No, I did not drop off the face of the earth. I was not killed and no, I didn't abandon blogging for good.
Yes, I have returned. Yes, I have felt amazingly overwhelmed with this incredible experience and how to express it. Yes, I have felt the burden of the lives that I have come to love, how to tell their stories and share some of their experiences in a respectful yet honest way.
It has now been 6 weeks since me and my 3 roommates moved in to East Garfield Park. Six wonderful weeks, full of beautiful moments and beautiful challenges.
We have fallen head-over-heels in love with our building. There is a family of 4 kids with their mom and mom's boyfriend that live on the 3rd floor, we are on the second, and a family of 4 that live with their mom and mom's uncle on the bottom floor, in addition to countless cousins, friends and whoever else always in and out.
The first week was full of non-stop activity, with people in and out of the house constantly. Funny enough, both of the moms upstairs and downstairs had birthdays the same week. We made cookies as a surprise for Minisha (downstairs), and then the kids came over two days later and made cards and surprise cake for the other (Tina). It was midnight when they were finally done with the grand project, and right before bed I heard them upstairs yelling "surprise!" as their mom came back from the store. Eugene told my roommate the next day that they really enjoyed making the cards, and that their mom had cried at the little surprise.
Downstairs, Sierra is 9 months pregnant (due any day!!) and we have had so much fun getting ready for the baby with her, including helping with a baby shower and finding lots of cute little things to welcome Neveah into the world (Yes, she is 16, and loves telling people it is "heaven spelled backward"). With her mom having to work early every morning, we have also been helping take her two little sisters to school so that she can stay home and rest.
We are starting to have some fun traditions with the kids. Books before saying goodnight, sharing our happy and sad moments of the day, and healthy snacks whenever they want them.
We have been so grateful to partner with Love Without Agenda for food donations from several places around the city. It has created some fantastic opportunities for working together on solving food shortage problems on our block. Tina, the single mom upstairs, had experienced 3 deaths one week and was able to bring a box of food to the friend who had lost her boyfriend to a shooting. What a blessing!
Eugene and Jonathan from upstairs were super-troopers in helping getting all of the donations in! And, as you can see, are quite the little ladies men :) We love them like our own little brothers!
We are so blessed to have been so welcomed by the people in our building, and slowly, the people on the rest of the block. The block now has faces and names, and it is no longer about "that" neighborhood-or that everyone from the outside tells us it's "so dangerous there" or that they would "never go west of western". It is now only about it being OUR neighborhood, full of OUR people that we dearly love.
Of course, there have been challenges,but I have felt like God is truly turning these into good. The first day that the first of us 4 roommate moved in, our door was kicked in. Yasmin, the 15 year old that lives upstairs right away asked my roommate if we were still going to move in. Lauren told her that it takes more than than to scare us away! In that ONE experience, I feel like our trust level with the building grew. We weren't just some "white girls" that were going to run away scared when one bad thing happened.
The second break in was by some kids from another block, but involved some of the kids we had befriended from our block as well. Nothing but a wii was taken, and when our little friend was pulled aside to be asked about it, he looked terrified, like he was going to get yelled at or hit. Hillary and Lauren calmly told him that they weren't accusing him, but that they cared more about the truth than the wii and that they believed that he has a bright future and the ability to make good choices. Two huge tears welled up from his eyes and trickled down his checks. They hugged him as he cried and told him over and over how much he was loved. So powerful.
A few days later, a friend's car window was broken out - all for a basketball that some girls from the next block over wanted to play with. When we found it that night, we gathered around the car and held hands and said a prayer of love and blessing toward the girls that did it. We pulled in a little boy who had been accused of breaking a window out the week before from a car the next block over, as well as a young teen who had watched the girls break the window. I just felt God's presence as we prayed love over the whole situation. That night, gunshots rang out right in front of our building, and while no one was hurt, we were all reminded, again, that everyone has a choice - to choose good, or choose evil.
In Deuteronomy, God begs his people to "Choose Life-that you might live the life I have mapped out for you!". In John, Jesus continues this urging by promising to "Give Life, and Life to the full." I have felt this same urging as I see all that people are struggling with around me. Kids playing pretend jail and shooting (i suggested they play school instead), eight-year olds talking about getting drunk, fist fights breaking out during tag and on and on. I have had this overwhelming desire within myself to grab people and look them in the eye, and beg them: "Choose life! Choose Life, that you might live it abundantly."
and then, God...
taught me that the fullest life isn't about safety and prosperity, but that it is about choosing HIM.
