In case you missed my last few posts: May was a roller coaster month for me, I had extremes of happy and sad. Thankfully, June has settled down some! So far, it's been a great month, not without stress, but overall pretty mellow as summer should be! :)
June came in at a very happy time- when my wonderful friends Allison & Rebecca came to town! The whole weekend was AMAZING, so great to be around such good friends. We fit a lot of adventures into one weekend yet still had time to relax and chat :)
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| Sunbathing on the deck at Rebecca's cousin's apartment- we felt pretty classy. |
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| At the Jack Johnson/Edward Sharpe concert |
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| Art Institute! |
The next weekend, a group from Grace Seeds joined up with the Naperville Interfaith Community Dialog for a tour of the Baha'i house of worship in Wilmette. One of the architects actually led the tour, which was amazing, and made the building that much more incredible! If you don't know much about the Baha'i faith, I would highly encourage you to just read the brief description on Wikipedia here. It really is a fascinating religion and I think that we could all learn a bit from them in terms of valuing unity!! Here is a prayer that I think conveys their beliefs quite well:
Baha'i Prayer
O Thou Compassionate Lord,Thou Who art generous and able! We are servants of Thine sheltered beneath Thy providence. Cast Thy glance of favor upon us. Give light to our eyes, hearing to our ears, and understanding and love to our hearts. Render our souls joyous and happy through Thy glad tidings. O Lord! Point out to us the pathway or Thy kingdom and resuscitate all of us through the breaths of the Holy Spirit. Bestow upon us life everlasting and confer upon us never-ending honor. Unify mankind and illumine the world of humanity. May we all follow Thy pathway, long for Thy good pleasure and seek the mysteries of Thy kingdom. O God! Unite us and connect our hearts with Thy indissoluble bond. Verily, Thou art the Giver, Thou art the Kind One and Thou art the Almighty. (Baha'i Prayers, p. 99)
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| Chelsea and me Photo cred: Linda Wygant |
Speaking of unity, for those of you who do not know, Chicago is very un-unified (segregated). Each of the city's 77 neighborhoods has a stereotype associated with it, that often also reflects a certain racial group. It's pretty sad how people often don't try to break down these walls, and that people are so terrified when I tell them where I live. I read this book a short time ago, it's basically a collection of short stories that are all about the author's experience growing up in Chicago. Here is one that I think exemplifies the point I'm trying to make:
Those Who Don't
"Those who don't know any better come into our neighborhood scared. They think we're dangerous. They think we will attack them with shiny knives. They are stupid people who are lost and got here by mistake.
But we aren't afraid. We know the guy with the crooked eye is Davey the Baby's brother, and the tall one next to him in the straw brim, that's Rosa's Eddie V., and the big one that looks like a dumb grown man, he's Fat Boy, though he's not fat anymore nor a boy.
All brown all around, we are safe. But watch us drive into a neighborhood of another color and our knees go shakity-shake and our car windows get rolled up tight and our eyes look straight. Yeah. That is how it goes and goes." -The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
About 10 days ago, I was able to head home for the weekend. My best friend growing up, Lizzie Snell err--Porter, got hitched! It was a great weekend as I got to see many old friends, and take my dad golfing on Father's Day :)
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| All of us Mac girls :) Photo credit: Shelby Horton |
Ok, now we're at June 23! It's hard to believe it's the end of the month already.
Tomorrow is my first day back at Build since my last day at the school which was June 5th. It has been a great (and much needed!) break. Summer programming started today. Most of the time, we'll be at a church from 9-5 doing games and stuff with the kids. However, Tuesdays are field trip days! Lucky me since I only work for Build on Tuesday and Thursday! Billy just informed me that tomorrow we're going to Navy Pier and then on a boat tour, and we have another field trip Thursday to the Museum of Science & Industry (which is extra exciting because I haven't been there yet!).
Honestly, I have mixed emotions about going back. It could be really great since everyone is happier in summertime, or it could be really stressful again. I'm not really sure what to expect and don't know what kids I'll be with yet so it's hard to say what it will be like. Either way I guess, every day will be a new adventure! Please pray for me to have strength and a positive attitude as I go into this final phase of my work with youth in the city!
Thanks for reading! Have a great week! :)
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