APRIL 16, 2004

Dear Friends,

This past fall I was having dinner with a small group of friends and advisors and as we visited I was reflecting on the moment I fell in love with Christ, the joy of knowing Him and the more than difficult times I have endured. As we broke bread and prepared to share a meal I was asked to pray but I became speechless and simply wept.

Up until this past year I controlled my feelings; if I needed to weep over something past or become elated with some present joy, I did so in the privacy of my own controlled environment. Since that evening when I couldn't pray, my friends have taught me what I already knew intellectually, that it is good to cleanse one's heart, to pray intimately and openly with tears just as Jesus wept in public.

When we allow ourselves to experience the spectrum of emotions, we meet pain as well as joy. Life is often a rough road, a difficult journey. However, no matter how crooked and bumpy that road gets, the journey is to remind us to draw close to God and to remember that He always walks with us.

I welcome the storm as my terrible guest It thunders through my bones, washing shadows from my soul and leaves. my heart cleansed my wings new my fears at rest
- ALISON ASHER

The children and families REACH serves suffer a very complicated sorrow. Their tears are forced by fear, by weakness, by the ever-present threat of rejection from families and communities. The thought of it causes me to weep and creates in me the desire to assure them that we set a table for them, that we sit and share fellowship with them, that we pray for them, cry with them, laugh with them, and that they are not alone in their sorrow.

Blessings my friends,

Susan K. Slonaker

P.S. Thank you for being part of the REACH family. Serving the children and their families continues throughout the year and we are preparing for our annual family gathering, Northwest REACH. More so than any other year due to the economic times I humbly ask you for additional financial support.