Pleasant Places: January 2011

I have been so very blessed with the greatest of girlfriends as I have journeyed through life.

I truly feel like I have been blessed with true friends....more than one person deserves to have.

Here are my three favorite girlfriends-my sister, my daughter and my Mom.

I have always been a bit social and I enjoy meeting new people. I feel like I have always made friends easily and I tend to talk a lot. I also ask lots of questions which can drive some people crazy. ;)

But it is just because I tend to find people fascinating and I want to know them better.

I have moved around some in my lifetime and made friends wherever I have lived. It is so fun to have friends now literally around the world.

And now I watch my own daughter make her own girlfriends. She had several shy years where making friends did not come easily, but now she is blossoming into a young lady and her social skills are improving-which is a good thing as her friendships have become very dear to her. She loves and adores her brothers. They play a unique and special role in her life. But she also craves feminine interaction. More than what I alone can provide. We have started having girls over every Sunday afternoon. It is a time Rachel eagerly anticipates. She loves the girl time and the girls love talking her Dad into getting ice cream every week. ;) (He never seems to mind!)

As a teenage girl I had heart-to-heart talks with my Mom who has always been my number one girlfriend. She understood my need for close girlfriends who were my age and helped me seek out good, godly girls to spend time with. She never acted hurt that I needed more friendships in my life. She diligently prayed with me through a lonely time in my life and rejoiced with me when God provided a particularly special friend after that season of prayer.

All this rambling is because of a picture I took this last month. I took a picture of Rachel with some of her girlfriends at church. It reminded me of a picture I have of myself with my church girlfriends years ago.

This was taken in May, 1990. What a long time ago!

And this was taken in December, 2010. Some of the girls in this picture are related to one of my friends in the previous picture. Both pictures are taken in the same room. :)

I am so thankful for the special friendships God is already blessing my Rachel with.

This "friend"helped her through her "shy" years. (Shy...what is shy? I have never experienced that!)

Special memories....

I love it when Rachel makes a friend with a daughter of one of my long time friends.

Damsels in distress...

American Girl party...

Hana and Rachel...forever giggling...

Sometimes your best friends are cousins...

I am so thankful that my Mom is more than Rachel's Grandma....she is Rachel's friend, too. What a godly influence.

They obviously enjoy each others company!

We LOVE this girlfriend! I truly have the greatest sister in the world. And, yes, I really believe that. She is the greatest. Period. End of story.

My Mom used to tell me over and over again that one of her greatest joys was that her daughters grew up to be her best friends. I believed her.....

....but now I think I understand what she was trying to tell me.

To all my girlfriends wherever you are....I appreciate your part in my life. I love you!

Thanks for stopping by,

Hi!

I know...it's been awhile.

But I have not forgotten about my blog....honest.

It is one of those things always in the back of my mind. A nagging thought that never lets up.

But I had a goal these past few months that was very important to me and I purposefully let some things go during that time. The blog was one of them.

But now I am here.

I told my children I was blogging today. They went into their most dramatic acting as they faked heart attacks. If I wasn't so dead set against Hollywood I would nominate these kiddos of mine for an Oscar. (Do those come with a cash prize?)

So why the sabbatical?

I concentrated on home schooling.

We have home schooled for several years now. And I love it. I love spending my days with my children. I love teaching and working with them. I love organizing and filing. I love visuals and field trips. But I have always struggled with our schedule.

I know ladies who home school more children than me and still seem to have free time every day....but I could not figure out how to help every child get everything done each day. It seemed like we were always doing school and yet we were never as far in our work as I thought we needed to be. I sought advice and counsel, but nothing seemed to fit or work for us.

This year has finally been better. We have made minor changes. I gave up a few things. I relaxed a lot about the little things. And it finally seems to be coming together more like I thought it should be. It still is not perfect, but I am sooooo happy for the changes that have been made. We still have things we are working on to make better, but improvements are being made. I still need to learn to relax more and not let lists dictate my life, but I am making strides. And I am very thankful as children blossom better in a more relaxed environment. And so do the parents! ;)

A year ago a precious friend I have not seen in years sent our family a gift card for a photo session. What a thoughtful gift! The arrival of this card coincided with another arrival in our household...the swine flu. The first arrival was gladly welcomed. The second was not. So the gift card was set aside and forgotten. But during our Christmas break from school last month we finally got to use it. What a fun experience that was for us! Our last family portraits were taken before Joshua was even thought of, so we were way overdue!

So now for updated pictures of the six reasons why I spend my days like the Apostle Paul. (...I put away childish things. I Cor. 13:11) ;)

Ricky, Age 13