This is our second week back from vacation. Rachel and Hannah and I took a week and went down south to North Caroline to visit my sister and her family. It was a great time. The south is an amazing place. Some of the things I appreciated about that region were: the weather, the fact that I did not have any allergy issues (may also be due to being away from our old house and pets), the people are so polite, the lack of de-industrialization/vacant buildings/blight, cheap gas, the amount of stuff to do, different types of historic sites, and so on.

My sister's family recently moved back there after about a year of living in the Flint area. They were miserable up here, but wanted to try and be closer to family. As soon as they moved back to Charlotte, my sister was rehired back at her old job, and her husband received a substantial promotion. We spent a lot of time outdoors with Hannah. And she loved being around her cousins. We realized that we need to find her some play friends.

Above all, it was interesting to note how bad things really are here in Michigan. I knew they were bad in contrast to the rest of the country, but we are really in a situation here. Rachel and I both took note that as soon as we got through the Ohio valley, the scenery changed to...well I can't quite describe it, but it wasn't pretty. It's no wonder that the southern US is experiencing population growth while the Midwest grows slowly while, Michigan was the only state to have a shrinking population. People came in droves to work good paying industrial jobs, and then when the industry declined and in some aspects died, the people left, and the landscape is now scarred in a sense with old factories, businesses closed, and houses left to rot and fall apart. It's a mess. I don't blame people for leaving, but I also know that the people who are here, for as long as they are here, will work hard to rebuild and see this area thrive again.

We're keeping busy here as we wrap up the school year, and enter the Summer. Our programs, activities, and ministries shift towards outdoors as the weather gets nicer out. We're expanding Picnics In The Park to include crafts, organized sports, poetry, Mission: Literacy reading program, and more. This will be a good Summer!

Rachel and I are going to Commissioning Weekend (big Midwest Sal Army event) and promoting Ignite. We'll have a table in Resource Connection, a popular spot to be, and hopefully we'll have recruited six people for this year's Ignite program by the end of the weekend!

We're back to a normal week here at work. Last week's spring break vbs went well. We had about 40 kids here over the course of the week. Dave taught them some songs and then let them sing some Justin Bieber. Dave feels like he wants to continue the music element into after school as it really got kids to connect with what we're doing and with each other. Normally they are picking on each other, but song brought them all together. Throughout the week, the kids learned about the armor of God; worked on several crafts such as angels, fish, aprons, and frosting cookies; and spent time in the gym playing games. Some of the kids may enroll in our after school program. We didn't slow down once the weekend hit either. On Saturday, Rachel took a group to Grand Rapids for training on Mission: Literacy, a tool that uses the bible to teach people to read or bring them up to the level they should be at depending on their age. Afterwards, there was a dinner to raise funds for kids who are going to Acquire the Fire at the end of the month. It's a teen conference filled with great speakers, worship, and more. Matt and Lindsay Rowland, my sister Erin, and Dave (Ignite) are taking the kids. It should be a great time. This week we're back on a semi normal schedule. Kids are back in school, and so we have after school. The youth worship band is practicing up in preparation for Youth Councils. We've been asked to lead a brief time of worship on Saturday night. Dave will be participating all weekend in the main worship band too. Afterwards, Dave will fly down to Texas to get a car from his grandmother, spend some time in Chicago and then head back here. We'll be on vacation in a few weeks, so Dave will be on his own for a while. When we come back, it will be the month of May! Time is flying by. Dave will be here until August, and then I am not sure what he has planned. He recently interviewed for a part time job at Carriage Town working as a shelter supervisor. We hope that he hears back soon. It would be a good job for him to have.

What a busy weekend. We finally launched into our Sundays at The Sal offerings this weekend. After much discussion, and prayer, we have opted for a slow approach. We started out with dodgeball, which we have moved from Thursday nights to twice a month on Sunday afternoons. Following dodgeball, we had a potluck/bible study where we looked at the three stories where Jesus talks about the greatest commandment and what that means to us. We used "mutual invitation" which is a way to give everyone a chance to share their thoughts on the question being asked at that moment. Where there wasn't a whole ton of theological discourse, we certainly learned a lot from the scriptures and from each others' understanding or take on the passages. And so, it was a good end to the weekend. We started the weekend out in our house by switching bedrooms so that our family has the whole upstairs and Dave has a part of the downstairs. Everyone has more space, and Hannah finally has her own bedroom. If I wasn't exhausted by the trips up and down the stairs, I would be after playing dodgeball the next night. Man, do my legs ache! In two weeks, we have a family bible study and dodgeball time, so now we prepare for that. This week is Spring Break for elementary schools. Dave has prepared a Spring Break VBS for each afternoon. This will be a good change of pace. I am usually in the gym every afternoon with kids, and this week I will be helping with crafts. I am looking forward to this change of pace. But what I am really looking forward to is vacation at the end of this month! We really need a vacation.

