Life With Friends

Today I am struck by how good it is to be among friends. This week in particular we have spent a lot of time with our friends here and I can't even tell you how wonderful it is. Having friends here to do life with has allowed us to engage more in this community within the span of 2 months than we ever did in 3 years when we lived in Illinois. Of course, I'm not suggesting that our lack of participation in the community in Illinois was a result of our friendships. In fact, to the contrary, our lives in Illinois were mostly spent dealing with pregnancies and adding members to our family. Having two kids in that much time and then learning how to adjust to life pretty much took up our "free" time.

Now that we are here, we have figured life out a little more and we are ready to participate in life outside of our home. And that's just what we've done. But having great friends here has allowed us many opportunities that we wouldn't have had for a while. Upward soccer is a great example. Andrew and Eric participated in their first soccer practice of the season on the same day that our stuff arrived from Illinois. My participation in the Weight Sense class at the Y came as a suggestion and invitation from my friend Kristen. Further, we are engaged in a small group with our friends at Christ Church and Eric is participating in Men's Fraternity at Blackhawk. It's all a result of sharing life with friends with like values and a common purpose--striving to do life God's way and not our own.

I admit that we have found ourselves occasionally fretting over the things that come with any move and relocation, but never so much that we wished to by anywhere but here. And the truth of the matter is that those things we find ourselves worrying about are never out of God's control and always present an opportunity for growth if we are willing to take advantage of it.

Today, I am inspired to post this because of the blessing I am experiencing through my friends Kristen and Jill. Thank you both for your friendships!