Tunnels

In Yosemite there are a fair amount of tunnels leading through the famous stone giants. Today the following conversation took place. Keep in mind, we had been through many tunnels at this point.

Becca: Man it seems darker in here today

Bethany: Well, you do have your sunglasses on

Ba dum ch

Children

It’s a pretty normal thing for girls, especially women of our age, to contemplate the number of children we would like to have. I think this is fair since we are the ones who will be bearing the children. This topic of conversation came about because of Trip and Jess’s (leaders of the Soma expression) four delightful daughters. With four youngsters in the house, things are always exciting from handfuls of dried strawberries that were meant to be shared with neighbors but instead are incriminating evidence on red hands and lips to captured butterflies who are woeful to be temporarily stored in wine glasses to incessant motion and question asking, it was necessary for us to discuss how many children we thought we wanted to have as we contemplate living a lifestyle similar to these folks. Nevermind that our future children’s fathers probably deserve input in the matter, it is always best to be prepared.

Bethany decided that her maximum limit was definitely a number smaller than four, unless they were spaced a little further out than Trip and Jess’s children. Becca on the other hand, has increased her number each time the topic has come up. From three-four to definitely four to four-five.

This is yet, again, another reflection of our differences in personality. Now that we’ve publicized this, the fates may have it that Beth will have the five children while Becca has only two. However, where we find common ground is that we both want our homes to be places of hospitality where our children, family, friends, and strangers the Lord leads across our paths always find that there is welcome room at the table for one more. 

Amount of Times

Amount of times Green Rocket has been stalled: Bethany 9, Becca 3…total:12

-       twice getting on a traffic-jammed LA highway

-       three times trying to turn around on a narrow forest road in Yosemite

Amount of things we’ve left places: 9

1.     Becca’s wedding dress left in Salem

2.     Milk left in San Francisco

3.     Ice Packs also left in San Francisco

4.     Becca’s Pillow left…she can’t remember, she’s obviously not attached

5.     Bethany’s floss, left in Culver City

6.     Becca’s Razor left with Aunt Deb and Uncle John

7.     Becca’s wedding card and present for Lindsay…probably eaten by the disaster that has become the Green Rocket

Becca is obviously more forgetful than Bethany.

Things Bethany was obsessed with throughout the trip: NOT drinking LA water, packing the cartop carrier, using the e-break while starting the Green Rocket on any kind of hill.

Things Becca was obsessed with the last day in Yosemite: licking the silverware clean so as not to have to wash it.

Things that occasionally presented a problem:

-       How are we going to keep our food cold?

-       Why is the black suitcase always in the way?

-       What clothing items do we need to bring in so that we don’t have to haul in our 9 bags?

-       How do we close the car top carrier without breaking it again?

-       What can we make for meals besides peanut butter and jelly?

-       How can we plan our trips to the water source/bathroom in Yosemite so that our sore legs don’t have to climb the huge hill any more than absolutely necessary?

Uncle John and Aunt Deb

We were fortunate to be able to spend two nights with Becca's amazing Aunt and Uncle who do crazy things like live in a sail boat and travel around the world. They currently live in Newport Beach with their bird, Buddy and new dog Gilroy, or Gilly. We were very grateful for the following things: good food, lots of laughter, use of their pool, a warm bed to stay in, good conversation, and overall good times.

Highlight of the time with Aunt Deb: While Bethany was in the middle of her skype interview with Oregon City Service Learning Academy, a potential job for next school year, Buddy the bird who until this time had been silent and still in his cage, decided not only to start talking but also to take flight. Across the computer screen he flew for all interviewers to see, disrupting Bethany's deep and thoughtful answers to their questions. The interview committee found this hilarious. They said they would let her know on Monday or Tuesday, but after pool time she received a message where she was offered the job. Thanks to Buddy the bird, Bethany is now employed at OCSLA! ... or so Aunt Deb is convinced :)

Check out Gilly in his lifejacket. This dog was born for the sea and his momma is going to make sure he is equipped with the proper safety gear.

                    Aaaaaand this is just us being silly. Love ya Uncle John and Aunt Deb!!!

Egg #11 - Half Dome

4:30 am the alarm went off and after that the first sounds I heard were morning greetings from Bethany’s “I didn’t sleep enough last night” voice, “I’m tired,” she moaned. Then as she lifted the sleeping bag over her head in the same voice came a disappointedly resolved, “I smell.” Despite these minor setbacks we arose by 4:40am, excited to take on Yosemite’s highest peak; the legendary Half Dome…in our chacos.

