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This past weekend marked the fifth anniversary of spoken words that changed my life forever. For most people, life changing words usually sound like \u201cWill you marry me?\u201d or \u201cIt\u2019s a girl!\u201d But for me, it was,<\/p>\nThis past weekend marked the fifth anniversary of spoken words that changed my life forever. For most people, life changing words usually sound like \u201cWill you marry me?\u201d or \u201cIt\u2019s a girl!\u201d But for me, it was,<\/p>\n
\u201cHey guys, let\u2019s move to Dallas and start a maternity home there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Five of us were brunching that morning after celebrating the wedding of a dear friend in California. We had all lived and worked in a home serving pregnant women who are homeless in Phoenix, Arizona. At the time of this conversation, we were all living in different areas of the country \u2013 Phoenix, Denver, and various suburbs of Washington D.C.<\/p>\n
I thought it was a crazy idea. I was currently living in Falls Church, Virginia and working in Washington, D.C. I was rooming with my best friend and in a relationship with someone who also lived in the area. The thought of leaving D.C. had not even crossed my mind. But I agreed to be a part of the initial conversations and the five of us found ourselves on a conference call soon after, discussing what moving to Dallas to start a home for pregnant and homeless women would look like.<\/p>\n
Needless to say, the damage had been done. That one statement settled in my heart and my brain and permeated my being. The relationship I was in ended, I quite my job,\u00a0and I packed up my things and moved to Dallas without a job, without family, and without a clue what the future held. As I drove across the Texas border with my life and my sleeping older brother packed in my Toyota Corolla, I saw a beautiful rainbow to the east. The sight of that rainbow gave me peace that I was doing the right thing moving to Dallas. It was the image of that rainbow that sustained me in the months and years to come when this path presented many trials.<\/p>\n
A mentor I met soon after I moved to Dallas would tell me, \u201cGod does not put a desire in our hearts without fulfilling that promise.\u201d Just as in the Old Testament, when God made a promise to Noah to never destroy humanity again, that rainbow became a promise to me that God would fill the desire to start this home for pregnant women.<\/p>\n
Two others agreed to move to Dallas at that time, too \u2013 Ashleigh Brown and Emily Klespis (well before they had those married names). We didn\u2019t know many people when we first moved, so we spent a lot of spare time formulating our vision \u2013 brainstorming ideas of what we wanted and deciding what doesn\u2019t work. We came up with 6 month goals, 5 year goals, and 40 year goals. At one point early on, they said to me \u201cWe talked, and want you to be the first person to do this work full-time when we get the funding.\u201d At that point, I assumed the Executive Director role, well before I could assume the title.<\/p>\n
We have now grown from 3 people to a 10-person board and an even greater community of people that are helping us get off the ground. We are just a couple of months away from opening our doors and accepting our first mom.<\/p>\n
I hope as this blog continues, that it will be a\u00a0guide to others for how to start a non-profit, how to serve as a servant leader, and how to love fully with mind and heart. Please join this journey with us!<\/p>\n
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Maria Eichhold, MSW<\/strong> Maria is the Executive Director and co-founder of In My Shoes. She has a diverse background working with different populations in the social work field, and more recently as a marketing and recruiting coordinator at an engineering firm in Dallas. Her passion is empowering women to lead healthy lives.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This past weekend marked the fifth anniversary of spoken words that changed my life forever. For most people, life changing words usually sound like \u201cWill you marry me?\u201d or \u201cIt\u2019s a girl!\u201d But for me, it was, \u201cHey guys, let\u2019s move to Dallas and start a maternity home there.\u201d Five of us were brunching that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":237,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nmaria@liveinmyshoes.org<\/p>\n