A man who has friends must himself be friendly,
But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother
But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother
Proverbs 18:24 (NKJV)
One of the hardest things about moving from the Midwest to the east coast almost 4 years ago was leaving my friends. We had lived in the same house for almost 25 years. It was the house we purchased and moved into 10 weeks after we got married. Many memories took place in the house, but it was just a house. It was the people that made life so good there. It was/is the people that made the memories. Almost all of those people were met through church or Andy’s school. We moved east in 2007 and while we enjoyed our church and met a couple of people this is the east coast…people are D.I.F.F.E.R.E.N.T. Not necessarily bad different, just different. I have never been honked at while driving so much in my entire life! And the closer I get the a certain BIG city (with the initials NYC), the worse the honking gets! Sorry…I digress!
Friends…I missed my friends from home…there, I said it. I typed home, then backspaced, then typed it again. I still feel like the Midwest is home, but this is beginning to feel like home too. Can a person have two “homes?”
We went on a retreat with our church in the spring of 2008…I met people. People that have become my FRIENDS. F.R.I.E.N.D.S. Yesterday, I got to spend six…count ’em…1-2-3-4-5-6 hours with one of those friends and her kids. Mostly, her. Her wonderful husband is out of town and I was helping her with her blog and the kids were incredibly good…so we spent several hours working on her blog, then John & Andy came in the evening and we had dinner.
It was the most incredible afternoon…sometimes God blesses us in the most unusual ways…using the most unusual circumstances. I was so blessed yesterday!!
At the end of the day, Kathleen told me I was a good teacher. WOW…I was so touched, yet another BLESSING. She is very thoughtful. She made this flower arrangement for my 50th birthday last year…
She MADE this. I know some of you are very creative. I see it in your blogs, your photographs, etc. Me, not so much. If I tried this, it would look like I stuck some flowers in a pumpkin!
I am so thankful that John and I attended our parish retreat a few years ago. Not only did we meet Kathleen and her husband, we met several other couples and we now have a prayer group that meets monthly.
Please take a minute and check out Kathleen’s blog. Guess what I learned: Internet Explorer 9 is not very compatible with Blogger!! We could not get links to work in her blog and after researching, that is what I found out. UGH! Links created in blogger do not work if you are using IE9…that is ridiculous. Can’t someone fix that?!?!? Trouble is, she then tried using Firefox and we couldn’t get the links to work either. Anybody have any suggestions? Let me know please!
Lord, thank you for the friends that we have made through church and going on retreat. Thank you for the friends I have made through blogging. Your blessings on me and my family are too numerous to count and I am grateful. Thank you for you the gift of your Son.
Have you made friends through blogging? Isn’t it incredible how we can develop relationships with people we have never met…they become prayer warriors with us on this incredible journey we call LIFE.
Blessings to you my friends…
Mary, You are too sweet. Thanks for all the time you devoted to me yesterday! You are a great teacher! I see your links are working just fine! Thanks for the gift of your friendship. We love you over here.
Glad that you are starting to feel at home here! And I'm also glad that you came on that retreat! Love the blog.
And BTW, I love Kathlee's blog as well, but it won't let me post there for some reason. Apparently, Kathleen's blog is a much better judge of character…..