UPDATE

First, I just wanted to thank all of you for the wonderfully encouraging comments on my last post. It brought me comfort and hope knowing there were others remembering us in prayer. Thank you!

Well, I'm feeling a little more hopeful about our situation and I believe it is because of all the prayers we are receiving. On Saturday I was basically at my wits end with our neighbors and today I'm hopeful. It started at church yesterday morning. Every year, our church goes by a theme and all of the messages for the year are somehow intertwined with that theme. This years theme is 'Trusting Jesus' and the verse we're focusing on is Psalm 118:8 which says, "It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man." Before yesterday it was just another verse put today it brings on a whole new meaning.

Yesterday, the message was focused on Psalm 118: 1-8 but mainly verse 5. "In my anguish I cried to the Lord, and he answered by setting me free." That is basically how I feel today. During the message, I prayed and asked the Lord to show me how He wanted me to deal with my neighbors and to give me patience during this situation. Then I started thinking of ways in which I could make our situation better and this is where it gets good.

When I got home, my husband was telling me that while I was at church (he stayed home with Evan because he had a runny nose and we didn't want to take him to the nursery at church) the neighbors were really really loud. Now my hubby's first response to it is to try to give them the benefit of the doubt and see how long the noise will last. Then if it continues for more than a few minutes, then he does one of two things. He'll bang on the wall or turn up the bass on the TV and blast them. I know, not very Christianlike but I've got to admit that I've done it too (we're talking major frustration here!). So he chose to go the TV route. Thank goodness it was over by the time I got home because I can't stand a loud TV. Anyhoo, as my hubby and I were talking, things just started coming to my head. It was as if the Lord was pouring thought into my brain. Then suddenly I had it. A plan.

I decided that I was going to try and talk with our neighbors.....in person. First I was hoping that I'd run into them in the parking garage and catch them in a 'passing' kind of way as to not make them feel like we were confronting them. Then I thought of writing a little note to the wife and invite her and her daughter over for a play date and have some lunch that way we could both get our points across and deal with it in a friendly way and have an open line of communication. I knew that it was a fat chance considering our situation, but it wouldn't hurt to give it a shot.

The Lord had other plans.

Last night, my dad came over to watch Evan so that Ben and I could go out and have some dinner alone together. We we returned, the noise was pretty bad and right away I was tensing up. Since it was past 8:00 I was hoping that the noise would stop soon so I wasn't getting too upset. Then as I was unloading the dishwasher, there was this huge rumbling across the floor (our ceiling) that lasted for what seemed like forever. My hubby got up to bang on the wall and I stopped him and asked him if he could just simply call them. So he did. No answer. No surprise.

The noise continued so in my pj's and Vans, I went up to their front door and rang the door bell. Believe me when I tell you that I was so extremely nervous. My heart was pounding out of my chest and the entire time I was taking the elevator up to their floor, I was praying.....hard. So, I rang the door bell without a second thought and I could hear some movement from inside their unit and then suddenly the door opened and it was the husband. I can't remember if he said anything but I said, "Hi, how are you tonight?" Nothing. Ummmm....okay, I thought. Then he started saying things like, "We're going to be putting carpet back in" and "We don't know why it's taking the HOA so long to get back to us regarding our carpet choice" and so on. At least I think this is what he was saying because I couldn't understand him half of the time with his accent being so thick as it was. I just started to agree with him and sort of sympathize with their situation. Then the words just started pouring from my lips.

I started to apologize for the way our neighborly relationship had soured and that I didn't want to fight with them. I then said that we don't enjoy banging on the wall or turning our TV up so loud but sometimes we have no other way to communicate to them that they are being very very loud. We try calling them but they don't answer their phone. He said that sometimes they're not able to answer it (all of the time?! anyway...) and then I asked if I should just leave a message and he said yes and that they would call us back. During our entire conversation he repeatedly said that they weren't making the noise intentionally which I thought was funny since I hadn't said anything to the effect that we thought they were, but he just kept saying it. So I just kept saying "Oh no, we don't think that" or "No, I know you're not". We really do but I just wanted to make nice so I continued to sympathize with him.

Anyway, to make a long conversation short, I was up there for over a half hour and I think we finally got to some sort of understanding. He explained to me why there is louder noise at certain times of day and that helped me to know what's happening and have patience during those times. The noise still bugs me but at least I understand why. I also found out that his wife is pregnant again which I'm happy for them about but ugh....more little footsteps to listen to... Oh and one thing that did bother me during our conversation was the fact that he kept brushing off my suggestions that we all get together and discuss the matter so that there is open communication and we can repair our relationship. After he clearing wasn't interested in that, I just said that if he ever needed to ask us something or tell us something, he is more than welcome to come down to our door and let us know. He brushed that off too but at least I tried.

So anyway, I'm feeling a little bit better about it today. Since it's a holiday today, they're home and I've heard their daughter run across the floor several times while I was typing this post but at least I have my Lord and my good bloggie friends who are praying for us. Thank you! Thank you!


God is good....all the time.