Our neighbors are moving......

Neighbors for nearly 20 years.

We've shared everything from raising our kids to watching them leave home.

Mark and Sandra sang at Adrienne's funeral, and Sandra sat with us in the minutes just after Nick passed away before the funeral home arrived.

We've shared pets......literally........our first cat became theirs within a week and they had her for almost 15 years!

They are what you call "lifetime" friends.

What do you give these kind of friends?

I talked with our other neighbors who are just as close and have shared just as much, and we decided to go together on a gift that would be special to Mark and Sandra for years to come.

I didn't realize how excited we were to give this gift until the night of our street cookout.

The gift was wrapped and ready to be given, but we needed to eat first.

Waiting was so hard!

When we finally handed them the gift, I couldn't stop clicking photos as they opened it!

We knew it was the perfect gift, and it was so much fun to watch their faces as they realized what was hidden under the wrapping!

Mark and Sandra love the painter P. Buckley Moss.

We found one of her paintings online entitled, "Our Neighborhood," and we fell in love with it!

It had three houses just like our street.

It also had a street sign and banner that could be personalized, so we had the artist add "Landsdowne Avenue" to the street sign and

"Our street will never be the same. Love, The Benders and The Nischans"

to the banner.

Watch Mark and Sandra's faces as the pictures progress.......

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This night will forever be etched in my memory!

The laughter, the talking into the dark about all the memories we've shared over the years.

I'm so thankful for the Benders and the Deakins!

As I've reflected on this special evening with our neighbors and how good it felt to give such a special gift, I have not been able to stop thinking about how God must feel about the gift of His Son to all of us.

Talk about a perfect Gift!

I can almost see Him on the edge of His throne just waiting for the next person to receive His Gift!

It's free!

It's for everyone!

We loved the Deakins so much that we wanted to give them the perfect gift.

God loved the world so much that He gave us His one and only Son.

I hope you accept His Gift with all the love in which it was given.

He personalized His gift too........

The Bible says our names have been "engraved on the palm of His Hand."

Thankful today,