Heartbreaking.

This morning, Chris was trimming his beard with an electric razor. Leah, sitting in the kitchen eating her breakfast, could hear the whir of his trimmer.

“When is Daddy going to be done shaving?” she asked mournfully.

I asked her why she cared and she replied, “It breaks my heart!”

Mystified, I asked her if she was afraid he was going to cut himself. Her face became confused. She’s never seen Chris clean shaven, so the possibility of him cutting himself wasn’t even on her radar. I quickly assured her he wouldn’t get hurt, before we had something new to freak out about.

Then she went on to explain, “It makes me cold.”

So apparently the sound of the razor gave her the shivers and the best explanation she could come up with was that it broke her heart! Mystery solved.

Exciting Days Come in Pairs

If you read my blog yesterday, you know that it was a very interesting day. Today, not wanting to feel outdone, is trying its best to be interesting as well.

Mid-morning I got a knock on my door and a Gas Company Guy was standing on my doorstep. Something to do with a gas leak outside that they were fixing and needed to turn off all the gas in the house. To me, “gas leak” sounds bad. Big explosion bad. But he assured me there was no danger.

A couple hours later the Gas Company Guy was back. He informed me that the gas leak on the street was all fixed. That’s good. But when he went to test my gas meter before turning it back on, IT had a gas leak. That’s bad.

Worse, it wasn’t a gas leak he could fix because it was inside the house, after the gas meter. So our landlord needs to call someone to fix it. Until then, no hot showers, no stove, no furnace and no drying clothes.

I can do with an excuse not to cook. I can tolerate not doing laundry for a bit. I DEFINITELY don’t need a furnace at the moment. But cold showers? Seriously?

To add insult to injury, word on the street (via the guy who lives below us) is that our landlord is out of the country. But my neighbor has already called the girl left in charge. So here’s hoping she’s the proactive type and will get someone out here quick.

The one thing I forgot to ask was if the gas leak in the house was dangerous. I’m assuming it was… because gas leaks usually are. So apparently I’ve been living in a near death situation for weeks. I find that interesting in a curious kind of way.

Way to go, Wednesday! I think you’ve given Tuesday a run for it’s money!

Back to School with a Side of Nightmare

Louisville needs Jesus. And a revamp to the school bus system.

To ensure diversity (or something) Louisville doesn’t automatically put kids in the school by their house. Instead, they randomly pick a school somewhere in a 20 mile radius and deposit them there. Which, in and of itself, is dumb.

So then they have to bus all these kids to random schools. The system they use involves students riding 2 buses each way, and changing buses at a bus depot. When your son is in first grade, this doesn’t make you feel cheery inside.

So when Isaiah got his bus assignment, it looked like he was going to have to ride over an hour one way to get to school. His school is 12 minutes away. NOT CHEERY INSIDE.

We had decided that he would ride the bus to school and I would pick him up from school so that he got home before 5 o’clock.

Then a miracle happened. The bus depot called and gave me a new stop and bus number, where he would only ride one bus to school and only be on the bus for a little more than 30 minutes. It seemed to good to be true!

It was.

The bus pulled up to his stop (only about 30 minutes late) and I asked the driver if it was going to Isaiah’s school. He said that it went to a completely different school.

So Isaiah started crying. Leah started crying (I have no idea why) and Mommy felt like crying (for obvious reasons).

I piled the kids into the car and managed to get to the school on time (this is how I know it’s only 12 minutes away). I got Isaiah to class and then waited an hour in the school office, only to be told that I was going to have to go back to the original plan of my son riding a school bus for over an hour each morning.

The ladies in the office were super nice and tried to reassure me that their kids all rode two buses, half-way across town and have now grown up to be productive members of society. I’m sure that’s true, but it didn’t really make me feel better.

Oh, and on top of all that? When I left the school at 10:15 AM, there were still buses that hadn’t arrived. There were kids that wound up at our school, who should have ridden to other schools across the city and there were kids from our school that ended up at other schools. Scary.

Yes, I’m whining. It was a rough morning.

So now I’m begging my husband to let me drive Isaiah to and from school. Chris is concerned about gas (obviously), but Jesus can totally multiply that, don’t you think?

Facebook Kidnapped Twitter!

That’s Not Your Language

So Chester got in an argument with a guy sitting outside of Cafe 360 the other day. Yes, a human guy.

We were calmly taking a nice morning walk on Bardstown. It was early and not too many people were out yet, except a table of 3 enjoying breakfast (or maybe it was a late dinner, since they didn’t look very rested). We stopped near them, waiting for the crosswalk light to change.

And then it started. One of the guys began to quietly “woof.” Chester dutifully ignored it, but the guy continued with increasing fervor. Chester just looked at the barker with disdain, but finally it crossed the line and my dog let him have it.

Chester told him off, but he didn’t get angry. He didn’t pull the leash or lose control. He just stood by my side and calmly barked his loudest woof, putting that eating guy in his place.

And I would have fussed at him, but when a human starts barking at your dog, you kind of feel entitled to let your dog bark back… you know what I mean?

