Fall Break

This week Andre' House is hosting 13 people from Notre Dame University for their fall break trip.  We have 10 young women who will be living with us at the staff plus three adults who are accompanying them (the adults will not be staying with us at the staff house.  15 of us is enough for one house).  They will be working side by side of us in our ministry.  They arrived on Saturday afternoon and settled in.  So far they are doing great picking up on how things work here at Andre' House.  The guests seem to enjoy the group.  I always enjoyed groups who come to spend time with us.  Showing others the face of homelessness and sharing the joy of helping others is what I hope to share with our new friends who come to visit.  It's usually a little tight at the staff house with 15 of us living on top of each other for a full week, but its great to show share ourselves with them...to share our family with them.  I have gone back to Beaumont, TX twice since moving here 14 months ago and I struggled with trying to explain Andre' House to my family and friends.  To truly understand Andre' House you must come, serve, and encounter Christ in our guests.  This is why I love when new groups come to volunteer...I love it even more when people return to Andre' House with friends and family who have never been here before.  Hopefully this week will move our new friends from Notre Dame to see the world with new eyes and maybe come back to serve with us in the future.

It's So Hard to Say Goodbye

     So the last couple of weeks has been a time of goodbyes.  Watching a person leave or pass on is always hard, but when more than one person leaves us without a chance to say goodbye makes it even harder.  Here at Andre' House we see lots of faces come and go.  However, it still isn't easy.  Over the last couple of weeks we have had 2 of our guests at our transitional housing leave...neither one of them said goodbye.  The guests that stay in our houses become like family to us.  We eat dinner with them every night and we take turns staying with them on various nights.  For those of us who aren't from the Phoenix area, our community, volunteers, and guests become our family that we have left behind.  Both of these guests have been with us since March and we have gotten to know them very well.  One guest just didn't show up one day and the other thought we where going to ask her to leave so she just packed up and left with out telling anyone.  It's hard when things like this happen.  Even at our main facility, we notice when a regular guest all of a sudden stops showing up.  We want the best for our guests.  We want them to succeed.  However, when they suddenly disappear, we worry that the worst has happened.  Our guests most of the time have depended on themselves and try not to make to many friends so when it's time to move on, it's easier for them to leave.  I personally took it hard when our two guests left.  I grieved because of the way they left.  I was worried that something happened to them then I was angry that they left the way they did without saying goodbye.  I understand that with our ministry and the people we work with that this is the way they know, but it still hurt.  We have spoken to both of these guests over the weekend and both are safe.  A couple of our community members have also lost friends who have passed on.  It's hard to watch someone you love grieve the loss of a friend.  Friends also become family.  They laugh with you (or sometimes at you), they cry with and for you, and the really good ones help keep it real.  Loss of a really good friend is hard, but knowing that they are in the arms of our Creator is some comfort.


 "I  will spend my heaven doing good upon earth. I shall let fall from heaven a shower of roses. My work begins after death."  --St. Therese' of the Little Flower

Celebrating the Ordinary

Well, I remembered I had a blog yesterday and realized it's been a little while since I blogged.  Not much has been happening...which is good and bad.  Good because that means that nothing bad has happened.  On the other hand, nothing awesome has happened either.  I had a nun tell me once that it's good to celebrate the ordinary times.  Celebrate the times that everything is going as it should, but also celebrate the normal flow in life.  I think sometimes I look forward too much to the exciting or keep watching over my shoulder waiting for the awkward bad things.  This year's staff (there are 7 of us) have settled in and gotten into the rhythm of life here at Andre' House.  We finally have memorized our schedules and have found a routine.  This time last year Fr. Eric (our director) and Br. Richard were about to leave for Rome for the canonization of Br. Andre'.  Br. Andre' is who Andre' House was named after so his canonization was a big deal.  This year we are being content on being in our routine.  I'm not saying that routines don't have their down sides (routines can sometimes makes life become dull), but I think some people live for the not so ordinary.  I'm a creature of habit. I've always like routine.  Here at Andre' House there is just enough routine in my schedule to make me happy.  However, I've also learned that there is enough things to keep my routine from becoming dull.  Even though our schedules look the same week to week, you never know what's going to happen from day to day when staff, volunteers, and guests walk through the door.  If you guys want to see about life at Andre' House check out our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/andrehouse or our new and improved web site www.andrehouse.org.