Oh the Blessings!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! My heart is simply bursting with gratitude this morning. To be honest, it’s hard for me to reflect on all the people and events I’m thankful for because God has been SO GOOD to me over the past few years. God is always been good to me – don’t get me wrong there – but ever since I took a step of faith and trusted God in my own recovery process, then took a leap of faith and trusted God in founding Rock Recovery, the blessings that he has showered on and around me are overwhelming. Tears of awe and amazement…the kind that you can’t hold back at your best friend’s wedding or when you see a newborn baby for the first time…are in my eyes as I reflect on each person God has brought forward to serve Rock Recovery, on their enthusiasm and willingness to step out in faith and to believe in this mission, and on those He has prompted to donate to our cause and the resources He has provided through those gifts.

As images of people and events fly through my head, I realize that we’ve neglected to give God the praise that He deserves for all of this, because we haven’t taken the time to document answered prayers. And I want to take just a minute this morning to do just that. So here goes…in timeline form:

Fall 2007: God prompted me to tell friends and ED professionals about my vision for Rock Recovery. I thought they would tell me I was crazy, but instead each person was enthusiastically supportive.

January - April 2008: A friend bought me a “Business Plan for Dummies” book, which expressed his faith in my vision and prompted me to get my ideas on paper.

Summer 2008: 12 incredible women accepted my invitation to join our Board of Directors. Each of these women brings unique insight and passion for this cause; their dedication over the past year is unparalleled.

November/December 2008: God rescued us from the overwhelmingly complex task of getting officially incorporated and recognized as a 501c(3) non-profit organization. Jessica Furst, then working for Foley & Lardner LLP, dedicated her talents to finalizing these piles of paperwork; her colleague, Teri Champ, has since helped us with all the legal hoopla that accompanies establishing a non-profit. Praise God!

January – May 2009: The Board of Directors developed an Organizational Handbook that guides our strategies and business processes. With this in place, we felt confident in stepping out into the public space.

June – August 2009: 7 talented, dedicated interns launched Rock Recovery from a concept to a functioning organization. Wilma Fisiy, Kelsey Gvozdich, and Emily Pfister planned our three first outreach events; Melanie Spaethe, Lindsey Fogle, and Fielding Jezreel conducted research and focused on grant writing activities; Elia Pfaff created a newsletter format and produced our first newsletter. As a board, we reached out to organizations with complimentary missions in order to communicate our dedication to the common goal of ED recovery, and hopefully, to create opportunities for long-term, symbiotic partnerships. Constance Rhodes of FINDINGbalance, Inc., is particularly supportive, as are Teri Fredericks and Amos Taylor, the director of one of the few faith-based residential treatment facilities, Selah House.

September – October 2009: Through three incredible and unique events (an Arts & Crafts Auction, Singer/Songwriter competition, and benefit concert; see our newsletter, Rock Recovery witnessed an outpouring of support for our mission, forged relationships within the D.C. community, and repeatedly received confirmation that our work is both critical and timely.

I also had the opportunity to participate in the Eating Disorder Coalition’s Lobby Day. I can’t express how uplifting it was to be surrounded by men and women who came from across to country to advocate for recovery on Capitol Hill. And to top it off, I was interviewed by author and speaker Shawn Anderson as a part of his Extra Mile Tour.

In addition, God answered prayers by providing talented and passionate volunteers: Nega Teshome took charge of our accounting systems; Christine Dorman is guiding our communication strategy; Babatunde (Tunde) Ogundiyun and Sergio Herrera are taking the lead on graphic design projects, and Elizabeth Grainger is leading a research and communications initiative.

And I am extremely thankful for the extreme dedication of two friends: Molly Bauch, who has been by my side and provided so much support for each of our events, and Denita Acker, who always speaks God’s truth into my life and breathed new life into Rock Recovery last weekend by spearheading our first Idea Salon. Keep reading…

November 2009: Rock Recovery hosted what we intend to be the first of many “Idea Salons,” an opportunity to discuss how to have an impact on our community. The event resulted in an exchange of creative ideas that not only inspired everyone present, but also provided Rock Recovery with practical “next steps” in communicating our mission and goals. Our participants – Shefali Agloo, Alexis Adams-Shorter, Candice Kaup, Kathleen MacDonald, Brittany Willoughby, Signy Roberts and Jen Driggers – contributed expertise, experience, and ongoing dedication to helping Rock Recovery bring healing to the DC community, and beyond.

Looking forward: Over the past few months, I have received literally hundreds of resumes from individuals across the country who want to contribute to our mission. As we head into 2010, we plan to focus on the areas of communication, education, and fundraising. And now that I’m blogging, you have the opportunity to hear all about it! With the promise that this blog will be the longest of them all (I did have to cover the past 2 years, after all), I hope you’ll sign up for weekly blogs on Rock Recovery’s journey.

Happy Thanksgiving to all, and a special thanks to everyone working to make Rock Recovery’s vision a reality.