I believe

I believe in the power of friendship. Friends who are there for you when no one else is. Friends that share your crazy sense of humor and see the good in you when you don’t even see the good in yourself. Friends that laugh at your jokes when they are not funny and love you when you don’t love yourself. Friends that encourage you and push you to be better and will listen when you just need to vent. I believe friends keep you feeling young and young at heart.

Friends are a blessing from God. He has put some wonderful friends in my path when I needed them the most. I met Amanda in the Mother’s Nursing room at church. We connected right away and our daughters are best friends. It is so nice to have another mom going through the same things that I am going through! We both have strong willed, hard headed, smart daughters who keep us on our toes. Especially when they are together. About a month ago, I got a call from the preschool director saying that my daughter was in her office along with her best friend. She then tells me that I need to come pick Gabby up from school because Gabby knocked over Charleigh’s block tower and said hurtful words so Charleigh knocked Gabby in the head with one of the blocks which left quite the goose egg! I am thankful that I have a friend who will be with me along the way!

Going through the lowest times in my life, I realized who my true friends were, my family. My family was there for me when no one else was. I was alone, pregnant, and did not know what I was going to do. I moved in with them for a month while I saved some money and tried to find a place to live. They bought me a beautiful crib and decorations for Gabby’s room, and just helped me figure out who I was and who I wanted to be. They were the ones there to pick me up and help me piece my life back together. They push me on and encourage me to follow my dreams and tell me it is possible. 

God put my best friend in my life at a time that I needed her the most. After coming out of the lowest time in my life, I had a little girl and my family but no close friends. That is when Amber came along. She needed a bestie just as bad as I did. She has been the person I go to when I need to talk about anything (after my mom), and is always there when I fall.  Amber gets my jokes and even laughs to make me feel better and I do the same for her. She helps me see the humor out of embarrassing moments like the time Gabby decided to yell out that Mommy needs a husband in the middle of the mall! She tells me that I am enough and makes me see that I need to love myself because that is the way God made me. When I am feeling overwhelmed and sorry for myself, she will always do something sweet for me, like bring me Starbucks or some chocolate. She has encouraged me to better myself and supported me when I decided to go back to school. She is always making me laugh and showing me that you have to find the humor in the bad to make it better. Even finding the humor in dating a bunch of ‘frogs’ before we find our prince.

Friendship has come from my own child. My sweet Gabby girl has been a type of friend to me in her short 4 years of life. She keeps me on my toes and keeps me acting young (though I feel old while doing it), and is always helping me see the light in this dark world. Weather its dancing to the Tangled’s over song or climbing up on the big slide at Jump Mania, she keeps me going. Some days are harder than others. Being a single parent is hard. I am the one who kisses the ochies, does all of the disciplining, reads the stories, teaches her about Jesus, gives her all of the love and support that I feel like she needs, and does everything a parent is supposed to do. It might be hard but it is worth it. When she comes up to me so excited that she wrote a word the right way, when she is so proud that she cleaned her room, or when she tells me “I love you so much! You are the best mommy in the world!” makes all of the struggles seem so small.  God brought her to me when I was at my lowest of lows. I was able to crawl out of this dark hole I was in which has only improved our relationship. She is one of the only things in this world that makes sense to me.

Watching the friendship between two four year old girls who have been friends their whole lives is amazing! Gabby has a best friend named Charleigh and we consider them to be sisters more than friends. The girls fight like crazy but when another kid says something about the other, they get very defensive. Gabby was sick one day and missed preschool and a little boy told Charleigh that Gabby was not sick. Charleigh did not like that very much and slugged the kid in the face! I’m not saying it’s good for her to hit but I do think it is great that she stood up for her friend. The list of their friendship could go on and on. I will just add that I am completely exhausted after having the two of them together!

The friendship bond between a mother and daughter is very strong. Not just my own daughter but my mother. She is so amazing and there is no way that I could describe her. I model everything after her. I strive to be as good of a cook as she is. No matter how hard I try, I can never get my pies to turn out as good as hers. She is always telling me that she believes in me and how proud she is of me. She was there with me along the way and still loves me. She believed that I could come out of the lifestyle I was in. She supported me when I was in the hospital with an eating disorder and basically dying. She supported me when I got pregnant and turned my back on her. When I came back around and told her I wanted to get married to this guy, she had a wedding put together in less than a month. Then when I left him, she told me that I could raise this baby by myself and that I did not have to stay in the miserable situation I was in. She was still there. It has strengthened our bond so much. When I was asked to speak at a woman’s Bible study at church, my mom was asked to share a few things. She told about what she went through while I was in this dark place. She told how she had nowhere to go and felt so helpless. Then went into saying how proud she is of what I have become and how much I have changed my life. It was very eye opening to me to hear in her own words how much my choices affected her. She is one of the strongest women I know. You should see her shovel snow! She can lift more than some men I know. I am so blessed to be her daughter.

The strongest friendship of mine comes from my Lord and Savior. He knows everything about me and still loves me. I am constantly talking to him every day and know that he is listening. He has blessed me continually more than I have ever imagined and is continuing to everyday. He has a purpose for me and I can’t wait to see more of what that is.

Friendship has played a huge role in my journey. It has seen me through some really hard times. My friendships keep me going and continue to show me that I am enough. I might need to hear it over and over again like many women. But the base of friendship has to be love. I can honestly say that all of the people that I consider to be my true friends, I love.