Welcome Home. Here, Us, Now.
A space for all of us seeking what's real and sacred in a world that rushes past the soul.
Welcome Home. Here, Us, Now.
Carolyn Simmonds - Chief Housing Officer and Trusted Mama
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Parts of Carolyn Simmons' life as a trusted guardian and an afterglow conversation following her first episode.
Afterglow And Carolyn’s Backstory
SPEAKER_00Welcome home. Hear us now. A space for all of us seeking what's real and sacred in a world that rushes past the soul. This is part two of an interview president and CEO, Charles Wolford and I, made with the head of housing Carolyn Simmons at Union Gospel Mission in Tarrant County. After we recorded part one, we had an afterglow conversation with the mics off that triggered me to want to start recording the conversation for a few more minutes. But first, here are some parts of Carolyn's life I had to pull out of the first episode to describe how Carolyn has been a trusted guardian for a long time.
Building A Big Family
SPEAKER_02So when I get the little boy in the in the uh three-day old, once they found him, the grandmother asks if she can come to the house. So I said, Come on. So I I used to call them my salt and pepper twins. So she was all dressed up. So the grandmother came and she said that her mom had so many children that they had taken, and her mother had died, and she said it was just too much. She said, Would you adopt my grandbaby? Would you give her love? Because I know you would. She met me one time. She said, I know you would give her love. And I said, Okay. So my husband named her, and he just fell in love with her. You know, uh, that was his little princess. And after that, the 18-month-old, I bonded with the mother and I talked to her and I encouraged her, get your baby. Don't let this be another generation of children in a foster care because she was in foster care. And of course, he was with me, so he was in foster care. Her mother was in foster care, so it was like a vicious cycle. So I tried to talk to her, but she wasn't listening. She got pregnant again. And she called me and I said, Hey, and she said, Miss Carolyn, promise me something. I said, First, you got to tell me what it is before I promise anything. She said, I need you to adopt Malcolm. Please adopt Malcolm because I'm pregnant. And if I don't let Malcolm go, they find out I'm pregnant, they're gonna take my baby. And I was trying to tell her, they're not gonna take your baby as long as you do, and she hung up on me. So we went and adopted Malcolm. So we had Malcolm, we had Victoria and the girls, and TJ and Annie. So in the last two, me and my husband, I started all over again. I started all over again. Wow. Because, you know, he wanted a child in the end. And it was funny because I was like, we got all these babies. Do you really want to start over again? And when we was dating, he was like, Oh, I'm so satisfied with the kids. So he waited till the night before we was to exchange vows and say, Carolyn, we have to call this off unless I get a child.
SPEAKER_01What? I am bewildered. So how many children are we at now? Uh we had eight.
SPEAKER_02We had eight. And then we had a last one, and that's Elisha. So we have a Patrick Jr. because he wanted one, his namesake, Patrick Jr. and Elisha.
SPEAKER_01So nine.
SPEAKER_02I have nine. It would have been ten. I lost one.
SPEAKER_01So the so the ninth one you had biologically yourself.
SPEAKER_02The eighth and the ninth one. Mm-hmm. So biologically, between my 41-year-old, he's 21 now, so they're 20 years apart.
SPEAKER_01I'm just, let me, I need to. I'm tired. I I have I thought I had done some stuff in life, but you just there's there's speechless.
SPEAKER_00There are times where somebody gives a testimony and somebody tries to up it. I'll just throw in the hat. I only had seven. They were all biological. Wow. And and uh Patrick is a better husband than I.
Calling, Loss, And Resilience
SPEAKER_01So I am I am committed. Me and Patrick and I need to go and do lamb chops together. I'm gonna treat him to he, I need to treat him to dinner or something because I am well, God bless you. Thank you for sharing that. What an amazing, amazing journey, and I'm sure we can impact so much more. But tell us a little bit about your role at Union Gospel Mission. What are you currently doing? What's the scope of your work and and what do you see uh God doing with you next?
SPEAKER_02I see God doing a big audacious thing, as you say.
SPEAKER_01That's what he does, huh?
Leadership At Union Gospel Mission
SPEAKER_02Yes. Um right now what I'm doing is getting my team lined up and um getting them acclimated, acquainted, because I have a whole brand new team. And some, well, most was promoted within. So that's one thing I love about Union Gospel is that they give you a chance. So they were promoted within. So now we have our directors and we have our program managers and we have everything ready now for the vision. Amen. Amen. And the vision is gonna be a wonderful vision. We're gonna be able to reach more people, house more people.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And I love the position I am because my main focus at the position I am is to encourage because a staff that's happy stays planted.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_02So the vision is to get people housed, uh, deal with the barriers, uh, be able to do things for people to let them know that it's somebody that cares. We want to help them find forever homes, so we want to be able to do person-centered to where they get a say in their treatment plans or their uh person-centered plans, their housing plans. So we want them to be able to see through a lens like Jesus. We want to help them to adapt that spirit to be the hands and the feet of Jesus.
