Dickens lika do da cha cha

"A solemn consideration, when I enter a great city by night, that every one of those darkly clustered houses encloses its own secret; that every room in every one of them encloses its own secret; that every beating heart in the hundreds of thousands of breasts there, is, in some of its imaginings, a secret to the heart nearest it!" - A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens

I read this quote from Dickens, and just thought about how often I have felt (and been) alone in my short life and the incredible number of people living lives hidden from each other to share and enjoy. Perhaps living in this house has opened my eyes to see what a tragedy this is when we aren't connected to each other. It is an unbelievable gift to be here with 9 people that desire to share my life and their lives with me. After just two months, I can't imagine going back to living without this family. I feel supported and celebrated in a way that is genuine and it has helped show me that I am those things. We are all meant for those things. This home is the exception, but it doesn't have to be.

I am so thankful to each of you that live here. You have helped change my life. I am blessed. You all have chosen to pursue my heart and know me - the good and the broken - and I hope that those who have seen it, are inspired to do the same for others like I have been.

Sorry to ruin the moment here, but I wanted to explain the title - you have to have seen Bruce Almighty (great flick, check it out). Anyway, so I was in class distracting other students the other day and just decided that everything "lika da cha cha" and it was hilarious like all my jokes. So I decided to continue such humorousness in this here blog. That's how the cookie crumbles.

Because I haven't blogged in a while

Some of us went to an Invisible Children GO screening last week. This documentary depicted the trips of three high school students and their relationships with young men and women of Uganda. It was... difficult to watch... not because of the poverty, but because these kids were struggling to understand the world and their place in it. Both the American and Ugandan students battled with self-worth and purpose, both feeling alone and forgotten and wondering if they were worth anyone's love. And it was the unique friendships that formed that brought the beginning of healing and hope in each other. We really need one another. Our impact on/of the people around us can be huge... Hugs, not drugs people.

InvisibleChildren.com

We met another neighbor last weekend after they invited us over to a little bbq they were having with some friends. It ended up that we were able to help them fix a TV problem and watched some football together afterwards. It was fun.

The Strong Q-Cumbers are 2-1 after a 7-6 win on Saturday and Penn State is 4-0!. Hooray. T-Shirts will be on sale soon. Lindsey and Kelley found out we could put our Facebook's in other languages including Pirate English (try it out). School is for suckers - except if you're younger than 18, stay in school! Katrina is awesome, she is getting me some orange juice... see LOVE! It's great (Katrina is just plain sick - in the good hood way - even if she didn't get me orange juice. I'm really happy she's my friend - tear :). Mary is no longer part of the rising unemployment rate! She got a j-o-b with Caribou, the coffee shop, creating a rivalry with Brittney, who works at Starbucks. The horror. Pete made up new lyrics to the song that CU plays at games, you know the "f' 'em up, f' 'em up, go CU" song. It's "Fudgaba, fudgaba, go CU". We tried to get other students to sing it, but... they were too mature. Kelley and Mel will attempt to become sexlingual (hehe, sex). Wait I just realized that could be read as if we were trying to learn sex-talk or something... we're not, we're going to begin learning a total of six languages which happens to be hilariously called sexlingual (hehehe, sex). Our backyard is uhh... really comin along... sorta. Motivation is at an all-time low. Poor backyard. Oh yeah, and Pete's noggin has a surprise for you.

What do you think of the new look?

This is what happens when people start getting real

So we've been working on our backyard for what seems like forever and we are finally seeing some progress. Here's what we're doing back there:

1. Leveling the left side of the yard for a patio. This labor is both intense and meticulous. We've gotten over 1500 bricks for free and still need more. We also had a patio set and grill donated to us!

2. We have fertilized and seeded the right side for a lawn. We were a little worried something was wrong after a few days of seeing no sprouting, but there is green buggers popping up everywhere now!

3. We've got a spot for a garden but not much can happen there until spring.

4. Lindsey has been the mastermind in setting us up for composting - basically its a way to re-use food, food products, paper, etc. to create rich soil. Yay green!

On Labor Day evening (Labor Night?), we had some family, neighbors and friends over for a little dinner and fun. It was exciting to get to know our neighbors better. We actually found out we know a lot of the same people and share common goals. Jeff, Katie, and Lindsey made some of the most amazing orange chicken for everyone.

Being family isn't always easy. The house experienced its first major fight this week. There was a lot of disagreeing and disrespecting; it got heated and a little out of control. For a few days after, the house was tense. Those involved reconciled, but it has been a learning experience for everyone. We all come from very different places and all struggle in different ways. Hopefully, we can continue to learn how to love those differences, communicate in better, healthier ways, and be forgiving of each other's mistakes. We have immense power to hurt each other as we get closer. Intimacy is frightening. The stakes are high. I guess this house is testing if it's worth it.

Other anecdotes: Katie got a job as a special events coordinator at the Denver Rescue Mission - Katrina and Mary are still unemployed which just means they're stickin' it to the man. Penn State is slowly becoming the house team (they're ranked #19 - underrated for sure - and I love them). We got two orchids. Kelley coached his first soccer practice for the Strong Cucumbers - full of rambunctious six year-olds ready for a championship - and have their first game this Saturday. Mary's infamous "pterodactyl" laugh was exposed... one of the funniest laughs I've ever heard. Pete hit a dog with his car... not much of an anecdote i guess, but hey, it lived. It was unintentional (uh-huh). Jeff purchased season 1 of The Office! Everyone in the house interestingly became supporters of John McCain... yeah, right (I got hit for writing that... there's so much violence in this house... help me, please, call the police, I'm not safe, it's only a matter of time befo.......)