catching up

Recently, we got to "catch up" with a few people we haven't really gotten to spend too much time with even though we live so close to one another. Why do we allow our lives to get so busy to interfere with opportunities to get together and encourage one another? We all do it - how can we stop the vicious cycle? (When someone figures that one out, please let us know!)

I was able to go out for dinner with a couple of ladies that I worked with for years when I worked at the law firm before becoming a stay-at-home mom. It was great to catch up with these terrific ladies! They have always been an encouragement to me as their hard work and determination to make the best of situations at work and in their personal lives have always spoke volumes to me. We really worked well together and grew to know each other and the goings-on of our families over the years. (You know, if you really stop and think about it, you really grow close to the people you work with as you see them sometimes more than your own family, especially if you work with the same people for many years.) Although I LOVE being a Mommy to my precious kids and getting the opportunity to teach and have a hand in sculpting my kids into who they are and what the Lord wants them to be, these ladies (and a few others) are who and what I really MISS from not working outside of the home.

We recently got a chance to visit with a terrific family from our church as well - the Comeau family. This family is such a remarkable family and have been such a blessing to our family that they probably don't even realize how special they are to us and how much we admire them and are encouraged by them. There are 7 kids in the family, and each one of them are so well-behaved and seek to follow the Lord's leading in their lives. We have learned a lot from Mr. and Mrs. Comeau regarding the discipline and specialness of and love for children through actual teaching but also through observation. We have been blessed to get to know two of their daughters more closely as they attend the Bible study we host in our home. The knowledge that these two ladies possess of the Lord and of where things are in the Bible have taught us and inspired us so much. Just getting to know these two ladies' personalities and characters have been so refreshing to us as well. And to think that we would have probably never have gotten to know this family like we have had they not opened their home to us and invited us to visit, and we would have never gotten to know Anna and Adia like we do had we not been obedient to what the Lord laid on our hearts to do! Is there a lesson to be continually learned here?

We also got to share some time with some great friends! We have been friends with the True family pretty much since we moved up here 7 years ago. It was so refreshing to get to spend some quality and relaxing time with our friends...something that we've neglected to do for many months. Shame on us - but better late than never!