GIRL'S WEEKEND

BECKY, DEEDEE, AND MYSELF

HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF "MAN CANDLES"?
THEY ARE PRETTY FUNNY AND STINKY...
SCENTS LIKE, FOOTBALL, BEER AND GARAGE...YUCK!


HANGING OUT IN DOWNTOWN COWETA...COWTOWN AS THEY AFFECTIONATELY CALL IT. I WOULD NEVER TAKE A PICTURE LIKE THIS, BUT THEY WOULDN'T LET ME SAY NO... A BIT GOOFY I KNOW.

I was so blessed this week by the visit of my girlfriends from our Seminary years. I can not tell you how much I have looked forward to this and how WONDERFUL it was for me. I have often said that I think my grief journey would have looked different if we had lost Samuel during our time at the seminary... and that would have been because of these great gals. While we were at the seminary, I think all but 1 of us lived on campus in the married housing. It was like college, but with families. This group of gals went out most Sunday nights. We would head out after 8 so the kids were mostly in bed. Last year 4 of them came down just a few weeks before Samuel died. I remember my sweet, sweet friend Becky telling me about when she had gotten them all together to tell them about Samuel and what had happened after we knew he was gone. She was one of the first couple people we called. They were all standing outside on what had been our back porch at the seminary when we had lived there. She said they were all just crying, tears dropping on our concrete, just praying and mourning with us. That spoke volumes to me. They were the ones that made the blankets for us last year. All getting together to tie them and pray for us and our kids. We all still sleep with those blankets. For some reason our "Samuel" blanket helps me feel close to him.

Anyways I get to rambling.... It was so nice, they kind of trickled in and trickled out. Some came in as early as last Tuesday night and the last gal left today at 2:00. That was such a good thing. I knew I would be so sad if they had all left at once.

I can't tell you how nice it was to have them here.... it felt like home having them here. We ate lots... laughed a lot, watched a chick flick, went for walks and runs in the neighborhood, went shopping in downtown Coweta, and mostly just hung out and visited. There are only 2 of us left at the Seminary and the rest have been placed in Nebraska, Florida, Massachusetts, and Texas. They brought us a gift of a cross that we can put in Samuel's garden. They all wrote words about our sweet boy. That was given to me right away once they had all arrived. My friend Becky even went as far as to have a card that had a leaf on it... it kind of reminded her of the one that was on our hospital room door when we had Samuel and when Faith had Joel. She remembered that ( that amazes me and just shows how much she is listening to me and absorbing the things that I tell her) and they all remembered my boy... that touched me deeply.

I had lots of opportunity to talk and continue to process things with people who knew me before this all happened and who love our family deeply. They are like family to us.... We so miss being with all of them at the seminary.

I was so blessed by our time... I miss having them all here... There was already talk of another get together next year.

I am so thankful tonight for friends... loving, caring, compassionate, sister's in Christ, friends who understand me, friends who are ok with where I am at, friends who will laugh or cry with you, friends who are really there in your deepest darkest moments (when they can be there then... you know they will be there for anything), friends who have husbands who all have the same job as pastors, friends who are so different in many ways, yet so much the same in others... friends who really love each other. Ahhhh, tonight I am thankful... missing them all again... but so thankful:)