A glorious homecoming!

The end has come! And we survived. No major scratches, no emotional scars, and hopefully no permanent psychological damage. Leon is home, and in one piece, and with a story or two to share. He has seen things out on the streets that he couldn't have anticipated, I saw some things on the home front that I never anticipated, and the experience we have had this past month was not what we expected it would be in the least. But that is another blog post for another time...

So backing up, Friday, November 30, the 30th day Leon has lived as a homeless man, I woke up a different person. We had completed the mission, and now it was time to go pick Leon up. Yes, since the second week, we have seen each other regularly and have been in more contact than we initially set out to, but at the end of the day,  he is still sleeping on the street or in a shelter or in a car if he's lucky. So yesterday, we packed up a picnic lunch and went to meet Leon at his new favorite spot, the deck park downtown (notice the wicked beard!!!)....

We ate lunch, played in the park for a little while, and then by 1:30pm, we were headed back to Southlake, where Leon's first order of business was showering! I would like to say that I let Leon sleep all day to catch up from a month of horrible sleep, but instead, our life went immediately back to its normal pace of errands, to-dos, and running a million miles a minute. Then Friday evening we had a welcome home party where our friends hung out, heard some stories and got a chance to see Leon and his famous beard! Here are some pictures from our welcome party...

We stayed out way too late for a man who had just come in from the streets, and on Sunday, Leon picked right back up where he left off at church, leading worship and getting back to his usual routine. He did shave the beard, and I got some awesome video footage of that, so I will post that video in the next coming days, for all you crazies who want to see it! :) But he really hasn't been able to catch up on sleep since he has been home, so our good friends have decided to use some of their hotel points for us to go downtown tonight to stay in a hotel, while they watch Micah overnight, which will give us some time to rest, go out together, and get ready for our early morning live interview on the Fox 4 morning show at 7:20am tomorrow morning (Tuesday, 12/4/12)! So tune in to hear a post-month interview, and look for more updates, stories from Leon as he continues to unpack his experience, and please subscribe to my blog to continue keeping up with us and hear what our journey looks like from here (once we figure that out!). And again, thank you so much for all the support and encouragement as we went through this experience. It was greatly needed, greatly felt, and we are eternally grateful for all of you! 

An unconventional Thanksgiving.

Right around last Wednesday, I was starting to question whether Leon should finish his journey. In fact, I was almost going to tell him to just quit so that we could spend Thanksgiving like a "normal" family (whatever that means). It was right around that time that the Thomsons packed up to leave for their lake house, and suddenly it actually set in that I would be left alone for the first time in this whole homeless journey. 

Sure, I have been without my husband for some weeks now (not that I'm getting used to it in the least), but I have always had Mary there to cheer me up with a joke and a glass of wine. And now they were leaving me to do their family thing (I know, how insensitive of them ;) ...to think of their family first!), and I was going to be left behind. So needless to say, Thanksgiving weekend started off pretty depressing for me. 

Now, keep in mind, Leon is walking a fine line between learning as much as he can, and not wanting to take up too many resources from people who really have nothing else on Thanksgiving, so what started out as a goal to do the "homeless thing" on Thanksgiving, had turned into just trying to see what we could do for Thanksgiving for no cost. So that's just what we did. 

Even though I was sad that I was missing out on a typical Thanksgiving experience, and even though our friends were gone and my mom's whole family (except for the Reyes 3) were all together celebrating, I could not even convince Leon to "cheat" and just come home early, even to spend just 1 night with us, because he is still committed to his goal of 30 days. So, I picked Leon up early Thanksgiving morning, and we went to a free pancake breakfast at an awesome church in Irving, which I attended for over 6 years before we moved to our current church. We ate free breakfast (as pictured below) 

...and played on the playground together as a family. From there, we headed back to Dallas, and then someone was so kind as to bring us 2 plates of leftovers from their own Thanksgiving meal, so we still got our Thanksgiving. 

I realized, as we spent the entire day together as a family, which we really haven't done on that level since before Leon left, that sometimes things do not always work out as we plan, but beauty can be found in even the most unlikely of places. And though we do not get our way sometimes, if we have open hearts and open minds, God can show us things that we never dreamed. 

