Friends

We have all heard that trying times will show you who your true friends are. I have not really experienced this until this last year. The year started with having to recover from a DNC while packing a whole house with just me, my mom, and Reagan. Aaron was wonderful to me but he was not able to help much physically as he still had a job to do. We moved to our new house and at that time, because of my sadness, I could not see how different friendships would affect my life. Thank you to those who called and checked on me, helped me unpack all of the horrible boxes, and kept me moving forward.

Fast forward to this summer when my mom had a car wreck and soon found out she had lung cancer. At that point in time I realizied who I could truly go to with my deepest concerns. (You all know what I am talking about!) Now that Mom is finished with the 16 weeks of chemo I can look back and evaluate the different types of friendships in my life. In this trying time I have realizied each friendship has a different purpose: some for prayer, some for tears, some for laughs, and some for when there are no words. Some of my deepest friendship are from childhood and some from a few months ago. It is amazing to me who God places in our lives to get us through each situation we face.

I am thankful for all of the wonderful friends, no matter how close, that God placed in my life. Thank you all for your continued prayers for the last 5 months since all of this started. Thank you to those who have called and checked on me, offered to help me with my boys while I took Mom to chemo, or took Mom to chemo so I did not have to take her every week. I may have not said thank you to everyone but please know that I am so grateful for each one of you!

Starla

Rock Band Christmas

Aaron and I are celebrating our first Christmas in our new house this year. We decided to have all of my family over on Christmas Eve. We did our normal snack foods. Then let the kids open their gifts. While they were playing with their new stuff us adults did our Chinese Christmas. It was so fun. There was some dirty looks given but over all everyone had a good time. To top the evening off we played a little Rock Band and had red velvet cake. What a fun night! Hopefully I will get pictures to post!

Christmas morning was a blast. We all had a great morning. There were too many gifts to list each one off. Our house looked like a Christmas tornado went through my house. There was wrapping paper, boxes, and twist ties everywhere. I am still finding trash hidden in small places.

For New Years Eve Aaron and I, with another family, took our kids to a hotel in Decatur. One of the rooms had a huge hot tub in the room so the kids got to go "swim" there in the room. We took all kinds of snacks and games so we did not have to leave the room. The little kids were asleep by 9:30 and the big kids were asleep by 10:30. The adults stayed up playing cards and talking till midnight. It was a good family friendly night.

I pray that this new year brings blessings to everyone.
Starla