This is home...

I've been hearing the chorus to Switchfoot's 'This is home' song for the past 24 hours, here are the lyrics:

This is home
Now I'm finally
Where I belong
Where I belong
Yeah, this is home
I've been searching
For a place of my own
Now I've found it
Maybe this is home,
Yeah this is home

Last night my team and I hit the streets of East Baltimore, we knocked on doors on my block, we ventured down Jefferson Street almost to Lakewood, we went up and down Glover St. and we made friends, we greeted people, we invited them to church, we loved people, we invited their kids to join us for summer camp, we prayed, we laughed and some of us went well beyond our comfort zone. IT WAS AMAZING! I don't know any other way to describe it then amazing.

When I am in the "mean" streets of what most people would consider the "hood" I literally feel like I am home, in my element in the place I've been searching for to call my own. Sometimes I have to sit back and giggle to myself that this white girl from Kansas, finds her comfort place in the middle of a place that most people would never step foot in, let alone give it a second thought.

The one thing I have been praying for as I make this transition from quiet Little Italy, to not so quiet Luzerne Ave. is that I would be well received by my neighbors, that they would not only welcome me to be a part of their neighborhood, but that they would also welcome me to live (and share) life with them, experience the pain and heartaches they experience, to celebrate the victories and joys they celebrate. I have prayed they'd join me in fellowship around my dining room table, they'd find peace in my quiet prayer room, they'd join me for bible studies, they'd join me at church on Sunday. I crave community within my community.

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you know that I spend days dreaming about what my life is going to look like in my new neighborhood, I dream about making PB&J's and sitting on the front stoops with the little boys playing ball, I dream about teaching the little girls to make cupcakes and cookies, I dream about sharing Jesus with them, I dream about starting an early morning bible study for the young adult women who live near me, I dream about applying for a Kaboom grant and building a community playground.

Last night as I locked up and was headed to meet my team at Mr. Yogato for our weekly tradition of yogurt and laughs, I ended up being 20 minutes late because every kid in a 2 mile radius needed to know where I was going, who I was going with, and when I would be back, it makes my heart smile to know these kids anxiously await their play time with Ms. Coco! Today as soon as I pulled into the neighborhood, Damian came running across the street (yes I scolded him for not looking both ways) threw his basketball at me, and told me he had been waiting for me to come back, these are the type of relationships I want with my neighbors.

I have a few prayer requests to share with you, last night we had the opportunity to pray with some pretty special people, and also to hear some pretty special requests, I am going to share a few of them with you, so you can join me in praying:

-Ms. "P" she lives across from me, her entire family is in Detroit she moved to Baltimore for a job, she asked us to pray for her family, her health, our neighborhood, city and country.

-Ms. "D" rededicated her life back to Christ a few weeks ago, she told us that Jesus has been popping up everywhere in her life lately, and this weekend her son is getting baptized this Sunday and she wants to pray for him and his journey.

-Ms. "T" asked us to pray for her family, she was so thankful for a job, and she was excited about joining us in church on Sunday, so we are praying that she's able to make it.

-Norman is 14 years old he joined our prayer circle and asked us to pray for school and his family.

Thank you for lifting up my new friends in prayer with me!