Friends are Forever

Friends forever. True Blue.... There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother? All wonderful descriptions of the few true friends that we find in our life. A reunion this weekend... a reunion of old friends that love one another and hear one another and nourish one another and most of all TREASURE one another. My friend, it has been years since we have seen one another. We reconnected last year and had a wonderful talk and have emailed, chatted and prayed for one another and yet we just couldn't make the connections with the life going on around us..... time.... worldly busyness, godly busyness, family busyness... then the note... the note that you get and you read between the lines... you sense and know that your friend needs you... no matter what... and you have to respond.. you can put things off no longer..... The sister that neither of us ever had..... Well, that is what yesterday brought... Good friends, best friends back together for a reunion... yes, there were tears... yes, there have been struggles in the time past... but the tie that binds was still intact... Our bond in Christ and the friendship that endures time and circumstances. I love my friends, Randy and Pam. We had a wonderful time of fellowship and sharing together! I am so thankful to our Savior for this special friendship and for the joy that we shared and will continue to share. Friendships that can just take off where they last were together... ones that withstand the ebb and tides of our lives... Ones that know alllllllll about us and love us anyway!


Hubby recognized and felt the bond immediately upon meeting them also. And he met another friend..... he fell in love with Bitsy! lol Bitsy is a Bull Mastiff and she is one of the sweetest, most loving dogs we have ever met. We weren't quite sure how she and our Spot would get a long so we didn't mix them up .... but our Spot did get out and enjoy it too.... ending up in their pond at one time! Wish we had seen that happen.... we saw him AFTER he got out and was all wet of course!

Visit with John and Sara

There is a gift from God that we sometimes take for granted or really don't realize what a special gift it is. That gift is friendship. Over the years, God has blessed me with several very special friendships and I thank Him for them. Two of those special friends are John and Sara. :) I have known John's family since my 8th grade year when they moved into town a block away from my house. His sister, Dorothy and I became good friends and walked to and from Junior high school together. His brother, Tom, was my first boyfriend. (aside from all my elementary school girl crushes!) lol John and Sara moved to Port Angeles about 1977. I had just had my 4th child. We all went to the same church and became brother and sister in Christ. We enjoyed having John and Sara over for dinner on Sunday afternoons after church. We share many fond memories of church potlucks, school presentations, Couples fellowships and especially Bible study times together. One of our fondest memories are the Ladies Bible Study that we had going on for a couple of years. God put together a very special group of ladies that shared their hearts, their lives and their love of God. It truly was a wonderful, uplifting, growing time together. We laughed. We cried. We shared! I miss that time. Another bond that we shared is their daughter, Leigh Anne! She was a surprise to them and has been such a JOY in their lives. Our family just adored Leigh Anne also. This Auntie Marcia cherished the times that Leigh Ann wanted to sit with me in church and times over at the house visiting! Then just before Leigh Anne turned 6, the family sadly moved away. A big hole was left in this heart!! And as busy lives go when you have young families, we didnt' stay in touch like we would have liked. Fast forward to FACEBOOK! Lost Friendships reconnected!!!! Last August, Sara and I were able to meet for a 4 hour lunch in Wenatchee and rekindle the friendship that we both cherished and missed. Well, Leigh Anne lives out this direction and is expecting her first child, so mom and dad are out visiting and were able to break away for a couple of days before the baby arrives to come and stay with us. We did nothing together but to chat and visit and catch up on lost time! lol And LOVED it! Both Sara and John are such warm people. And I had forgotten how much I enjoyed listening to Sara share life's events. She has a gift for sharing details. Oh, yes, Sara and John are animal lovers. They fell in love with Spot and obviously Spot fell in love with them. John's is the only other lap besides mine that Spot has climbed into! They have only been gone a few minutes, but I miss them already. But it will not be 20 more years before we are reunited again. Their daughter is closer in proximity now so they will be back and we are going to start planning that trip to New Mexico for next fall! Love you John and Sara and I am thankful for your friendship and bond in Christ!

What a Blessing today was!

I was so blessed today. This is my dear friend, Sara and her beautiful daughter, Leigh Anne. I have not seen Sara in nearly 20 years! I have missed her so very much. We recently reconnected on Facebook. Sara lives in New Mexico and her daughter, now lives in Eastern Washington. Well, Leigh Anne is expecting a baby soon and mama was out visiting her and going to a shower given for her out here. I wanted so badly to make it to the shower but was not able to. But today we were able to meet in Wenatchee for lunch, which began at 11:30 am and ended about 4 pm! Tears, laughter, good memories and good company. Leigh Anne was her Auntie Marcia's little sweetie before they moved away! I have missed her so much too! Every Sunday, she would come and sit with her Auntie Marcia in church and when she came over to the house, she had such a special love for my sweetie, Lissa. I did bring goodies for her precious baby, 2 blankets that I made, 2 taggie blankets and some burp clothes. Leigh Anne was genuinely appreciative of the goodies made especially for her new baby and when we were leaving thanked me again and told me how special she felt they were. Made my day!!! Didn't want the afternoon to end and looking forward to September when Sara will be up this way again and I will be meeting up with her again! Worth the 6+ hour round trip for renewing friendships!

Friendship

Friendships are very important. And some friendships come along once in a lifetime. This is Pam and she is one of my once in a lifetime friends. I met Pam over 30 years ago when our children were younger. We had built a home and she lived across the alley from us. I remember the first time I met her. She couldn't have been 100 lbs dripping wet. Our children had been playing together, usually in our back yard and she came over to introduce herself as their mom. :) Little did we know that was to be the beginning of a very special friendship and bond. Soon after that we became Sisters in the Lord and the friendship took off. We were together all the time. It would not be uncommon for a friend looking for one of us to call the other's home looking for us. lol Garage sales, car pooling kids to school, Bible Study, praying together, etc. Friends that were there for one another.

