Love thy Neighbor...

David and I met some very exciting neighbors yesterday!  We are slowly meeting the people in our neighborhood now that it is warm out, and people are out and about.  We just moved into our new house in December, so really we've only really gotten to know our next door neighbors.... up until now.

It all started on a run.  Yes, I am a runner.  A new runner, a slow runner, and a short distance runner.  But a runner nonetheless.  I was running through our neighborhood and saw a man in his garage, and two boys with him.  One of the little boys had beautifully dark skin.  After that day, I tried to remember which house it was, but when I run, I am hot, and sometimes a little delirious, and couldn't exactly remember.  Plus, after that day, I never saw the family again.  I told David about the possibility of another trans-racial family in the neighborhood, but could never confirm it.

Then a couple days ago I saw the whole family outside together.  Mom, Dad, two white children, and two black children.  Of course I was running alone again, but at least I could remember the home.  Now I just had to figure out how to introduce myself and make a connection with these people without being super creepy and stalker-esque.

Fast forward to yesterday.  Running once again.  This time with David.  Would you believe this wonderful little family that I wanted to meet so desperately in a natural, nonchalant way without being super creepy was having a garage sale?  What are the chances?  So on the way back from our run, we obviously had to stop by.  We acted aloof and easy going... picking a few items (Mom used to be a teacher - so we found a few books for our classroom) and asked her to hold the items while we ran home for money.

As we walked home, we tried to think of a way to introduce ourselves and talk adoption.  But we came up with nothing.  Nothing sounded right.

So we went back to their house without a plan.  And I'm not sure what I even said, but it was something like "You have a beautiful family.  My husband and I are in the process of adopting."  And from there, the conversation just took off.  Would you believe her adopted children are from Ethiopia!?!  AND they used the same agency we are using!  We talked for quite awhile, and exchanged information, and asked a million questions, and walked away feeling GREAT!  What an amazing connection to make just down the street.

Now when we go running by their house, we wave and say hello and I get a little tingle in my heart because I feel this comforting little connection to a family that I just met, and I love it.