a lot has been happening and this blog has fallen by the wayside. (sorry blog)
first of all you might be interested to know that i'm engaged! (even though every person who reads this already knows that, but i feel like the internet world as a whole should know, too) alissa and i are getting married in october and i am VERY excited.
she was here for a little bit in december and january and we also made a trip back to tennessee then. i started a job with the after school program at nearby omar elementary teaching 3rd and 4th graders about water. i got to go to south dakota to visit my wonderful wife-to-be a couple weeks ago and we had a lot of fun. i've been tutoring this guy in english (surprising, right?) and math. and i'm still going to meetings every month. in other words, life is much more exciting nowadays than it was in the fall. God has provided me with lots to do all of a sudden and people to share life with. He's also been growing the relationships i've had with some of the youth and with joey from church. it's like all of a sudden He opened a window and started dropping joys down on me.
logan itself isn't doing quite as well right now. there have been quite a few structure fires in the last month; some fatal, some not; some accidental, some not. and it seems as though there have been an extreme bump in teen (and one pre-teen) pregnancies. but along with these and all the normalities of southern west virginia, there is hope and it is rising. the secretary at the church i go to and a woman from another area church have started a branch of the goshen project here in town. this is a group that sends backpacks full of food home with students who qualify for free or reduced lunch over the weekend; three meals a day. this is incredibly needed in an area where many kids go without proper meals unless it's a school day. the problem is there are so many kids to feed! they started with 6 students this year and have been asked to expand to at least 30 next year. they are in dire need of supplies/money and helpers. please pray for them (missy and elizabeth) as they undertake this huge responsibility. also, the salvation army is starting a new youth group, and a few community organizations have new directors ready to jump in and get things moving.
no that we've caught up, this weekend was wonderful, and much appreciated. friday i got to hang out with a bunch of the high school boys from youth group, we hung out and played some basketball at a neighborhood court. saturday i headed up to charleston for the state high school poetry reading finals. no one from logan was participating but it was great to see a group of students doing a great job at a positive thing. i had lunch at the farmer's market, stopped by a local bakery, and hung out at a downtown bookstore for ages. then on my way home i treated myself to a nice dinner. it was a lovely day. then yesterday, church was very good. the people who work with the youth group got together afterward and prayed together. i invited joey over to have some fresh soup and share the huge sourdough loaf i had bought saturday. we hung out for the after noon and some kids from kids club stopped by and we played four-square and uno until they had to go home. like i said, a great weekend.
::