SPEAKER_01 4:49

Well, welcome to the Pro Life Team podcast. I'm Jacob. I'm here with Becky and Michael. And today we're going to be learning about Jeremiah, well, 2911, as in Jeremiah 2911. Becky, yeah, tell us uh well, I guess about your role and Michael's role and um and about how this got started.

SPEAKER_06 5:12

Okay. Well, let's see. So Mike and I are married. Um, and it was in about 2013 that we started praying about a way that we could be making an impact here in our own community, which is San Diego. Uh we had been in a season of doing some different missions work overseas in Haiti, and we really had a heart for what our church was partnering with over there, which was working with um, you know, orphanages. And this was right after the earthquake. So the devastation and you know, just the hardship that was there at that time was really moving to us. And but then as we had our third child, I was at home on maternity leave from teaching. We really started to pray about what we can do right here in our own community. And we had an extra property that we were focusing on and asking God to show us like what could we do with with this home here? Because there's there's people that need help right here in San Diego. And it was through just a season of prayer and um, you know, God just kind of directing us to some different needs that we saw that birthed the idea for the 29-11 maternity home.

SPEAKER_00 6:30

Yeah, one question that you asked, Jacob, was a question about where we saw God's fingerprints on this ministry, and definitely that is one of the areas where God directed us uh through some quiet time and some reading to this idea of a maternity home, which was Becky was prompted in a book that she was reading about God's grace, and uh we had no idea what a maternity home was. And so first he kind of plants the idea to us of a maternity home. Then we start thinking to ourselves, well, let's what is this? Let's lean into this. Um and then one of the interesting the things that happened was we visited a maternity home which was mentioned in the book, uh the maternity home was Liberty Godparent Home, which is at Liberty University. And so we were talking about that specific maternity home. And um we happened to be going to a baseball game that night, and the couple that we invited they said, We we've heard about kind of your prompting. Is that why you invited us to the game? And we had no idea. And we said no. And they said, Well, that's where we adopted our son from So it's like these things that God just like affirms for us, like, Yes, you're on you're going down the right path, you heard me right. Um keep keep leaning into that. And so for us, we have a lot of great stories of where God really showed up and just encouraged us that we were doing what He's calling us to do.

SPEAKER_01 8:12

Wow. Yeah, I love how God spoke to you through well, it sounds like prayer, reading, friends, or you know, your um yeah, it's certainly it's like five touch points at least with that um experience. Can um tell me more. I w I wanna like uh sometimes we often will just say you know a few words and summarize, but I'd like to slow down and just reflect on any other, you know, things that you remember from praying and then getting that direction and confidence of where God was calling you to go. Uh just let's just spend some time reflecting on that because I think that's really important.

SPEAKER_06 8:53

Yeah. Well, one thing that I I would like to share is that so the book that I was reading was called What's So Amazing About Grace by Philip Yancey. And honestly, I was a relatively new Christian at this point. I didn't come to know the Lord until I was 29 and was baptized at 30. And um, so at this point, when when Michael was born and I was home on maternity leave, I think I was around 32, and I was really trying to wrap my head around like, what is God's grace and what does that mean in my life? So got some book recommendations. So there, like Mike mentioned, there was a very brief um mention of what Jerry Falwell was doing at uh in Lynchburg, Virginia through the Liberty Godparent Home. And that really captured my attention. And I brought it to Mike and I said, I think this is what we're meant to do with this property. We could turn it into a maternity home. And it's a very beautiful intersection of our passions, which for me at that time I didn't grow up pro-life. I didn't grow up really thinking much about pregnancy or, you know, or kids or really anything at all. I knew I wanted to be a mother. And, you know, in my head as a teenager, you know, it was like abortion was unacceptable. That was the extent of my, you know, my pro-life um life. But as I started to have kids and, you know, more kids, the realization of what was really going on, you know, when a woman is pregnant started to impact me more. And that was partially why we did the work in Haiti was to help those kids. Um but so I took the idea to Mike and he loved it because not that he was pro-life or particularly well, he was pro-life, but not that that was one of his main interests or cared particularly about this issue. But he has a huge heart for helping people at critical intersections in their life, where if you help them, they can go on to do amazing things. And if they don't get help, then you know who knows what will happen. So the maternity home is really an intersection of those things. But Mike's a full-time um business litigation attorney at the time. I was an elementary school teacher. So to have this new idea dropped into our laps was it was very cool, but at the same time, it was kind of scary. So, because I don't think anyone really likes to fail. And this would have been something that we could have failed miserably at. Um, and you know, there's still margin for that, but hopefully, hopefully God is, you know, with us through this process. But so we didn't share this with many people at the time. We were in a life group, and we we shared what we felt we were being called to with those people, but we didn't share it with anyone outside of that group for um for over a year. And it wasn't until I finally closed the door on teaching I resigned from my teaching position. And I mean, within a few weeks, I was up late watching, you know, Joyce Meyer on TV, and I felt this very strong urge that I needed to tell people what we wanted to do. So I, you know, released the vision to the world through a Facebook post. And of course, there was, you know, lots of encouragement and um, you know, people saying, Yeah, that's that's amazing, that's awesome. But it was like as soon as I took that step of faith, God really started opening the doors to affirm what we wanted to do and connect us with the people who would become, you know, our first board members and connect us with the churches that would come alongside us to help us launch when that time eventually did come. Um, so we incorporated in 2014, we opened in 2017, and then in those years before we opened, it was just seeing, you know, one thing after another of how God was um again affirming us. And as we were researching in San Diego, like what resources were already available, was there actually a need? Um, meeting with the different faith-based pregnancy centers and the pregnancy clinics to to see if what we were thinking we could do would align with what they were already doing, and we just got, you know, one resounding, you know, yes after another. And then, of course, we're connecting with organizations like Heartbeat International, and um, you know, I'm meeting with all these let me jump in because we're so I think one thing that's really um as Jacob, as you talked about slowing down, like one of the things that you hear a lot is this idea of God equipping us.

