Sunday, September 14, 2008

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.

11 comments:

sherri weathers said...

So thankful u have SLAM! I am certain it would not be th same if it were just LAM without the "S".... Love ya sis, Re

Anonymous said...

Hey girl....loved your blog about your incredible weekend....It brought back wonderful memories of a similar "gift of time" that was given to me after Will died...I have three wonderful friends that live in West Virginia, South Carolina, and Illinois and they all flew to Jackson to spend three incredible days with me at the same Ltime....it was the most incredible therapy at EXACTLY the time I needed it. We laughed,cried,ate, and shopped until it was time for them to go home....Friendships like that are truly a blessing like none other....just a comfortable kind of love where you know you can be whoever you are at that moment and they will separate the "wheat from the chaff" if you're having a bad moment....just another way that God blesses us that He didn't have to do....I think ReRe would call that lagnappe!!! Take care and go easy on yourself today as you process "re-entry"!!!! Love you much!!! Brenda

Laurie in Ca. said...

Hey Sweetie,

I too am so glad that you were able to just have a "hang out" weekend with friends who just love you so much. I hope you have many times like this to get away and just be you. It sure helps make the mommy duties easier and the kids get the reward of a refreshed mommy. I believe God put these girls in your life back then for such a time as this. And you girls are too young to be called ma'am. All of this to say that I love you and am praying you through each day Stephanie. I will be for a very long time. I hope your week is blessed as you bless so many others by being YOU.

Love, Laurie in Ca.

Anonymous said...

WHATEVER! You don't know what you are missing. You could have spent the week with me, two guys, and two bite dogs in one room at the holiday inn. We will do it again anytime you don't need much sleep. Tell Anna Lea she is stinky, J Brent to be tough, and Baby Ally to just smile. As always, Scott is a dork!
Love ya!

Macy Cross said...

Miss you already! Looking forward to December...Love you!

Becky said...

SLAM...whatever

Becky said...

I meant to say what a precious post. It warmed my heart to know that you were having such a wonderful weekend. I am so happy that you all are still close after all these years. Well, it really hasn't been that many years...you're still so young! May you have many, many more wonderful times like this in your future!

Amy said...

The weekend was absolutely wonderful. I missed you all as soon as you left. I saw that you were none to happy that I left out the "sick humor" statements on my blog. I laughed out loud and that laughter was followed by a few tears. I just love y'all so much.

December weekend is not optional for me either. Looking forward to it greatly. Hope your week is going well. Love you, Amy

Anonymous said...

Stephanie, I think that I am to technology challenged to do the blog thing - it has taken me 30 minutes to figure out how to drop you a note. I guess I had a better "handle" on the Caringbridge site. Not an hour of the day goes by that I don't send up a prayer for you and your extended family. I have thanked God today for the SLAM group, and the strength and support that comes from spending time with friends - friends that can let you be quiet, as easily as they can laugh and cry with you. I know that joy and happiness on a regular basis will be a long time coming for you, but I pray that you will have many SLAM occasions to get you from where you are today to that place of joy that will be yours. I am quite sure that it feels like there could never be joy without your sweet Jason, but rely on the knowledge that God does have a wonderful plan for you and your precious little angels. Avail yourself of any SLAM opportunities you can wrap yourself in, and know that there are those of us who will pray you through the darkest of hours, and I am sure that there are many. Much love, many prayers, carolyn laster

Anonymous said...

SO glad to hear that you had a good weekend with your friends as I'am sure that you needed that. We are glda to hear you had a safe trip. Hope you and the kids are doing ok and we pray for God to continue to pour His love out on you and give you the strength that you need. Love and Prayers.

Dave and Sharlene Burgess
sburg321@hotmail.com
Belton, SC

NIKKI said...

So awesome to have strong friendships to lean on!