Thinking About Old Friends

I have recently reconnected with some old friends. I guess that happens a lot these days with the internet, Facebook and all. Most of the people I have reconnected with are some really good guy friends from a million years ago. I have been thinking a lot about them and our friendships. What spurred my contemplation of these friendships was talking to a student at work who honestly asked if I believed that a guy could treat her well and respect her. Heck yes!!!! was my reponse. I realized that part of my believing that were the good relationships that I had with my guy friends. Shoot, even my husband was once one of those big brother figures back in the day. Thank God!!

So I realized that through these good friendships with guys that God taught me so much about relationships, the opposite sex, myself, and how a girl should be treated in a godly way. It kind of formed the foundation for what I wanted and expected in a husband- mostly friendship, respect, compassion, fix it skills, musical abilities and utmost a love of God. God placed these guys in my life at different times to encourage me in my low places, to sing sweet songs to me on the phone before falling sleep, to encourage me through illness, to accompany me to dances, to teach me to have fun, to lead me closer to God, to listen to my tears and walk with me as brothers through life. None of them were romantic relationships, just pure friendship. They saw me through some crazy times in life. I am SO very thankful for them.

I have been contemplating so many special moments in those friendships lately. I have found myself with tears in my eyes. God knew that I needed a brother in life and I was/am blessed with so many!! I am so blessed to have reconnected with some of these guys. We have grown up, gotten married, divorced, experienced death, births, success and hardship. Somehow, it seems that we are all still walking with the Lord. This blesses my heart so deeply. God was a big factor in all of these friendships. I am so glad that He still is.

Ok, I could get all mushy, but I am going to stop here and try not to. I just really wanted to publicly say Thank You Friends. Thank you for treating a girl with respect, caring for her, encouraging her and praying for her. It has meant the world to me. I am looking forward to catching up and many more years of friendship!

Spring Break 2010: Part 2

And the party started!! Here are my great aunt and uncle, two classy people who know how to throw a party! Can you believe that they have been married for 50 years? I hope that Dave and I can have as much fun and energy as they have when we make our 50th anniversary.

All of the family that made it in for the celebration. I hope that someone got a better picture!!

Sisters!

Cousins: Ok, it is sideways, but I am not savvy enough to change it and I kind of like it!

My camera was on a funky setting, but I love this one of Mom and Dad.

Dave and I with my favorite Colorado cousins.

Me and my Momma

My grandmother and her two brothers.

Boy, what a night. Not calling them old, but all of those old people can party harder than I can. Dave and I headed out about 10:30 and the party was just getting going!! Thanks so much for all of the fun and allowing us to celebrate with you. We had so much fun. We are so blessed by our family and that they are our friends!!

Spring Break 2010

We had a busy and fun spring break this year! We started out our week with a trip to North Carolina for our nephew's first birthday. Somehow we managed not to get any pictures of him. We did however get a super cute picture of Dave and our niece! 

We came home for a few days and then headed down to Florida. We stopped in Orlando for a night and visited with a friend that I have had for a seriously long time. It helps that Dave gets along well with her husband. We had a really nice picnic dinner and then headed to their kickball game. Here we are picnicking. 

Next stop, Tampa! We drove from Orlando to Tampa for my great aunt and uncle's 50th wedding anniversary. It was two days of food, family and fun. Our whole gang from Georgia went down minus my sister and her family. We got to their house for lunch and it was so great to see everyone!!

Here is myself, my mom and my Nana

Part two coming up: The anniversary party!!

Bloggity, Bloggity

I am so behind on blogging!!! I feel like I let myself down. We have been super busy and I have been super tired. The two don't mix very well together. Spring break has come and gone. I have a few vegetable plants in the ground and a few trays of planted seeds waiting to sprout. 

But tonight it is a bit chilly outside. I built a fire, made a cup of tea and I am resting. Rest is a good thing. My friend sent me a Bible verse about resting today. I needed it. 

From Hebrews Chapter 4:

9There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10for anyone who

enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. 

I am off to rest. I hope that you can find some time to rest too.

I Have Been Thinking

I have been thinking about Mrs. Williams a lot lately. She is my now 95(?) year old former neighbor. She moved in with her daughter last fall after she fell and broke her arm. I talk to her every now and then on the phone. She doesn't really like talking on the phone. Her congestive heart failure makes it difficult to catch a breath sometimes. I also do my best to remember to drop a card in the mail to her every so often. I know that it means the world to her. 

I spoke with her this last week. I had called to ask her daughter something about the house and ended the conversation talking to Mrs. Williams. Oh, how I miss her. I know that she misses us too. She asked about the chickens, the yard, the house, Lleulu and my mom and dad. She seems to be doing well there. Thank you God. 

Her great grandson never did move in next door. That leaves us to take care of the yard again this summer and it is almost grass cutting season. But right now, spring has sprung. Her forsythia has bloomed it's little heart out. The flowering quince is beautiful and her daffodil bed which my momma planted many moons ago is a sight to behold. This is when I miss Mrs. Williams so. She loves to work outside in the yard. And she loves when everything is in bloom. I know that she is missing her house.

Her other daughter has decided to renovate the house and move in. The renovation has begun. I am kind of nervous again about someone else living there. Mrs. Williams oldest daughter is nothing like her. We'll see how this goes!!

I printed out the above picture of us this week so that I can hang it in our house and send one to her. She is so dear to my heart. Hopefully this summer I can make the trip to Mobile to go visit her. It will be a blessing to sit and rock with her again. To speak of the Lord and the good things that He has done. To see her Bible open on the table beside her. To enjoy silent moments together. I can hardly wait! 

Happy Easter!!

Happy Easter!!!! We made it. Well almost. We are off to today NC to celebrate our nephew's first birthday and celebrate one of my favorite holidays! Hallelujah! He is risen. He is risen indeed!

A week ago I wasn't sure if one of my girls was going to make it to Easter. Do you realize we are getting close to their first birthday? We might have to have a big chicken celebration. Anyway, Jemima had been moving slow for a few days. Last sunday we noticed that she had an unusual amount of poo on her hind side. On closer inspection Dave pulled out something unusual from her vent. We kind of freaked out. 

We gave her a quick bath to get the poo off her and then I wrapped her up and held her tight.

Who could resist this face? I was scared. She hadn't been walking around much and I wasn't sure if she had been eating. I hatched Jemima from a little egg!!! She had to stick around.

I held her for awhile, hoping that she was drying off, giving her a chance to rest and know that she was cared for. Not going to lie- I prayed for her too. She started snuggling. I about lost it. Tears were about to fall. My chickens are my pets. They make darn good ones too. 

She kept sticking her beak up my shirt sleeve. Her eye kept closing cause she was so comfy. She kept making sweet little chicken sounds. We finally took her back outside. I talked to a friend who specializes in birds and we determined that she should be ok. She probably had a shell-less egg that was hard to pass or burst inside and made it difficult for her. (~more chicken biology lessons to come~) She moved around slowly for a couple of days, sitting down a lot and not very interested in anyone else. Now she is back to her perky bossy self!! Thank you God! I don't know how I would have handled losing one of my precious girls.

And now for your viewing pleasure, some of the other girls eating yogurt:

From left to right-Pickle with yogurt on her beak, Edith and Daisy digging in.

I love this one of Edith!!! She has no idea that she has a white beak and yogurt sprinkled all over her feathers.

And Edith and Daisy showing off their yogurt covered beaks. 

Happy Easter everyone! I hope that you have a great weekend. And I just have to add~ Welcome spring break. I have been waiting for you for a long time!!