Some thoughts on DUP

DUP (Detroit Urban Plunge) 

I work with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. During spring break, I staffed a project in Detroit with students from Albion College, Michigan State and Grand Valley State University. I will be posting lots of posts as I process what God did in the past week at DUP.

The purpose of the trip was multi-faceted. We wanted to help students build community within their own chapters with their schools, as well as community with those they don't know. We wanted students to experience and learn what God says about justice. We spent several hours studying the whole book of Amos in a few short days! We wanted them to experience and see a broad view of Detroit. Some of Detroit is very, very broken. Other parts of Detroit, are complete gems that people forget about.

What did we actually do this week? 
Friday-  We all got there safe!! We stayed at a church on the east side of the city, our cars were in a gated parking lot, so they would not get broken into. All 22 of us slept on the floors of the church, and shared one shower:)  We had a simulation that helped our students deal with issues of race, socio-economic classes, and gender and then sent students into small groups to process that simulation.

Saturday- We worked with Central Detroit Christian, an AWESOME ministry in the city. We worked on rennovating a house in the city. I fell in love with old school Detroit homes. They were absolutely beautiful. Granted, the house we were working on was boarded up, as well as many of the surrounding homes, but it was stunning. You could tell that there was so much work put into designing and building that house back in the day. We did get a lot accomplished. We prepped the house to paint (taping, filling in cracks,) painted, cleaned out the garage, sanded stairs and walls, and installed an island in the kitchen. You can do a lot when you have 22 extra people working on your house. We ended the evening with dinner, studying Amos and small group processing time.

Sunday- We wanted the students to experience Sabbath. So often in our busy lives, we forget that God has created the Sabbath, it is something to be enjoyed, it is a command in fact! We slept in and went to church. Most of our students have never been in a African American church before, it was really interesting to see their responses. From there, we went downtown to the Detroit Institute of Arts. After the DIA, we went to a home in Detroit, where we were graciously greeted with a soul food dinner. WHEW! Were we ever blessed! And full, very, very full. And now I need to not eat for a month. I need to learn to cook some of this soul food  (fried chicken, loaded mashed potatoes, bean casserole, greens, corned beef, mac and cheese, peach cobbler, pecan pie......is your mouth watering yet?) Back to the church for more Amos.

Monday- We went back to Central Detroit Christian. They have a warehouse where Bed, Bath and Beyond and Home Depot donate goods. They then sell those goods from about 90% off sticker price to families in Detroit to help them beautify their homes. The warehouse was filled with boxes, from months of shipments. We went through the boxes, sorted things and organized shelves. When we were done, some of us, MIGHT have went shopping in the warehouse. How can you pass up a $300 knife set for $20, or a $100 pan set for $7, or in my case, a $75 coffee bean grinder for $5. Really? Yah, so we went "shopping" and made our donations to CDC. Came back to the church, had some dinner, studied Amos, had a speaker come in and talk about living intentionally in the city and sent the students to small groups for processing.

Tuesday- In the morning and Albion grad and her husband who live in the city came and talked to us about what living intentionally in the city looks like. They talked about both challenges and successes, joys and sorrows. The students loved them, their story was wonderful. We took the students to the African American History Museum, which by the way, is one of my favorite parts of Detroit.It is an amazing place, kind of like a walking theatre:) Later, students went to 2 different soup kitchens to prepare, serve and clean up dinner, and mingle and socialize with its patrons. Ended the night with Amos and small groups (sensing a theme?)

Wednesday- Students went to 2 different soup kitchens ( a Drug Rehab/Training Center, and a Prison Rehab, Training Center). They came back, at some lunch, and we studied Amos:) We took the students to Greek Town! LOVE Greek Town. Students got to see a new part of the city, experience Opa! (Flaming Cheese), enjoy great food and fellowship in the city. We finished Amos tonight!

Thursday--easy morning. We watched a video on urban ministry, students met one last time in small groups, we packed, cleaned the church and left.

And I drove. And drove, and drove.

And then I took a nap.

I will be posting several posts on Detroit. Anything in particular that you want to hear about?

The Diaries of a White Mamma

As I journey along this road of being a white mamma to a black boy, I thought I would share some of my experiences with you.

This week, my husband took Caleb for a walk in the park. It is so funny to me that the white kids come up to the stroller and ooo and ahh over this boy, and the African American kids (ALL ages, even college students) say, "Why do you have that black baby?" Or..."Do you know he is black?"

When you 51/2 month old decides to put his hands in his mouth while eating cereal, leaving tons of cereal in his hands, and then like all babies, rub his hands through his hair.....Black hair is so so so so much harder to clean cereal out of than his white counterparts.

Oh Jesus, teach me to be this mamma that this baby needs.

"Why didn't anyone ever tell me I was black?"

How my heart would hurt if those words ever came out of Caleb's mouth.

I have heard of a story where this happened to a white couple who adopted black children. Out of the mouths of babes, right?

Why the problem? At face value, to a white woman, I would be encouraged to hear this, knowing that his ethnic difference from the family was the focus of his upbringing, that he was loved simply because he was a child that God had created and because he is a part of our family.

What a disservice we would be doing to him if we didn't teach him about his heritage. He is African American being raised by a white family, there will be enough confusion in that, let's at least teach him to appreciate his heritage.

Not only it is a disservice, but it is unbiblical to "act colorblind." People who say that they are, are lying and wrong. Really? Like you can't notice that I have a black boy in my arms? God created cultures and elasticities and celebrates them throughout scripture, why shouldn't we raise Caleb the same way?

Saying that, our goal will not be to point out Caleb's differences, but to love him as best as we can, to parent him as best as we can, to raise him in our own familial traditions, as well as being real with his heritage. We want to be open and honest with Caleb, answering any questions he may have, about his birth family, adopted family, questions about adoption, his black heritage and anything else that he is wondering. We don't want to hide anything. I hope he lets be on a learning curve, because I have no idea how to do this:)

Now that I got that off my chest....I can cuddle with my peanut who decided to grow overnight and stretch out of preemie clothes and move into newborn sizes. This mumma's heart is not ready for her boy to grow so fast.