An Ode to my Road

I live on Bardstown Road. If you live in Louisville, that means something, but for everyone else, let me explain.

Bardstown Road (hereafter referred to as simply Bardstown) is amazing. I’ve only lived on Bardstown for four weeks, but I know it is wonderful, with many levels of wonderful I have yet to unwrap. It’s kind of like when you’re falling in love and you know it’s the person of your dreams, but you’re still discovering why.

One reason Bardstown is amazing is that it’s filled with fascinating things:

• I’m intrigued by the Greek restaurant which boasts a lunch buffet for $7.99 and will at some point delight my palate.
• All of the boutiques provide outfit inspiration just from their window displays, and the ones offering clothes designed by local artists make me want to get a sewing machine.
• Normally I’m able to resist the vintage jewelry shop immediately in front of my house, but when Marja puts a display out on the sidewalk, I’m forced to turn my eyes from its glories.
• One Asian restaurant advertises something in its window called “THE EGG ROLL MACHINE,” which also begs to be sampled at some point as well.
• I’m not a guitar player, but the shop across from our place impressed even me with the variety of it’s merchandise.

I could go on all day about the Hookah cafe, the frozen yogurt place (which has been sampled), the blown glass shop, the Indian market, the palm reading place with cafe tables out front (not too sure what that’s all about), the African baked goods store, a myriad of coffee shops, the Homemade Ice Cream and Pie Kitchen (which has also been tried, praise the Lord!), the micro brewery where you can drink beer outside ONLY if seated at their tables, and so much more!

It’s a delight to walk my dog amongst so many interesting things. It’s a delight to drive down my street and discover a shop I missed seeing up until that point. It’s a delight that hand in hand with all those fascinating shops is an oil-change garage, a CircleK, two different vacuum cleaner stores in apparent competition, a Kroger, dentists, real-estate agents, and a quick-mart. These completely normal businesses lend such an air of credibility to the coolness of the neighborhood.

I’m sure you can imagine, with so many quirky and thrilling things to see and do on Bardstown, that all of Louisville comes to hang out there. No, I’m not exaggerating. ALL of Louisville comes to Bardstown, especially on Saturday nights. And that’s something else that makes me love my street.

On any given day, I appreciate the people I see on Bardstown. I enjoy the mix of hippies, heavily tattooed/pierced people, upper-class hipsters, toothless old guys, and pink haired girls. But that’s just the people who live in my neighborhood.

When the street gets crowded with the people who’ve put on their best to enjoy a night out on Bardstown, I love it here even more. I love the smells coming from the restaurants and how every parking spot is taken, even on the side streets. I love seeing people with that “I feel cool, just because I’m on Bardstown,” look. I love the excitement that fills the air. I love that people are excited to come and hang out for a bit in a place that I live all the time.

And it’s a good thing I love it, because I’m writing the rough draft of this blog at 1:50 AM on a Sunday morning, since the Bardstown revelers didn’t stop shouting (probably drunken) conversations in the alleys behind our house until about 10 minutes ago. Hope you enjoyed my street folks… now go home to bed.

Moving In… Moving Forward!

Since I only have about 10 boxes that are still not unpacked, so I think I can safely say we’re moved in.

Our house is cute as a button, but if you don’t believe me, you can watch a video tour Chris made. I really hate cleaning stuff, and a small house means less cleaning, which means a happier me!

Louisville has brought another surprise. I actually LIKE walking the dog. It’s not so much that Chester is great company, but more because our neighborhood is so full of interesting buildings and eclectic people. And it turns out Chester is a great conversation starter!

So I KNOW that you’re sitting there thinking, “It’s so exciting that Chris and Hannah are starting a church in Louisville. I wonder how I can help them with that?” I’m glad you asked! Let me tell you:

The Lord has been faithful (as always) and provided Chris with a job. It is a huge blessing, but definitely doesn’t pay all the bills. So we depend on the financial support that people send our way. We’re trying to avoid Chris having to get a second job, because that will leave no time for us to connect with our community and actually do what we’re here to do.

There’s another area where we really could use some help! We’ve discovered that we’re going to need a second vehicle here. Isaiah’s school is about 15 minutes away, so if he gets hurt or sick, I need to be able to get to him, not to mention running errands, doctors appointments, etc. It’s not like in PA, where Chris could just walk to church when I needed the car.

We’re looking for something pretty cheap, so even small amounts of financial support go a long way towards helping us reach our goal! If you’d live to give towards a Davis-mobile, click here. Best part is, our donations now go through our partner church (CCF) so everything you give is tax-deductible! Yay for that!

I have a third way for you to help us out! I said Chris wasn’t going to get a second job, but that’s not entirely true. He is developing websites for people on the side. So if you need a site (or any other internet help) or if you meet up with someone who does, send that work Chris’ way! A great way to promote this is by recommending people to http://aw8ken.com.

So there you have it folks! Only you can prevent forest fires and help us start Destiny Church!

