Not Zion but Tryin'

Most great scientific breakthroughs happen because someone believes in a conclusion hard enough that they persevere through constant experiment and constant failure. They continue to learn what does and doesn't work. They go through all that hard work because they enjoy the process, for one, but also because a voice inside of them whispers that there is something great waiting to be realized. A family is a lot like those great scientific achievements. In more ways than one, I might add.

Lindsay and I were married in 2004 and have been experimenting ever since; intent on realizing the greatness we hear whispered inside us. There are ups and downs and things we have tried that just haven't worked out. So we put our heads together, talk it out, note what we've learned, and try again.

So far we've lived in five homes, traveled across the country three times by car (once with two cats in the car and once with one cat and one 11 month old in the car . . . don't ask about the second cat), obtained two bachelors degrees (one in Linguistics, one in Media Arts, both equally useless), held seven different jobs, vacationed in five states, had two kids, three cats, 15 fish, one turtle, and a million stuffed animals, owned three cars (all separately), built one apartment, and . . .

Now we are out of school trying to pay off debt while raising two boys and doing our best to keep our sanity. None of this has been possible entirely on our own. Going back to our scientific metaphor, great scientists don't work alone, starting from ground zero. Rather, they make the next great breakthrough by building on the work and research of scientists who've come before or who work contemporaneously. Likewise our family's journey has involved building on all those who came before us and the counsel from family and friends engaged in this same great experiment.

I think we might justly call the result we're all looking for (that great realization of our efforts) Zion. Right now Zion exists in our home only in morsels. There's a little Zion here, a little Zion there, then a dish breaks or someone screams, or something else disrupts it. We pick up the mess, look at how things went wrong, and try again. Zion here. Zion there. Zion is lost in the daily grind. That's kind of the process of this thing--at least according to our limited four years of experience. But because of those little morsels, we know that the entire thing exists. We've tasted it.

Anyone who's tried has seen or felt glimpses of Zion. It's a group effort. Rather than scientists it's groups of family members, or families, and neighborhoods, communities, cities, states, nations, and then the world. We have lofty hopes for not just our family, but for all families everywhere. And why not. Why hope for anything that wasn't lofty. No one succeeds because they hoped small. And no one succeeds on their own. We hope that by working together, and by having faith in our possibilities we can all succeed in this great, timeless endeavor that is the family.

That's the intent of our blog in any case.  We want to have a place for those who believe in the family, or for those who want to believe in the family, or for anyone else who ever thinks about families.  We hope to provide bits of encouragement, tips on running a home, open forums for people to talk and comment and learn together, inspiring stories, articles about the family, recipes, crafts, financial tips, and anything and everything relating to the family.  We want to do our part, and have everyone participate, in strengthening the family--ours and yours.  We hope everyone who comes to visit will feel inclined to stay and become a strength to the cause of the family.  

Now, maybe you'd all like to know a little bit more about us . . .