The Zyp Family

Last night, hot and weary, we stumbled into our own beds, home at last! It was so nice to snuggle down into our own bed and rest.
We had a wonderful 3 1/2 weeks in Oregon. We got to spend time with our family, celebrate Kris’s grandma’s 90th birthday, visit dear friends, play at the beach, hike, swim, and relax. Here are some of our favorite photos (you can click on an image to get a bigger view)…

Oh Papa, you're so funny!

I like the ocean.

You can view the rest of the photos here.
Thanks to everybody who hosted us and those who took the time to visit with us. You made our trip so special.

My little brother is a bit of a quandary. He is without-a-doubt one of the most compassionate and tender-hearted guys I know (especially now that he has a cute baby niece) yet his appearance might intimidate many. He likes to wear those long chains, funky chunky armbands, and his hair is continually morphing from one odd color or style to the next. Punk. Scary. Weirdo. He’s probably been called labels these many times and judged by these labels many times. I know there have been times when I’ve responded to him poorly because of the way he looked. There have been times when I’ve been irritated with him because he listens to music I don’t like and watches movies that scare me sleepless. But this weekend I got to watch him delight in making my daughter smile. I saw him, time and again, come and take her from my arms and play with her on the floor. He took more photos of her than any of the rest of us and worked to keep her entertained nearly every time she fussed. This weekend I got to see into his heart, past the funky hair, weird clothes, and odd apparel…and it got me thinking. I realized that EVERY time I talk to him on the phone he tells me he loves me, EVERY time I see him he gives me a hug, he often makes an effort to talk to me about what interests him, and he finds ways to spend time with me (this winter he invited me, just me, to go sledding with him). That doesn’t sound like a punk to me. That sounds like a description of an awesome, caring guy who really loves me.

My dad has been a great and gentle teacher in my life. I’ve learned so much about growing things, animals, relating to people, and laughing from him. He recently celebrated a birthday that bumped him into the can-now-order-from-the-senior-menu category. This weekend the whole family traveled out to a nearby canyon for a picnic and some rock climbing. As my sisters and I lay on a warm rock next to the river we watched my husband, our older brother, our younger brother, and then my dad’s cousin (whose also in that previously mentioned category) scramble up the rock wall. As Dad’s cousin came back down he turned to my dad with a exhilarating grin on his face and said, “Your turn!” My sisters and I stared wide-eyed at each other. You see, my dad has never rock climbed before. He’s often accompanied us, cheered us on, taken pictures, and bragged on us afterwards, but he’s never done it himself.
“Do you really think Dad will do it?” One of us asked the others.
“Naw, he might get hurt”, another answered.
Not five minutes later, to my surprised delight, I was helping him strap on the ackward climbing harness! My dad, my “old” dad, climbed to the top of that rock wall and came back down! He didn’t quit and he didn’t get hurt!

These two descriptions may seem separate from one another but I think that they both have taught me something about how I see people. My brother looks like a hard, mean, scary punk but he really is a gentle and loving guy. My dad has always been my teacher and belonged in an older group, a group that didn’t participate in scary activities like rock climbing. He showed me that, when invited, he was willing to become the student, learn something new and join us in our activities. It made me so proud to watch my dad, scared as he was, climb that wall, following my brothers instructions. Yeah, that’s my daddy! It also made me sad because I wondered how many opportunities I’ve missed with my dad because I just didn’t invite him to join me…based on some stupid presupposed idea about him. What do you see when you look at the girl in the store with the pink hair? What do you see when you angrily pass the old lady whose driving 30 on the highway? What do you see when you drive past the skate park? Do you see an opportunity to love and be loved? I haven’t, but I think this weekend taught me to try and see past the presuppositions and give chances. These experiences have been worth it and I don’t want to miss another chance.

I’m not extremely involved in politics…but I know there’s lots going on right now and lots of people are worried, fired-up, and anxious about this next election. This song was a good reminder to me today…

In God We Trust–by Derek Webb
In God we trust
and the government is on His shoulders
in God we trust
through democracy and tyranny alike
in God we trust
He uses both good and evil men

in God we trust
so we fight for peace and He fights for us
in God we trust
even when He fights us for someone else
in God we trust
even when He looks like the enemy

in God we trust
even though our hearts are bankrupt
in God we trust
for more than just the value of our dollar bills
in God we trust
but there’s no gold behind these notes of reserve

in God we trust
even through our great presumption
in God we trust
even though He favors no nation-state
in God we trust
even when the blessing is a curse

Also if you want to read a really good article written by him click here.

