Christian Momma

I have been thinking a lot about friends…the ones I have now and the ones that have drifted in and out of my life.  I sometimes get so frustrated wondering why some have drifted away, but know that God had a purpose for them in my life and sometimes it’s time to let go.  Not that we won’t be friends any longer, just won’t be as close as we once were.  It saddens my heart at times.

I came across this poem on the internet and thought I’d share…

Reason, Season, or Lifetime

People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime.
When you figure out which one it is,
you will know what to do for each person.

When someone is in your life for a REASON,
it is usually to meet a need you have expressed.
They have come to assist you through a difficulty;
to provide you with guidance and support;
to aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually.
They may seem like a godsend, and they are.
They are there for the reason you need them to be.

Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time,
this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end.
Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away.
Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand.
What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled; their work is done.
The prayer you sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on.

Some people come into your life for a SEASON,
because your turn has come to share, grow or learn.
They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh.
They may teach you something you have never done.
They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy.
Believe it. It is real. But only for a season.

LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons;
things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation.
Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person,
and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life.
It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.

— Unknown

Have you ever thought about those people that shaped your life?

A couple days ago, I found the man that pastored the church I grew up in.  After talking with him, I realized how much this man has helped shaped my life in the way that it is now.  He was there during the impressionable part of my life…those teenage years.  He made Catechism class fun.  One joke he told that stood out (and I have no idea why) was…

Why is there a fence around the graveyard?

People are dying to get in!

That quirky sense of humor made the class fun. Youth Group trips were always so much fun…even if I did sit in the lodge while everyone else went skiing.  The top of that list would have to be the time we went to Church Camp as a youth group to work.  We painted each other the cabins and played in the mud…it was one of the messiest best times of my life!

God has a way of using people to help shape the lives of others.

Who has shaped your life?  I want to know!

2008 has come and gone already.  It sure seemed to go by quickly…sometimes a little too quickly!

January

The year started out with me beginning to work on Power Lab VBS (Ah Ha!).  I was also homeschooling Michael.  We were pretty on top of our schooling and things were going pretty smoothly at the time.  I was also beginning to work in the K-1 Sunday School class room at church.  That, wasn’t going as smoothly as I had wished.

February

VBS started to consume my thoughts.  I was having dreams about not being ready, and just an overwhelming sense that I’ve bitten off more than I could chew.  AKA…I wasn’t relying on God to help me, I was relying on my own strength to do it.

February also brought about Daniel & Andrew’s 3rd birthday as well as my 34th birthday.

Michael entered his first Science Fair and ended up with a Superior rating!  I was proud, but knew full well that if he had applied himself earlier in the month, but he decided to wait until the last minute to do it.  Then we hit a rough patch in our homeschooling…a bad one.  Causing me to question my ability to teach him not to mention my basic parenting skills.  But, through the Grace of God we got through it with help from some friends in our church.

March

March brought in a lot of saddness.  My grandmother’s health begain to fail drastically.  And a friend of mine lost her child in a horrible accident. My heart ached in ways I never knew it would.  Things in me shined trhough as well.  I didn’t realize how “in tune” I was to other’s saddness.  Michael had a meeting with the staff from his online school and things turned out so much better than I had originally anticipated.

April

In April, I took a blogging break…school slipped behind and I had to push Michael to get as much done as possible a day!  Spring seemed to bring out the worst in his schooling abilities and slowly we fell behind.

May

I won this Word Press blog…I’m ever so greatful to Lisa for hosting the giveaway that allowed me to win! The final push to get VBS was upon us.  VBS was scheduled for the 2nd week of June.  My grandmother passed away that month as well.

June

VBS week came and went without too much problems.  Yes, there were a few bumps in the road, but overall things turned out GREAT!  I was elated that things went as well as they did and relieved that it was all over with as well.

July

We celebrated Michael’s 11th birthday in July along with Kevin and I’s 14th wedding anniversary.  In between those 2 events, we threw my mom and dad a 60th Birthday/40th Wedding Anniversary party.  We were very impressed that we were able to pull it off!  Mom and dad had only suspected that we were planning on all going out to eat together, not that we would have all of their friends and family at a hall waiting for their arrival!  We even got one of their friends from High School to travel from Chicago to Ohio to celebrate with them as well!

We also got to see Extreme Makeover Home Edition in our town.  My mother drove down the night before to stay overnight and we headed out to the new house to watch the bus move.  That is a day that was HOT, but I wouldn’t have missed for the world.  To see something like that is a once in a lifetime thing.  Michael still claims to have High-Fived Ty!

