Weekend of Celebration!

Two weekends ago I was able to go home to celebrate the marriage of one of my best friends, Annie, and the 60 years of life of my Daddy. Oh what a wonderful weekend it was. I have said it before, but working at the Dale House gives me a greater appreciation for my family and friends. I truly have been so blessed by consistency, love, respect, and support. I am grateful.

The weekend started in Greensboro, NC at my oldest brother and sister-in-law’s new house! I arrived too late (after bedtime) so I had to wait until the next morning to get my hands on this cutie, but we did get to go for a wagon ride and some bonding.

Friday was a full day! Annie made all of her bridesmaid's dresses (crazy, I know), and since I have been away, I had to go make sure mine fit! :) It did and I am still amazed at her sewing skills. Then we met up with Blash for some lunch :) My mom keeps sweet Kessler (Blake and Ashley’s son) on Fridays, so he got to tag along the whole day. He is fantastic.

The rehearsal dinner was a blast! It was great to get to be with old friends and catch up with everyone. I don’t remember the last time when all of the Westwin (my street’s name) kids were together. We are all grown up now! Allan even drove up and got to be there for the end of it! :)

The picture to the right is one that happens every occasion Annie, Christine, and I are together. Weddings are no different!

Saturday morning started with another trip to Greensboro to welcome home Maya Barrier (my sister-in-law, Ashley's new niece from Uganda! It was so precious to see a new family of four together and just realize this new life that Maya is going to have here in the USA. I love the idea of adoption and the imagery of walking down the airport terminal to a crowd of cheering people awaiting your arrival. I see great parallel of that with the work I am doing here at the DHP. Congratulations Barriers!

The actual wedding itself was beautiful, followed by a really fun reception. Christine and I forced Annie to sing one of our favorite childhood songs “You don’t own me” from the First Wives Club movie. It was super fun to break out the old spatulas we used to sing with in Christine’s basement and perform again!

…And now for the PARTY!

Dad’s surprise party on Sunday was sooo much fun! It was great to get to be surrounded by so many friends and family. I loved seeing people I hadn’t seen in a long time and getting to catch up just a little bit. I was even more aware at this party how blessed my family is and I am to have friends like we do. There were about 60+ people there to just love on my Dad and celebrate his life with us!

Thanks so much to my Mama, Aunt Sharon and Uncle Terry for being amazing party planners, hosts, and organizers! We had amazing chicken stew, prepared in a HUGE caldron (see picture to the right!) by my aunt’s dad and friends. Also, check out that amazing thing to the left! The same man who built the huge caldron thing built this thing! The roof folds down and it is transportable. Crazy! It has electricity and a sink! Perfect for parties :)

Drew and Blake, being the amazing humans that they are, had planned a little “program” to do after dinner. You can see it below or here.

It was an incredible jam-packed, full of fun weekend that I got to share with my family and friends. I am so so thankful for airplanes and that I can go home and visit. The rest of these pictures are just because I am obsessed with my niece and nephew. They are so friggin’ cute! I wanted a picture with both of them (which is just hard to do!) so at least Honey is half-way looking and well, Kessler is there!

You see me carvinnn’, my pumpkin

In order to celebrate fall and Halloween, we had a pumpkin carving family night! I actually didn’t go to this family night, but I thought it was blog worthy, so I stole some pictures and got a first hand account from my roommate and friend, Kallie! I did get to talk to the kids about it and have them show off their creations! Kallie said they were all freaked out at first by the feel of the pumpkin seeds and insides, but ended up loving it! It was some of their first times carving pumpkins and it was neat to get to hear them talk about that. We even put them all on the front porch :) Enjoy the pics! Happy fall and Halloween from the DHP :)

 

 

This pumpkin was grown in the Dale House garden! Ted (the man in the pumpkin) helps out with the garden, and swears it is this big due to great composting! :)

 

 

 

George, however, had a pumpkin that was the result of bad composting. I think that takes skill to carve!

 

 

 

 To the left: Darryl, a former resident, and my primary carved a Jordan pumpkin! See the 23 with the Jordan symbol? Pretty impressive :)

 

To the right: Anne and a resident showing off their “winky” pumpkin!!

Be your candle

They keep us pretty busy here at the Dale House Project. In addition to our regular work hours of being “on duty,” we also have meetings Monday and Thursday mornings, take a Gospels Seminary class on Tuesday mornings, and have in-services on Wednesday mornings, where we learn about different things that are related to our job (visiting a jail, learning about drug and alcohol treatment from one therapist that works with a lot of our kids, etc.)

Two weeks ago we had an in-service with Father Anthony. Now if you have been reading the blog, you have heard me talk about Agia Sophia, my favorite coffee shop. Father Anthony was a Young Life area director here in the Springs a while ago and is now a converted Orthodox Priest. Still using his Young Life mentality, Father Anthony started Agia Sophia as sort of his “high school cafeteria” where he could meet people where they are. I loved the place before I even knew that. I had noticed that he hung out there a lot...

