ah, suburbia...

WE FINISHED OUR FENCE! WE FINISHED OUR FENCE! IT'S FINALLY DONE! YAY!

The construction project that was begun on June 28, 2008 is finally complete. Posts are in, frame is attached to the posts - at the correct angles, of course, which, uh, took us a couple tries - the boards are nailed to the frame, and, the entire things is stained a nice shade of cedar! Whew, what a project. Who knew that something as simple as, "let's fence our backyard!" would lead to such exhausting days and tired bodies. Well, actually probably a lot of people knew this would be hard and time consuming. Good for you.

Something else we learned throughout this process is how nice people in our neighborhood are! Our house sits on a corner lot, and because it is somewhat near the entrance to our development, we get a lot of traffic driving past our house (hence the reason for the fence, right?). So as we've been out working on this, pretty much the whole neighborhood has had a chance to observe our progress (or lack thereof at some points, while we waited for it to stop raining or to cool down enough so we didn't die of heat exhaustion). This last week, we've been out every evening, working desperately to finish staining the dang thing. At first the comments of drivers passing by were sporadic and brief: "nice job!", "looking good!", "you're almost there!". And then people started to SLOW DOWN and pause by our yard: "you guys have done a wonderful job", "I hope you are pleased with your work", "we live down the street - thank you for doing such a great job on your fence".

We debated the veracity of people's comments, I mean, it is just a fence! Were people just being nice? But why pause, slow your car, roll the window down (allowing 90 degree heat into your car mind you) and stop to actually chat with us?

So, we've concluded that our neighbors actually are please with the finished product - which is great, because we are too. Only in the suburbs...

the audacity!

We attended a friend's wedding this past weekend and had a wonderful time catching up with some college friends we don't get a chance to see as often as we'd like. We also heard probably one of the best wedding sermons ever. The pastor led off with a statement something along the lines of "no time seems to be a good time for marriage." I know, doesn't seem to be off to a good start, huh? He went on to commend the boldness of people who attempt such a step, pausing to wonder what our dear friends - who, mind you, are standing at the altar waiting to exchange their vows - think they are doing? My favorite phrase was his claim of the "audacity of marriage." I loved the whole thing. Today it seems like people enter into marriages with more thought about the dress, the cake and the music than about what it might mean to love one another until death, in sickness and health, in good times and in bad.

Having just celebrated our 6th anniversary, David and I have now been married long enough to recognize that things are not always as lovely as they were on our wedding day (okay, we probably realized that a while ago!). And I am thrilled to say we are beginning to grasp the truth that there is GREAT boldness and audacity that is required of two people who make a commitment to remain together as partners in life. In a time when the very definition of marriage is being battered from all sides (I heard recently that there are on-going discussions of high commitment marriage licenses vs. low commitment marriage licences, or licences that are designed to expire in 7 years, requiring the couple to renew it), this pastor's message was honest and refreshing. It is not all roses and chocolate, but it is a beautiful thing. It's beautiful because those who have the audacity to enter into marriage and commit to it - and stay committed to it even when it's rough - are a living picture of God's faithfulness to us when we insult, forget, and deny him.

Who are these kids anyway??