How much are you willing to give for a friendship?

A few weeks ago I was presented with a question…. “Do you have at least one person in your life that you know is always going to be there for you, no matter what you do or have done. A person thats just going to be there for you through the worst of times and will be there to help you through it”

Its easy to be friends with someone when times are going good. Just rolling along through life enjoying how great things are going.

What about when times are not going so good. Maybe they have done something unthinkable, maybe they were not the person you needed them to be at some point, maybe they are going through a divorce,maybe you don’t agree with a choice they have made, maybe they are going through a time of loss, maybe they hurt your heart, maybe they hurt someone else’s heart, maybe they betrayed you. What if they are just plain getting on your nerves. 

Will you still be there for them then?

Maybe this stepped on my toes a little too much. I cant say that I have always been that person to all of my friends. At times it has been easy to just slip right on away than have to deal with their burden or pain. When they needed me most, I ran because of fear I would be listed as “a friend of theirs”, or because I was ashamed or embarrassed, or maybe I just didnt want to deal with it.

Now lets flip it…. have you ever needed someone so badly but they ran from you. 

Is that when we find out who our true friends are. I know we all have lots of surface level friends. sure, they are great to have around and lots of fun. But those people come and go. What we all need the are those one or two people who are always going to be there for us. That’s not to say that this person is going to be the same throughout your life. You may be able to look back on your life and think of many of these people.

I know I can. I have a few right now. And I cant express enough how thankful I am for them. Through some of my darkest times they have been there.

 One of the things I learned from Chad Rowland’s message on this topic is that these type of friendships are something  you have to work for. It does not always come easy to stand beside someone in times of suffering. You have to put in the hard work to keep that kind of bond.

Am I willing to do that? Are you willing to do that?  

“If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up” – Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

 

RAC

Here is is update on my Random Acts of Kindness. I was working towards one RAC a day for 100 days. Well, I cant say that i have done that but I try. Actually, I try to just be a kind person in all situations. Sometime you may even do RAC and not even know it. And I think that is the way it is supposed to be. If you are living life trying to perform RAC each day are they really random? Are they genuine and sincere? You see where I am going with this. Just being conscious of being a kind person seems like a much better idea to me.

 

Thank You Mayor Piper

Last night I had the pleasure of going to a dinner party to thank our Mayor, Johnny Piper and his wife for all of the things they have done for our city. Have you ever really thought about what kind of job being the mayor is? A job where every single citizen has an opinion of how you should do things,  a job where you have to make major decisions everyday that affect thousands of people, a job where people rarely say thank you for all the hard work you put in to things, a job that requires you to spend countless hours away from your family. And that is just a small part of it. It’s a job that I just could not do. I know everyone does not agree with all of the Mayor’s decisions, but I think everyone can agree that ANYONE who takes that role should be recognized for their efforts. 

I am proud to say that Mayor Piper is a friend of my family. Daniel has had great pleasure in working side by side with him for the past year and a half. I will personally forever be grateful to him for believing in Daniel and allowing him to work on so many projects that the people of Clarksville will enjoy for many years to come. 

Mayor Piper has done so many great things for this city and I am so proud to call Clarksville home. 

We Are MOVING!!!

Wow!! That makes it a little more real, to be putting it out there to the world wide web. Daniel and I have had our eye out for a house for quite a while now. And we finally found “the one” for us. We found out this week that our offer was accepted. We are not going far, actually just about a mile down the road. It’s a older ranch style home that is going to need a little fixing up before it is move in ready. But we always like a project, especially around the holidays. ( As if we don’t already have more than enough to do – now we have this.) I am very excited and sad all at the same time. I am sad to leave this house where we have spent the first three years with our little girl. I am VERY sad to leave the pool that I adore in the summer. But I am looking forward to a yard where we can spend lots of hours outdoors as a family. I am excited to pick out new paint colors, decor, etc. And I am most of all excited to make many more memories with my sweet family and friends.

Stay tuned —- I am sure there will be much more about the house to come.

Friday

Yay!!! It’s Friday. I am looking forward to a relaxing weekend with my family. 

I know it’s been awhile since my last post. I will do better at that. I read a blog yesterday that was giving information on how to make your blog appeal to others. And one of the things is consistency. So I am pledging to do better about blogging more often. 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Stay warm 🙂

The Storm

It’s amazing to me how it always seems that whatever I am needing to hear the most is what my pastors preach on that Sunday morning. Last week I said to several people… “I don’t understand, I try to be a good person, be kind to others, and just worry about my own family.. I don’t understand why stuff is always being thrown my way”. Do you ever feel that way? I am not in any way, shape, or form saying I am perfect and lead the perfect Christian life. Because that just isn’t true. I have my bad days and my good days. There are times my emotions get the best of me and I react in ways that I am not proud of. There are times I sin. There are times I do a lot of things wrong. But I try my best to  be a good person. I try to focus on my little family of three and not worry about what everyone else is doing. And each day as my faith grows stronger and stronger and my relationship with Christ grows deeper and deeper I see a lot more of the good than the bad.

So if this is true – if I try to be the best me I can be. Why?!!?!? Why do I keeping getting these big blows?  My answer was found as my friend Ron preached his message this past week. It’s simple – you can’t navigate your life around suffering. We are all going to face suffering- it’s just a part of life. We are exploring the book of Job at my church – we will be doing a 6 week series. We will hear the message on Sunday morning and then discuss it in our Community Groups during the week. The book of Job is about a Godly man named Job and his suffering. 

This is a series I am so looking forward to exploring. As I said my heart has been heavy with — why me, what did I do to deserve this. 

I am sure I will be posting more on this as the series goes on. For now, I am looking forward to meeting with my community group tonight.