This Thanksgiving, though it was very unconventional and abnormal for us, reminded us all the more of all the things we are thankful for. And this year, I am most thankful for the beautiful heart of my husband. It is so easy to take our significant others for granted as we move forward together in life. We forget all the wonderful things about them, we forget why we even got together in the first place, and we forget to let them know every minute just how much we love them. It happens in even the best of marriages. But through a simple day, without frills, without cooking turkey, and without extended family around, Leon, Micah and I simply enjoyed each other's company. We played, we laughed, we talked, and most of all, we appreciated each other. And that was more than I could have asked for on Thanksgiving. 

I hope that all of you had as meaningful of a Thanksgiving as we did!

Homeless family in a car.

Throughout this whole homeless experience, for me, Sunday nights have really been the hardest nights of the week to be without Leon. Sundays have always been our hangout nights because we are finished with worship, and neither one of us work on Mondays. We would go out to dinner, to wine bars, go see movies, etc., all on Sundays because we knew we could sleep in the next morning. 

Well, this month, it has been a little challenging to get used to being home without Leon on Sundays. I have invited myself to some friends' houses, I have stayed in and hung out with the Thomsons, but even with all that activity, I still really miss Leon. 

So this Sunday after church, when a whole group of people were planning on going to Dallas to see Leon, I decided to pack some blankets, pillows, warm clothes, and load up Micah, and prepare to spend the night in the car with Leon, as a family. 

Now let me just preface this by saying that I am not a camper, an outdoorsy girl, or in any way shape or form someone who likes to "rough it".....in fact, it is safe to sayto say that I am probably the antithesis of all those things. I am a product of my father, who, when he heard Leon was going to be homeless for November, said, "If Leon is going homeless in November, then I will spend the night in a Super 8 for the whole month to show my support!" And a Super 8 to my dad, would be just like homelessness is to Leon! :) So knowing this fact, and being well-acquainted with my inner princess whom he has come to know and love, Leon was ecstatic when he heard that I was actually going to come down to Dallas to "be homeless" with him. I was a little unsure of the whole experience, but was doing this just to get to spend some time with my husband. Little did I know, I was going to get so much more out of the experience...

We, along with several of our friends, and some new friends we met, spent the afternoon at the deck park, where Leon frequently hangs out. Not only is it a phenomenal new park, but he says that when he is alone on the streets, it can get depressing, so being around families with kids, laughter and happiness, always helps lift his spirits. 

After everyone headed back home, instead of saying goodbye like we usually do, Micah and I hung out a little longer downtown with Leon. It was great to get to spend some one-on-one time in Leon's new "home," hear some of the stories he had to tell and see some of the places he frequents.

When we got tired, we all had a restroom break at a public restroom, found a parking spot to camp out for the night, and made our bed on pillows and blankets (lots of pillows and blankets...100% more in fact than what Leon has when he sleeps in a car......I wanted it to be a somewhat comfortable car bed, since I was in this to see my husband, not trying to learn anything from this experience!), and we went to sleep, together, as a family. 

I didn't really think much of the experience, aside from being proud of myself for not being overly high-maintenance in our overnight stint in the car (and for not having to use the restroom in the middle of the night!!). But that all changed when I awoke the next morning.

As I tossed and turned, starting at about 5am, my shoulder in pain, even from sleeping in the "comfy" car, I thought about all the families out there who really do have to live out of their cars. I even found out from Leon that his family (of 2 parents and 7 children) had to live out of their car for a time, and they didn't even have an SUV like we do!

And the thing that struck me about this whole experience is that these families live and walk among us, and we don't even realize it! It is one thing to be dirty, disheveled, and walk around with everyone who passes by knowing that you are homeless and need food, money, or quite honestly, alcohol. It is a completely different thing to be going to work, your kids going to school, trying to live, eat, shower, shave, and do laundry, just like everybody else, but having to go home to a parking spot each night. And the surprising thing is that the stereotypical, TV image of a homeless person that we have in our minds make up only 10% of all homeless people in America. The rest are hopping from house to house or shelter to shelter until they can get on their feet, or living out of their cars, just as Leon, Micah and I did for a night. Talk about eye-opening! 

Now, I got to go home right after that, take a shower, bathe Micah, do laundry, and have a meal after my one night of homelessness. But even as I type this, there are hundreds of families who live like that day in and day out, night after night, and they somehow have to make due with that reality, while trying to blend in as best they can with the rest of us. And as of Sunday night, I have a new respect for those individuals and families. And surprisingly, as I have learned from some of our friends who have shared their past stories of homelessness with us, many of us have been there for a time in our lives as well. 

