"...the things you own, end up owning you..."

A Portlander wrote that. We're on the last afternoon of a very busy weekend. Friday night we moved out of our apartment and finshed around two in the morning. Five or six hours later, we moved the Leonardo's out of their pad and into the house. We collectively spent our first night under the same roof. A humungous thank you to everyone from Evergreen who came and lent a hand. There is no possible way it could've been done without you. We even had lunch supplied by one of the other community houses. Good stuff.

So, I think Chris and I share the same frustration that Brent had commented about earlier: realizing how much "stuff" you can accumulate. We ended up taking almost as much stuff to Goodwill as we moved in, even though we're all in a much bigger place than we've ever lived in before. Three couches, a ton of clothes and a few dressers will hopefully find a good home, but not in our house. I honestly think that I'll someday consider myself ultimately successful if I can fit everything I own in the back of a pickup truck. I'll probably never be there, but it's a nice thought.

I'd love to write more, but I gotta get back to work. It's always the last few things that take the longest to tie up. I'm currently on hold with Comcast to get the house wi-fi'd. We'll write more soon and post some pitures. Ciao.

I think the blog is acting weird....

We are moving in two days. I LOOOOOVVVVVVEE throwing stuff away! Yea! I think the less people have, the more they cherish. Hmm? Last thought before I head to bed. Love to my friends and family.
Katie

Of baptisms and barbecues

So this morning was Evergreen's first baptism. It was a pretty touching time to sit by the river (though we love the Lab) and hear what God has been doing in people's lives of late. I'm always amazed at the transparency and freedom that people can feel to open up and share a bit of their story, especially when some are so new to the community. I love that it's a place where you can feel at home almost immediately...at least I hope that's the case.

I hadn't posted many pictures lately, so I thought I'd overwhelm the screen with colorful pixels of our morning. What can't be scene in the pictures is what I'd like to highlight. Bob added something to the ceremony that I hadn't seen or heard of before. When he asked the baptismee if they were willing to follow and seek after Christ, he then asked the rest of us if we were willing to pray for that person and do what we could to help them along that road. Simple, but touching. Just a glimpse of what community should mean. I don't want to imply that we've got it all figured out, but I think it's important to take steps in that direction sometimes, even formal ones with a bit of a charge to the community as a whole.

Without further ado...















For the curious, these are the housemates, RedBeard and Karli.

last day of classes for the summer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Giant presentation in 1 hour!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

katie
p.s. i can't wait to see war of the worlds and charlie and his factory.

Last Friday, a great man lost his battle with leukemia. My grandpa Bernie, Nana's husband, passed away calmly. His body had just been beaten by the disease. He is not uncomfortable anymore, he is in Heaven. Mike and I had the opportunity to go to Dallas to be with family for about two days. It's such a blessing to be a part of a family that can see hope in any situation. Bernie was unique: the funniest messianic Jew one would ever meet, he always had jokes and funny faces to ease any circumstances. We love and will miss you Bernie. I thought it would be weird to write about someone's death on a blog, but then I thought it would be disrespectful to ignore it. Thanks to all the family that made it to Texas, it was a special weekend.

katie

A bit of advertising...

Our buddy Shawn is putting together an open mic night at the Lab this Monday (and every other Monday to follow) for the summer. Check out the flyer at his link above and come by if you can.