SPEAKER_00 13:28

And that's such a a vague idea, and I think um you sometimes you have to go back and dissect how he's done that. And I think for both Becky and I to start with not just with our experiences and our background, but really with our hearts, like softening our hearts for this issue. Um and also I I think it goes to this idea of you know, who are you similarly yoked to the people in your life? And so with Becky and I both loving Jesus and loving our neighbor and wanting to serve when this idea came, um, we were both open to it. We were both open to, okay, God, like we we asked and you responded, and now we're gonna keep moving down this path. And the other thing we did, we were very careful to do, is and again this is something you get from scripture, so this is something you get from like preparing your heart, is we gathered people. So we brought together people that we really trusted and that we we knew would be good uh counselors for us and advocates for us, and we we had a conversation and we said this is what we're thinking about doing. Um, you know, we confessed, we were we were authentic and we said we had no idea what this is, what this looks like, where this is gonna take us. Um but to have a community of believers get behind you and stack hands and say, We're with you, like yes, it's needed. It's a it's a perfect response to what God's called us to do. And for those of us in the pro-life community, it's a it's such a beautiful image of how much we care about all of God's children, about the unborn, about the baby, about the mother, about the family. Like it it's just such a great image and example of what we all strive to be as we lean into this idea that if I want to be more like Jesus, I want my heart to be more like Jesus, and that means I need to start living that out. And so that um all of those things with with how Becky was prepared and I was prepared made our response um a little bit easier because we were together, because we weren't alone.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

Can you speak a little bit more about how you saw the need in the beginning and how you see the need today?

SPEAKER_06 16:13

Yeah, well, in the beginning we didn't even know if there was a need. So that was one of the reasons why we wanted to meet with some of the organizations who are already in a in a similar field to see if there was a need for what we wanted to offer. And you know, it was yes, yes, yes. And it's not surprising with San Diego being such a you know a large uh large city. Uh we have a very high population of homeless individuals, and a lot of those homeless individuals are pregnant and then parenting mothers. And while there are resources here locally, um, you know, different shelters and different programs, there's nothing quite like what we offer. And we can talk more about that in a little bit. But um, at first we we just knew that there was a need. There, there was a need for a place, uh a safe and loving home for pregnant women to live. And what we couldn't really have imagined was how overwhelming the need actually is, and that the backgrounds that these women come to us with are so diverse. So we were thinking that we'd be helping honestly, like the girl from the 1950s, like the you know, the the young pregnant girl who, oops, got pregnant on prom night, and now you know her parents don't want to help her, and so oh, she'd be so so grateful to have some help from us. And that is the exact opposite of who we're helping. Um, our our resident mothers are coming to us with a lifetime of trauma, and they're coming from some very hard places. They're coming to us with um, you know, fresh addiction, whether it's you know, drugs, alcohol, um, mental health issues, and often this is not their first pregnancy. They have you know other children who might be in their care or might have been removed by uh the foster system or are living with relatives or that they've prior placed for adoption. So they're coming to us with a lot of hard, um, hard circumstances. And but that doesn't negate the fact that they still need a tremendous amount of help and they're worthy of that help. So what we've had to do over the years is really try to, without getting too strict, because like I don't know, the the more you narrow down your criteria, we feel like the less people we can help. So we like to throw a pretty broad net and make our criteria, you know, not not so strict. And honestly, we're we're willing to help anyone who indicates that they are willing to receive help and um you know, that has a teachable heart. Um and is, you know, after hearing what we have to offer at 2911, wants to give it a try. So our the we have two homes now. Uh they're both, you know, constantly full at we we are a smaller program, so our we're suited for four to six women per home. But no, the homes are generally full and we have very long wait lists. So the need only seems to be increasing, especially as more organizations hear and know about us, and we become a part of their um their referring system to us as well.

