As the sun sets and our little one sleeps in her new “big girl bed,” I’m finding myself reflective and very grateful. 

I’m looking out our back yard and thinking, “We have all this to enjoy!” which isn’t simply about the tall, old trees or the old house or the plants we’ve labored over. It’s also about our little family, pancake breakfasts and kitchen dance sessions on Sunday mornings, daily morning walks, a sense of true community.

We’ve learned a lot about how to open our doors and enter the open doors of others for more than basic pleasantries. Sharing life, regardless of religious and political affiliations and with no thought of “conversion”, has become more the norm than the exception. It’s refreshing, takes us out of the control center and into a sort of faithful presence that’s frustrating at times yet honest and necessary…and maturing. 

We still struggle with unconditional love, that’s for sure. We’re not pretending to have arrived on any particular front. Yet to see who we’ve become and where we can still grow is exciting. God has stuck with us, as is His nature. 

So even though we’re living in a crazy time, even though life beyond our cozy neighborhood isn’t all rosey, we have all this to enjoy! And I intend to make the most of it for as long as it’s ours.