We reached the trailhead by 6:30am largely due to the fact that our campsite was a 45 minute drive from the trailhead. We like to divide the hike into five portions:

1. the trek to the checkpoint

2. up the face

3. the top

4. down the face

5. back to the bottom.

Section one went spendidly and we felt great on our freshly rested legs that were itching for some exercise after a week and a half of driving and sitting chatting with people. Some notable happenings along the way were as follows:

-     -  Leapfrogging a father/son duo from Jersey (I really liked their strong accents) and their third party member. This third companion was the cause of the leapfrogging. In their own words, they were the hares and he was the tortoise. Poor fellow, we felt badly that he got left behind.

-     -  We also noticed that a fellow named Joe had written his name in the dirt. We think we may have discovered a new technique to help motivate boys to learn the art of cursive writing. Unfortunately, we would not be able to teach them with this new technique as we do not have the proper equipment.

-      - As with Disneyland, Bethany decided to talk with almost every person we passed as she wanted to know what time they had gotten themselves out of bed and how long they had been on the trail. Some were more receptive to her friendly antics than others. Increased dirt = decreased receptivity with the exception of a group of attractive boys whose ring-leader had a darling lisp that were thrilled to find out that they could purchase beer and pizza in the valley after a 5 day packing trip.

-      - Encountering only one other chaco-wearer who was a very attractive young man our age that could have fit in well with Portland outdoor culture.

Section two was where we both got a little nervous. I had been complaining about how I wanted to see our destination to motivate my legs to continue up the steep slope. However, once we caught view of the top we both wondered if we had bitten off more than we could chew this time. It should be noted that permits are required to climb the Dome, but they don’t check for permits until you have climbed 7 of the 8 miles. We made sure to double-check that we had those permits. So, up we went, first a section of granite slabs to summit the sub-dome. People said many words of encouragement, but mainly were impressed that we had gone that far in our chacos. Then we came to the cables; four hundred feet of vertical…yup, vertical monkey bars. At this point both of our stomachs were turning and we were sucking air both from the adrenaline rush and the exertion, but there was no going back. We seized our rubber gloves for better traction on the cables and went for it. People cope with fear in many different ways. We discovered that our best mechanism was to start mindless side-chatter with all of the people who were passing us as they came down.

Section three, the top, was a view that truly rewarded our bravery and athleticism on the cables. Raw cliffs of rock surrounded us with the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range a mist in the distance and the trees on the valley below mere matchsticks. It truly felt like something out of an adventure movie where we were the stars. So we did what every tourist does; took pictures ourselves and others who wanted to capture the moment and then called our moms who were grateful to know that we were, thus far into our adventure, safe. We were pleasantly surprised to run into Jersey boy and his father. At this point he had taken his shirt off and wrapped it around his head to reveal a sight almost as nice as the mountains surrounding us. They took our picture and we took theirs, me with my iPhone because unfortunately, their iPhone camera died just as Bethany was about to snap their picture. To help them out we volunteered the use of my iPhone with the promise of an e-mail once we had internet access. Their picture is included below for your viewing pleasure.

Section four, the descent. We were warned by 90% of the people descending as we ascended the face, that this part of the hike would be the scariest. We found, however, that since we had mastered the mountain and our mindless chatter skills, it wasn’t quite so bad after all. Bethany used the following methodology on the cables.

Chacos = sled

Sliding hands with death grip on cables = runners

Sled + Runners = the Taft Toboggan

It may not have been the most gracefully method, BUT we are both alive today to tell the tale. So don’t knock it until you’re up there. What surprised us was that descending the granite slabs was scarier than the cables as we were never quite sure if there was a thin layer of dust over the rock which could have resulted in a costly slip. Also, our large muscles were real tired and we had to recruit the smaller muscles in our legs that we didn’t know we had. We were cheered, however, when a group of fellow climbers dubbed us, “Team Chaco.”

There isn’t a lot to report about the last section other than our frantic attempts to descend in order to use the restroom. Our leave no trace permitted us no other option. After stopping by Vernal Falls, washing our very dirty and tired chaco feet, and eating a couple of cookies, we wound our way down the overly-crowded steps that would take us back to the trailhead.

