Willow Pond Christmas Party

We celebrated the Willow Pond Christmas Party on Friday night!

Thank you to all of our friends at Providence Energy, Synergy, THINX, THRIVE, and Behind Every Door for your Christmas gifts to the kids of the Willow Pond Kids Club!  Friday night was a wonderful celebration and the kids were thrilled to receive their gifts.  Over 40 Willow Pond kids got what they wanted for Christmas thanks to you all.

Thanks especially to John and Suzanne Wallace, Rickey Fanning, Robert and Debbie Morris, Kim Mauldin, Paula Hill, Cheri Haygood, Gayle Ellis, Keith Waggoner, Susan Lee, and Kendall Nuffer for all you did to help make these gifts and Friday night possible (and I sure hope I'm not missing anyone!).

Enjoy the pictures!

-- Behind Every Door Ministries

Swim Lessons

Over the summer, we were able to provide swim lessons to the Kids Club kids.  Here is a picture from one of our lessons:

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Mavs Game!

19 Willow Pond and Village Oaks kids headed to the Mavs game recently.  Of course, we had a blast!

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Martha Walker

This is Martha Walker, a resident at Village Oaks since July of 2011.

Mrs. Walker came up to the management office earlier in the week and made a comment that she was really thankful for everything she had...especially the beans and rice she was planning to eat for her Thanksgiving dinner!

The overflowing gratitude expressed by Mrs. Walker immediately inspired the management office at Village Oaks.  Everyone in the office wanted to see what could be done to bless her!

This is a snapshot of why we are here at Village Oaks!  When we experience a taste of what God is really like, we cannot help but shine with gratitude!


-- Behind Every Door Ministries

Art Camp

Art camp was a huge hit!

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More Turkeys!

We were able to give away a few more turkeys at Village Oaks!

-- Behind Every Door Ministries

Mother-Child Reading Club

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School Supply Store

The School Supply store was a huge success, and parents were able to send their kids to school with all of the necessary supplies.

Thanks to many volunteers and donors, especially to Triumph Bank for supplying many of our supplies!

-- Behind Every Door Ministries

Turkey Giveaways!

We were able to give away over 50 turkeys at Willow Pond and Village Oaks!  Many families headed home with turkeys to cook and ingredients for other Thanksgiving fixings!

Thanks to Jordan Outreach Ministry, we were also able to give away clothing and accessories at Village Oaks.

Thank you to everyone who donated to help make this possible!

-- Behind Every Door Ministries

Willow Pond Garden

The Willow Pond garden is thriving!

-- Behind Every Door Ministries

Mr. Emerson

The great Mr. Emerson, a resident of Village Oaks and part of the Real Men group, had some wisdom to share at a recent Real Men meeting.  Enjoy!

-- Behind Every Door Ministries

Remembering Ms. Marie

I am so proud of this community. When Ms. Marie passed, a beloved sixty-four year old resident at Village Oaks, we came together as only a family would.  With the help of the Village Oaks Resident's Council, we asked the family if there was anything we could do to help, and there was. Her brother asked if we could open the community center on Saturday after the funeral to host dinner for family and friends. We jumped on the opportunity. All we had to do was knock on doors and ask for volunteers to donate side dishes, and in a matter of 45 minutes, the sign up sheet was full.

Mr. Keith Maxey, Ms. Marie's brother, was happy with our efforts. On Monday, I got a phone call from a number I didn't recognize and it was Mr. Maxey. He had this to say: "I just want to thank you for what you all did. They way everybody came together to make Saturday so nice...we had everything we needed. There was so much food there.  It was an great experience. We had a chance to relax and listen to music and get our minds off of the ordeal. We had peace of mind. It was awesome the way things came toghether. When you are in need, like what happened on Saturday, felt like we hit the lottery!  As in Romans 8:28, "All things work together for good for those that love the Lord"."

We have decided to dedicate our Wednesday Bingo for our elderly residents to Ms. Marie. It will be called "Ms. Marie's Bingo from now on. We will miss her and the awesome fish plates that she fried for her friends.

Ms. Erma Marie Tatum-Coleman (April 15, 1948-October 8, 2012).

-- Jayda Ekundayo

Fall Festival at Willow Pond

Enjoy these pictures from this year's Fall Festival at Willow Pond!

