Spring is on its way....

We are so happy to say that spring appears to be on its way!!! This means lots of work to be done in our garden. Today was our first official work day in our urban garden. There is so much to be done, but there are a lot of hands to help, so hopefully we will get things off to a great start. We are also getting back into a rhythm with our new students that arrived two weeks ago. We will start our one on ones this week, Derek is Daniel's and I (Rebecca) am Kari's. I think Derek and Daniel will have it pretty easy considering their 10+ year friendship and the fact we are living together. :) I am really excited to get to know Kari and have fun times with her. I also am getting back to tutoring this week with the Refugee students.
I am currently struggling through the worst case of jet lag ever!
I had the most amazing opportunity to go to Germany to visit one of my best friends Anne. My parents so generously bought my plane ticket for my birthday this year. It was such an amazing time with Anne. A few things we did there were: traveling all over Germany, going to the Austrian Alps, and a short weekend trip to Paris, France. While we were in Paris, two of our close friends met up with us too. We were so surprised. We had no idea we would all be there at the same time! God also used this time to speak a lot to me about direction for the future. So, it was a very very great time!

Well, thats all for now. I will attach some pictures soon. Our laptop is currently "under the weather." We're not sure whats wrong, but hopefully we will figure it out soon. We have one prayer request to share too, the first week in April I will be having surgery to remove a lump my doctor found in one of my breast's. They are almost 100% sure its benign, but they would like to remove it due to its size and its sometimes painful. So please be remembering me in your prayers.
Hope you all have a great Easter tomorrow!
Love,
Derek and Rebecca

Life on Nash Street

We are finally back in New Haven. We are all moved into our new house on Nash St. with our friends Daniel and Lacy Evrard and Colin, Kristen, and Aelah Meyer. Our good friends Keith and Katherine Blake live right next door with their two kids Sam and Eden. We are still adjusting to life in the Nash St. house. We just have one bathroom so that is a little tricky, but that seems to be the only snag we've met so far (and even that one was minor). It is a fun house, full of life. It is definitely never boring. It is a house full of musicians and artists. It is not unusual to have spontaneous dance parties in the living room at 9 o'clock at night. It is great to have so much creativity around constantly. People are always knitting and Lacy is always weaving on her loom. Colin, Daniel and I (Derek) are writing a lot of music and practicing in the basement of our house. It feels really good to be making music. It is incredibly fulfilling to go down to the basement and watch the songs develop into the songs I've imagined them to be.
Daniel, Keith, and I have been thinking about doing a community garden for some time now. Our thoughts and conversations are finally turning into action. We've been garden planting for the last week, looking at seeds and methods of planting. We are extremely excited. We are starting in our back yards on Nash St.(ours and the Blake's). We are wanting to dream bigger though. In the next couple of days we are going to go look at an empty lot we may be able to turn into a garden. Our dream is to be able to provide produce for low or no cost to our community of friends and those in poverty among us. Keep us in prayer as we take on this in endeavor. There is a lot of planning and work to be done. We are going to try to do everything as low cost as possible, from recycled wood and plastic bottles. We are currently looking for a tiller.
We are very excited about this new year in New Haven. The opportunities we see ahead of are really exciting. We want to make a difference in our neighborhood and in this city. We want to learn what it means to live in true community, first in our house, then in our neighborhood, and then in our city. We are very excited about trying to follow Jesus as closely as possible and really trying to experience life abundantly. Please pray for us. The work ahead is a little overwhelming and frightening but it is good work. I'll write again soon.