buying friends?

Okay, well of course not...but when a youngish mom from across the street came by selling Mary Kay and wondering if she could come over sometime and give me a free facial I jumped at the chance. Yes I like Mary Kay, no I cannot afford it. Will I buy something? Probably. Is that bad? I'm withholding judgement there. I've been feeling the need to meet other moms in my neighborhood but not really knowing how. So here one knocks on my door (had her 10 yr old lovely daughter with her). Who knows what will come of it, but I am glad to at least have met another mom nearby.

I've been meaning to tell you about my other neighbor encounters.

One day Sandra - a 70ish grandmotherly type - stopped me outside my house and asked if we were new here and if we were Christians. Wow, how did she know, do we have a Christian look? Then she asked if we were from Abbotsford. Ahh, the truck my uncle and cousin used to move us used to belong to an Abbotsford church and emblazoned across the side of the box were the church name, location and meeting times. Anyways Sandra invited us to her church and then assured us she would stop by again with extras from her garden. True to her word the next day a bag of "garden goodies" including cucumber, blueberries and fresh herbs was hanging on our doorknob. A couple days later she was by again, dropping off a bulletin from her church and saying that if we ever needed babysitting "grandma" was just down the street... Don't know if we'll go to her church I don't think it is a good fit for us. One tip off was her exclaiming about how well behaved the pastor's kids are and how the church is really good at training kids. To behave well? Sit quietly? Obey? We're coming from a church that met in a gym and where our rambunctious two year olds were enjoyed and had space to run around as needed. We don't really sit well. :) Lance thinks we won't visit her church, and I sort of thought we should...but that was solely for people pleasing purposes. Do you think the kind words and garden goodies will run out if we don't visit. :)

Also met Maria - a mid-fifties lady with a gorgeous eastern European accent. She stopped by when the kids and I were having our first tries at painting. I had brought water colour paints and newsprint sheets outside on our front grass patch. She stopped and mentioned a garage sale with children's toys just down the street. She met the kids and then asked if they'd like an easel. OF COURSE! I'd been wanting an easel for them. She is saving it for grandkids, but said we can use it while we live here. She brought it over later in the day, saying it took so long to bring it over cause her husband had to replace the hinges. It is a homemade wooden kids easel, with two clips so the kids can work side by side. She also passed on a big stack of large white paper (from her husband who works in construction, I guess the paper is from construction drawings). I was very grateful, for the easel and paper, but even more so for the neighborhood connection.

just got off the phone with my sister and enjoyed a wonderful talk. Yesterday was a very low day for me and today I am feeling very full and blessed (well not physically full, right now I REALLY need a snack). Ending it off with a talk with Cara was perfect.

Hope you are well.

Aimee