Busy Weeks

The past few weeks we have been running. End of the semester for my seminary class, Thanksgiving outreach for work, Birthdays. Since I last wrote, we now have a 7 year old and a 3 year old in addition to our 5 year old. We had fun parties including a carnival and a horse party. I'll try to post more pictures once we get them uploaded onto the computer.
Now we are off to Grand Rapids for Thanksgiving. It will be good to rest for a minute.

Contrast

This morning I left Central High School where nothing is sacred for a funeral at St. John's Armenian Orthodox Church where sacred filled every one of my senses. From the priest touching the crucifix to my head, and the pungent aroma of incense, the chanting sounds of the deacon in the Armenian language, and the visual impression of the historic sanctuary. Quite a contrast from smelling weed, seeing graffiti, and hearing the F word used as 4 different parts of speech as a hall monitor.

Hectic

More posts next week.  This week is party planning, club preparation, sermon writing, and work.

Long Day of running, without any exercise

7am - breakfast meeting downtown
8:30 - Head to Central HS to volunteer as hall monitor
10:30 - office
11:30 - Lunch meeting with friend/donor in Southfield
1:30 - Office
2:45 pick up Jamison from school
3:30 time with family
4:30 cook dinner
5:15 drive van to pickup kids for tutoring program
6:30 Church leadership meeting
8:00 drive kids home from tutoring program
9:00 back to church for the rest of the meeting
9:30 home to prepare for Jamison's birthday tomorrow

Youth Dance

Four of our teens ministered through dance at our church worship service today. I videotaped it for them and thought I would put it up here as well. I'm so blessed by the fact that young people in our neighborhood are able to use their gifts to serve the Lord. It is happening more and more that teens influenced by the Gospel are creating a new culture of Kingdom values in our community. That culture creates space for kids to be righteous and have a community that accepts them as "aliens and strangers" in this world. 1 Peter 2:9-12

CDC Club 7:37 Video 2 - Morphing

Here's a look at something fun we did with our kids this week. They got a kick out of it. I think you'll recognize some of the faces.

Carolina Basketball Season

The number 1 ranked Tar Heels begin their season in just over a week, and our family is ready thanks to a package that came in the mail today from Vaughn in Charlotte. Now we all have our game day T-shirts ready for a great season. The Heels play here in Detroit against Michigan State on December 3 and hopefully again in early April for the Final Four.

If God's not a Tar Heel, then why is the sky Carolina Blue?

Ever heard this one before?

I just dropped Jamison off at school today and was driving off when I saw a car stopped and a woman standing beside it looking warily into the door. I rolled down my window and asked if I could help her. She said, "I was driving along when I felt something moving inside of the seat of my car behind me. When I stopped and got out, I saw the head of a raccoon poking out of a hole in the upholstery." Does this kind of thing happen anywhere outside of our city?

Handsome Boy

Dress Up

We didn't really do anything for Halloween with our family - I'm not big on it except as a time to get to know our neighbors better and no one really trick-or-treats down our street. But the boys still wanted to dress up so we had a pirate, superchick, and firefighter roaming from door to door through our house giving and getting candy that they had already received at their birthday party two weeks ago. We're not going for any parent of the year awards here.

Peaches and Greens

So our long-awaited produce market opened yesterday. Here are a couple of photos from the grand opening. We acquired the building last winter, it was a dry cleaners before it was shut down when the owners were selling drugs instead of pressing shirts. The building sat untouched for a number of years. Our teens worked back in February to clear the building of all the old clothes and junk. Then through the spring and summer, volunteers from Trinity Church in Plymouth worked to renovate the entire building into useful space. Now we have created new jobs and stabilized another corner in our community. And what a gift to have fresh fruit, vegetables, and dairy two blocks away! This is a big gift to the physical and economic health of our community. Now we just need to sell some garlic and eggplant. (Thanks to Rachel for the photos).