First Families!

Ladies and gentlemen, Hagar's House is now open to women with children! WOO-HOO!!! We now have a mom and baby, a mom and two kids, and another resident with a baby on the way, IN ADDITION to the five single women already living here! Whew! It's been chaotic, but mostly in a joyous way.

This weekend was wonderful. I went down to Bourbon Street with Nichol for the first time and feel absolutely no desire to ever, ever go there again. However, when there's an icky guy trying to talk to you, "I'm a missionary" is a FANTASTIC way to get him to clear off. :)

Children's Choir Sunday went VERY well! The power went off about a half hour before we started, (boo,) but we had candles and it was fine in the dark. After six kids last week, we had twelve show up Sunday! We were thrilled.

Two of my wonderful roommates!

Nichol, on the left, is heading up the children's choir. Jennie and I are helping--Jennie playing piano, me as an assistant. It's been a lot of fun so far.

The sanctuary at First Grace

As you can see, the sanctuary doesn't look too typical. There's tile floor, chairs instead of pews, a small alter. That's because when the church re-opened after Katrina, they decided to use the resources they had to start ministries up, rather than pretty up the sanctuary. Jennie showed me some pictures of what the church looked like two years after the storm--I'll have to see if I can load them sometime next week.

Our church!

This is FGUMC from the corner of Jeff Davis and Canal Street.

And finally...

MO'ISA!!!

We have a dog! I can't remember if I mentioned that before. His name is Mo'Isa, which is a combination of Mohammed and Jesus. (That's what they told me anyway...I'm not really sure how they create the name 'Moi'Isa' but I'm prepared to go with it.) He is tiny and adorable. And no, of course he is not sitting on my bed because that would be UNHYGENIC and WRONG, and I would NEVER ALLOW IT.

Ahem.

Hope you're doing well!

Don't judge me!

OK, so I know I haven't posted a blog in awhile. But there is so much happening I don't even know where to start!

My life is falling into normalcy as I adjust to a new home.

I've definetely adopted a "Feet-First" method here. I LOVE First Grace UMC. It's a wonderful picture of a church. In addition to Hagar's House, the church has a food pantry, Spanish classes twice a week, English classes twice a week, Bible study, a mobile health clinic that visits everyday, Faith/Health Alliance upstairs...it's the most mission-oriented church I've ever been to.

As far as space, the church has a lot, which it uses really well. Most of the upstairs is devoted to the intentional community, (of which I am part,) but there's also the Faith Health Alliance up here.

The history of First Grace is really remarkable. First UMC and Grace UMC were two seperate churches--predominantly white and black, respectively. After Katrina, the two chruches didn't have enough membership to be sustainable. So they joined churches.

For those of you unaware that things like racism still exist, this was kind of a big deal.

When the church first united two years ago, there were about 60 members. Now there are much closer to 150, and that number grows almost every week. It's really a remarkable thing to be part of!

As far as MY life here...I've been going to Spanish class (happily, Pastor Oscar is very patient with me,) Bible study, and choir. Nichol is starting up a Children's Choir next week, and I'll be assisting her with that. There are a TON of young adults that go to FGUMC, and we're going to start meeting and getting together soon.

On the secular side, I've joined the New Orleans Concert Band (YAY!) and found my first New Orleans geocache. I have a bike for the first time in ten years! (No klutz comments, please.) It's a great way to get around the city, and I'm actually enjoying the chance to ride.

(Note: riding a bicycle is NOT exactly like riding a bicycle--you can actually forget.)

There's a lot more I'd love to update on, but I'll save it for another day. Reading long blog posts test the limits of my endurance...so long for now, lovlies!