where and with who i'm sharing life

I figure it would be helpful to share a few details about where and with who I'm sharing life these days - set the characters and stage of my current stories.

L'Arche Harbor House has 5 houses - Greatfull House (with 6 core members), Nouwen House (5 core members), Peace House (4), Sunflower House (3), and Prayer (2) - plus live-in and live-out assistants each.

Core members are persons with intellectual disabilities who live in L'Arche communities.  Assistants are persons without intellectual disabilities who share life with core members and assist with daily life activities.  They can be live-in or live-out.  At Harbor House here in Jacksonville, most assistants are live-in, but there are also live-out assistants in most of the houses as well.

There are core members who are founding members of the community - so they have been here 26 years.  And some who have been here almost that long.  Some have been here a few years, or have just arrived within the past year.

There are assistants who have lived in L'Arche for many years, including many of those years here in Jacksonville.  Others spend a year or 2 - as an Americorps volunteer, or simply stay for a shorter term.  These are often young adults just out of college or thereabouts.  There is also usually at least 1 summer-long intern/assistant.

The community also relies heavily on various volunteers to help with daily life in the houses, administrative staff who help keep all of the organization's ducks in a row, and a board to help make decisions about long-term strategic plans and the like.

Currently, I am sharing life in Greatfull House, and sleeping in Nouwen House (until a room opens up in mid-March in Greatfull).  In Greatfull, the core members include 5 women and 1 man (maybe I'll hold off on names for now?).  Assistants are currently Ben, Sarah, Leah, JP, Mariusz, and Dina (live-out House Coordinator).

Greatfull is the largest house in the community and sits at the front of the property.  Because of its position on the street, it's the house that folks unfamiliar with the community will usually come to first looking for someone or something.  Because it has the largest common space, it is considered the "house of hospitality," and is where various meetings like weekly Assistant Formation occur.

For these first few weeks, I'm mainly observing routines and developing relationships with core members and assistants.  This has been a joy thus far - it's nice to have the freedom to take it all in and just "be" with people, and not be thrown into a sea of responsibility where one must immediately sink or swim.

It is also a challenge - there is a lot of information and nuances of story, relationship, and structures to take in.  It's also a challenge to not have the "control" and comfort that comes with responsibility.  I'm not really cooking, cleaning, or shopping for the house, and don't even live full-time in any one place really.  So while I've been invited to make myself at home, reach for anything in the fridge or cabinets, supplies in closets, etc. - I still don't really know what's in the house, where it would be located, what's really up for grabs, what someone would get upset about if I moved, etc.

But these are lessons in holding onto material things and situations with loose hands, in going with the flow, and in letting those lessons feed into true presence with who and what is in front of us.

My head and heart have truly been spinning the past couple weeks! with vocational reflections, things that will be important to keep in mind and structures to put in place as we start a new community...as well as lots of little stories to tell - funny things, sweet moments, etc.  So many really good hugs, thumbs up, smiles, hand-holding, words of welcome and glad greetings upon each new encounter.

While I'm at it, I would ask for any prayers, good thoughts and energy for good health to be sent our way at Harbor House - especially Greatfull House.  Some kind of stomach virus has been making its way through the community, and especially our house.  I already had my bout of stomach bug in early December in Nashville, so I hope not to get it again.  It's hit 3 core members and 3 assistants in our house alone - plus another assistant who has a head cold.  It's always tough to see folks you care about feeling crummy, and we keep hoping that it won't continue to spread - but there's not much stopping a bug like this.  But anyway - prayers for health, strength, patience, and good rest are appreciated.