I grew up in a wonderful church that functioned more like a very large family than a structured organization. Children stayed with their parents during the service, everyone was invited to participate in ministry, people regularly gave sacrificially to those in need (whether they “deserved” it or not), and young people were given opportunities to serve and lead. There was no foundations class, except when it was preached on a Sunday and no such thing as church membership. We believed that if you regularly attended, participated in service projects and events, and needed to be loved, you were part of our family. We would open our arms to you, give what was needed, be it hours of labor at your house, money for rent, or a meal. It hurt went somebody would leave because it was like a brother or sister moving out. And it was devastating when somebody would leave without a goodbye.
I’m not saying our church was perfect or had everything all figured out, far from it. We hit many bumps, lost many people because we weren’t “normal”, and it seemed a lot of our struggles were because we didn’t fit the normal pattern of a church and so there weren’t easy answers. But I felt like these difficult times drove us, as a body, to the Lord’s feet and as a result and in general, closer to one another.
Now we live in another city and state. We’ve been blessed to find a great church that has completely opened their arms to us. We are excited and blessed to be part of this body and I love the relationships that are developing. We’ve been attending for almost six months now and so recently we attending a foundations class. Guess what topic came up? Membership.
Now for me, due to my very little experience with this topic my mind instantly conjures up images of stuffy ceremonies in which I am asked to swear that my loyalty and money will now and forevermore be tied to this particular denomination. When our pastor patiently explained what membership meant to this particular body his description, fortunately, did not match my little vision. However I am still a little hesitant to become a member. I’ve always greatly valued loyalty and I can’t enter into (or refuse to enter into) this lightly. I don’t really understand the purpose of becoming a member. I have lots of questions:

• If membership is about commitment and I attend regularly, give regularly, submit to the authority of the leadership and participate in activities aren’t I demonstrating by my actions my commitment to the body?  
• If Kris and I felt led to move again or participate in a church plant would we be violating the commitment we made in becoming members of a particular church?
• Does church membership help or hurt in promoting unity between churches, especially differing denominations?
• If a member decides to leave a church there is little that the leadership can or will do (in most cases) to stop them. That being the case, what is the point of becoming a member? Is membership just another formality that the church has created?

So, I’m hoping this post will serve more as a forum than a blog today. Are you a member of your body? Why or why not? I would love to hear your insight, experiences, and wisdom.

The community group we are in recently finished a study called Living a Life on Loan. Since Kris and I just started attending we only caught the tail end of it. What we did get to participate in was excellent and challenging to me. On one of the last nights of the study the leader took us through an exercise in which we were to write a brief story that was to be a vision statement for how we engage and live out all the moments that God gives to us. We were encouraged to meditate on 2 Corinthians 4:16-18  and what we learned from the study. We all started with this prayer:
God, You have called me to live out Your ongoing story in this world by investing and inviting others into Your story. So when that day comes when You etch the date of conclusion on the life which You have loaned me to live, here is how I desire my life/vision to be remembered:
Here’s what Kris and I wrote in the next ten minutes:
Kris
…I believe that God is unfolding a drama, a story of his glory, love, justice, and goodness that transcends our stories. I want to be a part of and invested in and experience His story in all that I do and strive for. I believe God’s story is about unveiling His glory to all nations of His earth, demonstrating His superiority to every pursuit, gathering praise from every culture, and redeeming from every depth. May all my life be as a humble servant joined in my Father’s work, engaged in all that He would invite me to join Him in. I would have my life be a living sacrifice for the King, an offering poured out to the Lamb. I hope my career, pursuits, and relationships would not be for worldly gain, but for the Kingdom.

Nikki:
…I desire to be remembered as:
-a reflector of Christ’s love and passion for his Bride
-a wife who honored, served, encouraged, and enabled her husband to be who Christ created him to be.
-a mother to our own children and to those who need a mother. One who daily prays for her children, demonstrates Christ’s sacrificial love for and delight in his children. One who calls out their gifts and pushes them to Christ.
-a woman who embraced all that God had for her, who found joy in this adventure and unabashedly, unashamedly was who God created her to be.
-a partner in the story God is writing about His glory, through missions, prayer, mobilization, and evangelism.
-a servant to the needy and downcast. A good listener, an encourager, and a speaker of truth (with love).
-someone who was willing to share my home, time, and belongings to those in need.
-one who was willing to give of our financial resources to further Christ’s Kingdom.
-someone who used the talents, time, brains, and other resources God gave me to glorify Him.
-A lover of Jesus.

