My Dad Reminded Me I Have a Blog

I swear, I meant to write.  I had plans for an Adopt A Family post, Christmas time in California, North Carolina travel, midyear retreat and coming back to Ventura.  Here is a brief summary of all of those and thank you to my Dad for reminding me I have a blog.

Help of Ojai's Adopt A Family (AAF) project went pretty well.  It was a lot of hard work to go into one project and being able to see the end result was rewarding. I started working on AAF in September by creating spreadsheets and changing all the materials we use to the year 2015.  Families that met the criteria to be adopted started signing up in early October.  November was spent matching adoptees with adoptors.  At the beginning of December the adoptors dropped the gifts off and the next week the adoptees came and picked the gifts up.  The gifts were dropped off and picked up at Help of Ojai's West Campus, which is different from where I normally work.  I enjoyed the interactions with the people whom I don't normally work directly with and seeing the hard work they do.  Like the Thanksgiving baskets, I enjoyed working with everyone in the community.  Businesses, families, neighborhoods and churches are a few examples of groups that were generous enough to adopt a family in need.  A lot of places in the community continued to do food drives for Help of Ojai, which helps sustain our pantry for part of the year.  My favorite AAF story from this year was a family from Ventura that called and asked about adopting a family.  They used to live in Ojai and moved to Ventura when the Dad found a better job.  Since they have a stable income and are doing better, the family decided to give back and adopt a family from the same program that had helped them in the past.

Christmas in California was warm and we were surrounded by a lot of friends.  We went caroling with a teacher from Villanova Prep, her family and neighbors in Camarillo.  We attended a Christmas Party at Villanova Prep and socialized with the faculty and staff.  We went bowling with a large group of people from both schools.  We decorated the house with Christmas lights, stockings and a fake Christmas tree.  We had an advent wreath that we lit during prayers and some meals.  We are very blessed to live in a place that remembers we were away from home during the Christmas season.

North Carolina was cloudy and rainy for most of my visit.  I enjoyed running around and seeing family and friends all over North Carolina.  I appreciated everyone taking the time out of their busy holiday schedule to hangout and eat.  I especially enjoyed the time I got to spend with my family and appreciate them sharing cars, driving me around and appeasing me.  A special thanks to Laura for going with me to Wilmington to drop off an application for school.

After Christmas break the Augustinian Volunteers met in Ocean City, NJ for a midyear retreat. It was really nice to see everyone and hear what and how they were doing.  We were also able to check-in with ourselves and community to prepare for the next part of the year.  Just like in August, it was hard to leave and go to our respective sites after a great few days together.

At Help of Ojai we have some changes coming and new projects to work on.  I am looking forward to learning more about working in the community and enjoying my time in California.