J Cooper Photography

Today I am so thankful for friends.  Living in a city with no family nearby we have come to heavily rely on our friends.  Right now I should be at my girls’ violin Christmas concert across town.  But when Sam’s doctor’s apt. ran 2 hours over schedule this afternoon and then he crumbled into a heap on my kitchen floor from pure exhaustion I new I needed to call in reinforcements.  The girls spent the entire afternoon at friend’s houses.  I showed up to pick them up HOURS late…but what did I receive…complete graciousness.  And when I called a friend in tears out of frustration at 6pm…needing to still get the girls dressed, fed, and in the car in less than 15 minutes…I received empathy…and help.  And although I am sad that my girls are on stage right now performing and I’m not there…I thankful for friends who willingly step up when I can’t.  My little man is already asleep in his bed after a long stressful day.  And I’m here…thankful.  For friends who are willing to do anything to be a friend.

I stole this picture off of Facebook.  These gals have known me a LONG time…one has been a friend since kindergarten!  Every year we get together for our annual Christmas ornament exchange.  I look forward to our get togethers almost as much as Christmas itself.  Over the past few years we have been through so much together: new babies, job changes, marriages, life crisis, health battles, career changes, etc.  Yet we always come together to enjoy each other.  And once again I am reminded of how much I NEED friends and the encouragement they bring to my life!

Not only are these gals an amazing support system…but we have a heck of a good time together!  This year we literally set my friend’s house ON FIRE!!  She had a beautiful Christmas centerpiece on her dining room table with gilded branches and tea lights.  You see where this is going don’t you?  After unwrapping our ornaments a piece of tissue caught on fire!  Our host’s husband grabbed the tissue and threw it to the ground to stomp out the flame.  I jumped in to grab the next piece and began to stomp it out when my boot caught on fire!!  As I was trying to decide what to do (I guess that stop-drop-and-roll instinct never took over) the flames started to pick up and spread to one of the coats.  Just then one of the gals wisely screamed, “WATER!!  WE HAVE WATER” as she grabbed some of the water glasses and promptly doused the fire.  Funny I never thought of that.  So I stomped my boot out and the water put out all the flaming tissue and we all burst into fits of laughter.   The entire saga probably only lasted a total of 10 seconds (it felt much longer) but is something we’ll be talking about for years to come   We took the picture right after we got the embers cleaned up and got our wits back around us

God is definitely humbling me during this wait by showing me the MANY reason I have to be thankful.  THANK YOU FRIENDS…for your encouragement, listening ears, and laughter!!