4AM

It was about 10:00 last night when I realized I had to drive to Denver. Yeah, I wasn't too excited.... Monday evening I was in Denver for a family dinner for my cousin who left yesterday to go to Bible college in California (bye Melly!!). I drove back up to Greeley Tuesday (yesterday) morning, got the the Global Refugee Center by 9:00, worked until about 2:45, went to a physical assessment (for my job with ABC doing before and after school care) at 3:30 (although I didn't get seen until after 4:00), went to a Universal Precautions, CPR, and First Aid class at 6:00, got done a little after 9:00, rushed to Starbucks to write a paper, and finished by 10:00 when they close. I don't have internet in my apartment in Greeley yet, so it was then that I realized there was no way I could log in to Soliya for my first facilitation training meeting the next morning (Did I even mention that I'm doing facilitator training for Soliya??). To Denver! I got to my grandparents' house a little after 11:00, got to bed by midnight, and work up at 3:30am to get ready for my 4:00am session. So I am tired!!

My trainers' names are Jo and Katharina. In the group training for facilitator positions with me are Marielle, Maaike, Robb, and Joe. While I have to admit, I am excited about continuing my involvement with Soliya, it is another thing to do. I'm working hard to balance my schedule, but we'll see how this next semester goes. I'm definitely nervous about it. Still, our session today went very well. We talked about why facilitators are necessary, what they bring to the table, and what their purpose is.

When I think about facilitation in this context, I think of someone who forms a bridge between people, who brings them together, who creates a safe place where they can try to understand each other. Excuse my terrible drawing to the right, but I wanted to find a way to show you all what I have in mind. This is not to say that facilitators have all the answers or are at perfect peace, but there's just something about being able to respect and accept others' thoughts and beliefs even if you don't necessarily agree with them.

I'm really looking forward to this opportunity training with Soliya. I can't wait to see how it helps me grow personally and what I can offer to others through it.