-- Behind Every Door Ministries

Village Oaks Fall Festival 2012

Enjoy some of these pictures from this year's fall festival at Village Oaks!

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Summer VBS

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Summer Guitar Lessons

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Fall Festival Today!

Today is our annual Fall Festival!

There will be lots going on:

• Cake Walk (residents are baking cakes and cupcakes for prizes!)
• Musical Chairs (Prizes: cupcakes, cookies & candy!!)
• 25-yard Candy Dash (Prize: CANDY!!)
• Sac Races (Prize: CANDY!!)
• 5 in a Row Basketball Candy Hoops (Prize: CANDY!!)
• Bean Bag Toss: (Prize: CANDY!!)
• Anthony Clemons will be giving free haircuts at the festival
• Men of Nehemiah will be performing and providing music
• Face Painting

Come join us!

-- Behind Every Door Ministries

Our Friend Lawanda

Thought we'd share a portion of something LaWanda Thompson (pictured above on the right) wrote.  LaWanda is a Village Oaks resident and former volunteer with Behind Every Door who is now helping out as Assistant Community Director under Jayda Ekundayo.

To set the context, LaWanda begins by talking about how when she walks from the Community Center to her apartment at Village Oaks, she is often times surrounded by Kids Club kids...she feels pretty popular!

"I'm not a rapper,nor do you see me in the movies:but i promise you i am a star and i am popular. But most of all im a child of God and when you with him you are a star.

Well...my rent paid in full, my son has what he want, my friends made me happy, Behind Every Door Ministry paid me today,my house clean...

i dont owe anybody,my phone bill paid,and im taking my son to GameStop to let him pick out a game...

The bible said give your kids good gifts and the Lord will give you good things.

...blessed with this job and i been real good to my son ever since. Dont have to live off his disibility any more. Thank God for that."

We love LaWanda's spirit and are so thankful for good things happening in her life.

-- Behind Every Door Ministries

Willow Pond Baptism

We saw several kids from the Willow Pond Kids Club get baptized a few weeks ago!  It was an amazing time!

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Cowboys Football Game!

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Sons!

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Congratulations!

We are very excited to honor the Village Oaks kids for their MANY academic achievements last school year.  Great job!  Let's cary this in to the new school year!

-- Behind Every Door Ministries

Village Oaks B-Ball Camp

Recently, we made a new friend: the great Winston!

Winston moved in to Village Oaks and agreed to help out Jayda in the Kids Club.  Winston is about 6' 4, and an incredible basketball player.  Each evening, Winston would hit the Village Oaks basketball court for a shoot around.  Being so tall with a great shot, and the ability to dunk, he drew a crowd quickly.  After a few days, there were plenty of kids to join him.

So, Winston took it upon himself to teach the kids how to shoot a basketball, how to dribble, and how to pass.  The kids had a blast!

Thank you, Winston!

-- Behind Every Door Ministries

July 4 Celebration!

We had the third annual July 4 Celebration at Willow Pond this year!  The basketball tournament was a blast, and the food was tasty!

-- Behind Every Door Ministries

In With The New!

I have a special place in my heart for this elderly gentleman that's lived at VO for over 20 years. His name is Mr. Eddie Wilson.  Yes, Mr. Wilson sells sodas and ice cream out of his apartment, but sodas and ice cream never hurt anybody. The children love him for it. He automatically adopts mostly every child that comes to buy from him as his God-child.  "Mr. Eddie" is known and loved property-wide.

The other day, I finally got Mr. Eddie a new couch. He has been using a really old couch for a long time (pictured above), and I knew we could help improve his situation. It only took me a year to do it, but I'm learning that it's never about my time schedule, but the Lord's. Jesus is always right on time.

I just want to say thank you to Sherwood and Anthony for stepping up to help move out the old and move in the new in 105 degree weather. Mr. Wilson was so happy. He sat down, crossed his legs and said, "I don't think I wanna get up from here anytime soon."

-- Jayda Ekundayo

SMU Basketball Camp at Village Oaks!

Las week, the SMU girls basketball team came to Village Oaks to put on a basketball camp for the kids.  We had a blast!  Thank you to the SMU basketball team!

If you would like to read a short story about the camp, the SMU website has one posted at the following link:

http://www.smumustangs.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/080112aab.html

-- Behind Every Door Ministries