"Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit."– Peter UstinovMy Husband and I moved out to the country because we wanted peace and quiet. For me personally beyond that I wanted my freedom to practice my form of spirituality without the disapproving glares of the mainstream sect. So imagine my dismay when I sat down to dinner and went to glance out my window to look over the beautiful landscape (as I usually do) to find a big ole white cross blazing upon it. You see we have 3 acres of land and our house is set back on it. Behind us is another 5 acres that was for sale for the full 5 years we have lived here up until now. About 100 yards from my house is the new church though they haven’t built anything yet. At first I thought it was no big deal. Good for them to create their church and what not. Though I was a bit put off by the cross I grew to look past it- as I always do. However, Instead of my weekends being filled with quiet reflection and peace it is filled with loud window shaking Mexican music being piped from the parties the Church have from 1 in the afternoon until late at night. At one point they had some woman screaming through a bullhorn in Spanish and I swear it sounded like she was standing outside my window- and it was closed. I spent my day feeling nervous…anxious. It was hard to focus to study because of all the noise. We even closed our windows, turned on the AC, and we could still hear it as if we were at the party ourselves. By 9 in the evening we called the police as we had had enough of all the noise that had been going on all day long. It took the police two tries and a filed report to get them to quiet down. My thing is…I don’t care if you make noise but if this is going to be an all day every weekend thing (as it has been for the past 3 weekends) then I have an issue. I have to live here and I was here first. I moved out here to have some peace and quiet not listen to a bunch of Mexicans go crazy. By them behaving this way it really puts me off. It’s like they don’t respect their neighbors and only care about themselves. Good for them they bought a plot a land, threw a cross up and now party but do it somewhere else as this is a residential spot. I asked the cop if they could do that- zoning laws and all- he said they could. I am miffed. It’s a complete double standard and it makes me sick! And I am now reminded in my own home how “freedom of religion” only means a certain sect and its many branches. Husband (who is Christian) said when he sees them out again he is going to go over and speak to the Pastor, perhaps come to some sort of compromise so I can have SOME peace. He also made mention that being a poor neighbor certainly isn’t being Christ like. I giggled at that because it’s very true. I just hope every weekend from here on out isn’t like it has been. Luckily we have our house up for sale and this just inforces why we have to move- slight flooding and a freaking church in our back yard.  Which begs me to ponder…I hope they built an arc…cus when it floods it goes right back into that lot. Poor things. I hope everyone is well!  ~Bright Blessings~Rea