M-I-A-M-I

In one month I am heading to Miami, FL for the Christian Community Development conference (CCDA). Oct. 22-26

The theme this year is "seeking the peace of the city."
I have wanted to attend this conference for quite a few years. I finally get to go!!!!!!
Some of the people I repsect the most in community development will be speaking: Brian McLaren, John Perkins, Phil Jackson, Arloa Sutter, and many more prominent individuals that work for issues of justice...

Who is CCDA: CCDA is an ethnically diverse, national network of thousands of Christians who work together to mobilize spiritual and physical resources in and for their neighborhoods through the church in a community-determined way that is redemptive.

I am really, really looking forward to this!

A holy mix.....

Life is filled with a spectrum of joy & brokeness.
Our house got together with our next door neighbors tonight and had some AMAZING converstation .... They live in a house with 8 guys living intentionally together.

They told us they have been praying for the family that lives in our duplex. Crazy thing is of all days, this family is in need of serious prayer today. If you think of it say a prayer for Sherry (Mom), Alfredo (Dad), Bucky(21) Chongo(14), Luisa(16), Tanna(25), Savannah(1 1/2), Amelia-Luisa's daughter (1) & Delone(4)...

Aaron turns 4!

Ever since I began tutoring Lacy her family has embraced me as "one of them." Tonight I went over to their house to celebrate Aaron's 4th birthday. It was so entertaining to watch him open his presents... He is such a loving kid.
He is currently the youngest of 8 kids in their family. Soon, they will have 9 kids, and he will be a big brother!

I mentor Aaron's oldest sister Kelsey, and I am continually impacted by the insight she has as a 19 year old young woman. I was going through her

blog

and two years ago she posted this about Aaron:

Will he be familiar enough with the traditions and people of Ethiopia that he does not feel like a stranger within his culture?

Will he be equipped to handle the grief of losing his birth family?

Will he be at peace with his past?

Will he ever feel like a piece of him is missing?

Will he seek to reconnect with Ethiopia, or will it simply be the place he tells people he was born?

I know that adoption was the best option for Aaron. God couldn’t have made it more clear that he was meant to be with us. The circumstances bringing him from the brink of starvation to a thriving, joyful, and cherished member of our family are miraculous. We needed him and he needed us. However, it doesn’t negate the losses he experienced early in life. It breaks my heart that he will have some serious issues to navigate as he grows up. I just pray that we can equip him to the best of our ability, and be there to support and love him through everything.
( written by Kelsey in October 2006)

i.robot.

Two of my housemates helped our four year old neighbor, Delone make a robot outfit out of the recyclables... What a good way to reuse, reduce, recycle! The video is hilarious.




Also, this past weekend we had a neighborhood girls "back to school sleepover." The girls did hair, nails, and watched "How She Move." Some of us in our house have known these girls since they were 7, and now many of them are 12 or 13!