We arrived at Father Anthony’s church, where he met us outside. He asked us to enter into the church in silence and retrieve a candle from the left side of the church, light it, and just be silent before God for 5 minutes. After picking up a candle, I realized that I was going to have to light it from a choice of about 5 other candles that were already lit in the front of the church. He didn’t specify where to put our candles, so I just chose one of the lit candles, lit my candle, and then placed it in the sand surrounding this previously lit candle.

After the 5 minutes, Father Anthony began to question us about the candles…why did you put it where you did? Are the candles complaining about where they are? Are they comparing themselves? All these questions seemed silly because, well, they are candles. Father continued to explain his point. “We have something to learn from these candles.  God has placed each one of us in our own respective spot, and there is no shame in being brighter or duller than the others or if you burn faster or slower than the others.  God lovingly knows us and has placed us.” (borrowed from my friend, Jesse’s blog)We are those candles. God has placed us where we are for some reason. It was not an accident. He wants us to shine like those candles wherever we are.

I really have not been able to forget about this analogy. I have been able to share this analogy with three of the residents too, and it has been really cool to see their reaction to it. I want to be like these candles. I want to realize that I am here because the Lord placed me here, among these other candles, to burn like he wants me to burn. Who cares how the other candles around me are burning? I am here to burn for Christ. 

*Pictures are from the prayer room in the basement of my house. When the DHP acquired this building, they made sure there was a small prayer room in the basement that we could use. It is about 6x4 with a prayer bench and this candle stand. It is spectacular! 

“I wanna come home”

After returning from a fabulous weekend in NC with my family and friends, celebrating my friend Annie’s marriage, my sister-in-laws new niece from Uganda(!), and my Dad’s 60th birthday, I was greeted by freezing weather and snowy mountain tops. (and sweet friends at the airport!) My flight into Denver was cancelled and I was re-routed to the Springs, which seems more convenient but actually caused me to be 3 hours later than I thought to work and left my car stranded at the Denver airport.

On the ride home from the airport, Kallie and Stephanie caught me up on the drama of the weekend. There are some things I will just never understand, such as the following.

One of the residents tattooed “crips” on his own thumb using a staple and ink from a pen. He is not even affiliated with gang. He claimed he has had it since he arrived at the DHP 5 months ago. He is not a good liar and we are not blind. :) He now has to try to wash it off, or pay mega-bucks for laser removal.

They also informed me that my primary almost ran away. It was heart-breaking to hear. He is not my son, but I love him like that and I cannot imagine him not being there. It hurt me to hear that he was hurting and wanting to leave. Thanks to my amazing co-workers and bosses and the Lord, he is still here, and we are still able to love on him. He moved into a “transition” apartment and is just loving it. He showed me his room yesterday and I was so proud of how he had cleaned it so well and was wanting to take care of it. He also had a picture of cats that I had colored for him hung on the wall. That was special.

Now to the point of this blog…Last night one of our current residents “Ben” was gmail chatting with a former resident, “Karen,” who just emancipated 2 weeks ago. She was so ready to go! She hated the DHP and was ready to be on her own. She even moved down to Pueblo…a town about an hour away, to start her brand new life. Ben invited me over to talk to her, so of course I did! I was excited to see her and asked her how everything was going. Her smile turned to a more serious face and she looked into the camera and said “I miss you guys…I wanna come home.” She didn’t say she wanted to “come back” or any other wording…she said home. She was talking about the DHP. The building is her house; The people are her family; and she wanted to come home where she felt the love of Christ that is truly unlike any other love.

I am so fortunate to have a home like Karen was talking about. I am thankful for trips home, like I had this past weekend. I am also thankful for the Lord and the way he uses the DHP to give neglected, forgotten, homeless kids…a home.

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 :)

Happy Birthday!

To the world’s greatest woman!

 

She’s a great mom…did the the normal great mom things…made a lot of packed lunches, washed a lot of clothes, folded a lot of clothes, cleaned the house, cooked dinner, bandaged cuts, read us books, came to our sporting/school events, etc., etc., etc., but she is a lot more than those normal things.

She loves so well. She loves so much. She taught me how to love. She supports, encourages, listens, cares, hopes, prays, visits foreign countries where she thinks she can’t pee anywhere :) (haha), has interest in my life, loves to be with family, gives, has patience, forgives, rejoices in the good, is kind, and the list could continue. She’s just awesome.

Being at the DHP has made me realize how lucky I am to have a mother that cares about me and has interest in my life. I have talked to 2 mothers of the residents since I have been here—and their child is in jail. It amazes me. I am so blessed to have the example of motherhood that I have in my life. I am thankful she is my mama and I am thankful she was born on this day 58 years ago!

