Day 5

This past weekend at church, the sermon was about Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.  If you are a Shauna Niequist fan too after reading Bittersweet, you can hear the message if you click this link (http://media.willowcreek.org/).    Anyway, the message got me thinking about the people outside of my family that shape who I am.  The first picture that came to my mind was my friends.  The women in my life that share day to day life with me. 

Day 5:  I am thankful for the friendships I have with my girlfriends.  We share ordinary things together like recipes, maternity clothes, books and coffee (lots and lots of coffee).  We tell each other our stories over playdates despite a million interruptions from the kids or during outdoor runs through the neighborhood while trying to catch our breath.  And every once in a while, we get out for a much needed "girls night" where we dress in clothes that haven't been spit up or snotted on yet.  We meet up at non-kid friendly restaurants where we leisurely eat and just talk for hours and hours.

These women are the ones who have babysat my children so I could volunteer at a school event for another child, take a child to the doctor, or travel home for my sister's baby shower.  They are the women who brought me meals after each of my children were born.  They are the friends who come into my house and see past the clutter in my entryway, the crumbs on my kitchen floor and the folded laundry sitting in baskets waiting to be put away.  Even more than the practical help they give me, they share themselves.  These are the friends who talk to me about the babies that they've lost I never got to meet, the tough times in their marriages and decisions they are mulling over.  These girlfriends have invited me into the sacred parts of who they are and they have seen the real me (and they still are friends with me).  

I am so very thankful for my girlfriends.  They challenge me to see things in different ways, encourage me when I'm losing perspective, and teach me about so many things.  They've taught me big things like how to have Faith despite painful loss and smaller things like how to make a photo collage in Picasa or freeze cookie dough so I can always have some on hand (very important for those cookie dough cravings).