This week has been a good week for community ministries.

Monday night bible study is plugging away at the James' letter in the New Testament. We're in the middle of chapter three, so we only have a few weeks left in James. The past two weeks we have been having our meal at CiCi's in Grand Blanc and then going to Erin's for bible study, hot tubbing, and swimming. This week we're back downtown though. Dave is pushing to have the meal at WiseGuys Pizza.

On Tuesday we had a Vision 20/20 meeting with various State of Michigan employees, and our partners in this Court Street Village Non-Profit Housing Corp., GTDNA, Stockton/Spring Grove, Habitat for Humanity, and the Genesee County Landbank. The state is very pleased with everything that we have been, plan on, and are doing in the neighborhood, so much so, that they are using us as the sort of poster child/neighborhood for the Vision 20/20 program in Michigan.

Rachel and I also went to about 40 landbank lots in the neighborhood and picked up trash and debris. We were a little bummed that noone showed up to help us, but nonetheless, we got done on time. We had help from Randy, Jaquan, and Jullian, three neighborhood boys who frequent "picnics in the park", and are very intrigued by us when they see us walking through the neighborhood. They saw us picking up trash by Northwest Market and wanted to know what we were doing. They ended up following us down Fenton Road and helped us with trash pick up. In return, we loaded them up with slim jim snacks, and granola bars. I am sure they would have helped regardless though.

Yesterday we had a short work day. Our only highlight was three kids puking on each other while on the tire swing in the park. It was pretty hilarious, and the kids were not upset but rather in a daze. Anette, their mom didn't really sound all to concerned that they had thrown up. She was deep in a game of Uno with another mom.

Today I went in early for the Grand Traverse Neighborhood Walkability Audit. About 40 people from various neighbors, organizations, county, and state employees participated on this walk through the neighborhood with a consultant who asked us questions and later gave a very informative presentation on the effect that roads and traffic have on cities and their ability to thrive.

Tonight is the neighborhood association meeting at Stockton house (more on that later).

There isn't a whole lot going on this weekend, which is good. Rachel and I are planning to do a good amount of work on both houses in preparation for moving.