God is Good...

It has been amazing to see the unique ways God has been looking out for us.

A woman called channel 7 to ask about an organization they would recommend for her to throw a birthday party on behalf of... They told her City Mission!


She is doing a birthday party for her 4 year old son at Bounce U in December. She wants to turn it into a fundraiser.

God is Good...

Dumping on Brightmoor

Neighbors Fed Up With Illegal Dumping in Brightmoor : MyFoxDETROIT.com

Brightmoor Bust Up

Soon this building will be gone, and our portable classrooms will go up :)

Beauty in Stillness

A couple of nights ago I was one of the few staff members still at CM and the kids had long since left. I walked into the "all purpose room" and was struck with how gorgeous it was. { I am aware that sounds dramatic and sappy but its true} There on the wall were the words "We love Jesus" and all the kids sweatshirts hanging perfectly in a row.

What a great picture- it really shows what City Mission is all about. The all purpose room shows our togetherness and community. The simple letters on the wall show our huge commitment to Christ. And lastly, the shirts represent each child, warmth and donations.

I love it.

Mariya, Zackery, Irmani.

Cherubs

One of the most precious times of the day is when the Pre-K/K class is "resting." Many of the students don't get sufficient sleep at home so nap time is great for them. The teacher turns on a fan for white noise with soft classical music in the background and they fall asleep instantly.

I wonder if the teacher thinks its weird that I creep on them sleeping everyday?!

Hallmark and a Megaphone

One of the differences I have noted about our cultures revolves around cards.

For the most part we consider cards to be a personal note from someone else to us. We don't usually read them outloud unless we are asked to. The culture around here however is much different. Cards are always read aloud, passed around, and "ohh"ed and "ahhh"ed over. They also read cards at funerals.

This is very different for me.

Happy Fathers Day :)

Sunday I went to church. I love pastor Semmeal, but this Sunday he didn't speak. Instead there was a guest speaker. To be honest, I didn't love her message or follow her concepts well. But that aside it was still a good service. I love how honest and open the people of City Covenant Church are with their feelings.

After that I went home and helped Toni set out her deck furniture in the back yard. I have a feeling like they will get stolen, but Toni doesn't think anyone will bother them. I guess we will see. Everything gets stolen around here. Toni had bushes literally stolen out of her front yard. A mom from our school was trying to bring her kids to school and her car was stolen when she went back in the house to grab the kids for school. Seriously, everything is stolen around here. I guess we will see if they are still here at the end of summer.

Later in the day. Dana and Nicole asked me to go on a bike ride. I LOVED IT. We went down Lyndon Greenway and all around Brightmoor. I didn't realize how big Brightmoor really is because there aren't definite markers as to where the edges are. Communities all run together here. While out I got to see the Brightmoor Children's Garden. I was so impressed! My picture don't show how really great it is! They have a lot of space, but its broken up into different areas. They also have a system that catches the rain water and stores it so it can be used later. It is SO GREAT for the kids to see how much hard work goes into a garden and to see the process. I think it makes them appreciate what they have more.

Its hard to see from here, but the produce and garden look great!

This is the roof that catches the rain water that is stored and later used to water the plants.

While on our bike ride Dana and Nicole approached me about possibly finishing up school while staying at City Mission. They offered me the K-1st position next year. While I was astonished by them asking and completely honored, I couldn't accept the position. I have another year of schooling that I wont be able to finish up online not to mention my RA and RD position next year. It would be unfair of me to ditch my commitments at SAU. Plus, as selfish as it may sound, I would like to eat up and enjoy my last year of college. Maybe I will end up back at City Mission before life is all said and done. Who knows?

At 6:30 I headed over to the Adam's house for a big STEAK dinner. It was wonderful. Dana cooked everything and we all sat around the table. It was so nice to be in air conditioning, around people I could relate with, and having a home cooked meal. I felt at home for the first time in a long time.

I would love to... if I could get there!

