A quick update on things here in Flint....

Ignite Team Move In Day is Saturday August 28! This is a busy day starting with the 7am Crim Water Station in The Sal's Beach Street parking lot. Later on in the day is a reception for our friends Robert & Laura who got married in Florida last week. It might be easier than we thought because we currently only have one person who is going to be a part of the inaugural year of Ignite. There is potential for one more and we should hear back soon. We thought about a few others, but We're fine with a small first session. I spoke to my Aunt Ruth, and while at CMI she seems to have been promoting Ignite to people. She already spoke with the one interested person as well as another potential member for the 2011-2012 session. We also may have one person come into the program later on in the year, potentially in January.

We're getting excited for the CCDA national conference which is Sept. 7-10! There are seven, potentially eight of us going. We have never been but plan on going every year. I am excited to learn, grow, and be challenged.

I've been busy booking lots of great bands for Live @ The Sal shows. It should be a fun Fall even though doing shows is pretty tiring. Check out http://www.facebook.com/liveatthesal for updates.

We did a ton of work on our house this weekend. Some of it was heavy duty cleaning that needed to be done. Large houses can become overwhelming when it comes to cleaning. Thanks to Andy who has been working hard with us to keep it clean. We also painted what was "the yellow room" in prep for our Ignite Team member. Still have some work to do on it, but it's getting there. We're also hoping to get some demo work done on one whole side of the house. I'd like to get some insulation in all the walls before the January temps hit and the house can hardly get above 60 degrees in some areas.

We turned in our application to become an official student organization at the University of Michigan Flint. Our goal is to focus on local issues of injustice. Things like fair and adequate housing for all, drug trafficking and victims of drug trafficking, and providing various resources/aid to under resourced communities. I'm hopeful that we can get some people on board. We'll be working the next few weeks to really have all our programs, outreach, and events set so that we can successfully promote at the UM Flint Student Fair.

Andy and I have been discussing some doing something on 10.10.10. He wants to get on board with http://www.350.org/ which would be doing something to raise awareness about climate change. Regardless of your position on climate change, I think we can all agree that we should try to be the best stewards of the environment that we can be. There may be some collaboration with a local art gallery and some other groups. I'm hoping that we can maybe merge this with the Micah Challenge which is promoting events on 10.10.10 as well. While 350 promotes caring for the planet, Micah Challenge promotes caring for the inhabitants of the planet, specifically the poor.

It's been great having Andy here. He's planned on being here for at least a year and then possibly NYC for a time, but I hope that as he gets involved in the community, he stays for a while longer. We have had great discussions and he challenges me in a variety of ways. I hope we continue to get more people living in our house. Communal living is much more enjoyable than I thought it would be. we are helping others by providing an affordable place to stay while building some great friendships, while they are helping to offset our expenses which helps us to pay our bills and focus on our work and family with much less stress.

We're in the last two weeks of Picnics in the Park. It's been a great year. We've built some relationships, and inadvertently pushed some kids away who would not show respect to the building, and the program, and to us. It's a slow process, but it's all about people. We can't rush the relationships we are forming with our neighbors. Most of the time, its all about listening, and having compassion. Rachel pointed out that where Heidi our old president was all about land use and development, I (in my role as neighborhood president) seem to be all about people, and relationships, and lifestyle. Not that Heidi was not concerned with these things. It's great because Heidi is still working hard on the issues she has a passion for. So it's like we're working together on two fronts, getting double the work accomplished.

Last, we had another planning meeting about the neighborhood family fest. Things are coming together great. Rachel and I have the idea that the weekend this takes place (Sept. 19), that there is a whole weekend of activities that focus on neighborhood issues. Most of these are issues of injustice (slum lords, drug trafficking, etc...). We stumbled into the idea when we saw all these Sal weekends promoting prayer for global issues. While we are concerned with global issues, we are choosing to focus in on our one area of the world to tray and make a difference. More on this as we work out the details...