Casting Vision For Housing And Care
SPEAKER_01Wow, wow. I I'm gonna I would love to do a segment with you and your husband, Patrick, because I want to hear his story and how you guys have really journeyed. I I have uh some background and history with foster and adoption children who have been removed by child protective services. It pales in comparison to what God has called you all to do, but I would want to hear both of you all's story and just talk through that and and be able to hear what God is saying.
SPEAKER_00So, Carolyn, let me let me ask you a question though. There are parents out there who have tried part of what you have done, maybe one-tenth, one one-half or something, and they got overwhelmed, they didn't work. Uh, maybe CPS came in, maybe the marriage broke apart, maybe uh all kinds of things, uh, you know, a sickness or whatever. What what would you say, or what would you pray for somebody out there who's in some of the of the places that you've been and they're just overwhelmed? What would you do? What would you pray?
SPEAKER_02I think I would tell people that was the key. My faith in Jesus and praying. Because when I felt overwhelmed, I prayed. When I was upset, I prayed. When I was going through, I prayed. When I was happy, I prayed. You can never have enough prayer.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Could you do some of that now?
SPEAKER_02Our dear Heavenly Father. Yeah. Oh, how wonderful is your name in all the earth. Yes, for you. Lord Jesus, even demons tremble at the name of Jesus. Lord, we ask for your Holy Spirit. Lord, you say we're two or more come and touch and agree. There you are in the midst of them. Lord, I ask you to touch my family, Lord Jesus. Lord, I ask you to touch my UGM family, and I ask you to touch my MHMR family. Lord, I ask you to just touch us. Touch us to reach people. Lord, touch us that when people come to us, they'll see Jesus in our heart. Lord Jesus, that self would die and that we will render help to anyone who needs it. Lord, we love you.
SPEAKER_01We love you, God.
Prayer For Families And Teams
SPEAKER_02We praise you. Lord, I'm in awe at the things that you do. Thank you, Jesus. In the name of Jesus, I pray, Amen. I know that when we were fostering, and I think our oldest one that we fostered to adopt is 30 years old now, almost 30. And during that time, my heart was heavy because I think they kind of gave us a hard time when we begin to, you know, be foster parents to see if we want to stick in there. And we did, but I tell people, it is a lot of children in the system. And a lot of children that just needs love. When you have that love, and I hear people saying to me, when I adopted the children, they was like, but that's somebody else's genes. I said, I'm somebody else's genes, and Jesus adopted me.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_02You know, so at church they will call us the truth because when we when we came, y'all came, huh? We came. We came. And you know, I was just so thankful for that and being able to touch so many kids because even though I fostered to adopt those children, I've taken care of hundreds of children. Wow. And not only that, I have spiritual daughters that's older than me or around my age, and they call me mama.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
Love, Adoption, And Belonging
SPEAKER_02So I've always, the Lord has always put in my heart that fire for souls. I just love people. And wherever I can help, wherever I can fit in, now when I first came in here, Eric said, You don't look nervous. I don't, because I gave it to Jesus.
SPEAKER_03When Dr.
SPEAKER_02Wolfer called me and said, Carolyn, come on, I was like, Here I come. I never turned down the opportunity to spread the love of Jesus. So being a foster parent, people should try. Be an adoptive parent, people should try. So many children that don't get to have a forever home. I see that every day. When I'm at Union Gospel, the Lord has blessed me. It seems like whenever we get somebody that was adopted or fostered, they always end up attaching themselves to me. Oh, really? And then when they find out I was a prior foster parent and I did adopt children, they always say, I wish you could have adopted me. And I look and I said, You know, I can do it now.
Military Care Plans And Countless Kids
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And you and you know, this is the thing, Miss Carolyn. What we were very intentional, Eric and I, when we sat and talked through what God was calling us in this podcast, and there's two aspects. No, let me say three. And the nomenclature, welcome home, is uh what we wanted to feel that our space would be welcoming. But hear us now is about being present, but the other third aspect is about belonging. And what I just heard in the first session that we had with you, and now is you have provided a space of belonging to so many young men and women. Yes, and there's no greater feeling to an individual in time and space to be able to be in an environment that they feel welcomed, yes, they feel heard, and they feel seen. I think that is the secret sauce of a life. And we're learning so many of these narratives and stories of individuals. Yours just permeates the space of time and and collective uh energy that we believe God has called us to talk about. Because you what that's exactly what you have done with the lives of these young people that you've taken, you and your husband again. Patrick, we send you a shout-out. I just I have fallen in love with your husband. I'm serious. I'm I I call I I hope that God continues to center me in this thought that I I resonate with men who are men's men. Oh, yes. Um, one of the things that uh we that that is maybe even unspoken between Eric and I, you know, he's parented uh seven kids and God has given him this space. But when you meet men who are men who stand in the gap, there's an affinity to that space. So thank you again, Patrick, but thank you. But let's just the the belonging of your kids that when when they see mama and daddy, they they they feel like they belong in a world that sometimes just goes past the soul of a man or a woman that we're just so much in a hurry, but you have stopped, you've pressed pause, and you've allowed the souls of so many people to find rest. I am just enamored by that. God bless you. God bless you, God bless you. Um if you were to count, you said numerous, what would that number be of the number of young men and women who've come through the doors of your your your abode?
