21 Jul Top Ten Reasons Our Family Loves Living at New Hope
By Mindy, Lyle, Ada and Luca Kozloff
Our family has been living at New Hope as Resident Staff for almost five years. We moved to New Hope when Ada and Luca were 5 and 3, and now they’re 10 and 8! When we first heard about New Hope’s ministry, it was the “living together” model that attracted us. In the past five years, our family has lived with 40 refugee families from 15 different countries! We truly have the most amazing neighbours. These are our top ten reasons why we love living at New Hope:
1. Getting knocks on our door with delicious plates of food and treats.
2. There’s always a friend to play with, a soccer game to join in on, or someone to invite to an impromptu trip to the park.
3. We feel safe and comfortable because we know every single person in our building.
4. Learning about different cultures and worldviews, and learning so many different ways to communicate – even without shared language.
5. Living in a one bedroom apartment as a family of four – we have accountability towards minimalism and simplicity, a lower carbon footprint, lots of family togetherness, and it’s really fast to clean!
6. We get to welcome new families with signs on their doors and gifts, and create a culture of welcome and inclusion.
7. Community child rearing – the kids have a lot of “bonus parents” who look out for (and spoil!) them, and we are bonus parents to the 20+ kids in the building. We’ve learned that “There’s no such thing as other people’s children.”
8. Even when there are sometimes issues like noise or conflict, it’s easier to approach others when you know them personally and genuinely love them.
9. We are moved by our neighbours’ stories. We have learned so much from their courage, kindness, generosity and hope. As a family, living at New Hope has changed the way we watch the news, the way we spend our money, the way we pray, and the way we understand suffering and resilience.
10. Mr. Derek fixes things that are broken so we don’t have to!
Jack A Taylor
Posted at 22:46h, 09 AugustLove your open transparency and resiliency. You are the heartbeat of New Hope in that building and your family is a cherished treasure. May there be five more good years and ten more good reasons to keep on keeping on. Blessings.
MELISSA MCEVOY
Posted at 00:05h, 14 DecemberYou sure do make an impact, Mindy. We love your heart and we love receiving your emails.! We are prayerfully with you as you journey along with all your special people. It was one of the most rewarding days we had as a community giving New Hope a fresh coat of paint a few years back. Thank you for involving the outside community so well.