Fun times at Chayah House

Just thought I’d post a few pics!  I took the ladies to a jazz concert in the park and it was a beautiful night and a nice way to get outside!  The ladies have also rescued a baby bunny that was found in our backyard.  They are taking really good care of it and the bunny seems to be very content in the little caged home they have made for it outside!

Sorry if I obsess over our cat Trixie too much, but I had to throw this picture of her laying by a Bible.  It looked like she was reading it!  Too funny!

 

1 Year Later!

http://vimeo.com/24690893

Here is a link to a video made by our friend Andy.  I thought it would be nice to make a video of a couple of our women telling a little bit about themselves as a way to thank all of our supporters!  Your prayers, letters of encouragement, words of counsel, and financial support are all used to invest in these women.   Thank you, thank you, thank you for all you do for us!!

Love,

Colin & Sarah

Goodbye, Megan!

Well today is Megan’s last day at the Chayah House.  I’m so sad to see her go, but she has trained me well this past year and I feel confident in moving forward with the ladies and my new co-worker Cara.  We threw a goodbye party for Megan last night.  The ladies and I wrote a song for Megan.  We had a blast decorating t-shirts, developing choreography, and collecting props for the big performance!  We closed the party last night with our song and it was a fun way to end the evening.

Open Door Womens Retreat

Well I just got back rom the Open Door Womens retreat held in Glenwood Springs, CO.  It is about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Denver in the mountains.  The Chayah House women as well as myself were very excited about this retreat due to the rough week that we had, but it ended up being a disaster too!!  We were about an hour into our drive there on Friday, when it started snowing hard and visibility was getting worse and worse.  We were starting to see cars slide off the road when we found out the interstate had been closed due to a wreck.  We decided to get off an exit and get some dinner to avoid being stuck in traffic.  Meanwhile, the weather was getting worse and the interstate wasn’t opening up.  We spent another hour at a Walmart trying to decide if we should just go back home or try to make it to the retreat.  Thankfully, Megan called her cousin who has a condo in the area we were in.  We decided we did not want to risk the drive and we stayed in the condo for the night.  We made it to Glenwood Springs the next morning and were able to relax for the day, but we soon started hearing of more bad weather for Sunday.  We decided to leave first thing Sunday morning and skipped the final seminar of the retreat.  Thanksfully, the weather home was perfect and we made it home safely!  It wasn’t the most restful weekend, but we did have some good bonding time in the car!!

And then there were three…

Well we have had a good run with some consistent residents since January.  For some reason, everything came to a head on Easter Sunday and our 6 residents went down to 3.  One of the residents found out she had money stolen, went into an angry rage, and left voluntarily.  One woman was caught sneaking a man into the house, which is an automatic eviction.  The third woman decided to buy a bottle of vodka and drink all day.  It was one of the most stressful days I’ve had since living here.  I’m still exhausted.  It all started with lies and secrets.  I am realizing that when these women are being secretive and lying to staff, it allows Satan to work in the house.  It all started with one woman, lying & stealing, which ultimately turned into 3 women making bad decisions.

Professional pics!

We had a photographer offer her services to the Chayah House.  Here are some of the pics of our lovely ladies!  Our cat Trixie even posed for a pic!

Living in Community

So there has definitely been some drama in the house this week!  It’s interesting to see the situations that arise when you put 6 women living in a house together!  We have had two women in the house that have been getting on each other’s nerves for a while and it finally came to a head this week!  One of the women confronted the other about everything that annoys her, and of course this hurt the other woman’s feelings.  Both of them threatened to leave the house, but after sleeping on it, they made up and all is well.  It actually looks like they are closer from the situation.

It just made me think how none of us are perfect.  We all have our character flaws and annoying little habits, but ultimately God made us for each other.  We need other people in our lives and they need us!  I need these women, just as much as they need me!  Even though it is not easy living with a spouse, kids, or roommates all the time, we would not thrive if God did not place these people in our lives.  Just a little thought for the day…

It’s been too long!

It has been way too long since I have posted!  A lot of things happening in the Chayah House!  As of today, we are a full house!  6 women!  That is a lot of estrogen!!  Things have been kind of crazy lately.  I thought I would fill you on some of the reality you get when you work with women with addictions. One of our women has been on pain killers for a condition called pancreatitis.  Basically the only treatment is pain killers.  We have been hesitant about giving them to her because they feed her addiction. We keep them locked up in a safe that requires a code and a special key.  Last week, I walked in on this woman who had stolen my keys and had memorized the code to the safe.  She had a hand full of painkillers in her hand.  It was such a sad picture.  She was evicted immediately.  All of our women come into the house with such hope and wanting change in their lives, but some just need more intensive treatment than we can provide.

In other news, I went to a conference in Providence, Rhode Island last week on domestic abuse.  To be honest, I did not get much out of the conference, but my co-worker and I had fun seeing Rhode Island and we even took a train to Boston!  Here are a few pics!

Staff Retreat

I (Sarah) just got back from a staff retreat in the Snowy Range of Wyoming.  I spent 2 days with the housing ministry staff at Open Door.  There are 3 houses: Treasure House for single women with children, and the Esther House and Chayah House are for single women only.  Each of these houses has two house directors.  We spent a lot of time reviewing policies and practicing different situations that come up with the women in our houses, but we also made time for some hiking!  Overall it was a fun time and a good way for me to get to know the other staff members.