On Saturday Abby and I cooked up a plan to meet halfway at the Great Lakes Crossing Mall. One large issue: I couldn't get there. I tried. I really did. I even had my GPS. However, there were so many roads closed, I couldn't figure out how to get my GPS to get me to the mall. SO, Abby decided to come to me. (BLESS HER HEART!)  She got lost trying to get to me because of all the roads closed. It was a nightmare.

She eventually made it to the ghetto, pulled in the drive way quickly and said " Lets go inside! This is scary!" HAHA.... where I live isn't even that bad! We ended up shopping at the mall in Dearborn and had a good time. It was nice to see her again, and show her around a little bit. Because it was Saturday she didn't get to see the kids or much in action, but it still gave her a small picture of what my life is like here.

She also got to meet Toni my host. I'm glad she got to finally meet her and see her face to face.

$$$

I can't say much... but please pray for City Mission.

We are facing huge financial issues!

GIVE ME YO' CANS!

Part of my work for the day was to create this poster! If any of you readers have pop cans that you don't mind getting rid of I would love to take them off your hands!!

Get MOTIVATED!

Check out what I have the opportunity to attend! So far I think its just LeAnn and I going from the office, but I wouldn't be suprised if that changed last minute.

http://www.getmotivated.com/city.aspx?a=5312

Fine Arts/ Bake Sale

June 17th 5:00-8:00

 

CMA Evening of Fine Arts

Come see all the painting, drawing and sculptures the students at CMA have created this year. There will also be ballet and violin performances. All are welcome. Hope you can join us!!

 

Hot Dog & Bake Sale

We'll be having a hot dog & bake sale during the CMA Evening of Fine Arts as a fundraiser for summer camps. Come hungry -- enjoy delicious hotdogs, cookies and cupcakes! We're also having a can/bottle drive -- so bring your returnables!

 

 

Tigers Game

The nice thing about living a helter-skelter life: You frantically find yourself running into good opportunities that were completely unplanned.

In the ghetto NO ONE plans anything ahead of time. I however am a planner. I hate this about the ghetto, but because I'm in the ghetto.... I just have to roll with it. So, yesterday JR says "Oh, does anyone want to go to the Tigers game? We can have as many free tickets as we want." What? Seriously? Long story short I ended up going with another staff member, Bob who is a teacher here, and we took three kids with us, Jamila (Ja-me-la), Taugh ( pronounced as the Taj part of Taj Mahal), and Alex. It was fun. We sat at the almost very top, but the kids enjoyed it. I asked the boys if they got to come often. The said with their tutor/mentor through CM. How sad. These boys live in Detroit and the only opportunity they have to come to a Tigers game is through City Mission. Although this is a little sad, its also great to see CM doing wonderful things for these kids!

It looks like Allicia and I are going to be returning pop bottles today and getting supplies for the bake sale coming up.

Its unfortunate that most of our time here is spend doing fund raising when we could be spending more time with the kids and in ministry. Money, Money, Money- The roof of all evil!

Late for Work?

I just walked into work after forgetting to set an alarm clock.

The receptionist and I are the only two here. Guess I wasn't late after all....

I got me some white girl talk...

This is a real conversation, although it is paraphrased.

CM Worker: Where you from?
Me: Marshall: Homer area.
CM Worker: Where is dat?
Me: Near Jackson or Battle Creek. (I was trying to think of places she might know)
CM Worker: Well, where is dat? Like Michigan....
Me: Yah, its in Michigan. ( I use hand to point to where I am)
CM Worker: Then were do you get your accent from?
Me: I have an accent?
CM Worker: YES  you do...
Me: Weird. Maybe its because I'm from the country...?
       (Above are the words that come out of my mouth, the words going through my head were as follows: Are ya kiddin me? My accent is what we call English, Sweetie. I think I'm just not speaking ebonics...)

I laughed out loud while thinking about it later. An accent..... HAHA!

And the rat race begins...

