Amazing Friends!

I was SO remiss to not post about my wonderful time with friends last week. I was a little out of it, as I had a root canal that has somehow gone wrong and have been on pain meds. . that make it a little hard for me to speak/write/think clearly sometimes! Well, last week my Amazing friend, Jaymie came into town from Atlanta and she and our incredible friend, Ladelle came over. Jaymie and Ladelle are both wonderful friends and SUPER SWEET girls who love the Lord dearly. We have been friends for close to 10 years (not really sure the exact length!). Ladelle now lives here in town, but it took Jaymie coming in for us to actually get together! However, we are making plans to change that! Jaymie is a hilarious blog stalker. . we don't get to keep in touch super regularly, but she always knows what's going on b/c she is a faithful blog reader. . most likely of yours too. Her first words to me when she came to my house were, "How's Jess doing on the Biggest Loser competition with Cassie?" ha ha! It has also been cool to watch God grow her heart even more for Him and for his orphans around the world. Their small group is actually raising the money to build and support an orphange in Haiti! Isn't that awesome? AND, she just emailed me yesterday saying that her son Jake took KidsLake to his school. His whole class is doing it and they showed the principle and the whole school may join in!!! YEAH! Thanks Jaymie for encouraging and being excited about my crazy ideas! And many thanks to Ladelle (although she can't figure out how to look at my blog, so I'll have to email her this!) for loving my kids SO much and encouraging me in my parenting. Her kids are basically grown and she is so sweet to my children. She sits right down on the floor and plays like crazy. We definitely need to spend more time with Aunt Ladelle!

More recently. . .
Yesterday, I got the opportunity to spend the day at the hospital with my friend, Kelly. She had her first baby girl yesterday afternoon. She was AMAZING! No drugs, but had to have pitocin (the horrible drug that makes your contractions awful). She was so quiet and controlled. I love that she is a girl who clings to truth in the midst of pain. Literally! In a little tiny break during pushing, I leaned into her ear and whispered, "He never promised it would be easy, only that He would remain with you. Also, You CAN do this. . You can do ALL things through Christ. He sufferred for you and you will endure this pain with HIM by your side. Cling to Him through each push" Many girls would want to smack you in the face if you told them that during delivery! However, she needed it. . she had asked me to be in charge of "scripture and truth" and told me later that it's just what she needed to hear. What an amazing woman. We are delighted to welcome her to the world of motherhood. Now she can join our Mom's Bible Study on Friday mornings!!! Yeah! Check out, Lucy Sky on their blog www.johnandkellyinflorida.blogspot.com and give her congrats (most likely she knows who you are even if you don't know her b/c she's a major blogstalker!)

Speaking of my Friday morning Mom's group. . .I have an incredibly long blog that I'm dying to post about all that we learned yesterday in our study! So, check back tomorrow night for that and plan to bring your Bible and make sure you have 15 min to spare. I promise, it will be worth it! I'm still reeling from the awesome lesson and the deep discussion. I just LOVE these girls that God has given me! They are each anxious ot learn, ready to discuss scripture and vulnerable enough to look inside and ask the Lord where they need to apply it. My favorite is our prayer request time. . someone is sure to cry every week! We have a rule, that your prayer request has to be about your own heart and what God's teaching you and they all open right up and share their journeys! ooh, my heart literally swells just thinking of them!