Rejoice!

We, Ruthie and Ian North, have been caught in a whirlwind of events since moving down to Georgia. Until now, there has been no place for our friends, family, followers, and foes to keep tabs on our day-to-day activities.

I say "until now" to foreshadow the change heralded by the advent of this very blog. From this post on, there will be a location (digitally speaking) where you can view pictures, videos, and text that detail our lives, from sweeping divine gestures to minute twitches of the eyebrows that define our reactions to said gestures.

Rejoice!

Now, perhaps some explanation is in order. First, the name. Refugee Arts is a broad and effective description for the thrust of our lives lately. We attend church with, live next to, write about, relay stories of, sing with, teach jewelry making to, and proclaim the redemption of refugees in the metro Atlanta area.

We live in Doraville in an apartment complex called Huntington Creek. It is almost entirely occupied by Latinos. I use the word "almost" only because of our presence, which makes the place about 1% Gringo. Ruthie and I partner with Whirlwind Missions to provide an afterschool program for the most beautiful bunch of kids on the planet (forthcoming pictures will validate this claim).

Ruthie also runs Refugee Beads, where she works with refugees to craft and market handmade goods to support their families. Ian is a dazzling wordsmith(editor's note: admittedly, he is the author of this sentence, so readers should be advised to assume that he is exaggerating, but then to consider that maybe he actually is as good as he says, which they will finally accept as the absolute truth), and is working with refugees to tell their stories through visual art, writing, and music.

Enough, you say? Fine. For now, we will end this post, and leave you eager for more.

Peace in Christ,

Ian and Ruthie