Hello November!

Guys, it's November. That's crazy. I feel like lately I've been getting into the groove of things in Chicago so that's exciting. A few things have happened lately...

Last Saturday was Grace Seeds' Share the Harvest Thanksgiving Celebration. I put in some extra hours preparing for the event, which went off really well. I even brushed up on my sign language and led the group in a sign language litany. It was really fun to practice ASL again and a nice reminder of embracing other cultures. It's just a beautiful language. Anyway, the event went very well. It was nice to meet more of the Grace Seeds community face to face!

Last week was Halloween (in case you didn't know) so Ms. D and I had a little fun dressing up.

In Art that day some of the younger kids made little Halloween collages by cutting construction paper into pumpkins and ghosts and such. One little cutie named Markell gave his picture to Ms D at the end of the day, while all the other kids took theirs home. (His picture is actually on the board behind me in the picture) I ran out into the hall after class thinking that Markell had forgotten his artwork, but Ms D told me he was giving it to her. After school that day, Ms D said that he always gives her his work because it doesn't get appreciated at home. :( It broke my heart to think of how excited I was as a kid to see my family gush over my creations, while poor little Markell doesn't get any appreciation for his artwork whatsoever. Soooo sad.

Then Tuesday, Markell was so sweet to me and gave me like three hugs. One of which was very much needed after dealing with a bratty child. But that's another story.

Back to Halloween. I didn't really do anything super exciting for Halloween. People watched at a bar to see some fun costumes. But Halloween night I had my small group through Soul City Church so that was fun. Our group is small but going very well. I'm so glad for the fellowship and accountability that it provides me.

Yesterday was a fun day, I was finally able to watch a full K-State football game at an alumni bar in Chicago. Billy went with me since he loves me (not really) and loves football (really) so it was fun to have company. And the Wildcats kicked some Red Raider tail, so that was also great! It was really fun to watch the game with some fellow K-Staters, sing the fight song, and all that. I'm excited to go back again next week hopefully!

After Billy and I walked around for a little bit, I went up to see my cousin Hannah in Lincoln Square again. We got ice cream (it had been far too long since I'd had my favorite treat) and then went shopping for a friend's birthday dinner. We went over to her friend's house which was very fun although I felt a little bit out of place. They were all so classy with their sweaters and boots, wine and cheese, and other fancy appetizers. I was wearing a K-State t-shirt and tennies. It's just very interesting to live where I live (in a very impoverished, "sketchy" part of town) and then to go and hang out with people from middle class society that never have to worry about where their next meal is coming from or whether they'll get offered drugs every time they step outside of their homes. That's an interesting part of life for me as I go through this year and balance what feels like my two different lives.

The bar was right by Wrigley Field, here is a statue
of the famous announcer Harry Caray.

Anywho, today was a fun day so far. Megan had friends in town this weekend which was exciting so we all went to church together this morning. After coming back, I went to the church next door at the end of service to say hi to some people. I got to listen to Duane give a mini piano lesson to some little kids. It was precious. Then I watched part of the bears/lions game (we lost, so sad) and napped at the same time. Yes, I am a middle-aged man, thank you very much. Now it's off to downtown to get some art supplies and do other fun things! Adios my friends, take care!