Our Block Party

I'm still not finished with my list of 25 things to do at 25, but at least one goal was accomplished tonight: our neighborhood block party.  With the help of some neighbors, Ryan

and I organized a get-together with the houses on our block.  

We live in Uptown Memphis and are four blocks from the trolley/bus station, five blocks and a bridge from Mud Island, and two blocks from St. Jude Hospital.  Our six months here have been adventurous and wonderful.  We daily interact with children from our neighborhood, daily see a homeless person, and daily make the "trek" out of, and then back into, the city.

Here are a few shots from our Block Party tonight.  They very adequately reflect the diversity of our community:

Setting up for the evening.  Our house is the yellow one in the foreground.

Ryan fixing his plate as Ms. Ruby chats in the background.

Our neighbor Katey brought out the sidewalk chalk and the kids had a blast!  I just had to snap a shot of Tacasia's work! :)

As the night came to a close, a few of "the boys" were still hanging around!

25 Things To Do...

Although I'm not finished yet, here is the beginning of a list of things I hope to accomplish this year:

1. begin blogging

2. sell some things online

3. throw a neighborhood block party (one scheduled for this Saturday 9/20!)

4. learn to decorate cakes (finished the first class of three in August along with my friend Angela)

5.  put window treatments/curtains in each room of the house

6.  go to the dentist 

7.  exercise regularly 

8.  memorize 10 scriptures in English and Spanish

9.  travel to Latin America with Ryan (this may be impossible)

10.  write more notes/letters to those that I love

11. landscape our front and back yard

12.-25.-----------still to come-----------

Here is a picture of our neighbors "Pooh," Kiara, and Jada who LOVE hanging out with Spencer, "the neighborhood dog."   We hope that they will be at our neighborhood party on Saturday with their families.

The Big 25...

        Well, today was the day!  The big 25th birthday.  I've been wanting to blog for awhile, so I thought that today would be better than any other!  Although my life is quite boring, I am hoping to keep a log of things for myself if no one else!

        Today we spent the day in worship with our family at iglesia de Cristo and then Ryan and I were honored by the church with a lunch of pupusas con repollo. In addition to it being my birthday, it is also our last day with iglesia de Cristo.  After much thought, prayer, and decision making we have decided to begin worshipping with the Downtown church beginning in January.  We are excited about being a part of that church family and are looking forward to worshipping in English.

I'm in the process of creating a list of 25 things to do while I am 25 and look forward to sharing that soon!