30 Days of Thanksgiving: Day 9--New Neighbors

As you have probably gathered from talking with us or reading our blog/prayer letters/updates, we live in very close community with our neighbors.  We eat meals together, carpool to school together, watch each other's kids, grocery shop for each other, problem solve together, play games together, laugh together, cry together... all that good stuff.  So, when our neighbors moved out in April leaving one of the houses empty, we were all very concerned about finding a new family who would fit well into our community. The house sat empty for over 6 months, during which we advertised the house in many ways, tried to convince numerous friends to consider moving in, and prayed fervently for good neighbors.  We knew that in a community like ours, the new tenants had the potential to either enrich our community or break down the precious family feel that had been created.  We are so thankful that God answered our prayers by bringing us the Marin family.  None of us really knew them, but one Sunday after church, our 8 year-old neighbor Rylee invited one of their daughters over for a playdate.  When the rest of the family came to pick her up that night, we found out that they were looking for a house, so we showed them around, chatted for awhile, and ended up welcoming them to the neighborhood about a week and a half later.  They have been a prefect fit and have jumped right into our community. We are so thankful for Eddy, Katina, Michaella, Alyssa, Breana, Kylie, and Eddy, the newest members of the La Veranera family! (oh yeah, and Tess, the dog!)