Just so ya know.

Just some fun facts from an organization in Denver called The Family Tree found here:
http://www.thefamilytree.org/resources/questions_answers/homelessness.html
I thought it would be interesting for some of you to read

• Where do homeless people stay at night?
  They often stay with friends, extended family, in cars, under bridges, shelters, on the street, or in 24-hour restaurants or grocery stores.
  
  
• Why can't they just get a job?
  They can get a job. But can they get a job that pays enough to cover housing costs, utilities and everything associated with that? Many homeless people, some with families, do not have much education or work experience. They may not have a car providing them access to sufficient job opportunities. Domestic violence victims are in a quandary. They usually have a home, but cannot return to it for fear of abuse. Alcoholics and drug addicted people often need extra support, therapy or group homes to maintain some stability.
  
  
• Aren't most homeless people alcoholics, drug abusers or mentally ill?
  No. Actually, most homeless people have no history of alcohol or drug problems or mental illness. Homelessness is an economic problem.
  
  
• Aren't there plenty of shelters?
  There are many fine shelters, but not enough. It's expensive to run a certified facility. It may take days or weeks for a homeless person to find a room, especially during the winter months.
  
  
• Should I give money to people who are panhandling? Why don't they get a job?
  They are actually "working" when they panhandle, but not legitimately. They play on others' guilt and usually are using the money to buy liquor or drugs. Panhandlers often shun main-stream society considering themselves as having a more free lifestyle. While some can earn hundreds of dollars a week, their signs are usually shams. Most have a place to live. This is organized panhandling. It is best not to give directly to panhandlers, rather to donate to legitimate programs that offer help such as Salvation Army, Samaritan House, Family Tree and many others in our community.
  
  
• Why doesn't social services take their children if they can't adequately care for them?
  If a child attends school, is not abused or neglected, social services usually does not take the children. They prefer to keep families together and give supportive assistance to stabilize their lives. Most often, if a family is in a shelter, social services will not remove a child unless there are extenuating circumstances. However, if the parent cannot provide a stable home or if he or she is on drugs, alcohol, prostitutes or cannot provide proper care, the child may removed.

New Beginnings

So I know I told many of you to check my blog for the details of the awful week I had, however, to add to the week, this blogspot thing wouldn't work and therefore I could not post.
But I will now enlighten you of the MANY things that have happened in my life over the past two weeks. I think the most exciting thing is I bought a car. My first car. I paid for it in full and let me tell you...it's ghetto, but I love it as much as anyone would love their first ghetto car. It came complete with no radio and it smelled as bad as it looked, covered in dust. Every time I get in the dust bothers me, but I never think to rbing out a rag or something....but that car is chalked full o love. Here is it on the day I bought it....I know not the greatest picture of the actualy car, but I hope you get the idea...His name is Thumper and he is a well loved 95 Ford Taurus. And I am a proud mama.
So because of my new car purchase, I had to get a new job. One that actually pays money so I can put gas in my Thumper. So that same night I went out and applied for jobs, and what do you know, I got a job that night at Ann Taylor LOFT. Love. It is true love.

I have been doing many things to keep me busy, like for example on Halloween, Jessica, Ben, and Jessica's mom and I all went to the Bronco's stadium to go trick or treating with the Somalian family we know. Here are a couple pictures from that.
Somalia meets Ronald McDonald..It was great.

Now the reason that my week was so hard (not bad just hard) last week was because of my work at the Denver Rescue Mission. I had to take a lot of hard phone calls and left thinking, why do these awful things happen to people? Really, God? Why would You ever let one of your children go through this despair and heartache. And there is nothing I can do about it. I called my Mom and she told me I couldn't solve the world's problems, and shes right and that was comforting, but I really want to. I want to love every neglected child and give rent to every desperate family. But i can't I can do small things with great love though. And here is where it all takes place. This is my office.

and this is the green chair that angie thinks she owns, but one day it will magically appear on my side of the office because i love it oh so much. and this is our quote board. I don't know that you can actually read anything on it, but there are some good things on it. Including the last one...Jesus..BUST EM OUT.
and this is the very first family that I helped move into housing. So great and so worth all the awful phone calls I had to take to get there and help at least one family.

And now that I have a car I am able to take the Somalian girls out. Here we are at the Colorado History Museum..They loved this and all the crafts they got to do here!
So life is good and I am solid. I actually met quite a few people this week through random connections and had a really solid end to my week. I did mentor training with a church, went snowboarding on Friday just because I could (it was awesome) and I went to a BBQ in Evergreen with fun people. I have felt really blessed this week amongst all the crap, and I feel like that is a true sign that I will go through this hard times but I will be guided and comforted through them as well.

I went to church at a new church again this morning, its called Pathways and Heather and I have heard all about it from numerous people so we decided to go. And the sermon was basically speaking to me and in a lot of things that I have been wrestling with and I think if you are interested you should call me and we can talk about it.

Anyway...life is sweet here and I am enjoying it more and more the more I see and meet people. Tonight a couple of us are going to the Grizzly Rose to go Line dancing...ha, weird, I know. But great. I love it here, but I have been throwing the idea around about coming back east and going to Eastern for grad schoool...in fact I already applied! We'll see where life leads me. But for now I am going to leave you with this amazing video. Also taken at the Broncos stadium