2 to Grow With : Friends!

The past several weeks we have had flashbacks to what it felt like to be in Chattanooga shortly after we were married. We had always felt, and still feel, that Chattanooga is where we were called to be, to develop our careers, to start a family and to give us roots. That does not mean that has always been an easy decision and that we don’t long to be close to family. But in the early months of our marriage while we clung to each other there were some lonely nights and weekends filled with tears of not having friends (my tears and Jimmy praying his new wife would get ahold of herself)!. We needed a support network and couples to connect with and have been blessed to have found that over the years! God is so good.

While I would still love to have family close (and are so blessed that my brother, sister in law and sweet niece Ellie are so close), we have a very strong group of friends that are like family to us. Some we see more frequent than others, some we see at random times and reconnect, and some we email and text to encourage each other.

This week was filled with laughter with friends! We enjoyed Sunday with the Smith family. What was a few hours of catching up over lunch and cookies turned into an entire afternoon filled with laughter, sharing and dinner! Thanks Jonathan and Nicole for such a blessed day together!

Gracie and Maggie, we pray that as you go through life you are able to have friends that will walk with you through the various journey of life, some will come for a time and others for a lifetime. Enjoy each moment and what each relationship represents, what you can give to it and what you receive from it.

Sunday pic!

Sweet girls! (yes it was raining again...)

Other thoughts and moments to capture:

When Maggie can be as ornery as possible she can also melt my heart. Like when we were snuggled in bed Sunday night she said “you are so beautiful” and “I will love you so much”

Gracie has had a week of adjustment to a new scheduled filed with working her mind (academics) rather than her body (gymnastics). We have struggled to get into the routine and how to encourage her to learn. Jimmy asked me this week “how do we do this with her? I am sure this was how you were”. He possibly is right and unfortunately my only advice was “I turned out okay”. We are praying for patience and direction as we work with her. She is sweet and smart and wants to have it all perfect, so when she struggles with a concept or word she wants to quit rather than work through ti.

Ahhh, the emotions of a 2nd grader.

---as Maggie erased a dry erase art, Gracie said “the world has ended” with large tears

---after being upset over doing her math work and a poor attitude that dictated she lost the privilege of watching a Little House, she responded “you made me act this way”. It was a good lesson for her....she is fully responsible for her own behavior. She can and will have feelings, she can and should verbalize those in an appropriate manner, but she will not act out and scream!