The five dollar shower we paid for may have been the best five dollars we have spent this trip. We went to sleep clean and happy in the knowledge that we had spent the day conquering a worthy opponent.

P.S. Thanks to Katy Taft, our local pharmacist, for the Tylenol. Our sore and swollen knees will be eternally grateful.   

Egg #10 - SOMA, Culver City

The Lord has a way of putting your life events in order so they make just the right sense. Soma, the last place we visited, provided a sort of synthesis of all the other places we have visited on our trip so far:

They understand the importance of having meals with gatherings like Church of the Sojourners.

They practice intentional and gracious hospitality like Riverbend Commons.

They focus on serving the neighborhood they are a part of like Harambee.

Of course, they take these values and enact them in a way that is unique to their body of believers and the area where they live. The folks of Soma meet together on Sundays as what they call the Expression: the body of believers loving God and loving the people of Culver City. One of the leaders shares a message, they take communion, and share a meal.

As you talk with people of Soma, the theme of story immediately emerges. They look at the story form of the Bible

-Creation [What is my purpose? Who am I?]

-Fall [What is keeping me from my purpose?]

-Hope/Redemption [Who or what is my Savior?]

-Restoration/New Creation [What is my new hope? What will my new reality look like?]

and teach members to not only see their life in the form of the story but also to listen to the story of those around them and help them to see how the Story of God intersects the story of whoever they are talking with.  Quickly, the importance of listening and intentional, consistent relationship becomes incredibly obvious.

During the week, they gather as missional communities. MC is a time where a few members of Soma gather together along with their neighbors for a meal and conversation. One family/house hosts, while another Soma member leads the time. At the MC we attended, it was clear that even the people who weren’t believers or a part of Soma were very much at home and comfortable with the stories of faith being lived by the other members…and with the fact that they share that faith in almost every other sentence. One of the members of the MC we visited is leaving to start a new MC in the neighborhood he and his new wife just moved to. In celebration of his last evening, the leader of the MC had everyone share how they had seen Christ in Patrick in the time they had known him. Everyone shared. And those who would self-profess to be non-believers (at this point) freely and willingly shared the Christ-traits they had seen in Patrick. It was amazing how they could identify and articulate Christ-traits without knowing Christ. Also amazing was how they repeated how inspired they were by those traits, which reinforced to us that God has indeed placed in us an ability to know what is right and what is wrong.

There is a final tier of the Soma community called DNA. It stands for discipleship, nurturing, and accountability. These are same-gender groups of 2-4 people who meet once a week or every other week to do just what DNA stands for; they disciple, nurture, and hold each other accountable. It is through DNA that new leaders are trained, supported and then sent out to lead their own DNA groups.

All this reaching out can seem overwhelming to some of us who already feel like our schedules are jammed. When we asked how they avoid burnout, their answer was as multifaceted as their approach to sharing the gospel is. DNA allows for new leaders to be trained up and given opportunities to train others. MC is a time of training Soma members how to do community dinner so they can further train new community members how to serve.  They seek to live out their name: Soma means body and they work to have every part of the body engaged in making the body run smoothly and helping it grow. It’s not just you being on mission by yourself. We all are on mission together, supporting and encouraging each other in every way.

Missionaries who are on mission without a support team are not as successful as those who either go with other people or who have a strong support team back home. America today has an inaccurate view of what church should be. Too many of us are on mission by ourselves. We burnout, become heretical and hypocritical without accountability, and miss out on living the way God Himself exists: in community.  This is complied with church being viewed as a consumable: I come on Sunday to consume good music, good teaching, my friends, and good coffee. Then I leave and go about doing my own mission, on my own, my way, my timing (with a healthy dose of God with my morning breakfast cereal).

As we sit here in Yosemite looking up a GIANT rock faces, Becca recounts high school mission trips that ended here with great fondness. What made those trips so meaningful was that the entire group was focused on the same mission and they were working at it together. That variety of people would never have bonded so closely under any other circumstance. But the combination of unified heart, focus, and time spent together, with laughter and fun woven throughout, proved to be just the glue that was needed. What if church was like that now? Not weeklong trips, life-long journies together? What if God has called each of us to take those around us, to unify our hearts and focuses on Him, looking to see His fingerprints of direction in the world around us, and set out together in that direction, inviting everyone we met to join us?

