they are two things that i wish went hand in hand more often. i have to say, i am a very lucky woman...not only do i have an amazing husband who has worked so hard over the years to become the amazing man he is today, i have my 3 precious baby boys that make me more and more proud everyday...but i have also been blessed with the perfect sized handful of really great women, some of which i have fellowshipped with right from the start, others that are just joining me on that journey more recently.
kellie - the one who showed me the way...she was the first one to ever introduce me to a non catholic church...the first time i ever experienced what a personal relationship with God looked like was with her. and i loved it!! i loved it so much that she and i started going to church together all the time, and not just one church but 3...we went to a college age worship on friday nights, we went to another church on saturday nights and then we had our sunday morning church, which was the church she grew up in. im sure over the years i have thanked her in my own ways for the peace she was able to introduce into my life, but im not sure she will ever know what an amazing thing she did for me, my marriage and my family (that was only a thought at the time) kellie even bought frank and i our very first NIV bibles, it was the one wedding gift that we will charish for the rest of our lives! but aside from the fellowship aspect of our lives, kellie is and always will be one of the very best friends i have ever had. no matter how far away her life may take her from me, we are always just a phone call or instant message away from each other and we take full advantage of that when ever we can! i love you kellie and could not imagine where my life would be if it hadnt been for you. not only do i believe that God picks our spouses, but he also hand picks our other significant others too!
bridget - the newest on my list of best girlfriends, but the first to join my life through fellowship that quickly turned into friendship. we just have so much in common, our faith, our upbringing, our husbands and their pasts, our kids are the same age...we share so many of the same morals and values and our families enjoy each others company as much as we enjoy just hanging out with each other. its only been about a year, but i know that there are many years ahead of us to share our lives and grow in our faith and i thank God for putting someone in my life who truly understands, through her own experiences, the struggles i have faced in my life. I love you guys, bridge i am so happy to have you in my life, so grateful that frank has matt and i so much look forward to our boys growing up together!!
mandy - oh mandy...the stories i could tell!! but since this is a posting about fellowship and friendship, ill stick with the more current and God influenced aspects of our life!! for the last year or so mandy and i have shared much more of the heart felt things in our lives, our kids, our marriages, our finances and our faith. through it all it has strenghtened our friendship in ways i could have never imagined. when i first moved back home, she was my mom friend and i was so happy to have someone in my life who had kids that i could hang out with once i had tuscan. then she moved away...but i think its safe to say that our friendship is stronger and more consistant these last 3 years then it ever has been in the 12 years that i've known her. she started a blog this year, a journey more or less, that we share with a few other moms (my flip flops and me - its on my sidebar) and through it we have shared some great stories, journaled some personal feelings and created a network of moms in all stages of life. from the partying days to the days of mellow moms, we have shared in quite the journey even well before the blog started! mandy, there has always been a piece of me that felt like i should be a part of your family...like it was where i belonged, if it takes our kids marrying to get there that would be wonderful, but if not that space is filled with the friendship that we have always shared, no one ever said that friends couldnt be part of the family - especially when we're all italian!
kelly - last but not least...my most long time friend on the list, my twin sister at times, my partner in crime, my remember when...and personal jokes friend with the list that would go on forever! kelly and i have shared everything together over the years...everything (with the exception of boyfriends, where we only shared our opinions) we have known each other since kindergarten, we have been best friends since 7th grade and we have lived 150 miles away since 8th, but through all the crap we have brought upon ourselves we have come out alive and our friendship is stronger now than it has been in years! (with the exception of 7th grade of course) not only do we now share in the similarities of married life, but we are also sharing our stories of motherhood and reaching out to each other in areas of faith. it is amazing to me how sharing a common bond, the belief in God, can make some of the strongest relationships even stronger. in the past year kelly and i have put forth so much more effort to be a part of each others everday lives, we IM each other all day long, we talk on the phone a lot more (not as much as 7th grade, thank goodness, i dont think we could afford that!) and most importantly we find the time to be a part of all the exciting things happening in each others lives... birthdays, baby showers, trips to the zoo...the things that memories are made from! i love you kel, and even though there may have been some pretty ugly moments in our friendship, i thank God everyday that we were able to see past them and get to the point we are at now. i am so grateful for the time we get to spend together and i am so looking forward to watching our kids grow up together. you have always been like the sister i never had and i am so grateful to be able to call riley my neice!!
so heres to my ladies, that i love so dearly - i cant imagine my life without each and everyone of you. you have all touched me in so many different ways that have helped make me who i am today and for that i am grateful. praises to God for all of you and the life that we share together! Amen.