So I set out to just get a little time with my husband, and I ended up with an eye-opening homeless experience of my own. Here is the only picture we have of our "car bed" with Micah getting cozy before we tucked ourselves in for the night.....

Focusing on the family.

It has been a while since my last post, mostly due to the fact that I have been focusing in on what is going on with our family, and trying to protect Micah's feelings and get a little more daddy time. Since last Tuesday, when we caved and went downtown to visit Leon, things have been completely different around here. Micah has gone back to his happy, fun-loving self, and I have been less of a drag to be around too. I think having Leon back on our radar, and being more involved in what he is doing on the streets has really changed our family dynamic for the better.

Since my last post, I sent Micah down to Dallas with Layne on Thursday morning, so he could spend the morning with his dad. Leon has also become a registered "Street Zine" vendor, with a badge number and everything, so he is able to sell Street Zines to make money (so if you are downtown, make sure you purchase one from someone...it's a great program for the homeless to make some money without panhandling!). So Leon and Micah spent the morning on Thursday selling Street Zines, walking the streets of downtown with Micah on Leon's shoulders, and then I met them later that afternoon at the new deck park downtown. Here is the scene I walked up to, when I found them that day (turn your volume down, there is some loud construction going on in the background)...

As you can imagine, it melted my heart, and I knew that Micah was the happiest child in the world, getting to skip preschool and spend the morning with his dad! We stayed at the awesome new park for a while, and let Micah play in the fountains...

And then we even walked over to the Fountain building to show Micah the fountains, which he, of course, loved! When Leon and I first met, we spent our first night together at the fountain building, where he played guitar for me and swept me off my feet. We spent the night talking forever, about life, our goals, our struggles, and that is where we fell in love...yes, the first night we hung out! So now we brought Micah back there, and even got a picture on the exact bench where we sat all night....

All in all, it was a great day. And since then, things have been much better, both for Leon and for us. Because I caved and went to see Leon, I got to participate in the coat and blanket drive that Taylor, a former youth student of Leon's organized. Here are some pictures from that amazing day, where we were able to give coats, hats, gloves, blankets, water and granola bars to many people without homes or winter-appropriate clothing....

And that brings us to today...a little more upbeat, a little more hopeful, and a little more thankful for what we have, and the fact that we have a wonderful family with so much love, and that even in the midst of Leon's mission, he isn't willing to sacrifice the well-being of our family to accomplish what he set out to do.

Yes, he is still committed to the 30 days, and thankfully, Micah and I get to be more of a part of it now.

I caved and had to find Leon!

Our first hug in 6 days, in Klyde Warren Park just a few hours ago when I found him tonight!

So I know one of the challenges of this 30 days of homelessness was for him not to see his family. Not really sure why we threw that one in there, but we did. I guess part of me didn’t want to get in the way of something he has wanted to do for years and years. So we decided that Leon and I would have no contact. We said a very tearful goodbye last Thursday, and went our separate ways. 

Now, only 6 days have gone by, and I cracked. I have had some good and some bad days, but I was having to adjust to living life without Leon. I am sleeping alone, waking up alone, going to work alone, parenting alone, eating meals alone, and doing everything that Leon and I normally did together, alone. It wasn’t fun. I had a hard first few days. And don’t get me wrong, I have tremendous support from family and friends who are keeping me occupied, and Mary, whom I see everyday...but I didn’t have my husband, and Micah didn’t have his daddy.

Micah has had some emotional outbursts lately, been very clingy to me, and has just not really been himself. I have been stressed, exhausted, emotional, and also not myself. And today, I just had to call Leon to talk to him (yes, he’s carrying an in case of emergency cell phone). I cratered. I explained everything that had been going on and how hard this was, and how I couldn’t do it anymore and that he should just come home. 

Now on an aside...I understand that 6 days is not very long, and in fact, many families have one parent or the other who travels a lot, or works a lot, and they are used to the separation. I just have to say that Leon and I are not used to that kind of separation. We are both very involved in all aspects of our family. I go to work with him and help him with all the church things he does, we both take Micah to school and pick him up, we hang out together after work....we are truly best friends and we do everything together. That is our reality, and that is what we are used to. And 6 days is the longest we have been apart since we got married. So it has been tough. 

