“I don’t believe we were meant to see ourselves,” said Jane. “He said something about being mirrors enough to see another.”

~Lewis, C. S., That Hideous Strength

We are all being formed. From the very start of our existence, we can’t help but be formed.  Some things we choose to form us and some things form us without us even knowing. What we watch or read, trauma and affirmation, what I think of myself and what others desire for me. What even defines me? My vocation? My relationships? I think these questions create a deep tension that is innate in all of us and is a fundamental struggle in our being human because it touches on identity. This tension produces in us not only some of our greatest sorrows and pains, but also greatest joys. Identity is a huge and difficult topic but we are only focusing on the beginnings of identity. It is fascinating that our will-powered choices are only a tiny fragment of what we form into, yet, with or without intention, we are being formed. 

Portraits of Formation is a pretty straight forward project. It is an attempt, alongside their photo portrait, to take a snapshot of someone’s formation process and see what people are desiring to be formed into, what they are actually being formed into and what is doing the forming. These portraits are my reflection of what I am seeing through the picture I take and the questions I ask. There is nothing new in what I am doing here and it has been done many times before, but it is my small attempt at “being a mirror enough to see another.”  

Everyone jokes that a baby changes everything but until you have a baby you really don’t quite understand what that means. For us, that has meant, slowed down communication and sadly our blog has been low on the priority list. Since it has been over a year since we posted anything. We will simply give some pictures to recap what we have been doing.

There is a new addition to our family! Benaiah Mark Roberts was born December 14 at 14:02 on a lovely sunny Thursday. He of course is the cutest baby ever.

Benaiah enjoyed his first Christmas with family.

He was introduced to snow for the first time and had his first sledding experience.

Benaiah and his cousin Jethro are only 9 months apart and they started their relationship on the right foot.

Benaiah got to visit the ocean for the first time.

Naturally he experienced his first plane ride on his way to Ukraine. And now he has celebrated his 3 month birthday here in Ternopil!

Lance and I love, I mean LOVE the ocean. Both of our families enjoy being by the ocean so it was perfect to plan a family gathering by the ocean. We made multiple trips to the ocean, first trip was with Lance’s family in Depoe Bay for a weekend together, this has been one of Lance’s family’s favorite spots because it is perfect for watching the waves crash on the rocks.

The ocean has always been a place for Lance and I to relax and rest. We love listening to the ocean, poking at tide pools, watching sunrises and sunsets at the ocean, it is just one of our favorite places.

Later in January, my family rented a house in Warrenton where we could all be together. We played games, watched The Goonies, went to the beach, visited Cannon Beach and just hung out.

It is crucial that we spend time with our staff to communicate plans and expectations as well as just have fun and pray together. We try to have several days a year that we can set aside for just being together. Two days before Lance and I left, we had our staff day.

We could only squeeze in one day but it was a great day for communicating our plans for the future and to hear from everyone. We communicated our plan of having three months for staff togetherness and that everyone should be ready to participate and be present during that time.

We also wanted to hear from everyone what they thought our base vision was. This might seem simple but we have wanted to rework that for years and just have not felt ready for it so we want to slowly work into it and this was one way to start that process. We gave two teams random objects and asked each team to use the items in describing what they thought the vision was. This gave us some direction and understanding of where everyone was at in regards to the vision. It was fun, simple and informative.

And to end our time, we had a team craft that involved a world map and decoupage. Since our building is still fairly new we are ever so slowly decorating and making it homey. This was one way we could all participate in decorating the base while emphasizing missions. All the kids could join in too and now it is a permanent reminder of our time together.