kellie - the one who showed me the way...she was the first one to ever introduce me to a non catholic church...the first time i ever experienced what a personal relationship with God looked like was with her. and i loved it!! i loved it so much that she and i started going to church together all the time, and not just one church but 3...we went to a college age worship on friday nights, we went to another church on saturday nights and then we had our sunday morning church, which was the church she grew up in. im sure over the years i have thanked her in my own ways for the peace she was able to introduce into my life, but im not sure she will ever know what an amazing thing she did for me, my marriage and my family (that was only a thought at the time) kellie even bought frank and i our very first NIV bibles, it was the one wedding gift that we will charish for the rest of our lives! but aside from the fellowship aspect of our lives, kellie is and always will be one of the very best friends i have ever had. no matter how far away her life may take her from me, we are always just a phone call or instant message away from each other and we take full advantage of that when ever we can! i love you kellie and could not imagine where my life would be if it hadnt been for you. not only do i believe that God picks our spouses, but he also hand picks our other significant others too!
bridget - the newest on my list of best girlfriends, but the first to join my life through fellowship that quickly turned into friendship. we just have so much in common, our faith, our upbringing, our husbands and their pasts, our kids are the same age...we share so many of the same morals and values and our families enjoy each others company as much as we enjoy just hanging out with each other. its only been about a year, but i know that there are many years ahead of us to share our lives and grow in our faith and i thank God for putting someone in my life who truly understands, through her own experiences, the struggles i have faced in my life. I love you guys, bridge i am so happy to have you in my life, so grateful that frank has matt and i so much look forward to our boys growing up together!!
mandy - oh mandy...the stories i could tell!! but since this is a posting about fellowship and friendship, ill stick with the more current and God influenced aspects of our life!! for the last year or so mandy and i have shared much more of the heart felt things in our lives, our kids, our marriages, our finances and our faith. through it all it has strenghtened our friendship in ways i could have never imagined. when i first moved back home, she was my mom friend and i was so happy to have someone in my life who had kids that i could hang out with once i had tuscan. then she moved away...but i think its safe to say that our friendship is stronger and more consistant these last 3 years then it ever has been in the 12 years that i've known her. she started a blog this year, a journey more or less, that we share with a few other moms (my flip flops and me - its on my sidebar) and through it we have shared some great stories, journaled some personal feelings and created a network of moms in all stages of life. from the partying days to the days of mellow moms, we have shared in quite the journey even well before the blog started! mandy, there has always been a piece of me that felt like i should be a part of your family...like it was where i belonged, if it takes our kids marrying to get there that would be wonderful, but if not that space is filled with the friendship that we have always shared, no one ever said that friends couldnt be part of the family - especially when we're all italian!
kelly - last but not least...my most long time friend on the list, my twin sister at times, my partner in crime, my remember when...and personal jokes friend with the list that would go on forever! kelly and i have shared everything together over the years...everything (with the exception of boyfriends, where we only shared our opinions) we have known each other since kindergarten, we have been best friends since 7th grade and we have lived 150 miles away since 8th, but through all the crap we have brought upon ourselves we have come out alive and our friendship is stronger now than it has been in years! (with the exception of 7th grade of course) not only do we now share in the similarities of married life, but we are also sharing our stories of motherhood and reaching out to each other in areas of faith. it is amazing to me how sharing a common bond, the belief in God, can make some of the strongest relationships even stronger. in the past year kelly and i have put forth so much more effort to be a part of each others everday lives, we IM each other all day long, we talk on the phone a lot more (not as much as 7th grade, thank goodness, i dont think we could afford that!) and most importantly we find the time to be a part of all the exciting things happening in each others lives... birthdays, baby showers, trips to the zoo...the things that memories are made from! i love you kel, and even though there may have been some pretty ugly moments in our friendship, i thank God everyday that we were able to see past them and get to the point we are at now. i am so grateful for the time we get to spend together and i am so looking forward to watching our kids grow up together. you have always been like the sister i never had and i am so grateful to be able to call riley my neice!!
so heres to my ladies, that i love so dearly - i cant imagine my life without each and everyone of you. you have all touched me in so many different ways that have helped make me who i am today and for that i am grateful. praises to God for all of you and the life that we share together! Amen.
1 comment:
That was an awesome blog post! I know Ive already told you that on messanger, but Ive read it a few times since them because it give me such a warm feeling inside! I'm so glad that our friendship is stonger then ever, and I cant wait to have another 20 years of memoires to add to them all!
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