‘ve kind of held off from writing too much about our living situation with the Dombrows. They are, as everyone knows, the kind of people that everyone loves, and the kind of people that everyone wants to be friends with. Since the first day I met Joy I fell in love with her, and came home and told Jeff that I thought she was the kind of friend–with a tenaciously persevering love for Christ, a passion for truth, a joyful spirit, and a keen sharp mind–that I’d been longing for. A kindred spirit who I knew would challenge me (in a good way!) on every level.
But I’ve wanted so much to respect their privacy, and wanted so much not to smother them, that I’ve purposed not to gush. So up to this point I am proud of my non-gushing accomplishment. However, as we moved out last Sunday, and since Joy took the freedom to admit to the world that our living situation was a blessing from God (read her thoughts here), I will now go ahead and give myself license to share…ok, gush. Here’s my own list
What I loved about the Dombrow/Patterson Home:
1. Jeff & Joel’s Matt Foley impressions.
2. Crying in Joy’s arms when things were hard.
3. Praying together at the kitchen table. Crying together at the kitchen table.
4. Joy’s willingness to overlook Dutch’s fingerprints, crumbs, cars strewn everywhere and muddy dumptrucks in the backyard.
5. Laughing ourselves to tears while playing Settlers of Catan or Dutch Blitz.
6. Joy and I sneaking off to our rooms to blog while Joel and Jeff watched 24.
7. That glorious silence when we got all 4 kids to bed. Congratulating each other that we’d made it through another day!
8. Sharing milk. Nothing like coming home from a weeklong vacation and having a fresh gallon of milk waiting for you.
9. Cups of tea with Joy.
10. Meeting each other’s friends and family.
11. Walks through the neighborhood, all eight of us and Cooper! Doing lunges on the sidewalk outside Barrington Heights. 🙂
12. Only cooking twice a week. Oh I miss that so much!!
13. Seeing the joy in Dutch’s face when he got up in the morning and ran downstairs to see everyone.
14. Dutch’s wanting to know the whereabouts of everyone all the time (and their vehicles): “where’d da woof woof go? Where’d Nae-Nae dada go? Where’d Nae Nae go? Where’d Nae-Nae Mama truck go?”
15. Learning SO much about godly parenting. I think God knew I needed help so He sent me to Joy.
16. Talking honestly and openly about the Lord, church, theology, and current issues.
17. Seeing Joel & Joy’s genuine faith and love for us and the church.
18. Holding hands and praying together, praising God for his work Easter Weekend.
19. The encouragment of living with people who understand how gloriously exhausting the work of the ministry really is.
20. Crowding all of us around their little round kitchen table for dinner.
21. Having extra sets of arms to hold Heidi. Watching Nathan and Elisabeth get her to smile.
22. Saturday mornings, unshowered, in sweats with no makeup and being totally at ease.
23. Hearing the front door open at 5:30pm and taking guesses of which husband it was. 🙂
24. Teaching them to recycle. 🙂
25. Learning about Joy’s redemptive decorating techniques and secret bargain decor stores.
26. Folding each other’s laundry.
27. Eating all the treats that people brought us!
28. Spur-of-the-moment front-yard parties with the Downs.
29. Watching Nathan read to Dutch on the stairs.
30. ALl of us crowding around the computer to watch the video Nathan made about Dutch.
31. Helping the kids with Joy’s mother’s day gifts. They love their mommy so much.
32. Watching Elisabeth rehearse her Skunk lines. Cheering for her when she nailed them.
33. Finding that we all four are SO likeminded in ministry and the things of the Lord. Praising God for how He allows us to serve Him together.
34. The joy of knowing that, Lord-willing, we get to go back and be neighbors in just a few months!
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There’s so much more I could say, but I’ll leave it at this. God had such a rich blessing in store for us, greater than any of us ever anticipated. We can’t recreate it, but I praise Him for how He bonded our hearts during that short but sweet season of life. So thankful to be serving Christ together here a Wilamette. We’re now more than co-workers, now friends. And more than friends…now family.
2 thoughts on “Now Family”
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Sweet sweet times and memories!!! Only with the Patterson family would I have been able to enjoy such close company for longer than a week! :). God was so good to us in our circumstance and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat! Just hurry back to the ‘hood so we can continue “communitying” together. Thank you for the kind and honoring words. Loves to you my friend.
I am so grateful to God that He arranged the living situation. I believe God had you learn to live together in preparation for learning to minister together. And, speaking from sharing our home, it is radical hospitality. May all 4 of you grow and mature. mom