Joy House E-News

A Teen Residential Program and Community Counseling Center

Eighty pickleball players and guests descended on The Courts @ Bent Tree for the inaugural Jammin for Joy pickleball tourney. Play was filled with a lot of dinks, slams and drop shots. We are humbled and thankful for the incredible response and success of the first ever pickleball tournament held in Pickens County. For our first tournament we simply did a one-day mixed doubles format. That is where a man and woman partner together to form a team.

We began our morning with 20 teams of 3.0 level players. They played in four pools of five teams with the winner of each pool advancing to the medal round. Those four teams advancing to the medal round then played for Gold, Silver and Bronze. We had a great crowd of folks gathered around the outside courts at Bent Tree to watch the medal round.

After our morning session completed we then gathered all our players from the morning and upcoming afternoon sessions for some prizes and to share about the ministry. We were blessed by some of our local businesses who gave door prizes. We gave away 20 to 30 door prizes which were enjoyed by our players. Our friend, Hans Rueffert, brought several free appetizer cards for the Old Mule House, and we enjoyed a funny scene as we sat them on a table for first come/first serve and many of our players scampered to get one. We then shared briefly about the ministry of The Joy House and Trey, one of our young men, shared a testimony. All of our pickleball friends were an encouragement to him. During the afternoon several of our players made additional donations to the ministry. We then moved to draw for our raffle prizes which we had sold tickets for throughout the morning. We had three great prizes: two Seikirk pickleball paddles and a Braves ticket package. It was a lucky day for our pickleball friends from Gilmer County as some of their players won all the raffle prizes and were genuinely happy to do so.

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Morning_3.0 Winners

Medal winners from our 3.0 event. Gold – Kenny Payne/Pam Lovette, Silver – Lee Oliver IV/Rebecca Oliver, Bronze – Chhaya Sei/Mary Jo Jeffrey

Afternoon_3.5+ Winners

Medal winners from our 3.5+ event. Gold – Marvin Keener/Jenni Jeffrey, Silver – Michael O’Leary/Wendy Brown, Bronze – Jeff Olsen/Michelle Milliman

Happy Raffle Winner

The happy raffle winner of a new Selkirk pickleball paddle.

Residents arrive at the Joy House with varying degrees of brokenness--brokenness in their homes and brokenness in their hearts. In every facet of our program—the home, counseling, and school—we strive to point them in the direction of healing. Fortunately for all of us, God uses broken people to help broken people. One of those people He is using is Aimee Peters, an actor on a mission. Aimee knows what if feels like to be angry, lost, and broken. At the age of 11, she was diagnosed with alopecia and was stuck in a wig by 13. When she found drama, she discovered a cathartic avenue through which she could express her emotions with truth. Thirty years later, she works with students to help them discover the gifts and talents within them. Her goal is to help them share their stories with bravery and authenticity. She recently volunteered to spend a few sessions with our students at the Joy House Academy. What a surprise we got on her first day working with them! We saw shy, somewhat awkward young people shine for the first time; their inborn talent made its way out. We are grateful to Aimee for sharing her gift and her story with us. Her positive, cheerful spirit has had an edifying effect on our residents and is helping point them toward healing.

It is a great honor to do this work as counselor, confidant, and friend at The Joy House. In recent months we have found ourselves finding small moments as a staff to celebrate victories and break throughs. Whether it is seeing marriages and families restored, or that moment when the anxiety or depression has lost its control over a person, or when grief although still present doesn’t seem to rule that person’s every moment any longer. These are chain breaking experiences and we have the honor to sit in the room, guide and encourage, but mostly just let God do His great work. What a JOY it is to witness those moments after long suffering. Glory be to God! But moments like these do not happen without your support and prayers.

As summer is coming to an end and fall is quickly approaching, we have much to celebrate and thank the Lord for in our Counseling Center. We have added two new members to our team who joined us this summer and are settling in very well. Kathryn Bracher is our new Office Administrator. She is gentle and kind and does a wonderful job helping our clients feel welcome, heard, and cared for as they call or come into the center. Heather McGinty has also joined our team as a new counselor. Heather's background is in working with teens as well as marriages and families. She is a joy and light to all who meet her and is a great addition to our team. Be sure to keep watching our social media pages for a proper introduction to Heather and Kathryn over the next few weeks. We are incredibly grateful that the Lord led them to join us in our ministry at The Joy House and give praise for the provision. Bill Wattenbarger is of course still here with us as steady, kind and true as he always has been and we are grateful.

As you read this, would you take a moment to pray for our Counseling Center? For those we are currently meeting with and any person that will encounter the Counseling Center. Pray they feel safe, loved and free to really begin the good hard work of restoration. For our counselors, pray for God's wisdom and discernment to speak through us. May we never get in the way of God's good and holy work. And finally, as we begin approaching year markers of the illness and loss of our dear Garry, pray the Lord show us comfort and peace when moments of deep grief resurface.Thank you for your constant support and love for this work, we could not do it without you

It’s time to “tee it up for teens” with our annual golf tournament on Tuesday October 19^th. Over the next week we’ll be releasing all the sponsorship and registration details for this year’s golf tourney. We’ll plan on returning once again to the beautiful Bent Tree golf course. We’ll have gift bags for each golfer, door prizes, and great prizes for our chipping & putting contest as well as our raffle. All the funds raised will be used to continue making a difference in the lives of those we serve through our teen-residential program and community counseling center. We hope this will be our best tournament ever. Please keep an eye on our website and social media over the next week for the details of the tournament.

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Our contact information is:
P.O. Box 247
Jasper, GA 30143
Phone: 706.253.7569
Fax: 706.253.7570

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