It takes a village...

It takes a village to diaper a child! Well, not quite, but it certainly helps to have help. Yesterday, a friend was having trouble finding a sitter for her two children and I was reminded about how unusual my household situation is and grateful I am to have, what essentially amounts to, a small village to share the joys and burdens of life with. We live in a large house containing a total of 6 adults and two children- this is an intentional community. We share the common spaces of the living room, kitchen, dining room and laundry room, try our best to eat meals together several times a week and share the workload of cooking and cleaning as much as possible.

D Day: Diaper Day takes place about twice a week, but there is always something going in the washerEach time I wash diapers, I am reminded of the blessing and responsibility that living in community holds.  As you can imagine, there is A LOT of laundry being done on a regular basis! Because I wash my diaper loads on a heavy duty cycle, the washer can be occupied for several hours when I do laundry. I will often see several laundry baskets full of dirty clothes (not mine) lined up waiting for a turn! It is, I'm sure any would say, a bit of a burden to not be able to wash clothes the instant the need arises, but it also forces compromise and an awareness of the needs of others. Many conversations have been sparked in the laundry room as we treat stains, fold dry clothes, change one another's loads and move the wet piles from the washer to the dryer.

Small glimpses into each other's lives; mundane? Yes. Precious? Absolutely.

How do you find community? Let us know, Post a comment!