I’m trying to be consistent about writing every Monday through Friday, but life sometimes doesn’t allow it.  Yesterday I had the perfect reason not to post about Friends & Family… instead of writing about Friends and Family, I was with Friends and Family.

The day started out babysitting a friend’s son and feeding another friend’s cat.  These are 2 of my “go to girls” when I need help so I love to be able to reciprocate and help them out too.  Do you have a network like that?  If not, I encourage you to seek it out.  These friendships developed out of spending time together because we were local and have kids the same age.  Playdates grew into swapping sitting for doctor’s appointments and such.  And eventually these women have become the type of friends that I can tell anything to and know they will still support, love and encourage me.  Love friends like that, the ones involved in your day to day.

Then, Jeff took all three of our boys to his parents for a sleepover with cousins and grandparents – and no parents.  This is always a highlight for my boys.  They love the time with grandparents.  And Jeff and I encourage it, its such an important relationship to foster and builds lifelong memories… and it means some free time for us!

So Jeff and I then went to meet an old college friend (old in how long its been since we saw her – 15 years, and not in age – younger than me!) and her husband, who we hadn’t met yet, for lunch.  We had reconnected on facebook and they were passing through in the beginning of a long drive from New York to Colorado and made time to meet with us.  This couple is not involved in our day to day, but I loved that we could sit down and talk about real life as if they were.  No awkwardness and not just idle chit chat… but real “What’s God been doing in your life and how do you feel about it” type of conversations.  They were very open, authentic and definitely felt like kindred spirits.

After lunch and a walk around the mall, Jeff and I got to go to the Phillies game together, alone, without children.  (I love my children, and being with them… but like any parents time without them is really important to Jeff and me.)  Thank you Mom for the tickets!  It took forever to get to the stadium because it was raining and rush hour and a Friday and people were going to the shore.  But that just meant more time to talk.  We passed a man standing outside waiting for a bus or something and getting drenched so Jeff stopped and gave him our umbrella.  “Thanks Poppy,” the older Asian man kept saying over and over again.  We’re not sure what Poppy means – insult? compliment?  Not sure but I think he appreciated the umbrella and then Jeff realized about 10 minutes later, “I gave away our umbrella, we are going to get wet walking to the stadium!”  So we took a detour to a CVS to buy a new umbrella before going into the game.

We got to the game and our new umbrella didn’t work quite right – oh well, we got a little wet, but didn’t melt.  The game was on a rain delay for a couple of hours so we got a chance to talk to a nice couple from Media who were also on a date night.  They had two boys 3 and 5 and unfortunately for them their babysitter was being paid by the hour unlike our babysitters who were grandparents and didn’t charge… so they weren’t real thrilled about the delay.  But it gave us a chance to talk.  Jeff and I are trying to be more intentional not just with our established relationships, but those we come in contact with.  Anyway, the game finally started and ended after midnight with a walk off home run victory for the Phillies!

Then this morning, we had a knock on the door and were visited by a good friend who has been in Africa (Botswana) for 3 years as a missionary.  She’s home for a few months and this was the first we had gotten to see her.  I had just sent a message to her asking what her schedule was like, so was thrilled to see her and 2 other friends (who live 3 minutes from us and we definitely don’t see enough of – we’ll have to fix that) at our door.  Even though my house was a mess – its been a busy week – and I wasn’t showered, no deodorant (did you read that post about deodorant?), and neither teeth nor hair were brushed, I loved that they had stopped by and visited!  I’m so glad that I’m at the point in life that I can enjoy a visit like that without worrying about what they are thinking about me!

It was a good day and a good start to today!  (Oh I didn’t even mention about the reunion earlier this week at Penn State for the fireworks.  We had connected there with some college friends who now live in Kansas.  We hadn’t seen them in 15 years either, but like our other friends, the conversations were real, authentic, and easy.)  I am so glad for all the people God has blessed me with in my life.  And if you are reading this… that includes you!