Harbor Life Ministries

Recently, HLM received the following letter from a former client.

“Hello.  I was a pregnant teen who stayed with Karla and Doug (house parents). I didn’t stay at the Harbor House, I stayed with them in their home along with their children. (This was because HH was being remodeled.) It was the summer of 1993, I was 16 at the time and was only there for a few months. I gave birth to a baby boy, which I had decided to put up for adoption. However, before it could go through, the biological father of my son and his parents found out and so I made the decision along with my parents that I would bring my son home.”

“It has been tough at times, I was very young when I had my son. My mother, father and my sisters and brother were all supportive and helped through out the rest of my high school days. The biological father was never around. I had to financially provide for my son, even though my parents helped, I still was responsible for him. I decided to go to the Vocational Center because they had a program for unwed mom’s in which they could take their child there for the daycare for little to no cost, while they continued to finish high school. In the fall of 1995 I met a boy at the Vocational Center. He took me for who I was as well as my son. We have been together now almost 15 years. We have been married for almost 13 years. My husband adopted my son in 1998, for which my son has only known him as his father. Our son is now 16 and we have a daughter and she is 12. I have been blessed with a wonderful husband and children.”

“Although my life is great now, I always think about what Karla and Doug did for me. I think about the fun we had while I was there, the support I received from them. They are good people, who would do anything to help you.”

Please pray for one of our residents (who we will call “Felicia”) as she may be going home today.

Felicia is 16 and due in February but has completed all the program requirements, and her mother and family would love to see her return to home so that they can be close in this final month before the birth.

While at Harbor House Felicia realized that God would forgive her sins if she asked, so just recently she prayed for forgiveness and asked Jesus to be her Lord and Savior. She is seeking a deeper relationship with God and wanting to know all of what it means to follow Christ.

Please pray that Felicia will “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” as she reintegrates into her home, her family, her school and eventually into another new experience…motherhood!

Hanna returned to Arizona safely. There was some concern as a winter storm headed up the east coast, causing lots of delayed flights in New York City, but the flight from Cleveland to Phoenix was unaffected.

Hanna called this afternoon and sounded great. She had a great day Saturday with her dad Paul. They watched a movie together, then Paul took Hanna out to pick up her friends. They entered into a good discussion about adoption and why Hanna chose that plan for Sofia. Hanna related back to us that some of the questions were good—hard questions—but having her dad their to help answer them was much better than trying to defend her decision without him around.