I'v been slacking on this blog it seems. It's been over a month since our last update. I think it's due to the winter blues. Man, grey skies, cold weather, and having to stay indoors have really worn me out this year. So yesterday we finally ventured out into the neighborhood on a prayer walk that lasted more then 30 minutes because it was so nice out. In the winter, its hard to navigate through our neighborhood because of unplowed streets, and sidewalks that have not been shoveled. People, and the city tend to let the snow get packed down by pedestrians and/or cars rather than clear it.

Anyway, we prayed at the Ignite house, and a few other places. Rachel had an idea to bring Goof Off and remove spray paint at a few locations in our neighborhood. Word to the wise, don't use it on stop signs...at least in Flint. It took the spray paint off as well as some of the red that is supposed to stay on the stop sign! All in all, it was a good walk and good to be outside.

There are a lot of things going on and not going on right now. Right before we planned on launching Sundays at The Sal, we felt God speaking to us to slow down and step back for a moment. Now we're looking to introduce some of what we wanted on Sundays, on Wednesdays, and some will stay on Sundays, but will occur once a month to begin. Our plan is that we begin these things in April. This could include bringing back dodgeball but not on a weekly basis.

A lot of things are up in the air right now. I feel this is partly because God is doing something in our ministries, and in the lives of Rachel and I. We're learning a lot and being challenged. Just when we think we have something figured out, we get a curve ball that changes things. It's not really a bad thing. We're growing, and seeing errors or catching potential mistakes before they happen. Pray that God would continue to lead, and that community minitries, the corps, and the neighborhood would continue to flourish.

Last week was a busy week for us. It was also a pretty hard week. Our lives are chaotic and we're always juggling too many things. Sometimes conflict arises and we get discouraged. Sometimes we push through it rather quickly, and sometimes it takes a while. We are encouraged though by the fact that our efforts are bearing fruit and people are supportive of us. We ended the week on a high note. Despite the cold weather, roads that weren't plowed very well, and lack of sidewalks that are usable due to the amount of snow, we headed out to do some neighborhood surveys. These surveys are designed to give us an idea of what the neighborhood would like Sundays at The Sal to look like. We don't want to assume we know what they want. So, we made it to one house but surveyed four families who live in that one house. They are all families we are connected with through Picnics in the Park and our after school program. We spent about an hour with one mom. She she shared her struggles, her hopes, and some bad things that had recently happened in her family. We were able to talk to her, share in her sorrow and hopes, and pray for her. This was what we needed. It was a rush. This must be what it feels like to wake up groggy and then have some coffee and feel more alert and ready to take on the day. (I don't drink coffee.) We'll be doing more surveys this week so that we can get the ball rolling.

We also found out the price that the Landbank wants for 923 and 927 Oak Street. The low price has allowed for us to move a bit faster on our end. Hopefully, we will be have the house ready for the 2011-2012 Ignite year which begins at the end of August. This will be a fascinating process to learn. I look forward to learning about capital projects.

We're now working on better promoting Ignite, and finding matching funds for the team aspect of Ignite.

So things are picking up despite the theory that Winter in Michigan sucks all motivation and energy out of a person. Spring cannot come soon enough.

I've been feeling like a bear lately, in that when it gets really cold, I don't want to do anything. I just want to go to sleep. Not the best time to be feeling this way when we are launching some new initiatives in a month. I partially blame the snow day we had mid week and then hosting some fellow urban ministry practitioners, which while it was enjoyable, got me out off track with the tasks at hand. Now it is Friday and the weekend is approaching, but there is work to be done. And so I push on.

I cannot wait for March. Usually March in Michigan means less snow or sometimes no snow! The weather gets warmer and people are out in the neighborhood. We don't see a lot of people when it gets cold. They only come out when they have to go somewhere. Add the fact that our city does not plow our residential streets and few sidewalks are plowed and that can make it even less attractive for someone to leave their home.

It makes me wonder if we need some winter service projects to improve the neighborhood. In other areas and during other seasons, we step up and take care of things that the local government is usually responsible for. That is not the case here. Our city is shrinking and the services are following suit. So, are there ways which we can improve our neighborhood in the Winter months? Are there groups of people who can shovel sidewalks, clear roads, salt walk ways? Should someone invest in a snow plow? And what of our neighborhood's homeless?

I used to think that the cold months are perfect for planning and indoor activities/programs, but now I wonder if there is more to be done.

I was going to post an update this week but I've been writing articles/updates for our newsletter. Check out our newsletter if you would like to see what we're up to.