Accents By Janelle Lynn

I’ve started a mini business here in Atlanta! I began crocheting and knitting different types of beanies and headbands with flowers on the side. Evidently they were a big hit and I began receiving orders for them right away. SO, I have now started a blog to introduce my new product. Check out www.accentsbyjanellelynn.wordpress.com to see more pictures and information! If you are interested in buying any let me know and we can figure out details! They are a great Christmas gift and all the proceeds go toward my fundraising for Mission Year!!!!
email me at accentsbyjanellelynn@gmail.com if you are interested! Thanks for looking!

Macaroni for Thanksgiving?

Macaroni and cheese, candied sweet potatoes, collard greens, chitluns, sweet tea, and deep fried turkey… I’ve now experienced a true Southern Thanksgiving Dinner... 3 to be exact. At first I wasn’t so keen on spending Thanksgiving away from my family, but I was so grateful when we were invited to spend Thanksgiving at the church with our friends there. I was even more grateful when I received two more invitations to spend Thanksgiving with my neighbors!

I ended up being able to attend all three and now my stomach is regretting it. LOL. After attending the church meal I went to see my friend Ms. Shananay (aka Sister Pat). Ms. Shananay wasn’t having a very good day yesterday. Her son Carl had to work and her grandbaby was with her mother (other than that she doesn’t have any more family) so she was feeling pretty lonely. Luckily, she decided to put on a good face and invite me inside. We got to talk for a bit and started laughing pretty hard (especially when she talked for 10 minutes about ‘Jerry’ – I thought she was talking about her landlord but she was actually talking about Jerry Springer). I enjoyed being able to keep her company so she wasn’t alone on Thanksgiving.

Finally, I went to Ms. Rouse’s house. She lives a few houses down the street. Now, Ms. Rouse lives in a pretty small house, but somehow she managed to pack about 40 people inside! It was utter chaos, yet I still enjoyed meeting her huge family and watching football with them (even though I had no clue what was going on :P).

Ultimately, it was a good Thanksgiving. I ate WAY too much and think I’ll probably have a food baby for the next week! Haha.

Good morning,
It's a gorgeous fall day here in Atlanta, one of those days that makes me actually appreciate the bipolar weather. It's nice to have a break from the freezing cold every once in awhile! I realize it's been awhile since I've updated so I'll give a quick rundown of a few things that have been happening. First, I'm changing my service site. I absolutely love the Atlanta Women's Day Shelter and the work that they do there, but, since Katherine and I both work there, we are finding the need to have our own relationships and independence. Hopefully, I'll begin working at the Atlanta Union Mission in the next several weeks. This organization has two parts, a homeless crisis center that provides overnight shelter for women and children. They also have a personal development program where women come to stay for an extended period of time and receive aid in overcoming addictions, dealing with domestic violence situations, getting out of prostitution, dealing with major depressive disorders etc.
I'm looking forward to working with this shelter. I believe I will be working primarily in childcare (they have a preschool and kindergarten for the kids in the personal development program with their mothers) but I'm also working to figure out a way to teach piano lessons to beginning mothers and children. I feel this is a service that the homeless population is rarely exposed to and would like to offer it to anyone interested.
Secondly - Bracelets. My team has been working to find a way to do fundraising and also connect our friends and family back home with our friends here in Atlanta. One way we are doing this is through bracelets. Many of our friends here have helped us to make bracelets and we'd like to send our friends back home a bracelet that matches the one worn by a friend here. We'll accept donations (recommended $20) for the bracelet. We will then send you information about the person who is wearing the bracelet matching yours and ask that you pray for that person whenever you are wearing that bracelet. The money that you donate for the bracelet allows us to be here working with the people wearing them. If you are interested in receiving a bracelet and a prayer partner please let me know! I can send you one in the mail or bring one home to you at Christmas!
 Ok, I'm running out of time to write more, I hope that everyone will consider supporting my team and our fundraising goals by purchasing a bracelet and praying for my friends here in Atlanta
Have a wonderful day!
Janelle

Neighborhood Get-togethers

Ok. I should probably explain the pictures from the last post (I was in a rush and didn't have time to write anything). There is a community garden in our neighborhood (about two blocks away from where I live). It's here that we have garden boxes with vegetables and flowers, a compost pile, and a large grassy area. The church has been trying to set up a playground in the grassy area for quite some time now. A few weeks ago, it finally happened! A church in the area donated a playground and we had a garden work day to set it all up!

We spent the day building the playground, planting new plants, digging up sweet potatoes, building a new compost pile, and cleaning up the area! it was all a great success and a wonderful time to hang out with people from the neighborhood. Ms. Vernistine taught me all about planting collards and spinach, and it was hilarious watching Jarrod and Dontario excitedly digging up the sweet potatoes!

The Next weekend we had our annual fall block party. This was also held in the garden. We had approx 150 people come out from a partner church and the neighborhood. The kids had a great time playing games, painting pumpkins, making sand art, and eating lots of food! This year was the largest turnout yet!

