Dear Friends and Family,
I have been remiss in keeping you posted. Please accept my apology.
We had a wonderful time at the Love For Life Banquet! The program, including speakers Carol Everett and Lisa Rush with music by Strings of Grace and special music by Danny Myers, was great! The food prepared by Lupita Criado and her group from Hosanna Baptist Church was absolutely wonderful. We also had ice cream provided by Keith Shearrer of Kaleidoscoops. Everything was wonderful!
Over $13,000 was raised that night and we received commitments of over $1,200 per month to follow.
I am so excited! It is starting to look like we may be able to open soon. Please be in prayer for specific things.

Pray that:

• We will receive additional funds needed to purchase property and open the center.
  
• More ladies will hear God’s voice and step up and volunteer to serve at the pregnancy center.
  
• Other workers, men and women will be ready to do the work needed on the building God gives us.
  
• We will choose the right building/property that God has waiting for us.

I have found a small house on a large lot that I think may be a good location and starting building for us. It is small, about half the size we expect to need; so we will need to add on or possibly get another building on the same property at some point in the future. We could even possibly use this first building for a thrift store (at a later time) that could help provide income for the center and a place where we could distribute clothing to the mothers for their babies after adding another larger building fro the pregnancy center. Many Pregnancy Centers are now doing this with great success. Here are some pictures of the property I looked at. I believe it can be purchased for less than the asking price (possibly $50,000). In that case if we chose this house, we would only need another $35,000 to make the purchase. Please be in prayer.

• Address:812 N. MainPLEASANTON, TX 78064
• Type: Commercial for Sale
• Floors: Single Story
• Square Feet: 800
• Lot Size: 60 x 362 (1/2 acre)
• School District: Pleasanton
• Price: $60,000.00

• 

In Him
ColleneMyers
The Refuge
Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center
830-569-5883
TheRefugeAtascosa@yahoo.com
http://www.therefugeinatascosa.blogspot.com/

"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb." (Ps. 139:13 NIV

First Annual Love for Life Banquet Coming in February

Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center

Invites You to a
Fundraising Dinner
Love for Life

With Featured Speaker
Carol Everett
Of the Heidi Group

Carol Everett is unique because she comes with an overwhelming amount of experience in the area of abortion. Carol knows firsthand about abortion, having been both an abortion consumer and provider. Carol was involved in the operation of four abortion clinics from 1977 to 1983, overseeing 35,000 abortions. Carol experienced a change in her life when she came to know Jesus Christ as her personal Savior. Today, she is committed to safeguarding the health of women and their babies all over this nation. She also speaks to the post-abortive men and women to offer a message of healing and hope.
Carol has spoken on national broadcasting programs with Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Dr. Marlon Maddox of Point of View, Dr. D. James Kennedy of Coral Ridge Ministries on Truths that Transform, and Pat Robertson of the 700 Club.
Carol is president and founder of The Heidi Group which offers many services to pregnancy centers all across Texas.

Special Music by
Strings of Grace,
Billy and Danny Myers and Judy Sanders

The Strings of Grace believe they have been called to share the Gospel through music. They are a southern gospel/country/blue grass quartet made up of two couples, Mike and Linda Bender and Chuck and Becky Lum. They have performed frequently in the South Texas area. Their performance will be a real treat.
Billy and Danny Myers and their sister Judy grew up in South Texas as well. Their beautiful voices will bless your heart.

Join Us

Saturday, February 16, 2008
6 PM

At Cowboy Fellowship

Pleasanton, Texas

There is absolutely no charge to attend but please RSVP to Suzy Hull 830-769-3081, Abby Pawelek 830-570-4969, Caryl Hudson 210-254-4041, or Lisa Rush 830-569-8888
by February, 9, 2008 to reserve your seats.

Please join us for this very exciting and important event in the life of The Refuge.

In Him
ColleneMyers
The Refuge
Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center
830-569-5883
TheRefugeAtascosa@yahoo.com
http://www.therefugeinatascosa.blogspot.com/

"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb." (Ps. 139:13 NIV)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Dear Friends and Family,
We have been working on getting “The Refuge” Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center opened in the Pleasanton area for the past year or so. As the year is coming to a close it finally looks like we are getting closer to really getting opened. We are now incorporated and are sending off our paper work for non profit status (501 C 3) by the end of the year. We have been looking at property and have been doing fund raising events.