Whew. We quietly moved into a time of worship and sharing what we wrote with each other. As I read mine aloud I began to choke up because many of these things I know I am not, and yet my heart longs for them. To be just who God made me to be, without apology, shame, fear…I feel like I’m so far away from that, but oh, how I desire it. To always be willing, no, delighted, to share our home, resources, and time with others…ouch that’s a big one, especially the time. I am so selfish and I like to get things done. Giving time to people means giving up things on my to-do list! 
These desired I listed out, the ways I wish to be remembered when my life is over, I cannot say are characteristic of me yet….Yet. However this exercise was a excellent first step, because since writing and sharing them with our little group I’ve thought of them often. When I become consumed with myself and don’t want to be loving, serving, gentle, patient, I will suddenly remember this list. I don’t always like being reminded, sometimes I do just want to be keep on being selfish. But setting my mind on things above and reminding myself of these goals and desires is helping me. I’m no saint and I don’t have my life figured out, but these desires are slowly helping me to focus on what really is important in this life I’ve been loaned.

If asked to describe my perfect weekend without using the words “boating”, “all my family”, and “warm water” together I would probably describe the last 48 hours.  My first Mother’s Day weekend turned out to be just about the perfect weekend.
Saturday was sunny and beautiful and we had no plans or obligations. That in itself is a wonderful thing. We spent nearly the whole day working outside. I use the term “working” loosely. Kris and I were both doing hard, physical work, but we were loving it and so it hardly seemed like work.
I finished planting my garden. Now we have potatoes, tomatoes, soybeans, green beans, lettuce, spinach, zucchini, basil, dill, and green onions in the ground, getting all delicious for our summer palates.
Kris hauled rock and sand and arranged it in his water feature. His hard work is paying off in that section of the yard. It is quickly becoming a beautiful and peaceful retreat with water trickling from pool to stream to pool.
Kris also put up a clothesline for me. This is something I’ve wanted since our first house with the tiny backyard. Now I can hang our clothes outside to dry, saving energy and achieving that wonderful crisp smell of sunshine and trees.
Jennika played in the grass and dirt, tasting rocks, sticks and mud. She is becoming such an outside girl, much to her parents’ delight.
That evening we barbecued and enjoyed the evidence of our hard work and the anticipation of the good things to come from it. There is something so rewarding in planting. Knowing that with little effort on my part (weeding, feeding, etc), I can wait and watch and beautiful and nutritious fruits and vegetables grow before my very eyes. I look forward to sharing this wonder with Jennika when she’s a bit older. Right now she’s more interested in pulling the leaves off the tomato plant than in the wonderful harvest we will reap from it later.
Sunday was another beautiful day. Our church service doesn’t start until 11:00, which is wonderful in my opinion because it means sleeping in and a lazy morning enjoying coffee and breakfast together. After a great service we grabbed some food and drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon for a hike. We choose a trail that took us up to a ridge where we could view the Salt Lake Valley, the snowy mountains around us, and 600 feet below, the road we’d started on. It was a breathtaking view from all angles. Then we hiked further up the canyon until we hid constant snow and then turn back to the car, tired, sweaty, and happy.
There are few tangible things that can attempt to come a mile close to the simple pleasures of hard work, anticipation, beautiful weather, the majestic mountains, trees, rocks, hills, and a loving family. For Mother’s Day I didn’t get a bouquet of hothouse flowers on my table, but instead wildflowers brightly dancing along the trail side. I didn’t get a relaxing massage, but was invigorated as my heart and lungs met the demands I put to them. I didn’t receive jewelry, but was decorated with freckles from the sun and slobbery kisses from my adoring daughter.  These gifts have filled my heart with joy and that joy multiplies with the knowledge that there’s not an end in sight to such pleasures. There are many more sunny days ahead and I look forward to many years of planting gardens, each better than the previous. I hope my daughter never shys away from kissing me and my husband never tires of taking me hiking. For I will always welcome these simple, delicious pleasures that made this weekend so perfect.

Here’s a couple photos and a video of our girl. Enjoy!
PS Her adorable yellow outfit was made especially for Jennika by Kris’s Grandma Zyp.

Well, I did it, for seven whole days I did not go online once, did not chat with my sister, update my facebook, listen to Itunes, send or receive any emails, or look up a single recipe online. Not only that but I also did not watch a single movie or any television. I wondered when I started this mental detox if I would come out the other end with some incredible insights, but really I was just reminded of the things that I already knew. Here’s just a few of those little reminders….

The world, or my life rather, does still go on without computers…as do the lives of millions of others who have no access to or may have never even heard of a computer.

I say I’m busy, but in reality I’m not too busy to do the things that are important to me…and those things that I’m too “busy” for, well I simply haven’t chosen to make time for them. Sadly I saw that sometimes I make time for the frivolous things and am too “busy” for those things that should be considered essential, like reading the Word, praying, and spending time with those I love.

My daughter likes to be rocked to sleep and seems to sleep better/longer when I do rock her.

My husband likes peanut butter cookies…and I’ve only made them for him a handful of times in the four plus years we’ve been married.

Emailing is effecient but there is something so sweet and wonderful in hearing my sister giggle or my mom giving motherly advice on the phone.