SPEAKER_00 19:36

You know, it's it's interesting too because I think one of the things that we learned along the way is how messy the ministry is. It's not um it's not a road program where you fit into a formula every woman family comes to us in a different place. And so we've learned also to really trust God and to trust in his vision for what we should be doing, and that often means that we don't know the end of the story, and so we bring some women in who um are you can just watch things, just the epiphanies and the connections and the the relationship with Jesus and just watch those two. Um and others you don't see that, and you just trust that um we have a role that we're playing and that gods called us to play, and um and then we kind of surrender that. And so I think one of the things that I is really interesting about um the maternity home and the other thing I think we do and Becky and her team is really good is that you know nobody gets turned away, even people that we can't help. So if you come to our home and for a variety of reasons we feel like this is not a great fit, you know, maybe you have a really, really um strong drug addiction that you're in the middle of with and we'll connect you with the program. And so the partnerships with other Christian nonprofits that are doing the exact same type of work or in the same type of space, and we're all working together, it's just such a again, I think it's a beautiful image of what the body of Christ is intended to be when we all come together to help the poor and the vulnerable. Um it it's really it's really an encouraging thing to watch and to be a part of, and it reminds us that even though especially in places like California where you feel like the culture is overtaking the faith, you still see such amazing examples of God fearing, spirit led people who are trying to serve. It's a really a neat thing.

SPEAKER_01 21:49

Wow. So as you as you guys are talking, I'm I'm thinking about how your your journey well, part of it, you know, that nineteen fifty woman was Come to a you know, need help with only one problem to solve. Well, reality is that many women who need help have five major problems, and being you know, having a pregnancy is one difficulty, but there's four others. Um, you know, drug addiction, abusive relationships, um, you know, they're you know all sorts of things that are making it you know complex and hard. So my question to you is well, actually, before I go there, so um, you know, the police, the firefighters, they see people at their worst, like when they're in you know really bad straits or in bad situations, but it seems like the maternity home managers are also seeing people and and sort of like at their you know their low point, but with the goal of an opportunity to actually help them um well point them to Jesus and whether or not they take that direction is outside of your hands, but at the same time, that's what we're you know, it sounds like that's what you're called to do. And and um so I want to ask you something that's a little bit of a tangent, but uh Psalms 23 is one of my favorite passages, and it talks about how we're called, you know, God leads us towards righteous pathways, and then it turns into a very scary situation. But before that verse, it talks about green pastures and still waters as a way of getting rest and restoration. I'm just curious, how do your maternity home managers or how do you both get where do you find your green pastures and your still waters to get restored so that you don't get burnout from always going down these dark, dangerous pathways and leaning on God for help? But what how is God restoring you and keeping you so you don't have burnout?

SPEAKER_06 23:54

Yeah, well, for me personally, it's been in the community that I found largely in other people who are also doing pro-life work. Um, when this whole endeavor started, I was I was a Christian, but I was um you know a new a new Christian and also just attending a non-denominational church, which is amazing and which we love and we still attend. Um but as I was going to the different conferences and going to the different maternity homes, I was meeting so many people who had this really deep sense of joy and love and a light about them that I knew that I wanted. And so as I started to connect with them, um, it turned out like many of them were Catholic. And I grew up not having any type of um, really any type of faith and didn't feel, I don't think I knew any Catholic people. So I found myself being like increasingly drawn to these new Catholic friends who were my mentors. And, you know, along the way, I made the decision, like for me, that I also wanted to enter the Catholic Church. So I I converted to Catholicism and entered the church last year. And I'd have to say that that's one of the one of the places where I do find rest and refreshment is in, you know, the beauty of the mass and my new Catholic friends who, for one reason or another, are all much older than me, like they're, you know, in their 60s and 70s. But I love that because they've walked the hard road before that I I still feel like I am in, like being steeped in ministry every day, and we have five kids, we still have three that live at home. So, you know, we're we're still going through some some hard things. So to be able to turn to them for wisdom and they're just like their nervous systems and their persons right now, because they're at a later stage in life, they're so much more calm. So it's like just even being in their presence, and the same as like being in the presence of Jesus like in the mass is just so calming. And so that's the primary thing for me is the, you know, um, you know, my faith and community. But then apart from that, it's just a very intentional um, you know, daily walk of not only being with Jesus, but learning what are the ways that I can calm my own nervous system and bring regulation to myself through a variety of so many things that not only have been helpful for me to learn about and use myself, but then that we can bring to the mothers and our staff that are working within the maternity home. So yeah, it's just that's been some life-changing practices for me.

SPEAKER_01 26:45

Yeah, wow, that's so good.

SPEAKER_00 26:47

Yeah, go ahead, Michael. That's a that's a brilliant question, Jacob, because I think it is one that many people in ministry um wrestle with. And we're all so busy and we're all doing you know so many different things, raising kids and and jobs and and trying to grow we all are on our own walk. Um and one of the things that we really cherish is our spiritual practices, our daily time in scripture, our daily time journaling, our um what whatever those practices are, it could be in worship um through music or or some other form of worship. And one of the things that we belong to a community of of maternity homes nationally, and we get together annually and we share and we encourage um each other. But something to your point, something that we started doing recently, we hosted the conference here in San Diego two years ago, and around that time we started adding what we call a track. There's different tracks you can be on when you go to these conferences. We started a track that we call Dwell, which is a time for restoration, a time um to really not just to um have some quiet time, but also to learn from one another. Like, what do you do to find restoration? What do you do to find peace? What do you do? Um, and it's now carried over because I think it's such a need for people who are doing any type of ministry or any type of of uh work where you're giving so much of yourself and you talk about the trauma that the women come from and and we walk through that trauma with them, which which means we're experiencing some of that, you know, kind of vicariously sure, but over and over and over again. And so the result of that is that we do have to be intentional about making space for how are we dealing with all of these things that that we're having to encounter on a daily basis, and then we can't just act like, okay, I'm gonna compartmentalize and go home to the rest of my because and Becky, God bless Becky and her team, um this is not a you know a nine to five job, and this is a job that they're doing on nights and weekends and and thinking about, and so we can't just turn it off. And so you have to be really intentional about finding that how are we gonna restore and and how are we gonna find those opportunities um to charge our batteries and also to find the peace that God's promised us when we seek Him out.

