feels like home

(the house looks a little different, huh?)

so we have been here for almost two weeks and in that two weeks i've learned more about what it means to live in a "transitional" and urban neighborhood:

• at any point in the day or night, someone is outside on their front porch drinking a beer and/or smoking a cigarette
• if you have beer or cigarettes, be prepared to share
• more ambulances and ice cream trucks down our street than i've ever seen in my life
• neighbors are here to help and look out for one another
• there are a lot of Christians in the neighborhood
• and also a lot of veterans 
• if you suspect illegal activity in a nearby home, don't let on to it
• if the cops come to the street, make it clear you were not the one to call them

we are absolutely loving this time of creating our home and meeting our neighbors. as would be suspected, steven already knows all the neighbors' names and most of their life stories. he's been given resumes and prayer requests. most evenings, steve has been on the front porch chatting with neighbors, sharing what we have (beer and cigarettes), and getting to know those that live around us. jack has even made a friend too.


this week we attended the neighborhood association bbq. most of the people were newcomers, like us. but some have been around for years. it was a little disappointing to see the lack of diversity of those attending, but maybe we can change that. steve and i left asking eachother, "was everyone in the neighborhood invited?" because it certainly didn't look that way. we've talked about having a party for EVERYONE, inviting the whole neighborhood and having a kegger. but then steven reminded me that maybe a kegger isn't such a great idea and a root beer kegger would be best.


today we had the opportunity to open our home to about 30 people who are either considering moving to the near east side or just have a heart for the neighborhood. there was a little meet and greet of people and then a home tour, to which our home was added just this morning before i left for work. it was great talking to people about our reasons for choosing this community and what our experience has been thus far. also...we got a lot of great feedback on the yellow porch swing which made me so happy!


i'll probably be writing about our house a lot because...well, it's our life right now. and it's brought up a lot of emotion in me. mostly gratitude.