O-TOWN LIVIN

I've been living in Omaha now for a couple weeks. It gets pretty interesting at times, but I'm really loving it. Here's a pic of my roomies.... Alyssa, Me, Sharlay, Misty.


I've been playing a lot....let me rephrase that.... AAAALLLLLOOOOOTTTT of basketball. I started off extremely rusty, broke shot, slower than molasses in the dead of winter, hackin-crazy, and blister filled feet. But slowly my skills have been coming back. My new J's helped and I've been hitting the occasional three pointer, droppin dimes, and playing tenatious D! We've been runnin full court games so its an awesome way to get in shape. And it's also fun to humble the guys when I blow past em. My body is still adjusting to playing so much. I still get aches, pains, sore and stiffness. But I've realized my body isn't exactly 19 anymore and ibuprofen is a necessity.

One thing I've had to get used to living here is hearing the sirens at all hours of the day and knowing we're sort of in the middle of the hot zone. It's been getting worse with the nicer weather. I woke up last night at 4am and heard some quick pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. I'll let you guess what it was, but don't worry it was pretty far in the distance. I know that this is where God has Misty (my sister) buying a house, and me living right now. I trust that nothing will happen that God doesn't allow. I trust the hands of the Savior my life is resting in.

Living here also opens a huge door for ministry opportunities. My sister Misty works at an after-school program called the Hope Center about six blocks from our house. I've been volunteering there (where we usually play ball) and we're constantly giving kids rides, having them over, and feeding them. It's a great way to give them something to do and get them off the streets. God has created a lot of opportunities to talk about Him and how He's changed my life. I've been seeing Him use my past in huge ways to relate to them and open conversations about His love, forgiveness, and grace.

Yesterday,we had about 20 of the kids over for a Memorial Day grill out. We grilled burgers, bratts, had chips, baked beans, fruit salad, and iced tea. We set up the volleyball net and also had football and frisbee going. It was such a beautiful day. And God held off the rain until long after the kids had gone home. (which was about midnight!) It was awesome to be able to serve and love them for the Lord.

a short video of the boys so called "victory dance" even though we absolutely killed them!



some pics of the day...