When Leon heard how hysterical I was on the other line and how much this has really affected our family, he told me something that put everything into perspective.

He first of all assured me that his journey was not done. He was still pushing forward, and although  he had already learned a TON, he still had more to learn and accomplish. As for me, however, my journey of separation is over. He explained to me that because I was talking so unlike myself, and because I had been so upset that life had to go on without him here, I had visited the emotional state of that separation, and now it was time for it to end. He let me know that the only next step, once I got to this low emotional point, was to start adjusting to life without him, start surviving, and start becoming independent. And that was never the goal. 

I was never supposed to get used to life without Leon. I was never supposed to allow Micah to get used to life without his daddy, because that is not our reality. It was good to understand a little about the separation-factor, but that time is up. Now it is my time to not require Leon to give up on what he feels called to do so we can save our family, but now to be a part of it. Instead of trying to stay away because we set up some “rule” for ourselves in the beginning, I could now jump right in like everyone else is doing, and support him more directly. We make the rules anyway, so who was I trying to please? This is the love of my life I’m talking about...what criticism (that I’m sure I WILL get from some haters out there!) is worth staying away from the person I love the most in this world, just because we set up a challenge for ourselves at the beginning? That would be crazy.

So all that to say, after hearing that and gaining some perspective on the whole situation, I grabbed Micah as fast as I could, sped downtown in the middle of rush hour, grabbed some dinner, and Micah and I had a picnic in the park with Leon. It was incredible to see him, and sad to leave, but not as sad because I know I will see him more often now. And that gave me a ton of comfort today. 

Here are just a few pictures to share from our visit in the park tonight: 

It's official...he's on the streets.

Taking a moment, at Leon's farewell breakfast at Cafe Brazil, Deep Ellum.

As of 2:30pm today, Leon is officially released onto the streets of downtown Dallas. How do I feel, considering it’s now 7:21pm and dark? It’s hard to put a finger on how I feel, but I would have to say 20% numb, 5% excited to see how it goes, 75% freaking out!

This is the most complex set of emotions I have ever felt, and I’m not too sure how to deal with it. After a lunch with the Thomsons, Layne (who will be meeting with Leon every day and debriefing him, as well as tweeting his run-ins with Leon throughout this month....follow @CPALayne on Twitter), and Chris Hatchett, our good friend and fabulous photographer, we sent Leon out on his way into the streets of downtown. 

I, of course, cried...because it is not only scary for me to walk away from the love of my life on the streets of Dallas, but also because it brought me back to a time when we were dating, and lived far apart. He would come visit me in Dallas, but then head back to Lubbock for a couple weeks, and it seemed like death every time he left. That’s what it felt like today. But then, in the car on the way back home, I numbed out. 

It wasn’t until a few minutes ago that my numb stage wore off, and now it is just plain panic. I knew this was coming, but I thought he would have a plan that I could look over and approve before leaving me. But that was not the case. In pure Leon form, he went out there blind...no preparation, no supplies, and no plan. I, a, shall we say, Type A personality, am not ok with no plan. And therefore I find myself in my current state....freaking out (which in the time it has taken me to make brownies, pour more wine, clean the kitchen, put a 2 year old to bed, and continue with this blog, has moved up to more like 95% freaking out). 

My biggest fear is my husband’s safety and that he will be able to find a place to sleep tonight-and actually sleep tonight....so for those of you who pray, that’s what you need to pray for!

But as I type this, I am reminded of Jeremiah 29:11, which says “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.” A very familiar verse to me, and maybe to many of you. But I needed to be reminded of that tonight. When I am freaking out because I do not have a plan, and I don’t know Leon’s plan, I have to remind myself that God has a plan. And that He will make a way out of the chaos of this situation that is better than any plan I could come up with, even on my best Type A planning days. 

But that’s not all...the scripture then goes on to say, “Then you will come to me and pray to me and I will listen to you.” So not only does God have a plan, but if I will just trust that plan, and keep moving forward in faith, I will be led to prayer, and God will listen. 

So whatever any of you might be going through tonight-and I know that everyone reading this is dealing with their own giants in their lives, just like I am-I hope that verse comforts you like it did me. It was just what I needed, right when I needed it, and my prayer is that everyone will be able to trust that whatever your faith or background, God knows the plans He has for you, and He will be faithful to listen when you call on him. 

Goodnight everybody...day 1 is over, and the countdown is on!