I’m not bad at phone talking like I have always thought, just not practiced at it and usually too distracted to really focus on the conversation (hmmm strange how much easier it was to focus when I didn’t have my computer).

I LOVE music and REALLY missed my Itunes.

Seeds that say they take 7-14 days to germinate really grow a LOT faster when you plant them in a little greenhouse. 

Lunch tastes better when it’s being eaten outside, in the sunshine, sitting on the grass.

Cookbooks are cool.

I like reading the newspaper, it makes me feel knowledgeable about local and national events…and it reminds me of my Grandpa Krischke.

Draper (a nearby city) has an incredible library that makes me want to snuggle up in one of their cozy couches that over look the lovely meadow and just read for hours.

Little Women is a wonderful story that I will always love reading…no matter how many times I’ve read it.

No matter how many times I’ve read it, I will always cry when Beth dies.

I get better at the violin when I play it regularly (I told you these weren’t new brilliant ideas but reminders of things I already knew).

I miss my wonderful Timber Valley family.

I am a loop fanatic (ask Kris).

When I don’t have as many things cluttering up my daily routine it’s easier to be spontaneous and not feel guilty about it.

Being spontaneous is almost always fun.

Sometimes being a good friend means just listening while the other person vents. You can’t listen through an email nearly as well as you can on the phone and you can’t listen on the phone nearly as well as you can in person.

Jennika has a really cute giggle and making her laugh is totally worth the work!

I would trade my laptop, movies, and internet connection any day for wonderful friends, old and new.

So there you go! This last week was such a good reminder to me of the things that are important and the things that are nice and convenient to have but NOT essential…like this blog. I love that I can just click a couple keys and have hundreds of new recipes at my finger tips. I love that I can connect so quickly with those I love. But I think that sometimes and in someways the conveniences cheapen the treasure that is relationships and the limited resource of our valuable time. I’ve heard Kris say before that, to him, a demonstration of how valuable something is to somebody is how much of their time they are willing to put into it (be it a person, event, etc.) If this is true, and I do believe that it is, I’ve allowed some precious relationships to be neglected because they weren’t convenient. I’ve chosen to shoot off an email rather than make a phone call because it’s faster; just a few clicks and it’s done. But what have I missed by not actually interacting with that person? I’m not saying that all those things I gave up are bad, they are wonderful but they come at a cost. The question I’m left asking is when is the convenience not worth the cost? I don’t have any answers, maybe you do. I’d love to hear your thoughts on things. I’ll leave you with a couple relevant lines from Inherit the Wind, a classic play that Kris and I recently enjoyed:

“Gentleman, progress has never been a bargain. You’ve got to pay for it. Sometimes I think there’s a man behind a counter who says, ‘All right, you can have a telephone; but you’ll have to give up privacy, the charm of distance. Madam, you may vote; but at a price; you lose the right to retreat behind a powder-puff or a petticoat. Mister, you may conquer the air; but the birds will lose their wonder, and the clouds will smell of gasoline!’”

Inherit the Wind

Her fans demanded and so here is another video of our girl….

A review of my week “unplugged” is on its way!

Well, this is goodbye…at least for the next six days.
Many of you have probably heard about TV Turn Off Week, which is this week, April 21-27. The plan is fairly simple, you don’t watch ANY television for a whole week. I planned to fully participate, which isn’t in the least bit difficult for Kris and I since we don’t own a television. I was even willing to give up my Netflix movies that I watch on my computer after Jennika is in bed, even though I’m right in the middle of a really good season of Gilmore Girls. In preparation, I decided to find a website with some more information about this week and I stumbled upon an incredible challenge.
Not only is there a TV turn-off week, there is a Mental Detox Week. The good people at Adbusters have uped the antie this year and encouraged all to turn off not only their tv, but also their laptop, dvd player, xbox, etc. and live a week “unplugged”. Well this made me uncomfortable because I LOVE my laptop and use it all the time. I check my email probably every hour, I chat online with my sister, I listen to music on Itunes, I look up recipes, I post photos, videos, and my thoughts here, I look up directions, phone numbers, and countless other bits of information. Could I really live without my computer for a whole week? So as I was rocking my exhausted my daughter to sleep tonight I thought about this challenge and what I would do for a whole week without this wonderful little gadgit. I could work on Jennika’s baby book, write in my journal to her, garden outside, READ, rock my baby, go for walks, tackle those last few boxes out in the garage that haven’t been unpacked yet….and I kept thinking of more and more things.
So I’m gonna do it! Tonight when I go to bed, I’m unplugging my laptop and putting it under the bed, out of sight and (hopefully) out of mind for the next six days. I’ll let you know how I do. In the meantime here are a couple photos and videos of Jennika. 
Oh and P.S. While there is a lot of good and thought provoking things at the adbusters website, browse with caution!