The ER and a Shag Room

Boarding our flight to Portland, gina turned to me and asked “are you ready to let the dogs out?” In other words ready to get this adventure started. I had no idea what orientation week had in store for me. I didn’t see an emergency room visit in the cards but that was exactly where I ended up. I arrived in Portland with a walking boot on my foot to cater to my stress fracture. On a little hike with my roommates, the boot got caught in a root in the ground and I fell fracturing my elbow. I became the community cripple. It is a funny story, I am just happy to be finally healing!

Where to start, where to start... Our JV house (pictured above) is a total trip. Shag on the walls, the glass octagonal table, and the avocado and bright orange bathrooms give our 1970’s house its character. The house is full of 8 years worth of JV stuff. The closets are stuffed with clothes, coats, blankets, towels. The shelves are filled with books, magazines, and random thrift store trinkets. The kitchen is stocked with every spice or seasoning we could ever want. The community surrounding us is great. Our first week we had a potluck at our house and our living room and kitchen were filled with neighbors and former JVs assuring us of their support and welcoming us to Anchorage. Quickly this place has become home!

Let me just talk about the 6 amazing people I live with. There are a ton of laughs in our shag filled house! In a lot of different ways we could not be more different. But there are some connections made that make me feel like I have known these people for years.

Anchorage is great! It’s a small city which often reminds me of Granada. The Chugach Mountains as a backdrop get me in trouble when I am walking on the street because I can’t look away. We went blueberry picking in the mountains and the drive was simply stunning! I would have found the blueberry picking more enjoyable if I hadn’t been in a boot and arm cast, but at least I was surrounded by Alaska’s beauty.

The adventure is only beginning! Can’t wait to see what this place has in store for us!

Moose count = 0

Bear count = 1

LOVING LIFE!

Join the Adventure

Well family and friends, I have fallen in love....Fallen in love with Saint Ignatius and the values of the Jesuit community. Which is why in a little less than two weeks I will be embarking on an adventure to Anchorage, Alaska to be a Jesuit Volunteer!

Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest engages women and men in a transforming experience of full-time volunteer service. Jesuit Volunteers serve for a year or more in solidarity with persons living on the margins of society and with vulnerable places in the Pacific Northwest.

Rooted for over fifty years in the Jesuit Catholic tradition emphasizing spiritual openness and depth, Jesuit Volunteers in the Northwest examine and act on the causes of social and environmental injustice to promote peace and structural change. Jesuit Volunteers live in communities that commit to simple living embodying a healing and sustainable presence on the Earth.

After a five day orientation at a camp in Portland, myself and my 7 house-mates will make our way up to Anchorage which we will call home for the next year! Working in a domestic violence shelter, living with 7 new people, experiencing endless days of sun and full days of dark, and moose counting (can't wait to see those creatures) should make for some pretty entertaining stories. If you want to follow me on this adventure I invite you to!!!!

"Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the mornings, what you will do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love and it will decide everything." - Pedro Arrupe, SJ.