Beauty For Ashes

Girlfriends continue to be the best medicine for a tired mind.  I just got back from spending a wonderful 24 hours with some of my best friends.  We all went to a cabin south of Sunriver on the big Deschutes river and hung out.  We stayed  up late, laughted, talked, laughed more, talked more and generally had a super duper time.  Our hubbies and kids joined us for a BBQ this afternoon and once more we laughed and talked.  It was a fun way to say good-bye to Trish as she and her family head to Costa Rica in the next 6 weeks to study at language school for a year and then on to Honduras.  I am going to miss her more than I can even express at this point and frankly, I don’t want to think about it much. 

On a seperate note, another friend put a cool map on her web sight that showed all the states she had been in.  I thought I’d go and map the states I have been in as well.  Here it is.  Hope you get a kick out of it and know that I am on to wanting to see the world!

http://www.world66.com/myworld66/visitedStates/statemap?visited=AZCACODCDEHIIDILINMDMAMTNVNMNYORRISDTXUTWAWY”>
>
create’>http://douweosinga.com/projects/visitedstates”>create your own visited states map
 or check’>http://douweosinga.com/projects/googlehacks”>check out these Google Hacks.

Please take my quiz?  Here’s my link.

http://www.quizyourfriends.com/yourquiz.php?quizname=051107201019-704986

Tonight was the Pumpkin Party at our church.  It is always so fun to see what people are going to dress up as.  There was a live Christmas tree, Raggedy Ann and Andy, a number of Cinderellas, Batmen and Supermen.  My favorite however is one of my friends who dressed up as the husband of another of my friends.  I laugh every time I look at this picture.  Jana is the queen of theatre arts and frankly, I think she pulled off being Chris quite nicely. 

Friends to grow old with.

Last night, I had several of my girlfriends over for dinner.  It was such a wonderful time.  It is such a joyful feeling to be standing in my kitchen surrounded by the friends of my heart, listening to each of us catch up on life.  These are people that have meant more to me than I can verbalize.  These are friends that I hope to wear purple with when we are old.  We talked about things that made us laugh and things that provoked deep thought.  We stayed up until after 1:00am just visiting.  I feel so blessed!

It has been intersting to me that when our kids were little we looked forward to the day when they would be in school and we would have “leisure” time to sit, drink coffee and enjoy each others company.  I guess I was fooling myself because now that my kids are in school and I have a job, it is unbelievable to me how little time I truely have.  In fact, I am disturbed to find out time is even less available to me now that my kids are in school.  Needless to say, those evenings with dear friends are treasured!  They are like gems, rare and beautiful.  I am just so thankful for them!

Yesterday, we attended a going away open house for some friends of ours.  They are going to be missionaries in Oaxaca, Mexico.  It is a bitter sweet thing to bid friends farwell, especially ones who share your faith.  We will miss them so much. 

I often find myself reflecting on life and death.  Life is such a fragile and beautifil thing.  Not fragile like piece of china easily broken but fragile like an intricately carved sculpture.  Yes, the sculpture can be broken easily but more importantly, the artist took great care in every detail and each time you look you see something new.  Life is like that.  It seems every time I look into the life of a friend, I see a new detail that I hadn’t noticed before.  It is a beautiful and frightening thing because time moves forward, people move in and out of our lives, people die and if we are not careful we miss some of the detail our creator put into each individual. 

I will miss Matt & Rachael.  I will miss Rachael’s candor and dry humor.  I will miss her beautiful smile and encouraging spirit.  I will miss the beautiful marriage that she and Matt had.  I will miss watching their fantastic boys grow and blow my mind with their thoughts and mannerisms.  I will miss their willingness to share with us and the privilege we had to hold hands and pray together.

Yes, I know I will probably see them all again, but it will never be the same.  I am not a big fan of change, especially when it hurts.  God’s working on that in me.  Change is what brings me to my knees before him.

I am never able to express myself when my friends leave to move forward with the plans God has for them.  I find myself stumbling and just wanting to stand and look in their eyes for a while.  Just trying to communicate how proud I am of them and how very much I will miss them.

So here.  Matt & Rachael, you both have impacted our lives deeply.  We have been blessed to watch you grow through good times and bad in your marriage.  Rachael, thanks for teaching me how to handle a collicky baby.  Thanks for showing me that it’s okay to have a slightly disorganized house when the babies are little.  Thanks for showing me how to love my husband and my children instead of putting on a performance.  Thanks for being one of my good friends and helping me through my cancer by being a mother to my children some days.  You can’t know how much that meant to me and how comforting it was to know they were safe and loved. Thanks for being real with me and trusting me with the ”essence of you”.   Matt, thanks for loving my T and for respecting him.  Thanks for working beside him, cutting firewood and challenging him in his walk with God.  Again, you can’t know how grateful I am that God blessed us with friends like you.  We love you and we are praying for you!

Life moves forward, God made it so.  How easy it would be for me to get comfortable in my rut and forget to turn to my Creator and Daddy for meaning.  How easily I forget to worship him and honor him for the magnificent details of life.

Dear Daddy God~Thanks for allowing me to see the little things that make people special.  Thanks for blessing me with great friends that I can spend eternity with but more importantly, thanks for letting me be a part of their lives and allowing me to get a glimpse of the plans you have to bring other’s into your fold.  You are merciful and Holy and I love you!

Amen