This could have been tragic…

Conversation with Isaiah…

Isaiah: I dropped my blue marker in the vent!

Me: I don’t know if I can get that vent open.

Isaiah: If you can’t open it, we’re doomed!

(I opened the heat vent. The marker is retrieved. We are all safe and well.)

Louisville, How’d We Get Here?

We’ve moved to Louisville, KY to plant a church. If that’s news to you, it might be a good idea to start with reading a couple of blog entries back.

So why did we decide to start a church in Louisville?

The Lord pretty much threw church planting in our faces until we got what He was trying to tell us. He wasn’t quite as forthright about location, but one thing He did make clear to our hearts was that our next season of ministry needed to be birthed out of relationship.

One relationship specifically seemed to have a lot of grace on it and that was with a church called Covenant Community Fellowship in Indiana, just outside of Louisville. CCF was planted a little over two years ago by a friend of ours from Bible college and they have a vision to assist with planting more churches in their region.

The Lord also spoke to our hearts via another church planting pastor, who told us to plant somewhere we would be culturally comfortable. Chris was raised in Arkansas (about as South as you can get) and I was raised in WI (about as North as you can get), so what was culturally comfortable for us was a little vague. We figured our best bet would be somewhere right between the two.

When we looked Louisville up in Wikipedia, it said this:

Louisville is influenced by both Southern and Midwestern culture. It is sometimes referred to as either the northernmost Southern city or the southernmost Northern city in the United States.

We saw relationship and region coming together and the more we looked into Louisville, the more life we felt on it as the location we were being called to.

As our hearts grew toward Louisville, I researched specific neighborhoods to see if anything jumped out. One in particular caught my eye, called the Highlands. It embodied elements that had always held a lot of attraction for Chris and I and seemed like it had the kind of vibe we were looking for.

First chance we got, we took a trip down to Louisville to see the city for ourselves. When we arrived, we immediately stopped at a coffee shop downtown to take advantage of wi-fi an get our bearings.

When we ordered, the barista asked us what we were doing in Louisville. We replied that we were just checking out the city and he immediately said, “You need to go to the Highlands.” He proceeded to tell us more about the Highlands, but offered no other suggestions for exploring Louisville. Just the Highlands.

When we drove into the neighborhood we instantly fell in love. There was a kind of chaotic excitement in the air. Not completely a good excitement, but it was compelling and gripped our hearts more than any other area of the city.

And now we’re here, right in the heart of the Highlands. We are discovering that the way we felt when we first visited the neighborhood was more accurate than we realized. There is an excitement in the air that isn’t necessarily all good. And we can’t help but love it here.

Louisville, We Are Here!

This is a quick and crazy, thrown together blog to update everyone on our arrival in Louisville, with special thanks to Starbucks and their internet. And if you are wondering what we’re even doing in Louisville, check out launchdestiny.com.

The drive from Pittsburgh to Louisville was uneventful, which is a good thing, because the moving in part wasn’t exactly easy-peasy.

I was all excited to see my new house for the first time! Only problem was our keys wouldn’t open the lock… something to do with new keys and an old lock. To save the day, Chris and Phillip (Chris’ brother) climbed on top of the fence, Chris climbed on top of Phillip and then he climbed onto our neighbor’s porch roof and into our apartment window. So that problem was solved with no loss of life (although I am going to have to mend Chris’ shorts).

Then the movers we’d hired through U-Haul showed up 2 hours late. Which wasn’t really helpful of them, but we were glad they came at all, since Chris and Phillip were not enjoying unpacking the whole truck by themselves.

Now, here’s where the loss of (furniture) life comes in… Our apartment is on the second floor, in an old, old house. Think twisty stairs and narrow doors. And then think big, fat couches. Yeah.

The movers BARELY succeeded in getting our love seat up and refused to even try the couch (whimps). I was tired, and in full-fledged post-moving blues, so I was not a happy camper. Not to mention that our apartment was kind of on the filthy side. So being told I was not going to have a couch did not fill me with joy and joyness.

My husband likes to have me happy, so he agreed to try again today. Phillip, Chris and I used our best maneuvering skills. But standing at the top of the stairs, holding the full weight of a large couch that refused to turn a corner, even I was willing to admit that it MIGHT not fit. I was pretty disgruntled, but then I had the idea that a couple of overstuffed type chairs might look pretty cool in my new living room. And suddenly I felt better. Chris assured me that he would procure whatever I needed and that we would not be forced to sit on the floor for our entire stay in our new place.

So if you live in Louisville, keep your eye on Craigslist for the add for an amazing dark sage couch. Because you know you want to buy it!

Setting aside all the above mentioned trauma, I am pretty sure I love it here! I love how the neighborhood feels. I will love my apartment when it is clean. I love the things the Lord is speaking to my heart. This is going to be so good!

And the highlight of my day? Unpacking a box of dishes and finding a love note from Pittsburgh friends, written on a paper plate. And as I type that, my eyes are not tearing up in Starbucks. Not too much anyway.