Living in Community

Where to begin. May 1, 2007. We had just returned from America to get our new visa. And we got a great, one-year, multiple entry visa. Perfect. We moved in with a Ragu (not the real name) family. This is the people group we worked among. They had one room upstairs of their house that they had built. The husband, a pastor of a local church, worked well with his hands. He had designed a wonderful 2 bedroom, living area and kitchen home with a room upstairs. It did require that you go outside to get to it. The stairs were outside the heated area of the house and lead to the second story open landing. That's a cold place to stay in the winter but we were there for the summer, which worked out great.
I needed that time. I was still very much stuck in my worldview. I assumed, wrongly, that we were two families living together. We weren't. We were seen as two families, now related in a way, living together and therefore taking care of one another. I should've alloted time in the day to take care of the kids, work in the garden and cook meals. Instead, i had my own food in the fridge and cooked our own meals, etc. I had never learned what it is to live in community. I remember the one day learning that some of our food had been eaten in the fridge, which was definitely a common area. I was furious. I had just gone down the hill (a 15 minute walk) to the store and bought some food to last for a few days. And now, my perfectly planned meals, were messed up.
I started to keep food in our room because they lived day-to-day. So, often, there was no food to eat in the house. So, i kept snack foods in our room for when we got hungry. It wasn't long before the kids figured it out and would come to the room for food. And I didn't want to share it! It took me awhile to learn what true generosity was. To be continued...