Community Living Makes the Hard Times Easier & The Sweet Times Sweeter!!

This has been an incredible year for me, full of emotion and change; we said goodbye to my dad and hello to the new life in my belly. Chris and I live on a YWAM base, this means there are 75 other people we share life with on a daily basis. Every meal is eaten with at least 10 other people at the table, our front door is always revolving and our living room rarely feels like "ours". On the weekends if we go to the beach with 8 or so people, 2 car loads full, it is a "small" group of people. I am never in lack of someone to go on a hike with or grab a coffee with. Over the last 8 or so years of living this way there are days when I long for privacy but on the whole I am so thankful for my community. Over the last year I have realized what a rare treasure it is to live this way. 

When we received the phone call that my dad had passed away in a car wreck and we would be needing to fly home, $ was one of the last things on my mind. Our community made sure it stayed that way. The thursday night before we left YWAM Honolulu's staff and students took an offering that was enough to cover the airfare for both Chris and I to make the round trip flight to Oklahoma. Love and support was shown in countless other ways and I was overwhelmed by the outpouring during that difficult time!

Struggling with infertility in a public way is something that we really didn't have much of a choice about, therefore I decided to embrace it completely. Being a leader of a ministry means that dozens of people are watching and observing you at all times. I made a conscious decision to be open and vulnerable about not being able to get pregnant and my journey with P.C.O.S. My hope was that it would be beneficial to others to watch me walk through the struggle while still trusting God in the midst of it. What I didn't realize was how beneficial it would be for me.

Even though the doctor said there was little to no chance of conception without drugs, for over 3 years our community continued to pray for us to conceive. The 2 times I have gotten teary eyed about being pregnant are the 2 times I shared with our community about it (I'm not the crying type). The announcement that we were pregnant was a moment I will never forget. You would have thought we won the super bowl. It was a Thursday night meeting which means our meeting hall (the tin) was packed. Chris and I were at the front and when he made the announcement; it was like a heat wave of excitement and joy hit us. People jumped out of their seats, they were cheering and fist pumping, others were crying, it was a victory that was shared by so many because the struggle had been shared. Our friends and family at YWAM Honolulu shared in the joy and struggle and that made the joy so much sweeter for us. The gender reveal party was another electric moment shared with many. We didn't know the gender until we sliced the cake open in front of dozens of people. My reaction was shock to say the least. We are very excited about our little boy coming in February!

I am so thankful for our community. I imagine the new testament church being one much like what we have at YWAM Honolulu. Every believer should have the benefit of walking through life's hardships and joys with a community of people to help carry them through. Thank you for being a part of our lives and the joys and the sorrows that we carry together.