Neighborhood kids, CCDA, Board Retreat, oh my! [An overdue entry]

LIFE IS CRAZY WONDERFUL.
Legit.

So, where do I begin? The last three weeks have been awesome. Man do I love Philadelphia. And my job. And my roomie. And my other worker friend folks. And Trader Joe's. And CCDA. And the neighborhood kids. And coffee. Alright, alright. I could go on all night long.
But fo real.

I'll start from right now and just kind of work my way backwards, methinks.
Sooo, this weekend the Board was here, rockin out for their Board Retreat. It was awesome. They were awesome. It was so cool to sit down and talk with these people (one of them being the founder of CSM) and to just hear their stories...to hear their hearts. I feel blessed to have met them. I ate way too much food this weekend, which seems to be a common occurrence at CSM gatherings. I'm still trying to recover. We're talking super yummy breakfast, artery-clotting roast beef sandwiches, Malian, yummy breakfast leftovers, and fancy Italian...aka, the most I've ever eaten at one meal. (The Italian, not all of that food at once, just in case you were wondering.)

In preparation for the Board's arrival, we did A LOT of cleaning around the housing site. It was a fun time, but quickly grew tired of the smell of cleaning products. I also did a lot of laundry. I actually really enjoy laundry, though. So I really didn't mind that. I mean, I really didn't mind cleaning in general. It can be refreshing to see the results of a lot of hard work. Compared to a lot of the work I do here in Philly, it's a nice change. Being able to see results.

Thursday of last week I met with someone at the ministry site I will hopefully be working for over the next year.(During my apprenticeship I will work 3 days a week for a ministry in the city and the other two days I'll work for CSM.) We talked about some logistics, and then tossed around some ideas for what I could possibly do while working there. I think we decided it might be fun if I planned and lead activities for the guys staying there. Like game days or a chess tournament...things like that. I've been trying to do some brainstorming, because I feel like that is pretty new stuff to me, but I think it will be fun. There are still a few things we need to get worked out before it is decided that I am working there, but I am excited at the possibility of it!

I also met up with a friend on Thursday and went to the Penn Museum. I was rather impressed with it. They had an exhibit about 9/11 that I found rather powerful. There was a wall where you could post what you remember about that, where you were and all that. I happened to look at one and it said "My 10th grade teacher answering her phone, dropping to her knees crying. It was her son: he had survived." It was just...really powerful. My favorite exhibit was one we found near the end of our time wandering around. It was about homelessness and addiction. Righteous Dopefiend was the title of the exhibit. It told the stories of four or five people living on the streets, about their addictions or the way they witnessed the addictions of others. Again, powerful.

Thursday evening, when I got home, I saw that the neighborhood kids were hanging out outside. My roommate, Nicole, was just coming outside to hang out with them as I walked onto our block. We stayed out there all evening, and it was wonderful. The kids taught me how to throw a football and they continued to coach me each time I threw it. "Put more power into it." "Nah, ya gotta do it like this." "There ya go! She did it!" After that came trying to catch the ball. That wasn't so successful. But I am working on it! The kids also had a blast playing with our phones. They laughed and whispered to each other as they used my phone to text Nicole's phone and then they decided they'd call her. They got quite a kick out of it, and I got quite a kick out of watching them. One of my favorite things about living here is getting to hang out with the neighborhood kids. They keep life bright and full of energy. They're a lot of fun to hang out with. We had decided we were headed in to make dinner and warm up for the night (it was one of the chillest nights we'd had at that point!) The kids protested, but we told them goodnight and headed inside. After closing the door, the continued to bang on the door and ring the doorbell asking us to come back out. I peaked out the kitchen window and a girl who hadn't been outside while we were out there was trying to tell me something. I couldn't understand her very well, so I went to the door to peak out and see what she was saying. When I opened the door, there she was waiting for me. "I was hoping you'd come stand right there! I need to tell you something, come closer!" As I ducked down closer to her, she whispered her secrets in my ear and eventually pulled me out the door to hang out with her. She lives on our block with her mom, brother, and sister. She definitely has plenty of sass, but she is such a sweet girl. Her and her brother both are! I haven't gotten to know her sister very well yet, but I hope to! I stood out there for quite a while talking to her. Her brother eventually came down to join us, after he had a bit of an incident with one of the other girls in the neighborhood. As he told me what happened, his sister ran off to go stick up for him. Cute, right?! She quickly came back to join us, and as he was telling me about his father and how he had recently moved to Atlanta, she would add tidbits here and there. He talked about how he missed his dad. By this point, he had given me a long detailed story about how his dad ended up in Atlanta...starting all the way back to when he was a little boy. I smiled as he asked me if I had ever been to Atlanta. When I told him I had just been there recently, but I had only been in the airport for a layover, he grinned real big and asked "Did you see my dad?! Did you see him? He's a tall black bald man. The next time you go back, will you tell him hi for me? I really miss him." Shortly after that, the first board member to arrive at the housing site stepped out the door. The kids instantly started asking him questions and quickly had their hands on his cell phone, calling Nicole. She joined us in the doorway and we continued to hear about Atlanta and a trip they were taking to Texas with their grandma, and how they would soon get to see their dad...and he had a MANSION in Atlanta. Again they asked if we had been there and if we had seen a tall bald black man. They asked us to let him know that they missed him a lot and to call them if we ever were to see them. Sigh. I really adore those kids. Oh! I can't forget the quote of that evening! When telling us about their trip to Texas with their grandma, the boy asked "Are there houses in Texas?!" Don't you just love kids? They're great.

Before the adventure of cleaning started last week, Nicole and I had been in Indianapolis with the other CSM Apprentices for the CCDA (Christian Community Development Association) Conference for the week. Um...can I say AMAZING? Two weeks later, I am still trying to process all the stories and different things I heard and learned while I was there. I had never been to a conference, but I quickly found out how much I would enjoy it. All of the speakers, the workshops, the exhibits, the worships...WOW. Not to mention getting to hang out with all of the apprentices and a number of other CSM full-time staff. It was great to meet all of them and kind of start this journey of the apprenticeship together. It was sad to part ways with them at the end of the conference, but I am excited for the ways God is using them in their cities. I know they blessed my life the few days we were together, so I can only imagine the impact they are making in their cities and ministry sites. I hope to write a blog on some other things that happened at CCDA, but like I said...I think I'm still trying to process it. Hopefully soon!

Since being back in Philly, I have also joined a small group at one of the churches I am attending. I've only been able to attend the first meeting, but I really enjoyed it! Since then, I've been keeping up with the reading and man, I'm lovin' it. For the small group, we are reading The Divine Mentor. It's all about letting God and His word mentor you while you nourish your spiritual roots. Or at least, that's what I've gathered in the first few chapters. I hope I get to get back to small group soon, but until I do, I am being blessed by the book.

I think I'm going to close this entry up for now. My hands are starting to hurt, and I bet your eyes are! haha.
I hope this finds you having a blessed week.

With love,
Emily