- House/dogsitting up near my 1st house for the Maiwalds. I finish Sunday afternoon. Feels weird being back up there. It also is perfect timing, as I'm also picking up mail for my good friend Amy who lives super close to the Maiwalds. Poodle mixes are NOT non-allergic causing dogs.
- The Ashby family lives next door to the Maiwalds, so I offered to give them a date night. I hung out with kids last night. I have fond memories of our time with the West Point kids and so enjoy investing in younger kids' lives. Not sure what makes a single 20-something year old so kid in a child & pre-teen's life.
- Just decided that I need to say 20-something as much as can over the next couple of years before I can no longer say that in reference to myself.
- Went to my first official Bible study at East Point Church on Saturday night. Loved it. Carter is an amazing teacher and really good at interacting with everyone there. Still a small group, but apparently a handful of the regulars weren't there. Talked with some of the women afterwards... all nice. Got to hold an itty bitty little 2 month year old who was smaller than Ian was when he was a newborn. Trying to guard that time period and make sure that I tell people i can hang out afterwards, but not agree to do anything that will make me miss the study. This is the kind of church that has really been on my heart. I love the reformed doctrine and I love African American churches and I've always wanted to have one near my neighborhood.
- The Olympics start in less than a month! So excited!
- I got my digital convertor box. The first one stopped working the day after I hooked it up. Something funny about the remote control. You can't change the channels on the box, so that causes a little bit of a problem. But I took it back to Best Buy and had a really easy time returning it. I get triple the number of channels as I did before. I actually have to move my atenna depending on the channel I want to watch though.
- The most exciting news about the box - I now get CBS. Does everyone know what that means??? I now get to watch the Army Navy game in the comforts of my own home and don't have to beg others to let me watch it. It's not so fun watching the game with folks who just don't understand the revivalry and the history behind the game. There aren't many people who I'll watch the game with.
I love iced mochas and iced carmal macchiatos (spelling wrong, but I don't care) in the summer time. Just can't let myself have too many or it will have dire countereffects on my tummy. ;)
This is an iced mocha from Perks, a local coffee shop. Folks in the city like to complain about the chains, and while I agree that the local places have much more charm & character they are also a lot more pricey.
I like the iced carmal macchiatos at Starbucks. So yummy.... so long as it comes out to you with a dark layer and a lighter layer. I have found that when they give it to you already mixed... it generally means they haven't made it right and it doesn't taste as good. I'm giving folks a little leeway though as it is a new summer drink.
We're getting a coffee shop in the neighborhood. The church is opening it to give you job training and experience. I'm so excited! It will be great having a place to go to in the neighborhood and hang out with folks or just read.
Finding ways to take my picture without really taking my picture. :)
We've been having internet issues at FCS the past 5 days. It's finally back up and going. Thought this comic appropriate. :)
I got a coupon in my email this week from Snapfish (code JUL4PENNY08) and was able to get a ton of pictures for cheap... so I'm ready for our scrapbooking weekend!!!! I've got to finish my Kwaj 2007 pages. I also got a ton from our 4th of July, as well as some odd and ends pictures... so now we need to set a date and get going before I get antsy and start doing them before we meet up. Of course, if I finish my pictures than I get do a few pages for Shannon - which generally seems to be very much a needed thing. She's the queen of documenting everything.... and she's also the queen of parties, celebrations, events, etc.
Next week I start my housesitting/dogsitting adventure for a dear Intown family. Tom Maiwald was the Intown elder that just battled cancer for the 3rd or 4th time. The 1st time he actually was told he wouldn't survive it. So crazy to think he's son wouldn't be alive... Well, the family is finally getting to go on a real family vacation for the first time in 2 years. I start next Wednesday and end July 27th. I'd be able to host Mom at my place this month if it weren't for this thing.
It's rained more Sunday afternoon (before I got home) then it had rained all of June. We got more rain last night. Nice summer rain showers.
Just finished a book called - The Mole People. So good! It's ethnography of sorts on the people who live in the tunnels below New York City. Very interesting and informative. Doing a study like that and writing a book about it would be one of many lives I would live I could live more than 1 at a time.