SPEAKER_01 29:40

Yeah, that's so good. And and I look at like um in Psalms 23, uh, I think it's verse 2 where it says, Um, He makes us lie down in green pastures and He leads us by still waters. So I look at like the green pastures are being things where they're just placed in your lap. You didn't even have to go anywhere. You're sort of like placed in that space of restoration, and then like the still waters you have to follow and do minimal work, but there's a little bit to get there, and and so I feel like going to church would be more like a still water because you have to go there and then you and then there's great benefit, but there's gonna be some things that show up that you're just like placed in it, and it's really good, and those are green pastures, and I think you know it's okay to enjoy good things that help restore that were just placed there out of just pure blessing. Um and it's good to look for those things and and not to like and not to like reject them because you're too busy, which is really easy in today's world, is to just reject good things um because because of busyness. Yeah. So tell us what um so tell us about the history of this maternity home. Tell us about where you're at today, um, and tell us where you're going. Tell us what your future looks like.

SPEAKER_06 31:01

Yeah, so we like I mentioned before, we opened our doors in 2017. So we've been open eight years now. We started in a three-bedroom, one-bath apartment that Mike and I just rented in our personal names, and we brought women into the apartment. And uh we we didn't live there, we have our own home. But we were in that setting for a year, and then we felt called to move on to something bigger and more um more like an actual home. So I started reaching out to all the different like at the time Craigslist, Craigslist rental ads, and just being very upfront with people about you know what we were wanting to do. And would you consider letting us use your home to do this? And, you know, out of 30 emails I sent, I think two people responded, and then one ended up working out. That's our one of our current homes. So we have um, this is a three-bedroom, one-bath home, and our landlords there are amazing um Christians. They were so excited to be able to use one of their properties for ministry. So, and they've become some of our biggest supporters in many senses. Like they throw the baby showers for the moms, they're very involved. It's been a beautiful friendship and relationship. So we've been in that property, which is what's considered our actual maternity home where women will first come into the program since 2018. And then in 2021, we expanded and moved into another home, which is called our extended care home. And that is where women can transition to from the maternity home into the extended care home, and they can live until their baby born at 29-11 is up to four years old. So we have we offer, we we walk alongside the moms and their children for a very extensive amount of time. It's not just short-term help, and we definitely don't just care about the baby until it's born. You know, we can get rid of that. Um, and then recently we had the opportunity, which we're working on pursuing right now, to um acquire an additional rental, which will be a transitional housing unit that will be for two of our moms, where um they can go and rent from us at a reduced rate while they're you know working, going to school, raising their kids, um, but have a little even more like hands-off, like they will truly be on their own in that setting because we won't have any staff there. Um, you know, we will be checking in with them and they'll be coming back to the home for a couple of different groups and classes, but they will they will truly be living life on their own. And then we also have um an additional property that we are working on getting opened and up and running. It's the property that actually started the vision for 29-11, which we've never been able to operate out of. Um it was uh unfortunately burned down in a fire last summer. Um, but that is going to be the location for our office space and then for another residential building. So we're we're praying that you know we can get that open within the next year. Um, but yeah, currently we've got our maternity home, our extended care home, and about to open our our transitional unit.

SPEAKER_00 34:22

Yeah, the the um couple of interesting points is one is the home that we originally launched the vision with um is in a city where they're very resistant to what we want to do. And um and so for that reason it's been ten years of fighting with them to get the renovations and the permits and and all of those things, and it's it's easy uh to get discouraged, um but we've been given so many blessings along the way that um that again just kind of they're just gifts from God that just remind us that we are on the right path. And one of those is the second home we have um is a large uh six-bedroom home that comes to us from the first Lutheran church. And so through our relationship with one of the pregnancy care facilities, um, of somebody, a like-minded person in the in the pro life community, uh the first Lutheran had offered him a house for his ministry, and he said, We don't really need a house, but I know who does. And so he introduced us to them, and they've rented us this six-bedroom house for a dollar a year. So so it's it it's just so amazing watching us all work together understanding God's provision. Nobody's holding on to their things tightly, their resources tightly, everybody's sharing with each other. We recently did an event with Share the Stories where we had donors from both organizations meeting to hear about each other's organization. And so um, so I think one of the the kind of takeaways from uh this process has been that we kind of have our plans and we have our kind of clear path on how you go from A to B to C. And more often than not, those uh are not necessarily God's plans, but as long as we keep leaning into those things and trusting, um He's He's faithful. And so we've seen that again and again and again, how things that might look like a sharp turn to the right that you didn't expect ends up being exactly the direction we're supposed to go.

