Today my “thankful thought” goes out to all our neighbors. There are so many ways they have all shown our family kindness that I just had to blog and say I am thankful for our neighbors. Here’s why:
The picture above is the view from our front door into the street from the snowfall last year. Can you see the fence?One of our dear neighbors has a bobcat dirt mover. He spent much time clearing our street and moving snow. He moved alot of snow, and never asked for anything in return. He was our Superman that day and I know he must have been hiding an “S” on his chest somewhere.
A few of our neighbors pulled together to offer the children in our community a wonderful party a few days before Halloween. Our neighbors spent their time and creativity making this event special for the children and the adults. It was easy to see how much thought went into the planning of this event. I am thankful for people who take their time to make others happy. Thank you M and family and J. R. and family!
We decided to construct a play area for Seth and his friends. It was quite an adventure. During this project we were so blessed to have the help of our friends and neighbors. When it was time for the mulch our neighbor with the dirt mover helped us alot, I cannot imagine shoveling all that mulch by hand. Another neighbor helped us with drilling and construction. We were so grateful.
The towers you see above were contructed on our driveway, then they had to be moved a few feet to the play ground area. A few men with muscles helped us move the first smaller tower. When it was time to move the larger tower, we were stuck. Scott and I couldn’t move it by ourselves and our muscle men had left for the evening. I picked up my cell phone and dialed my friend from high school. I quickly learned he and his wife were in our area, but Scott did not want to impose so he told me to tell them we had it and that it would all work out. 10 minutes later my dear friends pull up in a huge diesel truck smiling like the cat that ate the canary. I said, “You guys, we told you it was all alright and we could move the tower.” (Which was a big fat lie, and they knew it, God forgive me). They laughed and of course I gave them both huge hugs. It was great to see them. Without missing a beat my high school friend picked up the entire large tower on his shoulders and moved the entire structure, by himself. He was a football player in H.S. We all just stood there with our jaws on the ground. I don’t even think he broke a sweat. His wife is also very dear to our family and it was wonderful to see them both, and wonderful that we can count on them, and I hope they know they can count on us too. Thanks R and L, we love you guys.
Last Halloween (2009) Safe Haven Church was renting a hall at The Hilton Garden Inn in White Marsh, MD. We wanted so bad to have a Trunk-n-Treat on Halloween, but couldn’t have it at The Hilton because of liability issues. We were so bummed. One night Scott was changing a friends flat tire in front of our house when our neighbor drove up and stopped. She asked if Scott needed help, we said we were ok, I was holding the flashlight. Then she asked about our church, I told her how excited we were, and that everything was going great. Then I shared about how we really wanted to have a Trunk-n-Treat but we couldn’t, and that this year we would have nothing for the kids on Halloween. Then she did something that I couldn’t believe. She works for The Harley Store in Baltimore and offered to talk with the owner to see if we could host our Trunk-n-Treat there. I was so happy and hoping with all my might the owner would say yes. Not only did the owner say yes, but everyone at Harley went above and beyond. They allowed Scott to invite all the HOG owners to participate in the event at a chapter meeting. Then Harley let us place a registration box in the very front of the store for those who wanted to participate. Next they posted our flyers everywhere in the store, and even featured our event on their website. And to top it all off they sent a mass email to all the HOG owners sharing the details of our event and how they could help. It was awesome! We changed the name from Trunk-n-Treat to Bike-R-Treat and it was so much fun. If it had not been for our friends flat tire, and for our dear neighbor checking on us when she saw us in the street, Bike-R-Treat would not have happened. Thank you M, J, L and L. You guys are awesome neighbors and terrific friends!
This year Safe Haven Church hosted Sweet Treats Sunday into our new location, we were thrilled to be able to have a special event for the kids on Halloween Sunday. We believe that every child deserves a prize for their costume. We gave each child a prize bag full of goodies, a gold “winner” medal, and a Free Gift Coupon that they can redeem when they bring the coupon to church the following Sunday. I am so thankful our neighbor volunteered to stuff all those bags. She knew I needed help and was quick to notice. Her husband brought over the bin full of prizes so I would not have to go get them. Later when I thanked them for their help, our neighbor said, “We’re neighbors, that’s what we do.” Thank you T, K and little T. You all are great neighbors and wonderful friends :o)
I could go on and on with all the nice things our neighbors do not just for us, but for our community. We are so blessed to live near such kind people. Thank you neighbors for being you.
stephaniecatlett.com 