Yesterday, My team and I held a potluck at our house for the neighbors right around our house (pictures to come :))
Our friend Billie helped us out a lot by providing us with a grill and decorations for the tables! We had a good crowd show up and everyone brought food to share! It was a great to see our neighbor, Rod, who just moved into the area meet some of our other neighbors! It was also very nice to see our neighbor Charles come out (He's lived in the neighborhood for 8 years and still doesn't know any of his neighbors). We were happy to introduce him to some of our friends!
Well, SAY Yes! is about to start, so I will have to update more stuff later!
Peace!

Donut Eating Contest at the Fall Block Party

 Naomi, one of the girls from SAY Yes! getting her face painted

Jarrod and his batman mask!

 Colyn and Elias showing off their muscles

 Mary showing off the cupcake she decorated

 Cora (she lives across the street from me)

 Garden work day, the boys working on building the playground

 it's amazing how much entertainment we get out of boxes ;)

 the community garden entrance :)

 family night: carving pumpkins contest (boys vs. girls)

 Boys pumpkin!

 Meet Steve (He goes to our church; they carved his profile)

 The winning Pumpkin! Snow White!

 The back of snow white

Solitude and Silence

Solitude. What a wonderful time to think, reflect, and pray. Friday was Mission Year’s annual solitude retreat. The teams in Atlanta went to a state park about 2 hours outside of Atlanta. The area was beautiful; the leaves were changing and falling from the trees and the lake was quiet and peaceful. Throughout the day on Friday we were sent out for a time of solitude, away from everyone else, a time for us to be with God alone.

I spent most of my time sitting under a tree by the lake. Caz (our city director) had given us some optional reading to take with us in our time of solitude and silence. One reading was a chapter from a book call “The Beloved.” I found it to be extremely interesting and applicable to myself but also for others. Here’s my journal entry about it:

I am Beloved. This is my identity. Any other definition is a false illusion. John Eagan writes “We ourselves are the greatest obstacle to our own nobility of soul – which is what sanctity means. We judge ourselves unworthy servants, and that judgment becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. We deem ourselves too inconsiderable to be used even by a God capable of miracles with no more than mud and spit. And thus our false humility shackles an otherwise omnipotent God.”

It seems like such a simple concept – accepting that I am God’s beloved. Yet, as I strive for a deeper relationship with God, I’ve discovered it to be the most difficult thing to grasp. I tell myself that I am his beloved, I tell myself to accept his love and grace, others do too for that matter, but I always seem to come back to my undeserving frame of mind.

I always seem to go back to the idea that my identity is found in this world. I find myself in the ways that others perceive me. I find my identity in my accomplishments and achievements. I NEED to realize that I am HIS BELOVED.

I love the words spoken to John Eagan by his spiritual director: “The heart of it is this: to make the Lord and his immense love for you constitutive of your personal worth. Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. God’s love for you and his choice of you constitute your worth. Accept that and let it be the most important thing in your life.”

As I go out into this new week I hope to go out with a new attitude. I want to constantly be reminded that I am His Beloved. I want to take the guilt and shame of my faults and realize that those cannot keep me from being Beloved. As I build relationships with those in my neighborhood, I want to be someone who can show others that we are all Beloved. I want to offer hope and comfort to others truthfully saying and believing: “We are his beloved, rest in that knowledge.”

It's Halloween... well almost

Halloween is coming up so fast. I was in charge of deciding what to do for 'family night' on Monday... we carved pumpkins. Since I'm poor (lol) I bought 1 pumpkin for Katherine and I, and 1 pumpkin for the boys. We had a good time competing against one another to win the contest. Katherine and I had a pretty good version of Snow White on our pumpkin and the boys decided to carve Steve (one of the people we work with at New Life Covenant Church) It was pretty hilarious. In the end, even Steve, voted for Snow White and we won the contest :)

On Saturday we will be holding the annual block party in the community garden. This will be a time of games, costumes, food, and lots of people! I'm looking forward to see what's in store (although I heard the the Mission Year Teams always end up in the pie booth)!

Yesterday at SAY Yes! I was working with Elias, as usual. He was extra energetic yesterday and hilarious to watch. He told me that I had to have the password to look into his backpack. When I couldn't guess he yelled "it's 712893"! haha. I don't know where he comes up with these things. Later as we worked on his homework he was munching on some candy he had received at school. I couldn't help but laugh as he reached into his pocket and pulled out three unwrapped sweet tarts and told me I could have the last ones. So generous and unaware that its weird to give people unwrapped candy from your pocket. haha. I love that little guy and am so glad that I get to work with him on a daily basis.

Again at SAY Yes!: The kids were all sitting down to eat dinner. I was eating with Mckenzy and Naomi. Mckenzy is in 3rd grade and Naomi is in 6th. Mckenzy started asking if I had any children. When I said no she said "are you married?" When I told her I wasn't she just looked at me with a weird face and said... "you should probably get married!" She was dead serious too! Oh the joys of working with little kids!

Well, I'm sitting here at the church typing up this entry but it's time to go print off the bulletin and run some errands... Til Next time!!!!!!