SPEAKER_01 36:46

Wow. So this this podcast, um, my goal this with this podcast is that executive directors and leaders of Pringsey help organizations will will hear it, be encouraged, be uh, you know, it'll be helpful, they'll they'll they'll see God's fingerprints and other people's stories, and so hopefully those get amplified. Um with that said, um how would you encourage other Pringy Clinics, pro-life organizations, to partner with their local maternity homes or to inspire someone to start a maternity home where there's obviously need that may be invisible? How would you, yeah, what would you say to uh Prinxy Clinic directors and leaders, you know, maybe not San Diego, but somewhere?

SPEAKER_06 37:32

Yeah, I I think my encouragement would be just to remain open to it and to be really intentional about creating space for like God to speak into situations and to hear his voice, because I know that leaders tend tend to be very busy people. Like we've got a lot on our plates. We're you know, we're go, go, go. It's like if you want something done, ask a busy person, right? Um, but so to be intentional about that time to hear from God, because there is such a need for pregnancy centers and clinics to provide housing for the clients that they see, and we see more of that happening. Um, I was on the National Leadership Council for the Maternity Housing Coalition for four years, which is an affinity group of Heartbeat International. And so that was one of the things that we would do a lot is talk with um centers and clinics that were considering opening a home. But like the way that Mike was explaining that we acquired our second home, it was the director of that clinic who recognized that when this home was, you know, about to be handed to him, he he told them, he told the pastor, this is outside the scope of our mission. So let me connect you with someone who's already doing that work because he knows that you know their mission is to do this, and our mission is to provide the housing. But it was such a beautiful way for us to partner together. And I know that there can be, um, you know, rightfully so, like there's a lot of that scarcity mentality where it's like we feel like, oh, there's only so many resources, and you know, God isn't big enough to meet all of our needs at the same time. And so we want to grab onto things and hold on to things, but really he's the God of abundance. So there's so much out there. So to remain open to that, um, and yeah, look for the organizations that might already be doing something that you're interested in doing. And instead of starting up something new, how can we partner? Um, next week, I actually have a group that's coming down from I think Riverside County because it's a pregnancy uh clinic up there that has a ministry that wants to provide housing for their clients. And so they're getting ready to open a maternity home, but they don't know you know what to do or where to start. So they're coming down to 29-11 to you know get a tour, have some questions answered, and hopefully get pointed in the right direction. So I would just really encourage people to be open to partnering with other people. It can be scary, you know, especially if it's someone you don't know and you're not exactly sure of you know where the relationship could go, but to remain open to it.

SPEAKER_00 40:13

And and the idea of it. Beautiful things can happen. And as Becky talks about the missions and knowing your mission, kind of um the ability to trust that there are some great people who are doing things, you know. For example, in our in our space, it might be in uh a drug rehabilitation program or a counseling program, particularly for mental health um issues, like knowing that there are those resources out there, um and then also appreciating that what the maternity home does is it its mission is very much focused on providing a home for these women. And one of the things that I think um you can't possibly understand until you walk with these women is just how terrified they are and how how they feel ill-equipped and unable to be a mom. And then they come into a home with women who are in very similar circumstances, surrounded by other women who are caring for them and encouraging them, and learning life skills, and just watching them grow from a place where they think I can't to a place where they know they can't, and they feel confident that they can. And and I think again that's a tribute to all of the work that people in the pro-life industry are doing is we're speaking life into these women. We want these women to thrive, we want their babies to thrive, and we're making a generational impact. And it's because we're all working together doing those parts that we we have parts of the body of Christ that we've been um fortunate enough to partner with God in terms of helping people to live the life that God has planned.

SPEAKER_04 41:59

Hmm.

SPEAKER_01 41:59

That's good. And I can you speak more about the the uh referrals or not referrals, um the resources such as drug rehab and counseling. Um because I think you know it's very easy. Well, it's easy for me to make the assumption that the house manager would have to be an expert on all things, but the reality is that there's gonna be these drug rehab resources and these counseling resources that can bring in um you know the needed support on uh you know answers. Can you speak a little more about you know how that how the experts are able to support a maternity home?

SPEAKER_06 42:39

Yeah, well, we definitely rely on um other experts for those types of things because we we don't provide any professional services within the home. Like Mike said, we're very much focused on providing housing, but not just the housing. Um one of the one of the important things we do is to connect the mothers with the resources in the community. And honestly, it's you know, it's a challenge. Um there's a lot of resources, there's a lot of organizations in San Diego that provide these different services, but they're not all great. So it's been, you know, it's been a learning curve and a process for us to know, you know, which which ones we we can partner with. And, you know, I wish we had our program manager on the call, she could speak a lot more to that. But she came to 29-11 with um several years' experience of having already worked within like the homeless services. So she had some really good connections when she came to us. But we we have learned that, especially since we're we're only housing women who have mild to moderate struggles in these areas, we've been pretty intentional about seeking out like what are some of the things that we can do in the home and what are some of the things we can do with partner churches that are addressing these. Needs like one of our local churches runs a it's like a 12-step recovery group, but it's not your traditional celebrate recovery. It's called regeneration and it's focused on, you know, so much more um healing in all different areas of our lives. Um, so yeah, you know, connecting with the good resources has been a bit challenging, but um, you know, new ones are always popping up, some are closing. And then there are a few that are long established in San Diego that we do feel comfortable referring women to, like if they're actively steeped in addiction, if they need to go detox, um, or if they need, you know, some sort of a short-term program before they can come into 29-11. And we have in the past like held a spot for a mom so that she could complete that process and know that, okay, once I once I've safely detoxed here, I will have a place to go. So that brings the fear down a little bit. And then we have some wonderful Christian counselors that we've connected with that are, you know, fully like they're they're licensed um therapists that we can refer our moms to because that definitely is something that we don't provide within the home. But we're always on the lookout for good resources.

