Three Homes, Two Birth Plans, One Summer

This summer we lived in three places, switched our whole plan for bringing Baby Hymas into the world, and learned that our plans often have to grow with us.

In June we moved from here:

to here:

and then in August we moved here:

It kind of went like this:

Scene: Justin and Allie's first apartment
Justin: Oh hey, our lease is up in June.  We should move.
Allie:  Cool.  I'll look on Craigslist and Padmapper until we find something awesome.
...two months later...
Justin: Oh crap, its almost June. 
Allie: We've already visited five apartments that we liked, how are we going to choose?
Justin: Lets just pick one and call it good.
Allie: Righto.

So we moved into an adorable South Hill apartment an awesome landlady and a backyard for Justin to start gardening in.  It was a blissful June.  We were two blocks from Manito park, five minutes from Trader Joe's, two minutes from the South Perry District, tucked in a quiet neighborhood of turn of the century mansions perched on the hill overlooking downtown.  In all the ways that seem to make sense, everything was perfect--except for this nagging feeling.

One concept that has really impacted Justin and me in our experience at Whitworth and at Vintage Faith is the idea that community should be a central part of our lives.  In Western culture, life is fragmented by our busy schedules and individualistic impulses; we typically don't depend on others, drop in on our neighbors, or consistently share life with others in the way that other cultures so naturally do.  I believe that when we relate with other people on a deeper level, a family level, that we will help each other grow into the kind of people we were meant to be.  This doesn't happen overnight.  I think that it requires a level of overlapping life that most Americans would find awkward.

In our lovely, perfect South Hill home, Justin and I discovered that we were far away from the people with whom we were sharing life and developing more authentic, soul-sharpening relationships.  Our setting was perfect for us to enjoy as a couple, but we had stopped sharing meals with our friends and stopping by their houses.  We kind of just disappeared across town and set up our own little recluse bubble.  When we recognized this, we shared it with our missional community and together we came up with a plan.  Our friends needed renters in the house they're not living in right now, and we needed to live somewhere that would help us prioritize community.  After giving it a lot of thought and prayer, Justin and I felt like renting our friends' house would allow us to better pursue the relationships in our lives, and participate with our friends' goal to steward their home for missional purposes.

Its been a little over a month in the new house, and Justin and I have been super blessed by all kinds of new friendships and opportunities in our neighborhood.  We now live in West Central, and almost as soon as we moved in we were greeted by an onslaught of lovely, inspiring people who are using their unique talents to serve this neighborhood.  From Pat and Connie who started Riverfront Farms, to JJ and the Youth For Christ crew, to Bobby the owner of Indaba Coffee, and the Caraways who have their serving hands in everything, there are so many role models here in West Central who Justin and I aspire to be like, and most of them are our neighbors!  And while I've loved apartment life, nothing beats living in a house--especially when it comes to having our missional community and neighbors over!

This location lends itself to serving others and engaging with our friends and neighbors; now we just need the courage and accountability to actually do these things!  So far, Justin is getting plugged into the community gardening scene, and I have done a little music at the West Central farmer's market, but we are still confronting those old selfish, individualistic tendencies.  Please pray for us and offer any encouragement or advice! 


To be continued:  Part II: Why We Completely Switched our Birth Plan...