Our Gate

#24 I stopped folding laundry to play. Laughter from Zachary as the little piggy, "ran wee wee wee, all the way home."

#25 Giggles from my growing girl as we made faces in the mirror together.

#26 Hearty, silly laughter with a great big smile from Jacob as I tickled and teased.

#27 Jake's curiosity as he sits under a tree, asking confident questions and watching the handy-man put in a gate.

#28 Our new gate! Connecting not only our yards but also deepening the connection between our kids, our neighborly friendship, our hearts. We anticipate with smiles the knock of a friend at the back door, coffee breaks, a cup of sugar and God using those moments to knit our lives together with our neighbors, our friends.

Let me elaborate on the gate!

I have a dear friend in Christ, who I came to know through our common profession of being Physician assistants. We both love Jesus, family, medicine and we "happen" to share a small corner of our backyard fence. Our children love to play with one another, but neither one of us felt comfortable having the kids race around the block to get to the front door. So, we decided to put a gate in our back yards so we could easily run back and forth between our homes. You know you have a good friend when they and you want to make sharing your lives together easier. So, we have a gate. To me, it is so much more than a opening to our neighbor's yard. It is a desire to love our neighbor as ourselves and invite relationship instead of creating walls that keep other's out of our life.

Matthew 22:39 "...And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"