43759 Day 244

goodbye_luke


luke is a truly outstanding dude from canada who has been studying at harvard and living in the qunicy street neighborhood.  he's brought a lot of experience, stability, and wisdom to the neighborhood and will be missed!


goodbyes are the theme of the season too.  we celebrate 41 graduates this morning at Reunion.

42459 Day 231

heaven's_garden


super impressed by the work ben and the rest of the quincy street community have done on the community garden.  amy and i had the chance to hang out a bit this afternoon and help plant some corn!

40759 Day 214

garden_and_good_friday

pics from todays gardening kick-off at qunicy.  no pics, but a great time tonight remembering good friday at the wilsons.

40259 Day 209

seder


we participated in our first seder tonight with some friends from the neighborhood.  rituals of deep significance plus a lot of laughs is always a great combination =)

39559 Day 202

another_sunday

this is a random picture from leadership gathering the other night...nothing to do with today, i just like it.  

great morning of gatherings with reunion.  feeling more and more a part of the team there.  amy read some scripture this morning and we are both excited to be a part of the new follow up system.  

dinner tonight with QST crew was fun...good to be back over there.

now amy is reading me old emails i wrote (she opened a gmail account)...i sure was in to her early on...funny stuff =)

27259 Day 80

turkeys!

our community group bought turkeys for Quincy Street's big thanksgiving feast. pretty cool!

speaking of turkeys, tim lincecum is really good at pitching.

24559 Day 53

boston_bowl

hi! this is amy again. tonight, steve and i took destany and tyquiana, two girls from the quincy st. neighborhood, out to boston bowl for a night of candlepin bowling. destany and i usually have tutoring on friday afternoons, and decided that we wanted to make this particular tutoring time into a fun outing. so she invited a friend, i invited a friend, and off we went. we had a great time, and discovered that candlepin bowling is a lot more fun when the bumpers are up!

the only frustrating part of the night came when destany and tyquiana wanted to get food. destany and i have started to work on nutrition and learning how to choose healthier foods, since that has been an issue for her...the only problem is, many of the food options available to her on a regular basis aren't good ones. tonight was no different. we spent a while trying to decide the best food choice at the bowling center, and finally compromised on a slice of veggie pizza, which she actually really enjoys. however, we found out that they only offer cheese and pepperoni by the slice, and so that option was out! she was left to choose from (a very large display of) fried chicken, fries, hamburgers, and a couple of subs. in the end, she ate something that wasn't very nutritious...she enjoyed it, but i was bummed that the organizational systems in place set her (and many other kids in this area) up for failure in terms of participating in healthy lifestyles. this is actually what i'm doing my academic practicum on this semester - i'm creating a health and wellness curriculum for inner-city kids - and i've just been blown away by the research i've read. this stuff gets me fired up! ask me about it sometime if you're interested...

20659 Day 14

nate

this is nathan and he is a good man. he chooses his words well and he dresses sharply. he also loves Jesus very much and cares deeply about the ways that God's Kingdom are discovered and expressed, especially in a place like dorchester. he's been a major leader (THE major leader, in fact) in the Quincy Street partnership that Sojourn has (the partnership that led amy and i to move to dorchester).

nathan and i were able to hang out today and talk a little bit about the future...in particular we are starting to think of ways that we can link our houses and ministries together in a way that is healthy and makes sense in our particular neighborhoods. these are fun and very encouraging conversations! thanks nate

16959

this morning, before church, the quincy street crew (and a few random others) had the opportunity to hang out with shane claiborne and chris haw (they wrote this book, among other things, if you are not familiar with them).  if you know me, or have been a reader of this blog, you know i'm a bit of a fan of shane's lifework and thinking, which made the morning a somewhat momentous occasion.  and, in fact, it turned out to be a wonderful, encouraging couple of hours of eating breakfast and discussing kingdom things.

there were several special moments and awesome stories (for example, some of the kids in shane's neighborhood are getting close to college, so he went to Eastern, the school he attended, and asked them for scholarships for these kids...and Eastern granted them, which is incredible!).  but, the most encouraging words, at least for me and amy, came from chris haw.  

for years, i have heard (and seen), mostly from my parents, about the redemptive power of families and households (see Acts 11:14, 16:15, 16:31, 18:8, etc).  and i believe that what is often described as the "nuclear family" can have a tremendous kingdom impact, even in places like dorchester and, more specifically, quincy street.  

my former-idealistic-single-self thought that "of course married people can be a part of intentional communities and kingdom life in the inner city."  however, it's not that simple.  we've had a roommate since we moved to boston and part of that decision was purely economic survival in the city, but the other part of it truly was an experiment to see what it would be like to be married and live with other people.  and, it turns, this has been the biggest challenge of our young marriage.

chris had some good things to say about this.  he affirmed for us that having our own "space" was not selling out, or somehow a lesser form of community.  he also pointed out some ways that married people can be part of the rhythm of an intentional community, and that married people and families are absolutely necessary pieces of a qunicy street type endeavor.  amy and i walked away from that feeling relieved, encouraged, and inspired.  which is pretty awesome and totally worth getting up early on sunday morning!

15259

there are about a million ways that i am proud of my wife but today i feel especially proud of her.  when amy started going to reunion she immediately became involved with sojourn and their partner ministry at quincy street (about a mile from our house).  it's been great to hear, and now see, her become part of the team doing ministry there, build relationships with the kids in the neighborhood, and, over the last couple of weeks, start tutoring Destiny.

last year she also had the opportunity to connect some fellow physical therapy students from BU with quincy street.  they've had a play day and also a gift program last christmas.  today she was able to bring eight students down to the neighborhood for another play day.  it was so much fun watching everyone interact with the kids (16 today, which is a great turnout), and it was wonderful to see the kids having so much fun.  

i am so proud of amy for introducing her classmates (many of whom could go through the whole program without ever having to think about dorchester, let alone visit it) to this neighborhood.  and, i am grateful that these students have made the effort to come down on these occasions and really get into playing with the kids.  

way to go amy!

ps. i am not so proud of myself for bringing my camera with no batteries, which means no pictures...dang!!!