Love Thy Neighbor

I do. I love our neighbors.

I don’t believe in luck, but we seriously hit the neighbor jackpot when we moved into our new house in Bozeman. It’s almost “as if” it was providential.

(It totally was.)

It wasn’t more than 20 minutes after we pulled our moving and mini vans into the driveway last August when our neighbor came over and introduced herself. And guess what? They’re also from Oregon! The same valley we hail from, to be exact. And guess what else? Her husband is ALSO a software engineer! Oh, and she teaches at the school we were planning to send our kids to. AND their teen daughters babysit. And one teaches piano. And they teach Awanas to Kindergarteners, 1st and 2nd graders. (We have a kinder and a 2nd grader.) And they are members of the church we had planned to (and now do) attend. AND they have season tickets to the MSU football games and would my husband like to go? Yes. Yes He would.

We have, quite honestly, been blessed to live near this family. We have spent Thanksgiving, Superbowl, random lunches, weekend hikes, and now Easter Resurrection Sunday with them. It’s easy to spend time with them because we all connect on a deep, authentic level. They are mature in their faith and a step ahead of us in parenting season. (They have four kids ranging from ages 12-18.) Spending time with their big family makes me seriously excited to grow our own.

Speaking of that, when did the typical 2 child household, normalized in the 80’s, become considered small? Perhaps it’s just the prolific “church crowd” that we tend to spend the most time with, but it seems like being a two-kid-family garners the same reaction that an only-child-family did back in the day. I have often caught myself over-disclosing when introduced to someone new and describing my family: “Yes, we have JUST two girls. BUT we’re adopting. AND we have one in Heaven.” What IS that?

Maybe it’s all in my head, since we’re now “expecting” and eager in our anticipation of expanding our family. It warms my heart when I’m ushering around an extra kid or two for a friend, and I always giddily snap a picture of the rowdy interior of my van.

For me, a full minivan = Joy. I can’t wait for this to be our new normal. Our adoption isn’t even complete yet, and we have already begun to discuss the possibility of a  “next time.”

“Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from Him.” (Psalm 172:3)