 

PS…Linda in Spanish means beautiful…I think that is a good definition :)

“Her children rise up and call her blessed, and her husband gives her praise”

Giving All You Have

I heard something so beautiful this morning and just wanted to share it with you.

George, our director, was not at devotions or core meeting this morning. Kevin, my boss, explained to us that he was at a parole hearing for one of his long-time friends.

Turns out this long time friend is also a supporter of the Dale House. He supports the Dale House with his earnings from jail—about $2.12 every month. He sends all he can to support this place of hope, even as he sits behind bars in a place that seems hopeless. I was moved by this man’s faithfulness and example.

At the DHP, I have learned so much about celebrating small success, small victories. Here is yet another example of something small that is so powerful. How beautiful are the small gifts.

MmmBop Re-lived

In May 2008 (pictured above), one of my dreams came true and I was able to meet Hanson :)

In September 2010 I got to re-live that dream, thanks to my wonderful friend Stephanie! I played it real cool when I met them, but you better believe I was jittery with excitement on my insides! I had to text Drew to create jealousy, since he carried a hot pink Hanson wallet for about 17 years held together with staples. I got to wear an all-access pass and skip everyone in line. I felt famous myself! They did play MmmBop,(because they have to because it is forever the greatest) but also have a lot of new songs that I really liked! It really was a good show in beautiful Boulder, and fun to get to hang out with Stephanie for a night at last! (we are on different teams, therefore work opposite nights and never get to hang out!)

Just keep pedaling...

The gang before we took off!

The Dale House believes a lot in community. We live in community, we eat in community, we pray in community, we serve the Lord in community. It is absolutely fantastic. I believe the Lord created us to be in community…whether in a family community, or a friend community, it is just a beautiful thing. I don’t think I could do this job if it wasn’t for the amazing community I have around me.

One way to build our community is through “All-Staff” trips! We all hiked Pikes Peak together, and just recently we loaded all our bikes and traveled to 11,539 feet above sea level to begin a two day bike trip down the beautiful Hoosier Pass and back up the beautiful Vail Pass (80 miles total!). My legs got to a point where I honestly don’t know how they were still peddling. I think they forgot they were attached!

It was a great time to be with everyone. We started down (literally DOWN…windy roads, tanker trucks passing us, curves…you get the point) the pass “at a safe pace” according to George, who followed us in the van in case anyone had any trouble! It was a safe pace cause I held the brakes the entire time while the boys rode at a fearless 40 MPH.

We rode about 35 miles the first day down the pass, around a beautiful lake, and back to a cozy little condo where we stayed for the two nights. The ride was so beautiful. The mountains were all around us. The aspens were all changing to yellow and the weather was indescribable. The sky was Carolina blue (Go heels!). It was perfect. I mean, just check out those pictures.

Day two was a bit harder for me…cause it was almost all uphill! We woke up for Devos and breakfast at 8 and were on the road by 9:45 am. My butt was so incredible sore even though I was sporting not just one, but 2 pairs of biker shorts! We rode about 45 miles that day. Wow. To the right is a picture of people reaching the top of Vail pass where we stopped for a lunch break! To the left is a picture of Annie, Stephanie, myself, and Logan showing our bikes who’s boss. Below is all the girls (the names above plus Kallie!) at the top of Vail Pass! We made it! YAY!

My favorite part of the whole trip, besides the beauty of being outdoors, was the time we had together at the condo. We each got the opportunity to share our lives stories with each other. It was such a special time of vulnerability and acceptance. We each put ourselves out there…told about struggles, things we’re proud of, our families, our hearts…but I could feel the bond grow between us all as we did this. There is something special about honestly and vulnerability. I love the way the Lord uses it to break down barriers and build a strong community. I was amazed at almost every single life story I heard. Trouble does not escape anyone. It was such a special time with my co-workers and friends. I am so thankful that the Dale House values our lives and hearts as people. What a blessing it is to work for this amazing place that desires that I experience Christ in a full and real way.

and here are some photos just for fun :) and so you can put a face with the names I keep using!

Kevin…the training staff boss. He’s awesome. He rode the tandem bike with Nik. It was hilarious. This man can talk the entire hike up Pikes Peak and never have to stop for breathe. He can also bike at speeds of 45 MPH and it would feel like he was sleeping. Its amazing.

George, the director. He is the wisest man I know. I learn something from him every time he talks! He has taught me more of what “fear of the Lord” means. I have so much respect for this man. He can out-bike me any day. Its incredible.

Anne, the woman. Her last name is Hollar. You couldn’t have a cooler last name. She does the social work aspect of the DHP. She is also so wise and awesome at what she does. I want to be like her when I grow up. Incredible woman, incredible biker. I couldn’t keep up with her at all.

This picture was just funny to me. Annie passed out on her bike during a break. We were some tired bikers!