Is this what they call freedom?
Is this what you call pain?
Is this what they call discontented fame?

It'll be a day like this one when the world caves in

Does justice never find you?  Do the wicked never lose?
Is there any honest song to sing besides these blues?

(Maybe it's been a little harder to adjust to life back in CA then I was expecting...  Welcome "home")

Currently Listening Nothing Is Sound see related

"Okay guys, one more thing, this summer when you're being inundated with all this American bicentennial Fourth Of July brouhaha, don't forget what you're celebrating, and that's the fact that a bunch of slave-owning, aristocratic, white males didn't want to pay their taxes."

End of the Year Slideshow

Hey Mission Year Folk...

I am starting to work on a slideshow for the end of the year.  I would really like to expand it into something that would be meaningful for all the houses, but I would need to get some photos from y'all to make that happen.  If you would pass the word on to people in your houses to email me photos or bring a data CD to CityWide on the 9th that would be great.  It would be great if (at minimum) I could get at least one shot of your whole team, your house, and your church.  Besides that, it's kind of up to you as far as what's been important.  I looked through some of my photos and came up with a list of other ideas.  Feel free to use them, or think outside the box!

Activities at Service Sites, Church, or Neighborhood
PACT Youth Homelessness or Invisible Children Sleepout
CCDA
"Family" Outings
Halloween
Christmas Party
Solitude Retreat
MY Banquet

Anna :)

p.s. I am not really very techno saavy, so I don't have the ability to work with non-digital photos at this point.  If you have non-digitals you want to use, try to find a way to digitize them (maybe Doug or Tom would be good places to start...?).

p.p.s. If you (or any of your team members) want to be a part of this project, let me know!

My friend Jocelyn, from home, came to visit me this weekend.  And the only word I have to describe it is crazy.  We did so much stuff, and it was so good to be with a friend from CA, but I found it really challenging to meld my two lives together (I'm not sure I ever found the right balance...).

Friday:
Midway & took the long way home!, dinner at Lou's, snub by the Lawndale girls  , moonlight drive along Lake Shore Dr rockin out to Gavin DeGraw's stripped album

Saturday:
Mexican Fine Arts Museum, yummy neighborhood bakery, Annual United Nations Meeting (with the guys in the Juvenille Justice Ministry), Downtown tourists..., Wrigley Field, Myopic Books (I found a cheap copy of St John of the Cross' Dark Night of the Soul- yessss!) and other fun things at Damen/North/Milwaukee, hooked Jocelyn up with a chocolate filled churro (her fav)

Sunday:
Church (rocking out on the bass!), Potbelly's for lunch, visit to the Rock house, Thatcher Woods Nature Preserve (greenery- so beautiful- a much needed recharge for my soul), White Sox Game

Monday:
Hair dying, tour of my service sites, hangin in the 18th St area, fresh OJ from Carnitas restaurant, lunch at Jumping Bean, tour of Greektown, tacos (and mango) from a, no THE cart, and chillin around the house with all kinds of fun people

I am fast realizing what a fan of this city I've become...  Too bad there's winter, they might just be stuck with me otherwise! 

Now back to the "real world"...  I just finished a BIG project I've been working on at the high school for like 6 weeks, that feels good!  And in the next couple days I am planning to send of my application packet for this majorly "grown up" job as a Academic Advising Specialist at San Jose Community College in the fall...  Me = Grown Up... YIKES!

Currently Listening Chariot Stripped (Bonus CD) By Gavin DeGraw see related

If you make it plain you like people, it's hard for them to resist liking you back

I have been thinking a lot recently about initiative.  It seems so hard at times to be the one who steps out, risks looking like an idiot, and extends the initial invitation to engage.  But in my experiences this year, I am noticing to a greater extent that this fear is more common than I originally anticipated.  Which means (in a practical sense), that the person I am hesitant to approach is frequently just as freaked out as I am.  How many times have I seen a smile break through the ice, or a simple inquiry about a person's day serve as a much needed outlet, and still that fear of personal rejection manages to creep in.

Yet in the midst of this all I am reminded of a piece of Jesus' commission to His Disciples where He says to them, "He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects Him who sent me".  Therefore, if I am living as an ambassador of Christ, to share his love with all I encounter, then it is not me who is being rejected.  And with that knowledge, the sorrow I feel at Who they are rejecting far outweighs the possible snub… Hmmm, maybe this all will make the next encounter easier.  I think it’s something that just takes practice and time.

On a totally unrelated note, we have been out of coffee all week, and I have been missing it.  But this morning, Lisi looked in the back of one of our cupboards, and pulled out a long forgotten sample pack of yummy yummy coffee!  Happy Thursday!