The longing of creation

Well to start off, tomorrow is Abigail's first surgery. Hopefully only, but one cannot predict what the future holds. Thankfully it is only getting tubes put in her ears, and we are feeling pretty peaceful about it. Having her put under is a little unnerving, but we know that God will hold her while we can't. I added the picture only because you have to have one on every blog...or it makes it seem more interesting!

Our neighborhood has been loud tonight. It's interesting because most of my favorite things about living here are also what I don't like. Sometime in the past couple of years I have realized that I love that the people who live here are real and honest. I don't mean they are "good people" who do an honest day work and blah blah....but that they live who they are. They are dysfunctional and are not into hiding it. My experience before here was seeing families who looked together and happy, but then it came out that one was having an affair, one was an alcoholic and the children hadn't actually talked to their parents in weeks despite living in the same home. It's amazing to me the number of upstanding citizens I see to come by crack and prostitutes. Blows my mind. People want to know how I can live here....well frankly I know which of my neighbors is using. I can even tell you the stories of what drove some of my neighbors to be addicts. Most people aren't even aware that their neighbors are addicts. It seems safer to me to know than to wake up one day to police next door and have no idea why.

I do have days though where I'm certain if one more person yells, holds their horn down instead of knocking, or mistakes me for a prostitute while I'm pulling weeds from my flowers I will do something crazy. Then our friend J comes by on his bike, so drunk at 11 that I'm afraid he will fall off of his bike, and tells me how great Jason and I are for all the things we have done for him (that really aren't that big or great to us). It is at this point that I am reminded of how Christ sees him, and how very grieved He is that J is hurting so much that he drinks to forget (and he has a story that makes me think I might of taken up drinking as well) instead of turning to the only One who could give him the peace and comfort he is looking for. After that I return to loving the noise, my loud neighbors, and people who live honestly. Where else would we go anyway? After living here I am not sure I could live in a place that others see as "normal."

Looking forward to the day all things are reconciled to Christ,