Today was the first work day of the week. Mondays are staff meeting days so we need to be at the mission by 9. I was a little late, but I'm convinced these people thrive on a clock that is 30 minutes behind. I was actually early. Go figure.

Many staff members are out of work right now creating a very small and quick meeting. We all discussed what we had coming up in the week ahead and did devotions. We finished in prayer. There are numerous requests for CM (City Mission) right now. For those of you who are praying here they are:

• Dana Adams mother is having surgery and Dana is with her all week. Prayers for her and her mother.
• Because Dana is gone we are without a principle.... Prayers we wont have big hairy issues with the kids that could cause us to NEED a principle this week.
• Nicole and Kim's mother had hip replacement today.
• Toni has been in much pain with her MS and knee. We are expecting a knee replacement next week.
• Bob, an amazing man who is teaching at CM closed on a house today. He has a large heart and we are thinking he is going to refinish the house and "rent" it to those in need. Prayers that the closing goes well, that the house can be refinished easily, and the ministry Bob chooses for the house will be successful.
• PRAISES: There were also many praises such as students graduating!! (Only 21% of students in Detroit Public Schools actually graduate!)

Allicia (Uh-lee-sea-uh) and I went out for lunch and picked up lunch for other staff members. Allicia is the program educator and the person who I directly work with. I have really gotten to enjoy her crazy personality. Its great to be around someone who has as many facial expressions as me.

Our main job for today was getting information put out for a basketball camp that is free!! Its only for 8th grade students so Allicia and I got all the paper work organized into packets and drove around to all the houses to deliver the information. I drove and Allicia (IN HIGH HEELS) went up to the houses. Some of them were VERY shady! One had a pit bull that had Allicia RUNNING back to the car. I laughed so hard. Another house had numerous people standing outside of it. Allicia made ME walk the information up to it... the little white girl... can you believe it? Here she is brown and making me mingle with them. LOL...

Other than that I came home and talked with Toni for a bit. Then the Aikens invited me over a couple of times. It was Acacia's REAL birthday today. She got the spend the day with her mom, but tonight she wanted me to come over for Chinese. When we got there her mom had it all sat out on fancy plates. We drank pop from wines glasses etc. It reminded me of what being 12 is all about: struggling to be grown up when it doesn't quite fit yet.

THEN, the girls begged me to watch a movie with them. I said I was going to leave at 9:30 but didn't get out until 10:07.... surprise, surprise. I did however have time to exercise. PRAISE THE LORD!!

Goodnight world, and thanks for reading!

Happy Birthday Miss Acacia!

Sunday was a fabulous day.

I began my day by heading to church. Toni left while I was still down stairs getting ready. When I came upstairs I set off an alarm. Apparently she forgot I was home and set the alarm. Its not a big deal I just have to run and turn it off. I've done the same thing to her a couple of times. The alarm is a little confusing in my opinion. There is an ON button, and a STAY button. I didn't really understand the difference until I figured out there are motion detectors in the house. Apparently STAY is to be used when we are at home. That only detects if someone enters through a door or a window where the ON button is for when we are both out of the house, and that is when the motion detectors are turned on.


Finally I made it to church. It was my first "brown people"/ghetto church experience. When I walked in they were singing. To be honest the music/singing wasn't good at all, but everyone was standing and clapping and the little ones were walking about the aisles and bopping around. My host Toni was singing in the choir. I slipped into the back and tried to ignore the stairs which were screaming "Who is this white girl??" It is a small church so flying under the radar wasn't much of an option. When the singing was done they asked for seven people to talk about God in their life at the time. Pastor made it a point to say your testamony is not for yourself but for others to hear and for Christ to be shown. Many people stood up. The congragation was so warm and offered amens and head nods gallor. No wonder brown people are so open... because its welcomed.


Afte that we got in two lines and the pasters annointed us with oil. I have no idea why, or what the purpose is other than to bless us. I just got in line and went with the flow. I got back to my seat smelling of an odd combination of herbs and tried to (discreatfully) wipe the oil from my head. (Don't these people know white girl skin will break out in a second with oil on it!?) I smelled of it all day. Honestly, I could have spelled much worse.


