THREE months?

Am I seriously writing my month 3 reflection? Wow. Here are some highlights from the past month (some of which have already been blogged about!) Sorry for all the words and lack of pictures!

1—The bike trip…just fantastic in every way fathomable. You can read about it below!

2—Rizuto’s Ice cream…Now, I love ice cream. I am my mother’s daughter. So you know I am going to love a cone the size of your face…for $1.06. Magical!! Its one of my favorite Saturday night activities!

     

2— “Jesus is here”…This is a phrase that has become one of my favorite to hear because it reminds me so much of WHY I am here at the Dale House. Jesus is what we call Gene—a former resident who lived at the Dale House 40 years ago. Gene is now homeless, smells like he is homeless, cusses at you if you talk, hates women, drinks like a camel (but not water), and loves the DHP because people love him, because he feels at home here. Gene stops by for regular visits as he wanders around the Springs throughout his days. Gene felt loved here at the DHP 40 years ago, and knows he can still find that same love every time he returns.  Gene isn’t exactly the most friendly visitor to have and female staff have even been warned to not try to talk to him, but rather to refer him to George or another male staff, but I still love that he comes by. I have learned a lot from Gene—that we don’t love to get things in return here on this Earth, but that we are actually loving Jesus by loving Gene. Gene is never turned away or asked to leave. Never. People sit with Gene for hours, just listening and loving him.

“Don't forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!”

Hebrews 13:2

3—Grace…About 3 weeks ago, my primary got caught for drinking during a Sunday nigh family night. One of the other resident’s girlfriends brought it over, and he just couldn’t resist it. This opened the can for us to discover that other residents were drinking as well, on a regular basis, alcohol they had stolen; residents were sneaking out at night, skipping work, cheeking their medications that I was giving them (i felt so dumb after the resident showed me exactly how he did it right in front of my face!), smoking pot, etc. etc. etc. I was pretty crushed. It is just hard to realize that my relationship with these residents is built a lot on lies. I wanted to be so angry with them and use their actions against them as they complained about being on restriction (“well this is better than jail!”), but I was quickly reminded of God’s grace with me. I am forgiven daily for my actions, for my failures, weaknesses, and the Lord welcomes me with open arms, loving arms. I so often try to “hide” things from the Lord. I hide my fears, I hide my anger, I try to control my own life. What is the difference? I am thankful for the humble reminder that I am just like these residents—guilty and loved by a God of grace.

4—January Schedule…Why am I happy about this you ask? STEPH and I are on the same team!! YAYAY!!!! I am so excited to get to work with her, learn from her, and have nights/weekends off with her to do fun things!!

5—Secret Recordings…It had been a reallllllly tough week for one of the residents (one that was involved in all the mess mentioned in #3). He lost his job and we were making him job hunt every day (which residents HATE!!), and he had talked about suicide, meaning we took him to get an assessment for fear he would hurt himself. This is a hard kid for me. He is passive aggressive and is always whispering snag remarks under his breathe that just make my ears fume! So Sunday night family night, I end up sitting near him (not necessarily by choice…well my choice). As we were singing, I see he is holding his IPOD. My immediate thought was “he knows he can’t have that right now. Why is he always doing things to get on our nerves!” Then I noticed it…a little microphone icon on the screen. He was recording the songs we were singing. The songs about Jesus. It was beautiful. The Lord had us sit near each other so I could see that and be reminded that, even if this resident seems to be unaffected by anything, that he is listening…and re-listening when we don’t know :)

6—Modeling…Every night the residents sit around the dinner table while two staff members serve the food after announcements and prayer. One night last night, my primary wanted to do it. He stood where we stand, asked if there were any announcements, just like we do. Then asked if anyone wanted to pray, just like we do, and when no one wanted to (just like when we do it!), he thanked the Lord for the food, and the Dale House, and the residents, and the staff, and the chance to live at the Dale House. He then proceeded to serve all this fellow residents before he served himself and joined them at the table, just like we do. My heart was so full that night. It was a beautiful miracle.

7—Orientating…When we have a new resident at the DHP, he or she is required to orientate with each staff member…tell us about themselves, their family, answer questions, and just spend some one on one time with us. I really enjoy this part of  my job. In talking with one new resident about his involvement with the Crips (which he joined when he was 8 by being beat up badly by his father, 3 brothers, and 4 other men), I was able to ask him all sorts questions about gangs. It was all really interesting. I learned a lot, from what they do, to what certain tattoos mean. After being astonished at all this information, I asked him “So…do gangs do anything good?” He looked at me with a huge smile and said “Barbeques!” Well…awesome. I just thought it was hilarious, so it made the highlight list :)

8—Day of Solitude…I am so grateful that I work for a  place that values my relationship with the Lord above anything. One way they support this is that they asked each of us to day one of our “on duty” days to go up to George’s house and spend 12 hours completely alone in solitude with the Lord. George and Jane (his wife) have an amazing little cabin in their back yard complete with a desk, small heater, coffee pot, and blankets. Their back yard is like the Chronicles of Narnia. It is gorgeous. There is a small creek surrounded by beautiful rocks, aspen trees, and mountains. It is the perfect place for a day of solitude with Jesus. I did mine last week and enjoyed being challenged by the silence to really examine my life and my time here at the DHP. Jesus took time to be alone with his Father, and I am thankful that my bosses allow time for us to take to be alone with our Father.

9—Candy Apples!…Friday night, bored residents, fall time…nothing screams CANDY APPLES to me more than that! After a quick trip to Wal-mart, I got these “tough” guys into the kitchen, stirring chocolate, making toppings, and decorating apples. I knew I loved making candy apples…but I didn’t know how much they would love it!! I have never seen 24 apples decorated and eaten that quickly. Wow.

    

 

and in my “outside of the DHP” life

1—Chat dates with Allan! As much as I would rather see him in person, I am thankful for technology regardless of slow internet connections that make him look like this. :) At least it makes me laugh!

               

2—Snow on Pikes Peak! I have never seen snow in October! Walking from girl’s (where I sleep when I am on duty) over to the main house, I noticed the peak looked a little whiter than normal…SNOW! It was so beautiful!  and yes…this is the view from my apartment!! :)  

3—Agia Shopia! I have turned into a coffee drinker…and my roommate introduced me to this fantastic coffee shop owned by a YoungLife leader turned Orthodox Priest. It is one of my favorite places to go and study or read or just hang out with my roommates. I get the Snickers Frappuccino. Below is the upstairs where I like to sit! :)

                                     

                                                                                                                                         

4—Getting my cowboy boots and line dancing! My roommate and friend, Kallie, is just a rock star in every way. She is the day time supervisor here (meaning she works 8-6 and cooks our meals for us!) so I only get to hang out with her on my nights off, but she is just awesome. Always thinking of fun things to do…like line dancing! She is a pro, too! Everyone in the Grizzly Rose watches her for the steps. She made me love Agia Sophia and now she has me obsessed with line dancing! Thanks to her, I made my first cowboy boot purchase :)

5—Hanson Concert! Not only was it Hanson, but I got to hang with Stephy :)