I have made many friends along the way as I have been involved in different mission endeavors and I count you among them. As we come to the end of another year, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your prayers and support through the years. Our mission at The Refuge is to save the lives of many babies and to make Atascosa County a better place for our children and grandchildren. We want to teach the parents that come in to the center how to be better parents, and we want to introduce them to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I’m including some information from our flyer below; so you can see the kinds of services we will be offering. The flyer also includes donation information.I hope you will consider making a year-end gift to The Refuge to help us get opened. All gifts are tax-deductible. No matter if it is large or small, we will sincerely appreciate your support. I will make one promise to our supporters. That promise is this: I will be the best steward of your contributions that I can be.

We covet your prayers!Thank you again, and I pray for you to have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and blessed New Year. (See flyer info after sinature block.)

In Him
ColleneMyers
The Refuge
Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center
PO Box 509, Pleasanton, TX, 78064
830-569-5883
TheRefugeAtascosa@yahoo.com
http://www.therefugeinatascosa.blogspot.com/

"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb." (Ps. 139:13 NIV)

The Refuge

Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center
The Refuge will offer free pregnancy testing and practical assistance through our programs

Ministry Purpose

To save lives in the name of Jesus. We have positive solutions concerning
unexpected pregnancies.
To provide free education, including parenting classes, to
mothers who decide to keep their babies.
To provide abortion recovery classes to those who have already experienced

Free Programs
Confidential pregnancy testing
Lay counseling, and spiritual counseling
Maternity clothes
Baby clothes, diapers and many other items
Parenting classes (before and after birth)
Teaching on healthy relationships, abstinence/sexuality, and STDs
Abortion recovery classes
And more

Opportunities for Partnership
Pray for us and our ministry.
Volunteer to work at the center or on a committee.
Give the gift of financial support.
Host a baby shower or fund raiser.
Share about our services with friends, co-workers, etc.
Invite us to speak at your church, civic group, or club.

Please join with us to make The Refuge a reality.
Make a monthly contribution or a one time gift.
In order to receive a tax deductible receipt, currently checks should be payable to Cowboy Fellowship or FBC Splendora.
After this year the checks can be made out to The Refuge, but for this year only, make checks out to one of these two churches mentioned above and put for The Refuge in the memo line. We will still get the money. This is just so you can have a tax deductible receipt. Thanks again. Collene Myers

September News Letter

Hi Everyone,

It has been a long time since I sent out an actual News letter and mailed it to all my non- email using friends and supporters. I am sorry for that. You get used to just posting things on the blog site and expect everyone to know what is going on with you. When I started to think about it I realized, if I am not reminded, I don’t go to blog sites and check up on my friends; so maybe they don’t do that either. I don’t want to loose track of you all. I want to remind you how important you have all been to my life and ministry.

I was working in my office trying to put away some things I brought home from my son and daughter-in-law’s house where they had been sitting for about two years. There were a lot of things from my time with Mercy Ships. I found an envelope with a bunch of cards and notes encouraging me when I broke my leg within the first month of sailing with Mercy Ships. Once I started reading them, I was encouraged anew. It is funny how Satan tries to attack us with the same old discouragements again and again by just packaging them a little differently. Many of you may not realize (because I haven’t been writing as much) that I have been quite discouraged from time to time since embarking on this new journey with God to start a Crisis Pregnancy Center in Atascosa County. Well I have, and your past words of encouragement touched my heart all over again. Thank you again! And please don’t stop thinking of me and praying for me. I need your prayers.
Here is one of the scriptures you sent me almost five years ago. It still works! Praise The Lord!!

“Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow, for when your endurance is fully developed; you will be strong in character and ready for anything.” James 1:2-4.

We had a great steering committee meeting this month. We had 10 people in attendance. Praise the Lord! We discussed how to use the bottles donated by FBC Splendora, Texas for the “Baby Bottle Boomerang” fund raiser. We also received some large size bottles to place in businesses. We have already started to distribute them. We also made further plans concerning the fund raising banquet. Our hope is to have it before the end of the year.

On a personal note, I was blessed by Pastor Kerry(left) and Frenchy (right), from FBC Splendora! They came and chopped down and mowed the jungle I was living in. I didn’t have a lawn mower of my own and had been out of town quite a bit as well. I had bunches of small china berry trees growing everywhere. To make a long story short, it had really gotten out of hand. Praise the Lord again for the help of these two great guys!

Continue to pray for:
· Financial support
· Volunteers
· My personal finances and family situation.

God Bless you all!

In Him,
Collene Myers
The Refuge
Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center
830-569-5883
TheRefugeAtascosa@yahoo.com
http://www.therefugeinatascosa.blogspot.com/

"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb."
(Ps. 139:13 NIV)

August At A Glance

Hi Everyone

This is going to be a short post. We had a good steering committee meeting this month. Two people Abby Pawelek and Tresha Smoot volunteered to recruit help to distribute flyers during Cowboy Homecoming. This is a big celebration and parade in Pleasanton during August. Since I will be out of town until Sunday the 26th I will not know how things went with that until some time after that.

