I kinda like my Jehovah's Witness.

I don’t remember much about the first time I met her. What I do remember, is that when I cracked open the door and squeezed through, kicking my barking dogs back so they wouldn’t escape, I was standing on the patio with a baby on my hip and I had one sock on. And now that I think about it, it was a fuzzy sock, in Christmas colors. And there was a hole in the toe.

And I was only wearing one.

“My baby just ate deodorant” I blurted, scooping my finger into Dawson’s mouth, trying to get any remaining Secret from his gums

“A whole stick of deodorant?” she asked, laughing hesitantly.

“No, not a whole stick, just a bite. Should I call poison control?”

“I think he’ll be fine” she smiled.

When I could finally focus on her, I noticed a few things.

A)   She’s very pretty

B)   She’s with a really good looking, well dressed guy

C)   They were here to hand me a pamphlet.

I don’t remember much of what we talked about, but I kindly took the pamphlet, and while we were talking, without even thinking, used it to wipe white blobs of deodorant off of Dawson’s chin. I prayed they didn’t notice.

A week later she was back, and her first question was if Dawson had eaten any deodorant that morning. It was a funny way to open conversation, and she casually explained that she was just going around giving people these pamphlets and asked if I had looked at the other one. I was relieved she didn’t remember I used it as a napkin, but had to fumble and convince her that yes, I read it cover to cover. She walked me through a few paragraphs about “why bad things happen to good people,” and I opened up to her about my mom.  About how my faith in God grew stronger as I went through that, and the only reason I made it through was because I trusted in Him to get me through it. It was a good conversation, and she pointed me to the first chapter in James. We talked about how bad things happen to good people and that can cause people to turn away from God. But sometimes God lets bad things happen to work for good. I told her that even though losing my mom was devastating, my faith in Him grew stronger, which in turn allowed me to bring God front and center into our home, my relationship and into each and every parenting decision I make with Dawson. Losing my mom sucked, but He used it to make me better.

The next time she came, she flipped her pamphlet over and the title across the top read “What Does God Say About….” and had 9 squares with pictures and subtitles. What does God say about money, forgiveness, hard work, family, prayer? She asked me which one interested me and I skimmed the paper.

Pick family. See what it says. See what she says about family.  I urged myself silently.

“Ummm… I don’t know.. how about…” I started, pretending to really be contemplating this difficult task

You may hear something you don’t want to hear. But pick it. Just see. Then decide whether you will be brave enough to speak your mind or stay quiet. I urged again.

“Let’s do family.” I said, shifting Dawson to my other hip.

As she read, I could hear my heartbeat in my ears, as the words I knew were there were read aloud. Man… woman…marriage…natural… abomination…withhold God’s law… she read with confidence. We discussed divorce and temptation and the importance of family. And then she asked a question, although I don’t remember what it was. I do remember it started with “So does your husband…”

Thump. Thump. Thump. My heart was racing. And then I remember who I held in my arms. I’ll be damned if I’m going to deny or cover up the family that Dawson has. I never want him to be ashamed of the people who love him, the family he comes from or who he is. And in that moment, I wasn’t nervous anymore.

Okay, still nervous, but not saying something was not an option.

“Umm.. actually… I don’t have a husband. I have a partner, her name is Sarah, and she’s a teacher. We ‘ve been together for 8 years. To be totally honest, I was nervous about telling you because… well… you know…” I gestured towards her pamphlets and Bible.

“Oh! No! Don’t be nervous” she smiled “We aren’t here to judge. Everyone deserves to hear how much God loves them. It’s totally cool.” And in her face, I could tell she meant it. I was relieved, took another pamphlet, and was 100% sure they wouldn’t come back.

And the next week they didn’t. Or the next week. And to be honest, I was bummed. I liked her, she was easy to talk to and it was a nice break in my day to sit on the porch and talk about Jesus. And I’m usually happy when I can get them to go away, but I felt like we connected and I liked her. And she wasn’t coming back.

And then the following week, I wake up from taking a nap with Dawson and Sarah says “Your Jehovah Witnesses stopped by. They were really nice and knew my name and said that you told them about me. They asked about Dawson and left this for you and said they would come back again.”

I was actually bummed that I missed them. I was so happy that they came back because after telling her about our family, I pictured her running back to her car, taking out her list and crossing my name off in red pen, adding a sad face and a picture of Satan next to it.

Since then, she’s been back about once a week and we have a casual chat on the patio, she reads some scripture, we talk about what it means, she hands me a pamphlet, she talks and plays with Dawson, and she tells me she will stop by again soon. And she always does.  When she came today, she brought me a Bible because I said I needed a new one.

One of these days we will have to have the conversation about what she believes and what I believe and how they are different. We will have to go through those awkward silences and the “agree to disagree” spiel.  But what I’ve learned from this whole thing is that in a world of greedy, judgmental and hypocritical Christians, there are still Christians who love like Jesus does. There are still people who love people where they are, who come through when they say they will, who listen, who interact, who build relationships.

When we get down to it, there will be some things we don’t see eye to eye on. But I’m okay with that. Even if we disagree on some major core beliefs, her actions towards my family  have mirrored Christ’s, in my opinion. I truly believe she is interested in making sure I know God loves me, and everything else, well, we can talk about it until we are blue in the face, and neither one of us will change our minds. And we don’t have to. We can love Jesus and let everything else fall into place.

She is friendly, and she is caring, and she is telling people about love. And I’m cool with that.

I like my Jehovah’s Witness. I’m looking forward to our next meeting.

And hopefully I’ll have on two socks and my kid won’t be eating beauty products.