Her Way

This year as Audra-Grace’s 3rd birthday approached I spent lots of time contemplating just what to do for her party. If you don’t know, I love to have parties. I love everything about them. From the invitations to the party favors I try to make sure everything is perfect. For her previous birthdays we have done the whole family thing. And they were pretty and girly and had a lot of thought put into them. Balloons, centerpieces, cakes that matched the invitations to a T. 

This year I knew it was time to drop the big family party and do a kids party to include some of her favorite friends. It’s always hard because her birthday has always fallen on fall break and just about everyone we know goes out of town. Same holds true this year – but I wanted to have the party anyway instead of putting it off a week. I wanted an pumpkin patch party. I had it all planned out in my head.

Well, Audra-Grace had a different idea. Every time I mentioned the pumpkin patch she would start whinning and say that “the pumpkin patch is scary”.  Finally after about a million attempts to convince her that the pumpkin patch is a fun place not a scary place, I asked her where she wanted the party. She said “at my house” well that was not going to work. Living in a condo with no yard or driveway does not do well with a bunch of the under 5 crowd. So I asked where else she might like to have it. Can you believe it, Chick-Fil-A. I am a fan of the place but the horror of having my kids party at a fast food joint. After much thought i decided that this wasn’t really about me – it’s abut her. And if she wants the party at Chick-Fil-A then thats where it will be. So in keeping up with this “her way” theme —– there is no theme. She wants a Yo Gabba Gabba cake – another one of those horrific thing – characters on a cake. The invitations did not include Yo Gabba Gabba or a Chick-Fil-A cow and they were stuck in the mailboxes of our friends instead of being mailed in a timely fashion. Who knows what will go in the treat bags. 

It’s a total mess of a good party if you ask me – but it’s exactly what my precious little girl wants so that means it’s perfect. What a valuable lesson I have learned. It may not all match and look just so – but when i see my little girl excited over a character on a cake or 1 pink, 1 blue, and 1 green candle (which has been her number one request) then it is just as it is supposed to be. I love that little one of mine so much – she teaches me lessons every day. Today, she told me she wanted to grow up really fast. Three years have already gone fast enough. And next year when this time comes again we will once again “do it her way”.

Vote! Vote! Vote!

Today was the first day of early voting and you can bet I was in line (actually there was NO line which was a bonus). I think that everyone who is of legal age should vote. It is one of our greatest rights as United States citizens and we should exercise that right. I don’t care who you vote for, just as long as you vote and that you make an informed decision. I feel very strongly that if you don’t vote you have no right to voice your complaints about whomever is elected and how they fulfill their role as elected official. If it didn’t mean enough to you to take some time out of your day to vote then it doesn’t mean enough for you to complain. I am proud each and every time I vote. I makes me proud of my country, proud to be a woman, and proud to live where all people are considered equal. There are two weeks of early voting and of course Nov 2nd which is the official voting day. Get out there and cast your votes!

10-10-10

Weekends that I get to spend devoted to my family are the best. This was one of those weekends. We had no real plans and just got to do whatever came our way. We started it off with a great breakfast at D-Squared in Springfield. It’s a little breakfast/lunch spot right on their downtown square. I usually like to keep things local and to support all of our wonderful Clarksville businesses. But, we had some friends that rave about this place and we just had to give it a try. We were not disappointed. One of he best breakfasts I have had in awhile. One of the best parts was that Daniel’s grandfather came along for the journey. It is always nice to spend time with him. Audra-Grace adores him and he feels the same about her. We know one day he wont be around to make those memories with us so we try to soak them up while we can. We then headed off to APSU homecoming tailgate. The mascot came over to our tent shortly after we arrived – Audra-Grace was terrified of him. She would not let go of us and did not want to walk around and visit our friends along tailgate alley for fear the “scot” would make another apperance . 

After the game we went over to hand with my BFF and her family. We dont get to see each other as much as we used to and I cherish the time we do get together. Our little girls are only 3 months apart and they love to play together. It is so awesome seeing them grow up together.

Today started with my favorite place – Grace Community Church. I love it that I now look forward to Sunday mornings and being a part of this amazing church family. I always leave uplifted and feeling better able to continue my walk with Christ. Plus, my hugs from Cheryl and Ron are pretty great too. They are a huge blessing in our lives and I am so thankful to have them as leaders. We recently joined their community group and we look forward to growing and living life with them.

This week is fall break and I am looking forward to a week off from work to recharge. We are staying home this break and I am pretty excited about that. I have a big to do list….. let’s see if it gets done.

Have a great week everyone. Happy 10-10-10!!

Summertime Lunch!

Lately I have been really missing my friends. I still text, facebook, or e-mail with them daily. But as far as sitting down and having time to catch up – it’s been far to long. I have seen some of them for quick dinners with the kids, at bible studies, or in passing at daycare. But what I am longing for is those summertime lunches – when its just an hour with no kids, and no spouses that we really get to share what’s going on in our lives. I get the top surface of their lives and they get the same from me through these brief conversations that we have been having lately. It is sad when we can go through three weeks worth of our calendars before we find time to get together. I love my friends and I genuinely want to know what is going on with them; what are their struggles, what’s new and exciting, what’s heavy on their hearts, what are they looking forward too. And I want to share those things too. Friendship to me is healing to the soul. I love my job, it gives me so much joy to see these sweet kids I teach grow and learn. I love the funny things they say and do. I love their smiling faces. But this is always the time of year when I start to miss the freedom of summer. When I am not sitting at my computer eating leftovers from the night before trying to get as much work as I can done in those 35-40 minutes. But when I can sit with my friends and not eat much at all because the conversation is just too good to worry with eating. To all of my summertime lunch friend – I MISS YOU!! And I CAN’T wait until summer 2011!