Celebrating our Anniversary, You would think that if Doug can keep his eyes open for this shot, you would think that the Passport image people would have looked and made sure he had his eyes open for the their shot............. Didn't,   retook photo  cross your fingers that his passport gets here soon.

Hope to see you all on Sept 3rd, Next Wed at Josefina's

Be well.

Sept 3rd Dinner at Josefinas in Tacoma

A Visit From "Chavo"

This is an excerpt of an article written when the Western Region Sponsored the Community Leader at the time in Queretaro to travel up to our communities for a visit. 

A Visit From “Chavo”
by Erin Hahl, House Leader

On the eve of May 13, 2008, Salvador Delgado, the community leader from Queretaro, Mexico, arrived via an international enculturation meeting in Montreal. Chavo, Salvador’s more common and preferred name, spent three weeks in and around Tacoma in an effort to building solidarity and strengthen ties with L’Arche Tahoma Hope and the Western U.S. Region. While Chavo came to us with minimal English and we received him with an almost reciprocal amount of Spanish, it didn’t take long to get to know him and his gentle spirit. Chavo spent his days in an assortment of ways. He
often joined the Farmhouse for morning breakfast and tea, worked almost daily on the Farm, and spent a good chunk of his time mixing with other members and parts of the Tacoma and Seattle communities. Through the help of gestures, translators, and some creative forms of communication, Chavo shared with us about his community back home.

 L’Arche in Queretaro was founded in 1999 and consists of one house, made up of five core members. In addition to the home, community members take part in activities together, such as baking break, growing a garden, and gathering daily for prayer. The life there, he said, is simple and is full of many of the same joys and challenges found within the walls of our homes and programs here in Tacoma. Chavo’s presence was felt throughout the community during and after his visit. He brought with him a very playful and tender spirit, which enabled the often broken conversations to be a little more fluid. It wasn’t uncommon to see him joking with core members, to catch him on the Farmhouse lawn participating in a badminton tournament, or to hear him joining the house in a song and dance number. Chavo went back to Queretaro with a few extra English words in his pocket, and both parties left the experience feeling a deeper sense of connection and a stronger sense of belonging to the international body of L’Arche.

Elisa's trip to Queretaro

Looking back through our twinning with Queretaro we have made some great connections. One of them was while on retreat in Mexico City, Elisa Stene Carrothers had the opportunity to spend a few days in the Queretaro Community

Follow the link to read about her experience.

www.larchethc.org/LarcheTahomaHope/Elisa.html

Working hard for our trip

Doug and I have been working hard this season.  We have saved some money, Doug just went out to get some great traveling pants and hiking shoes.  I will be heading out to do the same soon.   We are still waiting for his passport to arrive and then we can officially land in style.   Its our fall carrot. Much more work to do at the Farm as well as coordinating our itinerary and continue to work on our language.   More soon.

Latin Festival primer to Queretaro

There are a few photos from the Latin Festival. It was a great first effort from Centro Latino, the parade of nations was amazing.  Doug and I had a great time meeting many new people and learning the names of many of our plants and vegetables in Spanish. 

Getting excited via Latin Festival

It was a great weekend for Doug and myself.  We worked at the Latin Festival sponsored by Central Latino in Tacoma.  There were many Spanish speaker and Doug and I were able to use a few words here and there.  It was nice to just hear the language and begin to really let it sink in that we will be traveling soon on our journey to Queretaro.   We are also excited as we are nearly final on our fundraising dinner at Josephina's in Tacoma, they have agreed to donate portions of sales from their meals in Sept and we are working on finalizing a date for this.  More to come.

Many phone calls many details, all coming together

We are all getting very excited about the coming months. We are in the process of submitting our bio's to be translated and should be getting information from Queretaro soon about their community; core-members and assistants. 

We will be finalizing our travel plans and schedule.  Xavier connected us up with a fantastic travel agent in Spokane that was able to secure some fantastic tickets.  Doug and I are excited to be traveling with a layover in Vegas, this is his Birth City and its nice to pass through the place of your birth to a place that will be giving both of us so much life.