The Neighborhood

There are so many neighborhoods in and around DC. Many people who work on the Hill live in Maryland or Virginia suburbs. While I understand the appeal of suburban life (good schools, quiet streets, convenient shopping, less traffic, more space), Harvey and I have never been suburban people. We’re not picky about a lot of things, but when it comes to community, we know what we like: urban, multicultural, and historic. But it's not just a random personal preference--we believe God has suited us and called us as a family to live and minister in that kind of setting. So we preferred to look at houses in DC proper, which would keep us closer to his work anyway.

The problem is that there is no way we could afford to live in most DC neighborhoods. We love the rowhouses in Capitol Hill, for example, but we know a couple who just spent a million dollars to buy one there. And even if somehow we found one we could afford, those houses have no yards. We have four kids ages almost 2 to 9. A yard is a necessity.

That takes us to Southeast DC. It’s a bit of a rougher area of the city. Some people we spoke to avoid it. But we found a neighborhood there that reminds us of Brady Heights, our beloved Tulsa neighborhood. In Hillcrest, the houses are historic, the neighborhood association is active, and people take pride in their homes and yards (yes, they have yards!). And just like Brady Heights is affordable because it’s in North Tulsa, Hillcrest is affordable because it’s in Southeast DC. It’s a five-minute drive from Capitol Hill, where we like to go to shop and eat out. And we have a Safeway, post office, cleaners, and several other conveniences right around the corner. The mayor lives in this neighborhood. There’s also a plan for a big multi-use development nearby; they should break ground sometime this year.

We haven’t met many of our neighbors yet, and we haven’t seen many other children in the neighborhood. I think part of the reason is that it’s winter, and people just aren’t outside much. I have met and spent some time with one neighbor who lives just around the corner and a couple blocks down. She’s from California, most recently lived in Belgium, and she’s now lived in her Hillcrest house for a year and loves it. She doesn’t have children herself, but she told me she knows of a couple of families on her street who do. So the kids are out there, we just have to find them. It won’t be quite as effortless as it was in Brady Heights, where we had twelve children in a span of three houses and twenty to thirty children on our block alone! (We miss you!) But I’m willing to make the effort.

So I think we’ve found our niche in Washington. We weren’t specifically seeking Hillcrest, but as Harvey and I sat on our couch in Tulsa in December and house-hunted online, not really knowing anything about DC neighborhoods or demographics, the house we found on Craigslist was here. I believe God led us to the house and to the community it’s in, and I’m eager to see what friendships and ministries develop for us here. 

(If you’re curious to know more about our neighborhood, visit www.hillcrestdc.com.)