Faithful Friends

I am so incredibly blessed to have so many wonderful friends. A day doesn't go by that I don't thank the Lord for giving me such an amazing group of friends. I wish I could write how each of them have been so supportive to me over the years, but especially over the last 8 months. At some point I am sure I'll have pictures of all of them, but tonight meet SLAM. Stephanie, Laney, Amy and Macy. Yes, we named ourselves this when we were VERY young. (p.s. the picture that you see here was taken late last night after a long day of retail therapy!)

We were all able to 'pawn off' our 10 kids to gather for a girls weekend in Clinton at Amy's house. Yes, between the four of us there are 10 kids. It is still unbelievable to us that we're old enough to even have kids much less 10 of them! We still feel like we are 18, but we know we must not look 18 because today, for example, a very young hostess at a restaurant we were dining at continued saying "yes ma'am" to all of us. We couldn't for the life of us figure out why she would say "yes ma'am" to four very young girls. (At this point, you may keep your comments to yourself! ha!)

Anyway, the amazing thing about SLAM's friendship is that none of us have lived in the same town since our sophomore year in high school. Amy moved to Baton Rouge, followed by Macy's move to Picayune and then I moved to Hattiesburg. We left poor Laney all alone in the big city of McComb. We have remained very close and still get together as often as we can. I am convinced that we've stayed so close because the foundation of our friendship was based on the Lord. Praise God for friends who love Jesus!

We've hit many milestones since the beginning our friendship. Moves away from McComb, some parents divorcing, some parents remarrying, boyfriend break-ups, moving away to college, new relationships, engagements, weddings, death of a parent, death of grandparents, new jobs, births of our children, decisions over to work or stay home after baby, husbands taking new jobs or returning to school, and now the death of a spouse. Death of a spouse... certainly a milestone we knew at some point we could face, but none of us believed we'd be facing it while our children were all preschoolers.

For me this weekend with Laney, Amy and Macy was such therapy. You see, one minute we were laughing our heads off and the next minute tears were flowing without any end in sight. Laughter for me is such great medicine and laughing comes very easy to us. A few 'remember whens...' and we were hurting from the laughter. However, at one point we found ourselves sitting in the car in the Target parking lot crying over the reality of the loss of Jason. And the great thing was is they not only let me cry, but they cried with me without offering advice. Their presence was all I needed. These dear friends were the friends that heard the excitement in my voice after my first date with Jason. These precious friends grew to love Jason immediately after meeting him for the first time. Who didn't? :)

So for me this weekend was perfect. Just what the doctor ordered. When I got in car this afternoon to return to Hattiesburg, the reality of my life hit me once again. I so badly wanted to stay a little longer with them, but it wasn't possible. As I scanned the radio looking for something good to listen as I drove home, the song 'Great is Thy Faithfulness' began playing. I just had to pull over and cry. Not a sad cry, but a thankful cry. Thankful to God because he has been so incredibly faithful to me. One of the many ways he has been faithful is by giving me these friends and others. Laney, Amy and Macy...I wish I could express adequately how wonderful this weekend was for me. Thank you for being so faithful to our Lord and to me. I am forever blessed because you are my friend.