When Jesus left His disciples, His command was to GO and SHARE the gospel. Trip, the leader of the expression of Soma we visited, challenged us to really think like missionaries. If I’m a missionary and I know that God has called me to partner with some of my fellow body parts to invite others to be part of this body, then I will ask Him to open a door for me to move to the community we are reaching. I will be willing to go, no matter the cost, trusting that He will provide…in faith that He has already provided and will bless my obedience, because that’s what He does.

Below are a few pictures from the outing to the Santa Monica Pier we took with Trip his wife Jess, and their four delightful girls.

                       Their girls know no fear. They all petted the snake with no hesitation.

They also have a flair for the dramatic. If you look closely, you can see that they have taken the stockings generally used for trying shoes on and have converted them to face masks. Who knew one could have that much fun with a sock?

                 Best part of a wonderful day! Ice cream cookie sandwiches from Diddy Riese!

Egg #9 - Riverbend Commons

Home. When you walk in the front door that is always unlocked, you immediately sense it: You are welcome here; this is your home. Your eyes are drawn to the beauty in the artwork that is on the walls, the arrangement of the furniture, the care and purpose in each nook and cranny of the house.

True to their mission, Riverbend Commons is a place that is committed to hospitality, creativity, simplicity and Jesus. You can tell it from the moment you set foot in their driveway. Once the physical space has welcomed you, in the entry way, you are greeted with a joyful, “Welcome! I’m going to hug you!” as the aroma of delicious food wafts in your nostrils.

We first visited Riverbend when Drew and Nancy, one of the founding couples, weren’t at home. Sheri and Nathan, two of the current “homies,” welcomed us in, allowed us to pepper them with hundreds of questions, fed us good food and invited us to stay at the table chatting until the sun started setting (you see the themes emerging here?).

One of the issues that plagues intentional community is learning about the people you live with and then living well with them, even when they drive you batty. The question becomes: How can I get to know the people I live with and understand them well enough to cut off the inventible friction at the pass? As current teachers and past leaders at GFU, we have been exposed to multiple personality tests—Strengths Finder, Animal personalities, Color personalities, Multiple Intelligences, etc. Riverbend uses the Enneagram to guide how they get to know each other. There are 9 personality types on a circle. People are one of the numbers but have characteristics of the numbers on either side of them. We both found this to be far more helpful than other tests that we had done because it identifies the deeper motivation of why a person responds a certain way, typical struggles that person has, and also behaviors and strategies for moving to health.

As they spoke, it became very apparent how useful this tool could be in an intentional community setting: by identifying people’s strengths and weaknesses, they are able to play to each other’s strengths and be patient with each other’s weaknesses. But more than just being patient, they know how to come alongside each other and walk together towards health. For example, Bethany tends to be a 6. Her strengths are organizing, analyzing being incredibly loyal. However, when things are beyond her control, she tends to become afraid and panic. To move towards health, she needs encouragement to choose to trust and to make s plan for what she can control or for what she will do when things do return to stability, or to create to stability in the way that she can in the moment. This makes her a good science/math teacher because she can anticipate all the problems before the lab begins and allows her to work well with at risk students because she is dedicated to them to the end and provides structure and stability that allows them to function well in.  Becca is a 7 that tends toward at 8. That means she is an adventurer who loves lots of experiences, lives in the moment and is very adaptable. She’s a good choir teacher because she sees what needs to happen in this very moment and knows how to make the moment count. Those of you who know Becca, have experienced the 8 in her. When you give her direct instructions that she does not agree with, she is more than willing to rise up and do the opposite thing just to make you mad (i.e. Bethany to Becca: Bec, I want to figure out what number you are. Becca: I’m not going to let you—which also is 7: you can’t put me in a box!) Commitment becomes a struggle for the 7 because they do not want to miss out on any opportunity in the moment. The opposing piece has other obvious downfalls. (Love you Mom!) :)

In the days since we were at Riverbend, we have noticed ourselves meeting people and immediately looking to find their strengths: What are they good at? What makes them tick? I've found myself appreciating people for who they are and what they bring to the table and being more patient with them when they doing something that would otherwise drive me crazy. At Riverbend, this attitude of purposeful interaction with each other creates a safe space for everyone to be themselves while also being supported to become a better self, more of who Christ created them to be. And into this safe space, all number of visitors are able to also come and make themselves at home. 

           This is us with Sheri and her son Caleb after a lovely chat and dinner.