So blessed

God is awesome. He places people in our lives that will for some weave in and out, some who stay for the long haul, and some who are simply there for a season and never again. I have some of each and I am blessed by all, even those who have not remained if nothing else because I've learned something from them in one way or another.

Today I visited with an old neighbor. She lived below us when we first moved on post at Ft. Riley 7 yrs ago. Jacob was just about 4 months old and we were moving ourselves from off post to on post. As we were taking things up we met Donna. She was instantly friendly and it was nice to know a neighbor after us living off post for about 9 months and not knowing a single neighbor. We became wonderful friends and hung out, along with another neighbor nearly every day. She loved Jacob and our whole family and we spent most of our time laughing it seemed like. She was the first friend I had as an Army wife who left ME verses the other way around. It was horrible to watch her and her husband drive away. Today for the first time in over 6 1/2 yrs I got to spend a few precious and wonderful hours with her, her husband, and her little boy. It was so hard to leave, but I just truly felt so blessed to be able to spend time with her.

I'm now at my friend who I've known for 10 yrs. We both worked at the bank together during our pregnancies with our oldest girls and have been friends since. It's been almost 5 yrs since we last saw each other. She came to see us after Jackson was born, he was 5 weeks old then. Her girls were in bed by the time we got here, so I'm excited to see them tomorrow and see how much they've grown!

The best part of this whole trip though is that I was blessed to spend 5 1/2 days with Emily. If you read her blog (link on the side bar) then you probably already love her, if not, go read her, you'll love her. We met when we were both pregnant. She with her oldest and me with Jackson. We first met in person with Jack and her oldest where about 7 months old, and after we met we started talking on the phone multiple times a week, until it was every day. Being back in the states on this trip has been the longest we've went without talking, that's really stunk, so getting to be with her constantly was wonderful. Her family is so wonderful and well I just adore her.

God places people in our lives and I can tell you that he's been overwhelmingly generous to me. He's given me a husband who's my best friend and then the absolute most wonderful girl friends a woman can ever ask for. I've had friends who walked through grief with me as they went through their own and found best friends in that grief. I never thought that'd be possible that I could find someone who got my heart that way when my heart was broken. He gave me Tami and Kelly. Eight years later and they're both still an intergeral part of my life. Then 5 1/2 yrs ago he brought Emily into my life. I can tell you I never even thought I'd connect with women on the pregnancy board where we "met" much less find a friend who's a part of my heart and soul, yet I did. To know that God just keeps working the way he does amazes me. I've seen him in my children, in my husband, in my life in general, and to see him bring such amazing women into my life to love, lean on, support, pray for, with, and who lift me up and let me lift them up, be a shoulder to cry on, etc it's just awesome to me.

God is so generous, far more than I deserve and he's just blessed me. Tonight as I miss my husband who's deployed to Iraq. I think of how blessed I've been the past few days. He gave my children and I a home where we instantly felt at HOME in (especially the bedroom! LOL), he gave me a friend who's husband so willingly and generously slept on the couch while Emma and I slept with his beloved so we could have a safe and comfy (and roomy!!) place to sleep. He gave me laughter, joy, and tears.

I am so blessed, more than I deserve.