Okay, so the weekend of January 21st, my good friend Tricia Green came to visit me all the way from the great city of West Monroe, Louisiana. I met Tricia when she was a sophomore in high school and I was the youth intern at First Baptist West Monroe Church, otherwise known as First West. The first time I met her, I knew she was special, and she was a challenge. I decided immediately that I liked her and we started spending more and more time together. Tricia was a little more mature than her other classmates, so she hung out with me and the senior girls. We had a blast all summer long, oh to go back to those carefree college days! She is stubborn like me, and we both tend to learn things the hard way, so we naturally got along well. Tricia Green is one of those friends that you have where you can go a year or many months without talking to each other, but when you reunite, it is like no time at all has passed. I love her a lot and it means the world to me that she drove all the way in from northeast Louisiana to spend time with me. She brought me lots of little goodies, but my favorite goody is this amazing homemade snack mix her mom makes. I forgot to mention that I love Tricia's entire family, I promise I could move in with them and have no problem at all. I have called and talked to Tricia's mom before when I was worried about Tricia. She is that kind of friend. There have been times in our relationship where I have told her the truth (not what she wanted to hear), I am able to do this because I know that no matter what we will always be friends. She has also always been honest with me and she holds me accountable. Most importantly, our friendship is based on our love for Christ. We went shopping at Kohls when she was down and this lady told us that we were hilarious to listen to as we shopped. We have fun whether it be shopping, eating out, talking at home in our pjs, or my favorite is when she plays with my hair. When I think about it, all of my close friends play with my hair, I guess that makes me a little weird. Tricia is also very understanding when it comes to life changes and the fact that now I have a kid, my priorities and ability to be spontaneous have changed a little bit. I love her and she blessed me so much by coming down to visit me. My heart is happy.
This past week, I had two surprises delivered to me. On Wednesday, my good friend Katie hung a cute little bag on my front door. It had sugar free Oreos in it (they are delicious), and a cute little glass container with what I thought were cinnamon/sugar cubes. I should have read the card first is all I can say because I took a big ole bite of the cinnamon/sugar cubes and quickly found out that they were not edible. I was gagging and spitting for about five minutes and my mom kept asking me what was wrong, but I couldn't answer her. I read the card and found out these were little bath cubes for a BATH. My tongue was burning, but I couldn't stop laughing. Lesson learned, read the card first. The card toughed my heart and the simple fact that this single mom that works full time and goes to school at night took the time to do something so thoughtful for me chokes me up. My cup runneth over.
Thursday morning, my dogs were barking like crazy and I opened the front door to see what the commotion was all about. I found a large envelope addressed to me. I opened it to find the instructions "Read the card and letter first," (too bad I hadn't followed these instructions the night before). I read the touching card and letter and looked at all the goodies my cousin Kea Lynn and her family had sent me. It had candy for Thomas, Valentine socks, a beautiful book for mothers, a frame for family pictures, and lots of other cute stuff. She explained what each item was for and why she put them in this little care package. I balled, boo-hood, snot ran down out of my nose. I became overwhelmed. I put myself back together and called Kea Lynn to thank her and had the best conversation with her. I love my cousins and I realize that the reason we are all so close starts three generations ago with my Pawpaw and the importance he and my grandmother placed on family. I met Karen for lunch at Jason's Deli and then we bumped into two of my favorite teachers from jr high and high school, Ms. Alsdorf and Ms. Boyton. It was so great to run into them and hug their necks. I'm happy they were able to meet my Thomas.
So, Friday comes along and I was able to go to the MOPS group at church, and this particular morning, I was inspired to start running. I plan on starting soon. Two of the women are running half marathons in a few weeks and I don't have to run a marathon or anything, but I do need to get in better shape. They inspire me to at least try, they are honest that they don't always love running and they admit that it is hard. I like it when people are real. I went to my post-op appt with my oral surgeon and my mom came along to watch Thomas. When I went back, my mom made friends with a lady in the waiting room. When I came out, the woman explained that Steve Phelps was her boss and she had read my story and was praying for me. What a small world. I am amazed everyday at how all of our lives seem to weave together.
The consistent blessing in my life these days tends to be my little family. I love how Thomas is growing up, but I don't like how independent he is now. He feeds himself, cleans up after himself, he has his own agenda of where he wants to walk, and he loves to talk on the phone like a grown-up. I feel so lucky to hear him call me "momma," that is the sweetest sound to my ears. My husband has also been pretty wonderful lately. It is easy to focus on the things that he doesn't do, I guess the majority of us are like this when it comes to our spouses. I am reading a book that my good friend Christina gave me. I work with her and we often talk about our husbands and our desire to be the best wives we can be. The book is called, Love and Respect: The Love she most Desires:The Respect he Desperately Needs. I am enjoying the book and hope it helps me respect my husband more and focus on his good qualities rather than his bad. I hate to admit that it is easier to focus on the negative sometimes, but I am a work in progress, even as a wife. Keep me in your prayers, I want to be the best Christian, mother, wife, sister, daughter, patient, friend, cousin, niece, granddaughter, and the list goes on. I will try to do a better job of keeping everyone up to date with my progress now that our computer is back home.
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