Friends

Prior to moving to the city in which we now reside, Rich and I moved three times in two years. During the last two moves, I was pregnant. Really pregnant. The kind of pregnant where people not jokingly say, "Don't have that baby while you're moving that box." So, not only was moving less than fun, we never had time to establish many long friendships and community ties.

Alright, it's me writing this blog. I made friends when we lived in these places, I won't lie. But it's different here.

Now, my family has a support system of friends. People that cheer when our kids are doing well and cry with us when my grandma died. We have a church full of people with generous hearts and amazing personalities. We have family that is close enough and willing enough to make trek back and forth so we can celebrate holidays and milestones together.

Friends. People to invite over to a Super Bowl Party....who are genuinely concerned about the state of our marriage post-game. Crazy and wonderful people who take all four our children as one big group so Rich and I can have conversations that do not start with "It's your turn to deal with ____" or give us relief from dividing up the map of our town and having a contest to see who can take the kids to the most places the fastest on a Monday night.

These friends also entrust their children to us for the day or the night or to ring in 2011. It's wonderful to watch all these kids grow and hear them laugh (plot) at our house. There are times I am curious whose plan for utter and total world domination is going to succeed. I haven't the heart to them I have been hatching my own plan for years....

There are also friends that I maintain contact with through email and facebook that are no less dear to my heart. We celebrate and commiserate via electronic communication; one of the more useful ways I have utilized advances in technology.

I wake up so grateful for the blessings that these friendships have brought into the lives of our family. On the best of days, raising four kids to be amazing people is a daunting task; it is a wonderful feeling to know Rich and I have so many family and friends to help and encourage us on this wild journey called parenthood.