Joy--There's An App For That!

I'm pretty sure that yesterday was an example of the way God designed community to be. And I got to be smack dab in the middle of of it all!

It started out with a birthday party. I have been working all year with a little guy, J, who just turned six, and I was invited to his birthday party at Galaxy Land. My respite family was also invited, having met J at our office's Winter Festival at the end of February. So I picked up S and we headed to the party. We met family. Ate pizza and birthday cake. And we enjoyed the rides (S took me on the Cosmic Bounce [read: miniature Drop of Doom] three times!). It was such a treat to be a part of the celebrations. J and his family looked like they were having a ton of fun, and it's nice to be able to chill with kids from work but not have to make them 'work'! I also love it when the families I work with can interact and connect with each other outside of office functions. AND it was so nice to be able to take S out for an aunty-and-niece afternoon. I have been working with N&S and the kids for almost four years, and the enthusiasm with which I took S to this party just reminded me how much they really are my second family. I could have gone on that Cosmic Bounce with S indefinitely, just for the joy of sharing the activity with her!

After J's party, I shifted gears for SC's birthday. Just a slightly different affair. But just as much fun! SC got a pasta-maker for her birthday, so we all had home-made pasta for supper. Four foodies and two non, and yet all six of us were fully and enthusiastically engaged in the pasta creation and production. I think at one point we were even cheering each other on! So fun! After the most yummiest of suppers, we continued to celebrate with dessert, drinks, gift-opening, and post-supper conversation. The atmosphere was light-hearted and peaceful. Added to the beauty, mind you, was the conversation itself.

A significant portion of the evening included stories of one person, or their friends or family, helping out someone else in the group in some way, or vice versa. The stories were so uplifting and positive. I thought, this is how community is supposed to be! Having the means to help friends in their circumstances; caring about the people and the things they care about; being purposefully engaged in the goings-on of their worlds; the fluid interaction and overlap of social circles. And all of it being so... valued! ...Like, "of course I can help you figure out that!" or "of course I want to be a part of that!"

"We don't accomplish anything in this world alone ... and whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry of one's life and all the weavings of individual threads from one to another that creates something." -- Sandra Day O'Connor