Fenceless Living

This summer we began replacing the fence in our backyard. For approximately two weeks we had either no fence at all or only a partially fenced yard. With the new wide-open space and the fact that at any given moment we had a variety of neighbors or little children running around our backyard, I became keenly aware of our vulnerability. I'm not just referring to the open access to the church and ball fields behind our house or even the four backyards our yard now extended to, I'm referring to the whole "Glass House" experience. Everything we did, everything we said in our own yard was now a public display of who we were. Do we demonstrate the same character when the fences are down that we display when they are up? Yet another great learning opportunity for our family to be even more transparent with our neighbors who know we love Jesus.

We also had the privilege of experiencing several little hiccups along the way. One of which was Jimmy's crazy work schedule. There was even one evening he came home from work at 7:00 pm, worked on the fence until 10:30 pm, went back to work until 5:00 am only to sleep for a few hours and begin on our project again. These were the moments when we most appreciated our dear family and friends who came to help!

Kevin Currey had no hesitations about climbing a very tall Cherry Tree that unexpectedly needed to be cut down. (Sorry about that Jen!) And then there was the funny hiccup with the stump grinding company. It wasn't until halfway through the grinding process that we realized the company doing the grinding was not the same company we thought we had hired the day before. We thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the couple working on the project though and our kids loved playing with their 6 year old daughter for several hours. Their family-run business had prompted them to homeschool their Kindergartener, so she and I enjoyed sharing our homeschooling experiences with each other. Abby and Nikayla became fast friends. The kids have already been pondering which other trees may need to come down so we can invite their family back over.

Grandpa Finnestad came several times sharing his tools and talents, patiently teaching me how to screw all the boards in place. Grandma Finnestad spent a day here helping with the kids and enjoyed a very memorable trip to the park with us while the guys worked.

While we still have trim work and a gate to finish, as well as a root and dirt laden backyard to put back together - I must say I am so thankful for each adventure God has placed in front of us along the way. Our family continues to be stretched and refined. I only pray that we will continue to strive to live with our "fences down" at all times, being a real and transparent reflection of Christ...and an example of his grace when we trip over the roots in our hearts along the way.

(P.S. Hopefully I'll have pictures of our progress up soon!)