Sisterfriends

Believe it or not, I did have some personal revelation at the Women's Broadcast last Saturday, and I came home and prayerfully put it into action. The general promptings I got were to do something each week, big or small, to celebrate the amazing sisterhood I have experienced here in our Relief Society. It could be paying an extra visit to a visiting teachee, writing a heartfelt note with a generous thought ("Never suppress a generous thought"-Camilla Kimball), inviting new friends over for lunch or scripture study or craft day...anything counts, but I want to do it weekly to show my gratitude for the blessing of being in this sisterhood. So I went right to work when I got home Monday. First mission: celebrate Debbie's birthday by gathering the sister-friends for a little autumn lunch. Mother nature cooperated by sending rain-mixed-with-snow as a backdrop to our peaking fall colors. It felt all the more cozy to gather for turkey chili, corn souffle, spinach salad, carrot cake & pumpkin bread when it was so cold outside. YAY, FALL! Not the best angle, but here are my sisterfriends Melissa (with baby Suzy), Jennifer, and Debbie.

Cute Debbie with her birthday cupcake (I love her smile in this picture--I'm happy when you're happy, Deb!)

I thought Melissa and Suzy were so cute looking on in this picture (we were singing Happy Birthday).

After lunch, we enjoyed said treats and Deb opened her cards and gifts.

How can you NOT have a happy birthday with this sweet face looking at you?!

James & Lydia had a wonderful time, too! BONUS!

Jenn & I were super busy last week and didn't get together for my birthday, so she brought my gift and card today. She always makes the most delightful handmade things--every little note from her is so beautiful--they're all just treasures!

She made me this cute little Mary Engelbreit picture and it brought tears to my eyes today. She had no idea how much it means to me.

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And now, since I am in a personal history mood (remember when I told you about Lisa? well, here's more), I want to tell you about these sisterfriends. We'll go in chronological order of our meetings.

1. Debbie- I met Debbie the same day I met my in-laws, the same day I got engaged to Rich, because she lived next door to Rich's parents with her 4 little kids. I remember coming home from our little getting-engaged daytrip, and her daughter Jessica (11) and her friend Nicole were skating on the driveway. They hollered hello to us and Rich took me over to introduce me and said, "We're getting married!" and they jumped up and down and said, "that's so cool!" SO CUTE! (they're sophomores in college now--how time flies). Anyway, Debbie was always so friendly and always had such fun activities going on at her home when we would visit. I liked her instantly. When we moved here, she was my first visiting teaching companion and she did such an excellent job of kind of "teaching me the ropes" of the ward without ever saying anything negative about anyone. She was also a GENIUS at remembering special days and coming up with the most thoughtful little gifts. She was such an great example to me of how to stop being self-conscious and just get out there and show your love. She helped me to get to the point were I made my resolution to try have my own positive experience with every sister in my ward so I would have something genuinely good to say and think about each of them. She helped me to love and appreciate my mother-in-law and to be grateful for the blessing Rosalie has been in my life. She has taught me that anyone can overcome anything because NOBODY had a crazier childhood than Debbie (entire books have been written about what she lived through), and you would never know it. She has helped me to be both more patient with myself as a mother and also see the best ways to improve my mothering (and she has great kids, so I listen). Then of course, we have an AZ connection (her mom lives in Tucson and Deb lived in Mesa for 4 years), so we can cry on each other's shoulders in the March blizzards! I love you, Debbie.

2. Jenn--A couple of months after we moved here, I was shopping at the local paper/craft store (owned by a sister in our ward) and Jenn was working there. We got to chatting and she asked me how I knew the owner and I replied, "I go to her church." Jenn got all happy and said, "Oh, so do I! Well, I mean, I should. I am a member but I don't go much. I got baptized in California a couple of years ago and then moved here and I just haven't been able to get into it in this ward. But I miss it." I told her she should come back and we could be the new girls together! It took several months, but she did come back. I even offered a few paryers on behalf of her and her family, and I know they were answered quickly. Soon her husband was coming to church, and he baptized their sons, and Jenn held a calling. We were sitting in a leadership training meeting and I was feeling the Spirit really strong and I wrote her a note that said I was so glad to see her there and so glad for what had happened in her family. I told her I just knew the day we met that we would be friends, and she wrote back and said the same thing. I have tried to "be there" for Jenn, mostly, and also to discuss gospel principles as we grow our testimonies and she prepares to go to the temple. That's mostly what our friendship is--support (most of the time, it's me saying "WTF?" about her husband's shenannigans because that's one thing I'll never relate to, but at least I can listen, right?) with a little humor and craftiness mixed in! ;) Love ya, jenjen.

3. Melissa, aka brownleg--I prayed that girl here, so if she has any beef with winding up in Livingston, she can blame it on me! Where do I even start to explain my friendship with her? There are no words, really. And that's what makes Melissa special, I guess--we don't have to talk much to have a PERFECT understanding. Perhaps living parallel lives has helped (similar families of origin, same college at roughly the same time, love of MUSIC, similar interests, CES background, etc.). I think we first got acquainted through playgroup for our kids (she has 6, but 3 match up with mine) and it just grew from there. Ours is the most low-maintenance friendship of all, but somehow she's always at my door when I need her most and she always says the right thing to keep me thinking straight. Plus she teaches early morning seminary, so she's always got (a) great gospel insights and (b) crazy funny stories. Thank you, M, for every little thing. I love you!