act for an interview for a professional position. It was a lot of fun to show “how not to act” and we believe the ladies got the true hidden message of presenting themselves with confidence and poise.

Beth, the lady that we have been highlighting through this session, is still with us and we are glad to see her progress. 

She is even volunteering to help out with projects that we are doing. She is still guarded about certain parts of her life. That is alright, we are not here to pry into their lives, instead we are here to be available if they choose to share and then support them.  Our goal is to provide life skills to help them become self sufficient.

When your life is filled with chaos, it is reflected in all facets of your life. So it makes sense that the financial part of your life will follow. Many of our women need help with money management. In the following two weeks we will have a guest who will instruct the women on how to do basic budgeting, how to create a savings plan, and other financial lessons. Our women are looking forward to this class because it is a chance to start getting a grip on their lives.

You know the old saying, “Sticks and stones can break my bones but words will never hurt me.” That is not true, words can hurt us! When you’re in an abusive situation, those words can sting like daggers to the heart and soul. If you are not aware, you will reciprocate with hurt words or pass them on to your innocent children.

In the session, “Silver Boxes”, the ladies are shown how their words can affect others. They will discover how the words they choose to express to others could determine that person’s destiny. 

As the ladies continue to strip away the negative images of themselves, they are being built up with the encouraging help of Joshua Resource Center.  We use the materials from the book Silver Boxes,  by Florence Littauer, to challenge the ladies to communicate their words to others as silver boxes with silver ribbons around them.  It is a good reminder to everyone that we should always speak positive and uplifting words to improve our relationships.

“How did a nice girl like me get into a mess like this?” That is what Joan was thinking as she walked into the office of JRC.” Joan was raised in religious home with parents who insisted that she go to church on Sundays and attended religious school. Joan said she was a good girl who did all the right things and obeyed all the rules. Until one day she met some kids that were the opposite of her. Something inside of her clicked with them. And before she knew it she was drinking and partying with her new friends and nothing else mattered.
Fast forward the years and now she was living with a guy who didn’t care about her, a child who was relying on her and a family who disowned her. She had nowhere to go and was trapped.

Today, after the program with JRC, Joan is a different person. She is confident and self sufficient. Her world has changed with the help of JRC. She is now working on her college degree and has been restored to her family. How did they change happen? Because of her commitment to improving herself and the empowerment she received from JRC!