SPEAKER_00 45:13

And not just as you said, Jacob, not necessarily in San Diego. So that we have referrals, uh, particularly when you're talking about women who are coming from particularly uh whether it's domestic violence or other abusive relationships, where they really need to relocate. And so we get referrals from people from other states and certainly from from a long way away from San Diego. And vice versa. So as we're looking for resources, um we're we have that's one of the reasons why this national community of of Christian housing is so important, is that if you say, I know of somebody in South Carolina and she needs to get away from there or she needs to get to there, um, we get on the phone or we get on our various um group chats and start talking with each other because through this community we all have other resources. And so we lean on each other and oftentimes meaning going outside of, you know, your local county to find a nice facility that's a perfect fit. Um and sometimes what we'll do is we'll have a woman come to us, we we recognize that she's not a good fit for us, but she's also needs help and and maybe help that we can't get to her in two hours. And so we'll put her up in a hotel and we'll walk her through the next forty-eight hours or seventy-two hours as we make those calls and make those connections and then help find them a place a safe place where they can go to. So all of those kind of what we used to call you know, our whole index of of connections just continues to um grow and particularly when you start realizing the ones that are really focused on kind of a Christ-centered ministry, a a place that wants very much to help all of your your needs to meet all of your needs, with the understanding that at the end of the day the most important thing is for you to develop a relationship with two.

SPEAKER_01 47:20

Oh, that's good. I think I think we might have lost Becky. She might have disconnected.

SPEAKER_00 47:26

I guarantee you she's panicking right now, but she'll be back.

SPEAKER_01 47:29

She'll be back on, yeah. So I've got another I've got a question for you, Mike. Um What does it look like for for your maternity home to build a relationship with a pregnancy clinic? Like, you know, what does that look like? What are the options? You know, are people taking tours of the maternity home to know like what they're referring to, or how does that relationship get built?

SPEAKER_00 47:55

Yeah, I mean it's it's all all of the above. I mean, we do tours on a regular basis. We also um we obviously we have our moms going to the pregnancy care facilities, and so we've developed a relationship where the moms get comfortable with it, but at the same time, the women in the pregnancy care facilities get to know our moms, and when they get to know our moms, they get the better understanding of what our population is. And I think one of the things Becky alluded to earlier is that um there's really very, very few limitations on who we would serve. So I think they to the extent they might have had a much narrower vision of the population that we would serve, they realize that we're open. I mean, we it it seems like every time we come up with a rule we end up breaking it, you know, no pet. Oh, this woman's got a cat. All right, I guess we'll do pet. You know, like it's we'll do whatever we need to do. You know, keeping in mind that we we we're shepherds and we have to be good shepherds of the of the resources and of the people that are in our care, but also understanding from a missional standpoint, like what is our objective, and let's not let the other things distract us from the main thing that we're trying to do, which is to meet women where they are and to help them to develop a relationship with Jesus and to build that identity of who they are, and those people made Imago Dave, people who um don't quite or haven't learned that they are a bearer of God's image and that they're somebody who um was intentionally made and unique and indispensable, and God loves them. Like just that those lessons that sometimes we take for granted uh when we've been following Christ for a while, those are lessons that a lot of people in this world still haven't heard, let alone learned.

SPEAKER_01 49:50

Hmm, that's good. So, Becky, I'm glad to see you're back. I I just had asked Michael about um how relationships um can be built between a pregnancy clinic and a maternity home such as yours. Um and so what are your thoughts, Becky? You may have only heard half of Michael's, but what are your thoughts on you know how a relationship can be built between a pregnancy clinic and a maternity home so that when they were providing that referral or connection or handoff, they feel well connected to where that person is going.