SPEAKER_02You know, I can't even count. Wow. Because we would even in uh um when we lived in Germany with my ex-husband, we lived there for four years. Uh, and I used to do daycare and security, but I was also the person who people would ask, if I go to war, would you keep my children? Really? So I was in a lot of care plans for the military for different people.
SPEAKER_01So when they would go off to military, they would go off to war, they would put your name down in their care plan. Yes. If something were to happen to me, Miss Caroline is the appointed person to take care of my baby. I think I'm gonna do that too. I'm I'm I'm I want you to be my care plan. Eric has his hand up here. I think I got a question.
Facing Addiction With Compassion
SPEAKER_00Um So in your travels, in your in your work, one of the things that uh I've noticed is just a lot of addiction. I mean, including uh including my own family, I'd call some of the some of the attachment to cell phones and and tablets and that a kind of an addiction, not to mention the chemical abuse. Or I you know, the I'm I'm also told there's an addiction to being around addicted people. Um I'm I'm sure you've run into that. What do you how do you how do you respond or do you respond? Or do you keep uh do you just bowl over it or well I grew up in a home where my father was addicted to substances, very mentally abusive.
SPEAKER_02He didn't really stick in, he just went back and forth. I had um sister that was on heroin, I had another sister on crack, I had another sister that was an addict. Um I just had two nephews within the last couple of uh years die, one of fentanyl overdose, another one of an overdose of drugs. And then when I got home and I was talking, and I was telling somebody about my nephew, and they was like, that was your nephew, you know, that was a big-time drug dealer. And so that's always been a part of my life in a sense. Just growing up and just being around it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02And due to my father, he is one of the contributor reasons why I didn't even pick up alcohol or anything because what I lived through with him.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So everything he was, I tried not to be. But I forgave him and I loved him to the end.
Scripture, Encouragement, And Charge
SPEAKER_01Well, I am overwhelmed. I I want to close us with a passage of scripture just through the thought, and Eric, I am so grateful for our time together with Sister Carolyn. Um there's uh this this just resonated with me, Hebrews the 10th chapter, verse 22. It reminds us, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart. Yes, and with the full assurance that faith brings.
SPEAKER_02Amen.
Closing Blessing And Gratitude
SPEAKER_01It is a drawing near to God with the sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings. And you have brought us into a sacred space and to be able to hear your heart. Uh, we are the better today because of your journey and the story that you've shared, and our listeners are the better. I want to challenge listeners today that God has a special plan for us all, and you are a shining example of what God has done through you, for you, with you, even in the midst of an environment that was so saturated with drugs and with addiction in your own family. But it seems like God did something with you and He plucked you out of that space and has preserved you, and you've used what could have been a misery, you've turned it into a ministry. Amen. But but but God that He has really done that for you. And so thank you, thank you, thank you for your life and your legacy and the ministry that you have provided to the world. We are the better, we're the recipients of it, that you are now the chief housing officer. And let me let us, Eric, just share our little testimony. We had some time and space. When I first came to UGM, I went over and sat in her office and just getting to know the staff and the team members, and um, I remember those conversations. I was asking, so what is God saying to you? What do you see God doing? And there was something just on the anointing that she has, and then I saw in our encounters, and I would occasionally saunter down over there and say halo and see her and ask her how things are going, and you remember conversations. So, why two jobs? I remember that conversation with one I but you have endured, and God sees you, He's heard you, He understands your belonging, and so as you walk in faith and you trust God in this journey, I could not think of a better person to be leading the charge as our chief housing officer at such a time as this at Union Gospel Mission. Our neighbors need an advocate like you in the role that God has called you for. And there's I couldn't think of a better person to be able to do that. So thank you. God bless you to our listeners. You've been listening to the Welcome Home podcast here at Union Gospel Mission with my co host, co host Eric Engelman. God bless you, brother. I love you with the love of Christ, and our guest, Carolyn Simmons. God bless you. May the grace of God and peace be with you.
unknownAmen.