Once annointed we got in a circle around the pews and prayed. We then went back to our pews. I ended up sitting in the front with a lady I knew from work, Kim. Paster Semmeal (who I love) started service with a youtube clip from the Temptations.




Although the serman was infiltrated with other passages, the main passage was from Haggi Chapter 1 verses 1-4. The basic concept driving the serman was all about the way you do the things you do. Its not just about what you are doing, its about how you are doing it. I loved the sermon and look forward to many more at City Covenant Church.


After this I went to Acacia's birthday party. ( Acacia is pronounced a-kay-sh-a )She is the daughter of Nicole who is the founder of City Mission. Their family has taken me in and shown me around. It was nice to attend and see them as well as meeting their extended family. The kids from the hood were stopping in and out. They would come and ask to use the bathroom, or for a drink. It was interesting to see Nicole and the family welcome them in while being strict at the same time. When you permanently live with those you are serving you have to create some boundries... very interesting to see how that worked.


After, Caci (short from Acacia and pronounced k-c) counted her birthday money and decided to get an Ipod Touched. She kindly approached me to see if I would go with her. "Um, Miss.Krista, I was wondering if you would have time to go with me to get my IPod tonight?" 1. It cracks me up that she calls me Ms.Krista even when I'm not in school. 2. You could tell she had practiced how to ask kindly with her mother before. 3. How could I say no? SOO.... we headed out. Nicole, Acacia, Jamila, and I. We went to Dearborn. By the BestBuy was a Burlingtons. I had never been to one so we stopped by. It was like TJMaxx, but messier... very interesting.

Caci, Jami, and I messing around in Burlingtons.

Caci wanted a pizza to take home for dinner. While waiting for our order Nicole and the girls let me in on a little thing called geocaching. Basically geocaching is a real-world outdoor treasure hunt. You have to find hidden containers. We used an Ipod app that has a compass on it. It was such a blast. The geocache ended up being on the grounds of Ford in a little wooded area. Our hint was something about an astrict. Right when we were about to give up i noticed a stump that was shaped like an astrict. Sure enough, right by the stump was the geocache under a piece of bark. I guess there is usually something in it that you can take and trade for something else. There was nothing in this geocache but a piece of paper with a log of who else had found it. We put a penny in the small geocache pouch and signed the log as Penny Lover.

Me holding the little geocache camo packet.

Me holding the log of who has found the geocache while we all point to where we found it! :)

After all this excitment we went back to their house and enjoyed an evening of playing games and loading music on Caci's NEW Ipod.

Box Tops for Education!

Please be remembering to save all Box Tops for Education and Campbell soup labels for the school! We are in desperate need of $ to continue our Mission!!! We appreciate any and all labels!

(How did I manage to make it look like I have one earring? Interesting...)

Saturday

Well, its my first Saturday here. My first weekend home. I'm a little sad to be missing out on whats going on at home but that's OK. Its the first time I have come close to missing home so I would say I have been doing pretty well!

I started my morning by going shopping with Nicole who the is head honcho here at City Mission. She has been trying to help me memorize the roads around here. I think it might be a lost cause! Bless her heart.

While we were out she took me to her favorite doughnut shop. It was great, but it had NOTHING on Louise! Then we went shopping for some things she needed and ended with grocery shopping. It was great to get out of the ghetto and see some more of Detroit.

After that I came back to the Mission with Nicole, and we are both trying to get some stuff done. I'm working on my support letters. It is a little frustrating right now because these computers have Word 03 and the Internet, but my lap top has no WIFI connection at work and Word 07. Its a bit of an obstacle while trying to get anything done.

I have no idea what the rest of my day holds. I assume I will spend some time relaxing and exercising.

Thanks for reading, and I promise my posts will have A LOT more meat to them in the future. Saturdays are just boarding!

See what we are all about!

http://city-mission.org

Come check us out! We would love to have your prayer!