Welcome Caoimhe

On Monday, we welcomed the newest member of the OPA House family...

Caoimhe (pronounced Kee-vah) is just the biggest, sweetest, laziest dog you'll ever hope to meet. She's a "big snuggle bear" (to quote Shannon Abbott). Her interests include laying around, smiling, shedding, and getting attention. She prefers cat food over dog food.

"Caoimhe" is a gaelic name (actually quite popular in Ireland) that means "beautiful, gentleness, loveliness, grace". We also like it because it sounds like Kiva, which is the name of our favorite microfinance you-lend-it organization.

Ryan is trying to get me to scratch IN her ears...he swears that she loves it. I'm sure she does, but my dog love only goes so far...

Caoimhe wants you to stop in, say hi, and give her some love.

OPA!

The OPA House. I have to admit, I'm not thrilled with the name. I wanted something much more frilly-sounding...something like "Sunshine and Puppy Palace" or "PeaceLily Place". The OPA House sounds more like a place full of crusty old men in lederhosen..or at best, a biergarten.

But since our first housemates are our friends who started One Paycheck Away, OPA House seemed to be an appropriate nod to both our roots and what is likely to be our mission for the foreseeable future...providing a home and community to folks who are or have been homeless, or who just like being around them.