My anniversary takes for ever and a day to arrive each year and we won't even begin to talk about how long I wait for my birthday to make it's appearance, but December?
Christmas?
It sneaks up on me like the Homeschool recital!
It's calling to me from the cabinets to make cookies before I can put the fake leaf garland in the closet.
I sent my son away with heaps of cough drops and I'll reenact my Hallmark greeting at the airport next Wednesday already.
And somewhere in the middle of all of this my sweet friend leaned in and asked, "So why aren't you writing like you were? Each week?"
And I only had to tell her that I lost a bit of my nerve again.
Gumption to just step out and say, this is my life, God is working. He is amazing and this life is not worth living without Him. Here's some encouragement.
And I was a bit embarrassed but this was one of my closest friends.
She has the right to call me out, call me up for lunch, call on me for prayer and so much more.
And I'm beyond grateful for a friends like this.
Friends who send money for Starbucks writing dates and tell you that your eyebrows are looking good.
For Friends who write ON the Starbucks card saying, "This is for your next blog post!"
I sure hope you all have a friends like this.
A friend you can message and say, "For Christmas can you please buy me a hat because I would like to wear it and know it's from you?"
And she loves it because she gets it.
So here I am typing with chocolate fingers to remind you that this is just such a wonderful life.
I sure hope you all have a friends like this.
Sipping on raw sugar cappuccino foam reminds me that there is just so very much given to us to enjoy today.
Watching my three girls get into the Christmas hustle is like a scene from Little Women.
Sweet "Meg" is making sure we have enough sugar and cookie cutters,
"Jo" is being asked to please get socks on and wash her face, hands and to get her hair done in any way but "homeless."
And "Amy."
Dear Amy is inevitably walking around with braids or in the bathroom yet again curling her beautiful golden hair because she cannot see it for what it really is.
Meg is telling me that my other shirt looked better with the skirt I have on, Jo is asking me if I would like her last piece of candy she's had in her pocket for a few days, and Amy is getting the fact that I am feeling less than in every single way possible, new shirt or not and reminds me that my hair does look exactly the same as it did yesterday when I received a complement on it.
And Meg is getting college acceptance letters and Jo is fighting with Amy and I am just wanting to knit my sock in the corner and enjoy too many Pepperidge farm cookies.
This is just about the norm at our place, lest you think we have it all together.
I'm amazed that I have the privilege of watching these Little Women grow into who God desires them to be.
I am the one reminding them what side of the table the fork goes on, that there's still food on the plates they just washed and that their laundry will not fold itself.
Meg and I sure have some schemes when we get our heads together.
We concocted a plan to purchase and fill stockings (our absolute favorite part of Christmas morning) for some friends of ours.
From Target to TJMAXX to home again, it is just such a blessing to give with her.
She brings out the best of my charitableness.
Luke 6:38- "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again."
It's no surprise that she's never lacking for a dollar, an invite to lunch, a card of encouragement or plates of goodness from our church.
Meg is a giver and it blesses this Momma heart.
Jo and I feel like we can run at break-neck speed and write a new hymn for each new blessing that comes our way when we are side by side.
Romans 12:11- "Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord."
We may be a bit too much love, too many hugs and too many words, but we show up and care when others stand by.
She reminds me that every hug is worth giving, every act of kindness worth doing and that it doesn't even need to enter our minds how it will be received, or what others are thinking.
Creativity and service is always a blessing.
Jo is a joyful server and it has so blessed me.
And Amy.
She always brings a sigh because she is a many faceted sweetness.
Amy knows how to encourage me as soon as she sees my smile dip into a frown. She and I can bake elaborate and expensive goodies for everyone while trying a new lipgloss.
She reminds me to give my best tea in my best cup to those sick in the house with the last of the decadent cookies hidden in the cabinet.
She and I can talk deep- really deep and understand where someone's anger or hurt comes from. She gets it.
She makes me feel like I am the funniest person in the world and there really could be a reality show based on her and I and our nights in the church nursery.
Proverbs 17:22- "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones."
Jo has feelings for those she loves and for the Lord that I feel I will never plumb the depths of and that makes me immeasurably happy.
These are my Little Women.
They are learning and growing and I am learning that it really is a good thing that I didn't trade them on ebay when they each drove me up the wall.
I'm tickled knowing how they will smile when they wake Christmas morning and are made to sing to Joel and I as is tradition on the stairs before breakfast.
They have strengths and weaknesses just like anyone's girls, and they have a God who is greater than I.
This comforts me in ways I cannot express.
My job is to point them to Him. To remind them that He knows them better than I do.
That He loves them when they are mad, sad, grumpy and selfish.
That He promises to walk with them to the very tip of every single scary cliff they may face and to the very end of this life for them.
My job is to win them to His heart.
And to teach them "The Jabberwocky."