SPEAKER_06 50:22

Yeah, um, I heard Mike mention a little bit about tours, and that's something that we are always open to and encouraging our pregnancy centers to come and do. And once they come into the home, they always are you know so grateful for the opportunity because it gives them so much more language to be able to speak to their clients when they're describing what we have to offer, as opposed to like, oh, here's a brochure for a place that I heard is good that maybe you could go live. But instead they can describe like, oh my goodness, um, you know, 29-11, when you walk in the door, you know, it's like this, and this is what they offer, and this is what their staff is like. So we and most of our pregnancy centers, if not all, um have been to our homes so that they can see it firsthand. Of course, there's new staff that always come on. Um, and then we have we have centers that come to us um from out of state, you know, because I've made so many connections along the way. Like if people are in town for a conference or just to visit, they'll come over and check out 29-11, or if their center is um getting ready to consider opening a home. So I would highly recommend for any centers and clinics to find your nearest maternity home. There's probably one within two hours of you, and uh and go check it out. And that's something that Mike and I do, even when we're on vacation, we always like look oh, are there any maternity homes nearby that we can go and and visit and tour? And maternity housing people are, you know, some of the most lovely people. They will welcome you in and they will feed you and they will make you feel comfortable. And our residents are so gracious to interact with the people that come to tour the homes. Like they love to show off their space and talk about what they're receiving at the maternity home. And um, you know, same thing with with our staff. We go and visit the pregnancy centers and clinics as well because we would love for our moms to receive their services there as opposed to, you know, places like Planned Parenthood or even some of their um the medical offices that they visit for their care, you know, are not aligned with what we are what we're aiming for. So we have a local um group. Oh, Dr. Delgado, is he on your advisory board? Did I see that on your website? Yeah. So Colfs, Culture of Community Services, which is here, they're getting ready to expand their services in the next city over from us, where they're also going to be providing um not just pediatric care, but um, you know, services that our moms can go to themselves. So we're very excited to uh get our residents over there to check out what they have to offer. And hopefully some of them will be interested in transferring their care over there.

SPEAKER_01 53:03

Hmm. Oh, that's good. Yeah, I as you're talking, I'm thinking, you know, maternity homes have have have, you know, the you know, the moms and the babies that would literally be a green pasture or or at least a still water to to a prinxy clinic um volunteer, to a pastor, to a prinxy clinic director or or team member. So I would I I it seems to me like that's a really good connection is for Prinxy Clinic teams to not only visit to know how to hand off a new person to you know get help, but to be encouraged by by seeing the fruit, you know, by seeing the fruit of the work. Um that's that's a green pasture all day long.

SPEAKER_06 53:53

And I that's where I feel like one of our um biggest blessings is being able to catch such a real-time glimpse of the impact we're making instead of having to wonder, like, well, what happened to that mom? She chose life, but you know, where is she now? How are they doing? Oh, I guess I won't know until I see you're in heaven. Like we get to see the impact right now. And you know, sometimes it's hard because they're they're people and they're they're walking their own path and they're not making great choices all the time. But um, then we maintain that relationship with them so that even after they've stumbled, we can see where how they pick themselves up back down the road and you know, continue to follow Jesus even after that.

SPEAKER_00 54:33

Well, they do and they do continue to so we have a relationship with all our moms. So when they do stumble, they come back to us. And so it's again, it's this community that we've built where they don't feel like they're alone. So if they end up in a situation, you know, gosh, I got no money and I need a new set of tires, like they have no problem reaching out to us saying, you know, this is my situation. So being able to kind of step in a gap for one another, um, because we all, I mean, I make bad choices every day. So we're all like making choices and and trying to recover from from the bad ones, and so to be able to walk alongside of each other. And one of the beautiful things I think about this ministry, I'm sure we see it in all the pro-life communities, is the volunteers who sometimes have been carrying their own trauma um and have been holding it inside and they get to serve our moms, and you just see the healing that they get and that they experience by coming alongside of a woman in difficult pregnancy. So it's it's uh we just see these little gifts that God plants along the way that just reminds us that um he's got something special for us, even if we don't necessarily um expect it, we didn't plan on it. We it it wasn't us, it had nothing to do with us.

SPEAKER_01 55:53

Yeah. And God doesn't, yeah, God knows that we are far from perfect every day. And and the fact that the women are there is a testimony to them choosing to to take what is being available and you know made available for them to get better and to get support and to get this support they need. Because they're not there by force. They're you know, it's not like a court order, as far as I know, that they're being you know placed there. This is a voluntary dis good decision to get help when they need it. And um, and uh and it's you know, and we're all on a journey and pathway towards healing. Um, and that's universal for followers of Jesus. So um yeah, I don't think the expectation is perfection or you know, when someone's yeah, it's good that they're they're getting help when needing, and you know, making a few good decisions in a row is always something we're celebrating. Um well, thank you guys for being on here. As we wrap things up, would you share any final thoughts? And then I'm gonna ask the two of you to close us out in prayer. But before we do the prayer, what are your final thoughts as we yeah close out?

SPEAKER_00 57:06

I'll I'll let Becky have the last word. Let me let me throw something out that um one of the gifts that we talk about is that we didn't expect, and it took us a while, frankly, to even recognize is the gift of reunification. So many of the women who come into our home have lost um a child um for whatever reason, and because they come into a stable environment, because they're reachable, um, because they can uh walk the social services through the the plans that they have and the steps that they're taking, we see so many amazing stories of women being reunited with children. Um and so again, that's just one of those many gifts where you just we just thank God that that we get to partner with him because he gives us these uh experiences that we would not have had a chance to witness had we not stepped out in faith. Um so I think the story of reunification is one that many people in the pro life community we don't think too much about because we're we're so focused on the urgent. And that's not not that it's not urgent, but it's something that um is kind of dangling out there and watching real healing and restoration of families is an amazing gift. And so that's something I think I want to encourage people with is that as they do the various things they do, there's this you hear about collateral damage, but you very rarely hear about the collateral gifts, and I think this is really a gift that we all get to experience.

