Two Months in...Update!

Hello Friends,

After two months in, I have yet to write anything about my experience so far...typical..Well now is my time to update those I promised  through my blog...Here's the last two months in a couple of paragraphs:

I arrived August 28th at the Ogden House, meeting 11 of my new friends that I will be sharing a house with for the next year. To me, it feels like that day was several months ago! Every week goes by faster than the next and I'm enjoying every bit of it! I live with 11 other people, each of them amazing in their own way!
As far as community life goes, it's craziness! We meet every Monday for Community Night and eat dinner with the other house (totaling to about 20 people). Every week, we have something different to look forward to including: faith reflection, issues night, fun night, and praise and worship. We have a commitment to be there every week. Monday-Thursday, our entire house shares a meal, taking turns cooking for our house of 12. Cooking for that many people takes quite a bit of creativity, but I really enjoy cooking for a large group of people! After cooking for myself and often one other person throughout college, its a lot of getting used to.
Thursdays we usually come together for a night of fun, usually consisting of Yogurtland, game night, trivia nights at local bars or pubs, etc. We also have community service days and the occasional retreat (scattered through out the year). So those are the basics of my life in community so far! In addition to my commitment to the community, I also work a 40 hour week in a local non-profit that I will share about now:

I'm working for an organization called Hope Communities, that provides affordable housing for low-income families. My particular position is kind of all over the place at the moment....but essentially I'm the "Resident Programs Intern". So far I've been in charge of finding or creating programs to meet the needs of our residents. One program in particular that I've fallen in love with is a program called, "Sweet Dream In a Bag". I met this couple who have a great passion for providing children in transitional housing with their very own bedding. In a year and half they have given over 500 bedding packages that include a new comforter, sheets, pillow, stuffed animal and toothbrush. 28 of our kiddos have received new bedding from them so far!! That has been my favorite project so far! I enjoy visiting our after school programs at well! They are an incredible group of kids and I feel blessed that I'm able to have some time to work with them too :) I've had a random assortment of projects, right now I'm focusing on organizing the "Treasure Store". It will allow families to come in and pick out brand new toys for their kids (for the holiday season), which will be donated through local businesses and toys for tots! I've also been charged to help with marketing Hope Communities on Facebook, our website and hopefully through some exciting events! We hope to have an event to celebrate the different cultures within our Hidden Brook property (many of our families are refugees), with handmade crafts for sale, food, music and all kinds of stuff! It's so important for our residents to have pride in their culture, but also encourage our surrounding community to be educated and show support to those cultures :) We are also looking to do a benefit at the Larimer Lounge, which is owned by our CEO's son-in-law, so keep your eyes open for those events! Those are some of the bigger projects I've been working on...

More about my house and community living FUN:

I'm in a program with 19 others...who are all incredible in their own way. I live with 11 others, in our big house on Ogden Street. We have had so many great times together so far. My favorite parts about living in community is knowing that I can come home and always have someone to talk to, there's always something entertaining going on, and so many good ideas flowing. So far we've explored a variety of places and events that Denver has to offer! We are also able to entertain ourselves in our own house! (Most of the time we are entertaining ourselves here, due to the fact we are volunteers and have very little money) Cooking, game nights, and theme/dance parties have been a huge favorite so far! A lot of random fun going on in this house and I love it :)  A lot of this randomness is displayed on my facebook through pictures or status updates, so check it out!

Another focus through this new journey has been my relationship with the Lord. I've been blessed in so many ways; I have a supportive group of people around and I've found a church here that I enjoy going to every Sunday. As a community we have time for faith reflection, as well praise and worship. I feel myself growing everyday and I feel God's presence around me. He has blessed me in so many ways. I can say that I'm truly happy with my life and trust that God will continue to provide me with exactly what I need to have an amazing life!

So that's at least two months worth of what I've been up to. Hopefully in the months to come, I will have more details and specific experiences to share with you guys!

Dani <3