Need to clean my house. I've been gone the last 2 weekends and then helped cooking at Cafe 458 all Saturday before those 2 weekends. I'm helping out there again this Saturday and then will have church later that night at the new church plant (so excited!!!)... so I've got to make sure that I tackle things throughout the week. I also need to make sure I get a lot of Damp Rid, so that I don't come back to a musty house.
If you could go anywhere tomorrow, where would it be?
Okay, so let's just pretend this is next week and so I've already spent the 4th of July weekend with my wonderful family. :)
EUROPE! I'd get a Eurail pass and make my way through the Alpine countries. Anyone is more than welcome to join me on my adventure.
Yeah... not sure how to get rid of this picture. It's not actually of Pastor Anthony Carter. (He and his family are the ones starting the churchplant near my house.)
Happy 4th Anniversary!!!!
Okay - so I've been talking to Mom & Dad about this new church plant on the westside (but for non-Atlanta people that's westside in the city and not westside outside the perimeter) whose goal is to be a community church and diversity. That's really been something I've longed for in a church. I'm just 2 miles outside of the circle they have drawn around the church. Felt God kind of drawing my heart towards needing to be at church closer to my neighborhood where I could feel more free to bring neighbors, but one that still had the grace-filled reformed teaching that I have grown to cherish so much. I love Intown (my current church) dearly and love my friends there and love our new pastor and hate just up and leaving churches that you are a member of... so it's been a tough decision. Still haven't made a decision....
But twice when asking folks about Westside I heard people mention the churchplant - Southwest. Well, it's not a churchplant. I actually attended there for a few Wednesdays after their assistant pastor - Tony Carter - preached a couple of times during the time we were without a pastor. He is an INCREDIBLE preacher!!!! Well, the church had purchased a piece of land outside of the perimeter right before I started to attend, so I never totally made the switch. After a few months I felt convicted about not going to a Biblestudy at my own church and really felt like God wanted me to be a part of a community group at Intown.
I decided yesterday just to email Southwest and ask if they were still planning on moving. I mentioned the churchplant comments. Pastor Carter (he's the one that checks the church's email) responded. The church is no longer moving... but the really exciting news is that HE and his amazing family (I love his wife and kids) are planting a churchplant in East Point just 6 miles from my house. This is exactly the kind of church I've been longing for/praying for since I moved to Atlanta. I really wanted to be able to attend a church tied to reformed doctrine that was closer to my home and that was lead by an African American pastor. And right now they are just meeting at a school 2 Saturday nights a month for Biblestudy, so my transition from Intown to this church wouldn't have to happen all at once! I could become a full member of this church while still attending Sunday mornings at Intown. It's perfect timing for that too... I'm about to give up my leadership role of service for our fellowship group.
East Point Church website - www.epointchurch.vpweb.com
Southwest Christian Fellowship website - www.swcfellowship.com
The Southwest site has a link to Pastor Carter's blogs. The Campbells actually have read one of Pastor Carter's books and really loved it.
Okay, so I've mentioned here and there that my upstairs neighbor and South Atlanta Angie are throwing a little party for our street, as well as a few other young folks in our 'hood. Just a little get-together to enjoy the food and bring folks together cause that's what you need to do to fight crime in 'hood.
Well, there's this one white girl that moved in the neighborhood, who is one of those feel good spiritual people and who has a house full of folks - hypish/artsy folks. We included her on the email. She responded reply-all inviting all our folks to this meet-and-greet political thing at her house (happening before our party) and saying that she was planning to throw her brother a bday party that night. No big deal. 2 parties can happen in 1 night - especially when most of folks coming over to our place don't know this girl and we just want a small little block party anyways. Well, yesterday, she emails EVERYONE she invited to her meet-and-greet and at the bottom says that afterwards they'll come down to 30 Thayer's party. Ummmm... 1. The meet-and-greet ends 30 minutes before we invited people down to our place. Her house is only 3 teeney blocks away from our place. 2. There were a HECK of a lot of folks on her email that we did NOT invite to our LITTLE partee. Ummmm... we're hoping they are full from the food they are serving up at the meet-and-greet. Kind of were hoping to have a little street get-together with a few other folks especially invited to the cookout. Come on now - really???? You don't just invite people over to someone else's cookout!!!!!!
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