SPEAKER_06 58:50

And I would say uh just the last thing I would like to mention, because it's something that I struggle with, you know, pr fairly often, is don't despise the day of small beginnings. Because sometimes when we're sharing about what we're doing at the maternity home, we'll get a comment or maybe a look where it's like, oh, you're only helping four or five women at a time. And that can kind of like feel a little like, oh, you know, we should be doing more, or we need to grow, we need to be larger, we need to do this, we need to do that. But then I have to, you know, bring myself back to because we're intentionally in this small community, we are able to get to know our moms so much, you know, better and deeper. And um, so just you know, me personally, not to let that you know, that lie um come in that that we're not doing enough. And I'm sure other people struggle with that as well.

SPEAKER_01 59:50

Yeah, I I know that um you know the urgency, you know, the urgent always um tries to mute out you know what's really important but not loud. And and I think maternity homes are an epic example of what's really important but not loud. And I think that's also partly why the need was not loud or invisible, but yet very, very present. And so um, and I and I think God calls us to slow down and rest at his feet, and and and I think maternity homes, I I really hope maternity homes have a lot of hours during the day where things were quiet and peaceful. And I hope that that's true, but I'm not there to know that for sure. But I would expect that there's a lot of like slow, you know, you know, rest because I think that's part of that healing journey in a maternity home, is that it's not super frantic regularly, hopefully, and not super busy all the time. I'm sure there's lots of moments with children and people living in a shared space, but there's probably lots of slower times to help you know provide that restoration or you know, good space to just to not be in an urgent hurry in. Um does that make sense? Sure, that made sense, but yeah, that's um yeah. Well, um, Becky and Michael, if the two of you would close us out in prayer with the expectation and hope that those who are listening will pray alongside you. Um yeah, I'd like to ask you the two of you to close this out in prayer.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:33

Mike, why don't you go ahead? Because my internet connection is that I'm happy, happy to do it.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:39

Um Lord God, we're just so grateful um that you gave us hearts um that are able to love the things you love and that are able to to break for for the things that break your heart. Lord, we just ask that you continue to reveal yourself to us. Um we're reminded of the meeting between Elizabeth and Mary. John the Baptist jumping in Elizabeth's womb. What a beautiful image that is, God, that you placed for us to be reminded of of the value of life, but also the value of community as Mary and Elizabeth come together and and we're reminded in response when Mary is told that she is blessed, she says, My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord. So yeah, God, you just help us all to point everyone back to you, to proclaim proclaim your greatness, to rejoice in all of the wonderful things that you provide for us. The gift of your provision cannot be understood. And Lord, we're just so grateful for Jacob and for this podcast and for this opportunity for all of us to come together as the body of Christ, all of your listeners, and all of us who come alongside of each other and pray for each other and encourage each other. Lord, we just we just ask for more of your abundance. We ask that we're good shepherds with what you give to us. And Lord, we just ask that in all we do we seek you and we glorify you, and we're reminded that you have good plans for us. We pray these things in the name of your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:32

Amen. Awesome. Well, thank you both for being on here. I really appreciate your time and what you know, just wow, it's just it's amazing to see people working together, all in unity, um, on the same mission through under Jesus. Um, and it's just like it's just like we're we're part of the same puzzle or part of the same tapestry, and it just all makes sense as to how we're all working together.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:59

Amen. Thanks, Jacob.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:01

Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:02

Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:02

Yourself.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:03

2911 is God's ministry, and we are committed to bringing heaven to earth as we serve his kingdom and his children, all of them. 2911 is a beautiful and unique organization serving an extremely vulnerable population in San Diego. After connecting with expected mothers through a variety of community partnerships or words-mouth referrals, women are invited to visit one of our homes so we can hear more about their situation and discuss how the program we offer to help them achieve their goals. When they walk through our doors, women are amazed and often overwhelmed. Before arriving, they are effort to expect, possible, and form the core of an actual home specific. At 29-11, we celebrate motherhood in difficult circumstances. Our mission has saved the life of the four child or transforming the life of the mother in the complex family home where staff and volunteers rally around mothers to create a full community. Women living in the home are loved and nursered as they begin a healing journey, which could be living at 29-11 up to four years after the birth of their baby. In this time, women grow in knowledge, develop skills for life and work, and above all, have the opportunity to come to know and follow Jesus more deeply, allowing his truth and love to transform every part of their lives. Every mother deserves hope, and every child deserves a future. Join us in being the hands and feet of Christ as we change lives, not only for today, but for eternity.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:00

Holy Spirit, come away, this day with God. Come away, this day with Christ. Come away with the Spirit powerful.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:20

Oh thou try and free. Oh thou try and get free as it shall be forever long.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:03

So my feet come with a refutation. Come with my test moaning. Come with you, Jesus. Come, Jesus, shelter for us.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:28

Oh thou try you, God. Oh thou trying, Godfrey shall be forever.