Starting the Journey of Living as a Multi-Unit Family.

So I have decided to start blogging about our lifestyle changes and the journey it has become. I hope this blog will inspire others to think outside the "social standard" box for lifestyle and living arrangements, and that it will give some insight into what it's like.

 Back in November just after finding out I was pregnant again, we started spending many nights with my parents in discussion and prayer about all living together. I'm not exactly sure who's heart it was called on first, it might have been all of us at the same time, but my husband and I decided to put our house up for sale and start "community living" with my entire family, sisters include. We went from living in a house of three to a house of eight, not including mine and my sisters baby that are both due this summer. Crazy, right? Wrong. Many people don't understand or agree with the lifestyle we've chosen to live and that's okay. Many people think we were forced into this situation but it's the complete opposite. We CHOSE to start living this way of our own free will, even when everything was perfectly fine in our life and we were living comfortable as a single-unit family. As I said, our hearts were stirring and we didn't know why, but we could not shake the feeling that this was how God was calling us to start living, we knew it was something we should do. We got this confirmation with our house selling almost immediately (but that's a whole other story and blog post on how God totally took control of the wheel and made our decision for us) and sitting down with everyone to discuss the idea of us all moving in together and everyone going, "heck, yes!"

We made decisions based on what would be best for everyone involved. Moving back into my parents house was an adjustment for everyone, my little toddler included. When we first started living as a multi-unit family we had no idea how or where to start. It was challenging figuring out who was responsible for what and why, but over the months we slowly started to get the hang of things. We had to learn how to live and function together, from simple things to bathroom times and meal planning or more complex things like sharing of household bills. Even with all the challenges, it has still been one of the most rewarding decisions we've made. We help and lean on one another emotionally, financially, and even for the mundane things like chores. Everyone is responsible and has to help out with everything. There is no "I" involved with decision making, everyone gets a say and we all make decisions and come to conclusions together. We've had affirmation that we're doing the right thing over and over again. From talking to other families that are doing it and it's working, to meeting strangers in different places that have decided to live as a multi-family unit, too. We know and hear of so many people that are doing what we are doing or that are thinking about it, and we would like to encourage those people and let them know they are NOT crazy! It isn't for everyone, and I don't think that the whole world  should live this way (that would be pretty cool though!) but it has been the right decision for us.  It's still very much a learning process and I'm sure we will continue to face challenges and learning curves throughout the entire journey.

I think that's where I'm going to stop for today... I could write a book on just the beginning of this. There are so many more aspects involved to what we are doing; including a whole new way of frugally living and sharing our passions and hobbies with one another. As we approach the arrival of two babies this summer I am certain there will be more challenges and barriers to overcome, but we know one thing for sure; we will not face them alone, we always have each other  I cannot wait to share our stories and ideas with all of you. In the meantime if you have questions or comments please feel free to leave them in the comments section of the blog.

Until my next post,

Cheers.