August

We went for our 1 and only camping trip of the year.  We had so much fun, and would love to go back to the Michigan Dunes again.  Our church also had a Worship Night.  Something changed in me that night and I have been forever changed!

September

School started right after Labor Day!  We decided to send Michael back to public school since things weren’t working out the best for us at home.  We are happy to report that he is doing wonderful in the public school!

We celebrated Noah’s 8th birthday in September.  We also found out that an eight year old child, when given $20 in cash and not watched very closely at the grocery store (because mom and dad were busy ringing/bagging groceries), will spend the whole $20 on lottery tickets!  And before you ask…YES it’s illegal for him to purchase them, but when they have a “vending machine” of lottery tickets just sitting over by the bubble gum machines, it’s just calling for a child to play with it!  And he only wond $2!

October

In October, Kevin and I started going to a new Bible Study.  I was elated that Kevin wanted to go to one since he has never really showed any interest in going before.

We also walked, for the first time, in the JDRF Walk for a Cure for my Niece.  We were so proud of her, she ended up getting 2 awards…one for the amount of money raised and the other for the T-Shirt design!

November

We celebrated Kevin’s 38th birthday.  How?  Well, I went to a Arbone party and he watched football…now that’s love!

We had our traditional weekend after Thanksgiving shopping adventure.  My parents’ took Michael, Noah, Daniel, & Andrew for the weekend (it ended up my parents had Daniel & Andrew and my sister had Michael & Noah).  We always enjoy that weekend away from the boys.  It’s nice to pretend we are childless…even if it’s just for the weekend!  But we are always so excited when they return.

December

We spent most of the month either running from Christmas Program to Christmas Program or from Christmas to Christmas.  However this year it seemed to be a little less travel than usual.  We only spent 1 night up at my parent’s house and we actually had Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at home for the first time in a long time!

For 2009, I’m sure there will be new things that God shows us along the way, new challenges to overcome and new friends to meet, but I trust that God will be joining us along this journey and we will rest in the knowledge of Him.

So tonight I was enjoying listening to my MP3 player while Kevin played video games on his Xbox 360.  I had my MP3 player randomly choose my album to play today.  Today’s album was Superchic[k]‘s Beauty From Pain.  I enjoyed listening to the songs today, but there were a couple that spoke to me…

Suddenly

So did this group sneak up and shine a light into my life and write a song about it?  I’ve been feeling like I’ve been slipping and then realized that I was right where I was supposed to be all along.  How neat that this song was one that was able to bring words to what I’ve been trying to say all along.

Then there’s this song…Beauty From Pain

When I heard this, I couldn’t help thinking about a friend from our church who has been going through the grief of losing her child in a terrible accident.  My heart went out to them…and still does.  It also made me think of Attack of the Redneck mommy and what she’s been going through lately.  I sat here and said a few prayers for both of them.

Tonight, I got a call from a friend asking if I would like to meet her at Starbucks for some coffee and conversation.  How can you pass up Coffee and Grown-up conversation without children?

I had such a wonderful time talking with her.  She understands my struggles…and me just speaking out my struggles with her (i.e. quiet time), helps me get a clearer understanding on where I stand.

How does that work?  I didn’t say anything new that I hadn’t already thought of in my head before…but stating it outloud was like a HUGE weight lifted off my shoulders.

16Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. ~ James 5:16

So over the past few months, I’ve been pondering how I’ve been treated as a friend. I’ve realized that I have more online friends than real life friends. It’s a sad reality that I am faced with. I’ve posted before how I’ve been treated with my real life friends and it’s not like I’ve completely “cut them out”, but I’ve “given up”. I’m tired of being the one who has to initiate conversations, calls, etc.

So fast forward to 2 weeks ago. I wanted to go out shopping…dh didn’t want to go, he told me to go ahead and go. So I sat here and thought, “Who can I call to go with me shopping?” I came up with NO ONE! I went through my whole address book…and nothing! The people who lived close enough to me to go, I wouldn’t really consider them close friends, well, not close enough to ask to go shopping with…the ones I used to ask, they live so far away and have a life of their own.

So here I am…the reality has hit me like a brick! I don’t have a close friend like I used to have. Maybe I’m living in the past where no one had a family or whatever, but it’s a very sad thing. I have my husband, he is my friend, my best friend, but that’s not what I want. I want a close girlfriend to go out with, to call when I need to chat, etc. These are things I’ve had before…I had them when I was in Ohio years ago…I had them when I was in Colorado….I had them when I was in Minnesota…why not now?

Ok, I’m done sounding pathetic!