Friends

It's no secret that I'm kind of an introvert. I'm perfectly content to work from home, sit in my office, and interact with no one all day long. Aaron, on the other hand, at one point decided to work from home a couple of days a week, and it lasted all of one day. He couldn't stand the quiet and the complete lack of interaction. Ha ha!

I don't like to admit it, but when I'm busy, one of the first things to go in my schedule is my friends. We've just come through a season of insane busyness (doesn't it seem we're all in that state a little too often) with a month full of weddings, followed by VBS, and all sorts of other things. So over the last couple of weeks, it has been incredibly refreshing that God has blessed me with time with friends. I wish I had gone out of my way to plan these times, but more often than not, these happy opportunities to sit and visit just seemed to drop in my lap. I wish now that I'd taken the time to snap a quick picture with each of these special friends, but I didn't, so words will have to do!

• Amy has been a great friend of mine since Aaron and I were first newlyweds. She is the wisest woman I know and I can always count on her for a listening ear and wise, Godly counsel. It was so nice to spend part of the day last week with her and her kids over lunch. Plus, we may or may not have a plan to arrange a marriage between our two oldest. Kyle is such a sweetie!
• I got the chance to sit with Amanda for a while last week when I stopped to drop something off at her house. I think that she and her husband Daniel are some of the most interesting people in the world, and I always love the energy, passion, and ideas that come up when we talk. Also, when I showed up, she'd made at pitcher of tea because she remembered I liked it so much. AND she sent me home with a loaf of banana bread. Yum!
• Growing up in Howe, and particularly in high school, Johnny was one of my good friends that I ran around with. A couple years ago, he introduced me to his wife Sarah via Facebook because we had a shared love of photography. I was excited to find out a couple of months ago that they'd be moving here. They don't live far from us, and it's been fun getting to reconnect! 
• Today, I was happy to finally meet Dawn, who I "met" online through Amanda. She's also the wife of a minister and she also happens to love Caedmon's Call like I do. She just moved back to San Antonio from Alabama, and it was fun finally meeting in person and seeing her kids, who I see in pictures all the time! 
• Of course, I always love time with my wonderful friend and sister-in-law, Natalie. You'd think we get to hang out a lot, but even though we usually see each other once a week, it's hard to find time to really talk. It was good for me to spend time today hanging out with her, talking over sandwiches and loud kids!

I recognize that I need to carve out more times like this -- with these friends and others. Thank you God for the blessing of friendship. And thank YOU, friends, for the special and unique gift each of you are to my life! And if I haven't gotten to see you lately, let's do dinner or coffee or a playdate soon!