When You Find Out Who Your Friends Are

When you go through trials, you find out who your friends are...  Some disappear when they get tired of hearing about you worry/cry/fart.  And some draw closer, hug you tighter, make you laugh harder, and are willing to sit with you during any storm - even a shit storm (you ladies better remember that when the chemo diarrhea starts!).

We moved to Lake Ozark just over a year ago.  We didn't know anyone...  I remember being so scared to make friends... Little did I know I would make lifelong friends who would carry me through a very tough journey.

These girls (and a few others not pictured) have been beyond generous with their words, with their prayers, with their time/resources and with their hearts.  I know that each of them would go through Hell or high-water for my family and me.  Honestly, I don't even feel like the word 'friend' does them justice... They are more like sisters (which is awesome since my twin sister, Jill, just moved to Florida on Thursday).  Sisters know all your dirty little secrets and love you anyway.  They don't judge.  They just accept you.  Plain and simple.

These girls and I share our Sunday evenings together.  We gather to encourage either other, laugh together and grow in our walk with Christ together.  They all have families to feed, marriages to nurture, and kids to care for, yet we are committed to meeting Sunday nights to support each other through the good and the bad.  All these gals are phenomenal and we are all at different stages in our faith.  Most are steadfast, consistent, strong, and stable.  And then there is me: Questioning, sometimes resistant, but also open to learning.  They don't judge.  They just accept me for where I am at.  Plain and simple.  Just like Christ.  The thing about these ladies... they don't just talk the talk.  They walk the walk.  And if I'm one of us is trailing behind in the race, they all stop to encourage, and carry me each other, if necessary, closer to the finish line.

Over the past month. these girls have fed my family with delicious food.  More importantly, over the past year, these girls have fed my soul.  Loving me, supporting me, challenging me: as a mother, as a wife, and as a Christian.  Tonight, they surprised me with party!  They had a big, full length mirror set up and showered me with hats, scarves, house shoes, and other chemo care items.  We watched tutorials on different ways to tie head scarves (turns out it isn't as hard as it looks.  And if it is, then my friend Nancy offered to fix my 'hair' every day for me.).

The party came at a perfect time, as I was actually having a rough afternoon thinking about losing my hair.  I stood in church this morning and was envisioning myself walking into a room of 200 people bald.  The thought terrified me.  I have my wig, but it isn't super comfortable with hair, so I can only imagine it without hair.  And, when I wear it, honestly I feel like a faker; like I'm some Saturday Night Live character.  I didn't know if I could rock the scarf/hat look.  Turns out I can.

When you find out who your friends are... you realize life is amazing.  Even during the storms.  Thank you girls for always being there no matter what!  Beyond blessed to be surrounded by women like you!

I love these ladies!
(Back left: Maria, Sherri, Molly, Mindy, me, Carrie, Jill, Whitney,
Front left: Nancy, Kristen and Natalie)