Wednesday, August 26, 2009

North Side Neighbors

Laura and I are finally moved into our apartment! We are now in the process of unpacking ,organizing and reorganizing and reorganizing. Within the first few days of living on the North Side we had a few very interesting observations: Trash trucks sometimes operate very loudly at 3:00 in the morning, one way streets are merely suggested, and people (for the most part) on the North Side stop and say, "Hi." The last observation interests me quite a bit. Already Laura and I have interacted more with our neighbors in our building than we did our entire time at our previous apartment. Lola, a little old black lady on the floor below us, showed us how to correctly carry a desk up the stairs, Fransisco, the nice Hispanic man who lives above us, has a bad back, and the lady who lives beside us stopped us when we were moving in and apologized for her boyfriends music. It's pretty amazing to think that even though we have moved into a high crime area with boarded up buildings all around that people on the North Side are more interested in saying "Hi" then the "nice family" borough of Pittsburgh. Another perk of living on the North Side, I now live close enough to walk to Urban Impact. In the short ten minute walk I get to pass by several different bus stops and corners where people congregate. At each of these places it's nice to stop and visit; I hope to be able to use even these short moments to build relationships.

At Urban Impact things are shaping up really well for the fall. The choir continues to grow and the Performing Arts Academy, which I am now in charge of administrating, has more students pre-registered than ever before and we still have a month left. The day after we hung posters around the North Side a mother came into our office and started crying. She had seen a poster in the local barber shop and wanted to get her kids involved but couldn't pick them up after class. At this time Meghan, our dance instructor, simply said she could take her children home after class and the mother broke down in tears and made Meghan give her a hug. The Performing Arts Academy starts October 1st.

Prayer Requests:
  • For volunteers for the PAA
  • Final planning for the PAA
  • Nate, Shiniqua, Shiquala, Breann, Valarie and Alicia as they start college and associates school
  • As we look for a new staff member to fill in for Principal Rick
  • To finish strong with support raising

Thank you all for your prayers and come and visit anytime in Pittsburgh.

Friday, August 7, 2009

August Catch-up

The summer programs have all finished, and now August gives us a chance to get caught up and prepared for the long winter months ahead. Before I get to busy planning and envisioning upcoming programs I thought it would be nice to reflect on the busy summer. So here is a short video with pictures of Tuesday Nights, Summer Day Camp, and other summer events.

Prayer Requests:

  • My Grandma
  • Fall Choir Retreat
  • Planning for the Performing Arts Academy
  • Students returning to school and graduated students going into the workforce and college
  • Transition time from Summer to Fall program

Praise Report

  • Support Trip Across America went very well and it was a huge blessing to see many friend and family and tell them about Urban Impact and the North Side
  • Moving onto the North Side next week!