1 PM in the afternoon, "Pam, there's been an accident and Markie is at the hospital. Can you come over quick and stay with the girls so I can get down there?"

12:30 AM "PAM! Something is wrong with Lissa. She is having seizures! We have to get her to the hospital!!! Can you get over here quick and stay with the kids???"

You know! The friend that is there thru thick and thin. Spring comes and I make my first macaroni salad of the season. "Hey, Pam. I made my black ant salad (it had black olives in it so we joked). You guys come on over for dinner tonight!" Then the snow days! The kids sledding down at the school - Let's potluck! Friday night family get together time. Library movies and popcorn. Talking till all hours of the night! Laughing, sharing, praying. Adventures? Oh yes, we had those too! December 1977 - they were planning a trip to California for Christmas. Randy had made a camper for their truck.


Pam: Why don't you come with us?

Me: We don't have a trailer!


Pam: Well, let's look for one in the classifieds!


Me: We don't have a car to pull it!


Pam: Use our station wagon, it has a hitch!


So we purchased a NON selfcontained (that means no potty!) 16' trailer and set off in the dead of winter for a 2 week vacation. Our 4 children at the time and our daughterlike friend and us in a stationwagon and the trailer. Move forward to Christmas day - sitting in a bowling alley parking lot (a place that Pam and her hubby haunted years earlier when they dated) saying: "OK, what do we do next?" "Let's go visit Gene and Randa!!!" Oh... did I mention this was DECEMBER and Gene and Randa live in MONTANA!~!! 4 flat tires, EVERY one getting sick, a side trip off the road into the snow and having to get towed out just minutes away from our destination, we ended up on our friends' door step! LOL yes, Adventure. Seemed to follow our travels! A friend always there. Friends are a gift from God.

Ah, but life happens. God called them away to Iowa and a tearful goodbye. And we had another adventureous trip out to Iowa in 1980. The Mountain had just blown, we rented a motor home and started off halfway across the states to spend 3 weeks with our friends..... Just mom and dad and our 5 kids. 4 blowouts on the motorhome, an alternator repair, barely missing the historic 12 tornadoes that touched down in Grand Island, Nebraska, a quick side trip to drive by my childhood home in Lincoln and in the middle of a storm, we finally arrived at our IOWA destination. Picnics, time at Six (?) Flags in Des Moines, tours and our time was over and headed home again. They came back to Washington 4 years later but live several hours from us. We visited when we could but family and life kept us both busy. The friendship? Still there .... one where you can see each other and just pick up right where you left off. It had been 12 years or better since I have talked or seen Pam, although she has never been far from my thoughts. MANY MANY times, over the years, I have longed for my friend to visit with and pray with......quiet tears of missing her... only a phone call away but we had just drifted apart....

Recently, my daughters had been posting some older pictures on Facebook. When looking at some of them I saw a pic of Pam's daughter and low and behold, Tracy had tagged it and Tammy was on Facebook! I sent a friend request and waited and watched. Soon, it was accepted. As soon as I saw that I hightailed it over to Tammy's homepage to check out her friends and there was PAM! Sent a friend request and soon it was accepted and a message on my wall. Wrote back.... got her phone number... the following Saturday.... 2 or more hours on the phone catching up. I had FORGOTTEN how we could talk. And of course we never really caught up because one thing leads to another and the first story never gets completed before the next topic gets talked about! HA! Oh... more tears of pure joy. Have we gotten together yet? No not yet. Life and family is still there... when one is the pastor of a church and the other has tons of grandkids with activities going on, it will take time to coordinate our special time together. But it will happen. That bond that the Lord gave us YEARS ago is still there. We will always have a special place in each others hearts and there will be time for us and we won't drift again. Do you have a special friend like this? Cherish that friend. Thank God for that friend. I know I do! "A friend loves at all times."

Did you notice my new banner at the top of the page?

I have a very special internet crafting friend and her name is Lori Jean. I have never met Lori Jean in person but for several years, we have communicated thru a craft forum and email. She has been an encourager to me and someone that is always interested in what was going on in my life both personally and craftwise! And more importantly, we share a faith that makes us sisters in Christ. Lori Jean is very talented and does some wonderful graphics work. (Something that I have NOT mastered yet! lol) Lori Jean made this banner for me as a gift and I absolutely LOVE it! And I just love Lori Jean! Lori Jean has an amazing blog at Happybird's Crafting Haven. Please check it out and mark this one in your bookmarks. You will enjoy her heart for sharing crafts that affordable and fun to give. Lori Jean, THANK YOU for being such a kind and wonderful friend. You honestly have a special place in my heart.

Birthdays and Good friends!

What a fun time we had tonight for the birthday! Terri enjoyed getting her beach bag and sunflower tiles and Jacki enjoyed getting her pansy tiles! Ok... my sides hurt! Not because I ate too much but because we LAUGHED so much! Friends are another wonderful gift from God. My friend Jacki, has been my friend since 6th grade. We have raised our kids together! Our first grandchildren were born on the same day!! Mine first, just after midnight and hers around 8 PM that evening. Terri and Jacki have been family friends since birth and now we all live in the same area and have wonderful friendships. Oh, and did I say we all ride on Harleys with our spouses! LOL. Good times, Good friends!