Unexpected Conversations

I want to share a similar experience to Erin's. This week I've been in Nashville for job training. It has been a week of many "get to know you" conversations. During the course of these converstations, people find out that my husband and I just bought a house with another family. I'm suprised time and again how many people find the idea compelling. I had one lady share with me how she lived with her daughter's family for an extended amount of time - and now dearly misses the community - even though she now lives next door to her daughter.
I think she is right -- there is just something special about living under one roof. You don't have to plan in bumping into loved ones - it is a natural part of your day. You don't have to look for ways to serve others - opprotunities just naturally present themselves. You don't have to turn the TV on to find some comic relief - there are plenty of smiles to share with housemates. You don't have to search for people who care enough to spur you on to holiness - they sit around your dinner table!

Holding Breath

I catch myself waiting for things to be more difficult... kind of like "when will the honeymoon be over?" This week Cassie has been gone on a business trip and we've had a guest with us- a college student who needed a place to stay for a few days. Things are just going really well- from my perspective anyway.

I had opportunity to share our endeavor with a friend a few nights ago. She had not heard of our plans before, so I got to witness her first impressions. I'm not sure when I'll stop being surprised at the number of people who have either considered communal living or have talked about it with some close friends. Her reaction was one of interest and optimism. She immediately saw all of the advantages that we have expressed and asked many of the questions we were asking before we moved in. There are a lot more people out there who would consider sharing a home with another family than I'd ever imagined. Who knows, maybe in a few years mortgage brokers and Realtors will stop being shocked when people come to them and say, "We want to buy a house together... no we're not related." :)

First Guest

We are preparing for our first temporary and longer term guests this week. We have a couple of Cassie and Tom's friends stopping in this weekend, and her family coming next weekend. Then, toward the end of May, our summer guest will be moving in. He is an international student who needs a place to live for the summer. We know him from Mt Freedom; he has been attending there and living in their parsonage throughout this school year. So we've been busy getting his room ready for him to move in. Right now it looks a little better than the picture above, but the plan is to get it cleaned out this weekend. I hope he's ready for three little boys. They are especially rowdy today after 2 days of rain and no outside play. Right now they're running laps from the bedroom to the living room and back again. :)