Communal Living

Many people (mostly Americans) ask us how we can manage living in a house with another couple. Even though our house is plenty big for the four of us to live very comfortably, it is different from the way most Americans live. I have never considered myself someone who would be good at physically living in a house with others that were not my family. If you ask my husband and siblings, they will agree that I can be very particular about things, close friends and past roommates would probably say the same thing. There are many other opinions that claim that living "in community" is best, people will even argue from scripture that we should all physically live "in community." I will not give my reasons at this time for why I am not convinced by those arguments, I will jut say that I have never been convinced by them. To be clear; I am a huge advocate for sharing life with people and being in intentional relationships with a community, however we all do not need to move into communes to acquire such relationships.

In Uganda, living together with several others, is the norm and so we are never asked how we manage living with other people in the same house. In fact, a few weeks ago a friend was over at our house and asked if we got lonely with just the four of us. She suggested that we fill the house with more people, and she was aware that Erin and I are both pregnant! Believe it or not, it's not the first time we have heard that opinion form one of our Ugandan friends. Ugandans, and many East Africans, think far more communally than your average American. They possess a remarkable sense of belonging and watching out for one another. There is much that the body of Christ should emulate from good communal living like what we see here in Uganda. 

So how is it living in a house with the Allens? It is great. It doesn't come without challenges or differences but we are glad that this is where the Lord has us. Specifically, in the last few weeks Kyle and I have been especially thankful that we share a home with them. I haven't had morning sickness the entire time I have been pregnant but in the last month or so, the nausea and vomiting has been too frequent for my taste. Due to the sensitivity of my nose and non-existent appetite, the Allens have carried most of the responsibility for meal planning and cooking. This has been a huge gift to me and is one of the reasons I haven't lost more weight than I already have. Kyle is always such a help around the house but since I have not been doing well, he has hugely "upped" his game.  All that to say, we are thankful to have a deep relationship with the Allens.

Living with others is not for everyone, but in this current situation the Lord is sharpening us, growing us, helping us, and hopefully making us look more like him.