My darling friend Amy had her third child this morning, a sweet baby boy. Rickelle got to be with Amy and her husband during the birth, so I got text updates throughout the night as her labor progressed. As each early-early morning text came through, I was so happy to roll over and snatch up my phone, hungry for the news of what was going on. Laying in my bed, I could feel the sacredness of what Amy was going through at the hospital. And when Rickelle texted that it was time to push, tears came to my eyes. I was so thrilled for Amy and what another child means for her. When Rickelle sent the picture of this perfect boy laying on his warrior-mamma’s chest, tears came again… there really is nothing more special. This is the thing that I am most acutely aware of about living in community: we really do get to share what happens in each other’s hearts. Sometimes that’s really, really hard things… sometimes it’s the most amazing joy.

Rickelle has been talking lately about how our tight-knit group is the Bravermans. I laughed and nodded, but the other morning as I was waking up, I realized that we really ARE the Bravermans. I can’t tell you how much I’ve longed to be a part of a family like the Bravermans. It’s one of my life dreams and I’m actually living it. Sometimes that means that the fab-five gets together to have a pow-wow about my love life (much to my chagrin) and sometimes that means we get texts in the middle of the night about how labor is going. What I’m living in right now, this community, is truly something special and that fact is not lost on me. I am overwhelmingly thankful for it Every. Single. Day. I can’t imagine life without this community. It has saved me. I’m a better, more whole, more alive person because of it.

I’ll leave you with Rickelle’s words on being the Bravermans… so tender and true.

have you watched parenthood? we have eaten it up…best show since friday night lights.

the culture of the bravermans has struck me these past few weeks.

we are walking very closely with some friends who are dealing with really important things in very different seasons. and it seems that if one person knows something, then the whole community knows.
and the only way this works is because every single person is safe. and trustworthy. and FOR each other.
i think our community is embracing that secrets keep us in the dark……vulnerable to the evil one. and if we are brave enough to put forth our mess into the light, to lay it on the table, to invite other people to share in it, then Jesus pours over it in the way only He can. and He weaves and guides and speaks. we are trying to get better at listening to Him. which is a daily discipline. but we know He is beyond FOR us and cares about our stories and their outcomes even more than us.
so if sarah wants to keep a secret from crosby and julia, ultimately adam and zeke and christina find out and gather around that person and that problem and they just tackle it together.
i love the bravermans and i love the culture of such safety that we just lay it out and go to battle for each other as a tribe; as keepers of each others hearts.