It Takes A Village

They say that it "takes a village" to raise a child. Well on our street the village is ready! Well, at least the little villagers are ready. Bryce's mom gave birth to Jamie (a girl) on Saturday morning and by Sunday afternoon all the kids in the neighborhood had their little hands all over her. Oh she will be loved! And all the while we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of baby Gabriel from S. Africa - his mom and dad are there now. Soon they will meet their newest son and warn him of the entourage of mini-babysitters that await him in Canada! Congrats to the new moms and dads!

In the past few weeks I've had a number of conversations with folks about "knowing their neighbors". One woman even said to me, "My husband and I decided that if we don't meet at least three friendly families in our neighborhood by the end of the summer we're moving." I didn't have the heart to tell her that a good start would be to BE one of those friendly families and take the first step to knowing your neighbors.

It got me thinking ... actually it got me thAnking. I am so thankful for my neighbors, they're not just my neighbors, they're my friends. And they're cool - real cool. I'd want to be their friend even if we weren't neighbors. We're a village and we're in this thing called "Life" together. I'm glad for it because it doesn't just take a village to raise a child, it takes a village live life.

PS The photo above was hardly posed ... honestly, the hands were all there, I just did a little rearranging so we could see Jamie's face (and so she could breathe)!!