Halloween Block Party needs your help!

For the last 8 years The Lake House has hosted a Halloween Block Party for the neighborhood. We live in an area where trick-or-treating is difficult. Many houses are fenced in, many have dogs, many leave to trick-or-treat elsewhere and still kids dress up and take to the streets in search of those treats. Our block party has made for a place where everyone can be together and safe and have an incredible time together. We have even had one neighbor tell us they moved to our street after visiting one of our parties years ago while visiting a family member in the area. 
We grill as many burgers, chicken and hot dogs as we can afford to get. We fill a kiddie pool with ices and bottles of water, sodas and other sealed drinks so nobody gets thirsty while they laugh and dance throughout the night. We will have a DJ to keep the beats bumpin', a few fellas making balloon animals, face painting, caricatures, and as many other games and activities as we can come up with. 
Last year, when we realized that our neighborhood, Ybor Heights, did not have a neighborhood association we formed one. We moved the party from the house to our local park and made it both an outreach for our home church but also an outreach for the newly formed Neighborhood Association. At that party we met the woman who now serves as the President of the Association and we will be partnering with her to host yet another double outreach. 

Please help us gather this small budget so that we can afford to throw a huge party and get all of our neighbors together. We really are trying to love our neighbors and would love and appreciate any help you could offer to that end. Thank you!

Bon Voyage

Friday night was amazing for us! Natalia planned a sending off party at the house so we would have a chance to see all of our peoples before shoving off for a summer sabbatical in Philly. It was really cool to see everyone as different circles of friends came together in waves. The night was no exception to the interesting series of events that is the history at the lake house. There were kids swimming in the pond out front, small gatherings on the roof, people running around carrying chickens, and literal fire balls bouncing across the property! It was Ben and Lams first night there and I like to think that it was just as much a welcome party for them as it was a send off for us. As if to say, welcome and this is how it goes around these parts.

Natalia and I were so touched by the words of encouragement and gifts with which our wonderful family of friends loaded us down for the journey. It was nothing short of overwhelming. That climax to a week spent planning, cleaning and packing was seemingly a foolish endeavor to bite off but it was also the perfect place to leave from. Thank you all who were able to be there with us so much and please know how grateful we are for each of you, our amazing friends.

We are now on the road taking our time as we meander toward our summer home in Philly. So far we have stayed with friends near Jacksonville, in a treehouse in Georgia and in a tent set up next to a hostel in South Carolina. We are taking it all in and hope to keep folks updated on where we are and what is going on with us while at the same time keeping a bit of a journal for ourselves. We are setting up another blog at JonAndNatalia.blogspot.com  and invite any who are interested to follow along as we journey and reflect.

Urban Homesteading

This year has brought us quite the harvest. We've started getting Guavas, Star Fruit, Cactus fruit, and Passion Fruit. The new girls have started getting their hands dirty in caring for the plants. We've started a new seeding table and fixed the irrigation system. The chickens are laying beautifully.

Best of all, however, was a small Bible Study and garden tour we had in December. We studied John 15:5-8:

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples."

The final words of the 10-year old girl who participated in the Bible Study:  "The kingdom of God looks like family and friends getting together."