Expanding the Family
The above photo is the one going on our “friends and family” Christmas card this year. It is similar in many respects to the Christmas photos we’ve sent in the past, but with one notable exception. Our family has grown. Our son recently married a wonderful Christian young lady, and so we have one more Jorritsma in the picture (we already apologized to her about the last name). But what happens when a family grows?
The first change created by an expanding family is how it operates. Take for example our Christmas photo. Getting the family Christmas photo is never on anyone’s list of favorite things in our household, but I have to admit that it is a bit humorous.
I’m usually voluntold to make this happen, which means I take it very seriously. It’s usually cold outside (yes, we wait too long), days are short so lighting is more difficult, and finding a new and unique setting each year is always a topic of long discussion. And that’s just the beginning. Nevertheless, I’m ready to tackle it, so look out Christmas cards!
Once we get to the chosen location, I scout for a perfect spot while everybody chats and goofs around (my words; they call it familial socializing). I eventually herd everyone back together and set up for the picture. Something inevitably disturbs the camera settings, I fiddle with them and discover whole new parts of the camera menu, call everybody back, and we finally take a picture. Then we take another, because somebody had their eyes closed. And another, because somebody wasn’t ready. A dozen pictures later, we have one usable photo, everybody has broken out laughing, and I’ve completely lost all control of the situation. I think it’s fair to say that I’ve successfully achieved many difficult things during my life, but the Christmas photo always brings me to my knees. While it’s not exactly a Charlie Chaplin movie or a clown car, there are some striking similarities.
What happens to this process when the family expands? The potential chaos expands too. Try to get a good Christmas picture of your family with little kids and you’ll know what I mean. Thankfully, adding a daughter-in-law did not appreciably increase our chaos. It meant coordinating one more person’s schedule, and we managed just fine.
However, this is just one side of the coin. When a family expands, the second change is that it also has a greater impact. For example, as our family has expanded, we now have an even larger network of friends and extended family than ever before. Expanding a family can both broaden and deepen its influence. We all influence each other to a greater degree, and hopefully for the good.
Why the talk about families expanding? Because our NDFA family has begun expanding. For many years, NDFA has consisted of me doing what I could to protect your values in the public policy world. However, this year we added Jacob Thomsen, who has been a great help, particularly with the wins we experienced this past legislative session. Over the summer we also added an intern, Rebekah Frolich, and we had additional requests about internship positions. We’ve also set up retainer contracts with key vendors, most recently with a young University of Jamestown graduate who is blessed with amazing creative design capabilities.
As with any other expanding family, we need to manage the possible resulting chaos. I’m not particularly worried about this, but it does require coordinating with employees and vendors who are working remotely (we have no fixed office space, in order to keep overhead down and ensure your donation dollars have the greatest possible impact).
The second change is the impact NDFA can have on the defense of your biblical values. We discovered that we were able to handle twice the number of bills this session with additional staff. We are also able to start our Church Ambassador program, connect with more legislators through our upcoming Legislative Academy, provide more education and advocacy, and cover more public policy subjects. In short, everything we do expands, and we can represent you and your values even more effectively.
NDFA is growing broader and deeper. This is great news, and I am particularly excited about what the future holds and how much more of our mission we can accomplish. But as wonderful as this greater impact is, it cannot occur without the necessary financial support. I’m not going to turn this email into a donation appeal, but please understand that NDFA cannot grow without your financial help.
NDFA will grow or shrink in direct proportion to our available resources. You will receive our end-of-year donation mailing soon. When you do, please prayerfully consider helping us continue to expand our NDFA family and all the great things that go with it. Unlike our annual Christmas photo, we promise to keep our eyes open and be ready when it matters most.