We did not get the yellow house; so we are back to square one on property.

Thanks to FBC Splendora ladies group we will have the bottles for the baby bottle boomerang (fundraiser). I also purchased the large bottles that can be distributed at businesses.

We have several new volunteer applications. I am encouraged that people are starting to be aware of the new ministry endeavor.

I have been blessed by a friend and supporter, Bud Leavel, who worked on my car several days this week and last, while I was in Arlington on business. In addition he insisted I use his car to get around while he worked on it. What a blessing!

Continue to pray for:
· Financial support
· Volunteers
· My personal finances and family situation.

God Bless you all!

In Him
ColleneMyers
The Refuge
Atascosa Pregnancy Care Center
830-569-5883
TheRefugeAtascosa@yahoo.com
http://www.therefugeinatascosa.blogspot.com/

July News

There were six of us present at this month’s meeting. To start off we spent time in prayer and were able to discuss several important topics.


I reported on my trip to Ft. Worth and my meeting with Paula Odem, my trainer.



I let the committee know that the yellow house might actually be back on the table. However, when I met with the board of the other non profit organization that owns the house on the 26th; they decided once again to withdraw the offer. What a roller coaster ride!


I was able to do some community presentations this month and we got a little publicity in the Pleasanton Paper. We need to raise public awareness; so every little bit of publicity helps.


We are still working on having a baby bottle fund raiser and a fund raising banquet. We will discuss all these items further next meeting. I found that the cost of the bottles is really fairly reasonable. I am still awaiting scheduling information on the banquet.


I have still been having many problems with my car, but am thankful that it is running. A very kind friend of my son’s, Bud Leavell, worked very hard replacing my fuel pump and then two weeks later got my air conditioning running. It is imperative that I have a car that I can depend on due to the many appointments and meetings that I have all over the county. There are still many repairs that need to be done, but I am getting around, thanks to the Lord.


Our precious cargo arrived on June 29th.
Her name is Cadence Grace, and she weighed 6 pounds and 11 ounces.
My daughter had some difficulties. What should have been a normal delivery turned into a c-section which then developed an infection; so I have been extremely busy trying to keep up with my work ,and taking care of my daughter’s needs in addition to three babies at home. I think we are finally turning a corner. My daughter is getting better now and can do more for herself and her children.



Prayer requests:
· Please continue to pray for a new car for me.
· For the two planed fund raisers.
· For the 501C3 (non-profit papers) to be completed.
· For funds to start coming in for the Pregnancy Center

In Him,
ColleneMyers
The Refuge
Atascosa Pregnancy Center
TheRefugeAtascosa@yahoo.com
http://www.therefugeinatascosa.blogspot.com/

"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb." (Ps. 139:13 NIV)


If you or anyone you know would like to make a contribution it can be sent to:
The Refuge,
PO Box 509,
Pleasanton TX, 78064
Please make checks payable to FBC Splendora TX, or Cowboy Fellowship, Pleasanton TX. and Write in memo line of check "for The Refuge".

June Update

Once again our steering committee meeting was a little short on attendance, but we spent time in prayer and were able to discuss several important topics.
I let the committee know that the house that was originally offered, if we could remove it from the property it was on to another location, had been withdrawn. However, it is possible that we may have the use of another smaller house without having to move it, at least temporarily. I am to meet in July with the board of the other non profit that owns the house.
We discussed having a baby bottle fund raiser and a fund raising banquet. We will discuss all these items further next meeting. I am checking into the cost of the bottles and the banquet.

I have been having many problems with my car and recently had to have repairs on it that only fixed part of the problem. It seems there are so many problems that it would be better to start over with another car. The repairs that it needed would have cost almost twice what I paid for it to begin with. It is imperative that I have a car that I can depend on due to the many appointments and meetings that I have all over the county. I will need to find a new car soon since only a small portion of what needed to be repaired was actually done.

I visited with my trainer in Ft. Worth this week, and got some valuable info and literature for the pregnancy center.

My daughter that lives with me is having a baby probably some time next week. Scheduling may get difficult. So please keep us in your prayers.

Prayer requests:

• Please pray for a new car for me.
  
• For the two planed fund raisers
  
• For the 501C3 (non-profit papers) to be completed
  
• For funds to start coming in for the pregnancy center
• For the new baby on the way and all the wonderful joys of scheduling that comes with it

In Him,

Collene Myers