I'm Blessed: By Mommy Friends

It's been some time since I joined in on Gretchen's 

I'm Blessed blog par-tay.

Today, I'm reminded of how blessed I am to have the friends that I do.

Friends of ours from Wisconsin came to visit us on Saturday.

While I sat visiting with my friend Laurie,

I became acutely aware of how many of my sentences began with "my friend Gretchen"

or "my friend Theresa" or "my friend Megan" or "my friend Monica" (who has no blog!!)

and how much they have influenced my life.

 In all my yammering away to Laurie, I referenced several times my homeschool mom's meeting that I had just attended a couple evenings before.

I am so blessed by the ladies who serve on the board with me and by the ladies that come to our meetings--

I left the meeting last time so refreshed, thinking where else can I sit and laugh (or cry) about stuff like this--all while nursing a baby?

We talk about our struggles and successes with homeschooling and being a wife and mother.

Knowing that these ladies have a relationship with the Lord makes it that much sweeter.

Of course as busy mommies, we rarely have time to get together,

but my friends who brought meals when Elizabeth was born (and even BEFORE!)

blessed me beyond measure.

One of Satan's tools is to alienate--

he uses this on me often.

On my worst days, I'm convinced I'm all alone.

But I DO have friends--another Megan, Lisa, Diane, Karen, Sally, Denise, Sara, two Angies, Carrie--many more than I could possibly mention or link to here!  (I know I'm  leaving some out--if you're my friend and your name isn't listed here, please know I appreciate you, too!)

My aunts and my cousin are wonderful life-long friends to me.

I love them, and they are an incredible blessing to me.

They have reached out to me, some have prayed for me, and all have encouraged me.

I love that we are not all the same--

some of my friends have 1 or 2 kids, some have more.

Some of my friends work outside the home, some do not.

Some are older than me, some younger, and some my age.

We can be different and still be friends!

(Isn't this what we teach our kids??)

I'm so thankful for friends!