There's nothing like a visit from two toddlers to brighten your mood on a workday morning! I just had the pleasure of entertaining two such persons in my office here at the shelter. They just wandered in while their mothers were speaking with their case managers, and we shared a few happy moments together.

I've been struggling a bit these past few days. Absorbing twenty-plus hours worth of depressing statistics about DV, all while trying to manage my own emotional response to that information, has had me wondering at times what good any of us can really do. But little children always make me feel so hopeful; they embody the promise of new life, of future promise. All they wanted was my attention for the moment, and that I could readily provide.

Today I'm so grateful that the shelter is here to provide safe haven for these children and their mothers. I'm learning in my training that interventions like DV shelters are not nearly enough to solve the problem of domestic violence, or to target its root causes, but also that they are desperately needed in our present reality. Today I'm grateful to be here, amidst people who are struggling against forces too often outside of their control. I'm grateful to be present enough to entertain two toddlers, to smile at the shelter's guests and say good morning, to help create a modicum of safety and stability in lives that have been unjustly subject to danger and chaos.

We cannot do everything, but we can do something, and hopefully, do it well...