Blessings

This past month has been a hard one. The big kids have tried some more tricks to see if we are still going to love them. They try to push us away. They are shocked when we continue to embrace them. They reject our love and our family and we continue to love them and they are shocked some more. It's hard. And it's good. It is exactly what God has called us to. And it's hard.

It is not a real surprise to us any longer. The real surprise for me has been the way that God has blessed my heart through opportunities and relationships this past month.

Those relationships have been sweet and real. It has been the opportunity to call or email a friend who understands and just say, "Pray now!" and know that our family is covered in prayer until the current crisis passes. It has been the opportunity to be able to share prayer requests, deep, real, and complicated with a group of understanding, non-judgmental friends online and in real life who go right to the Throne of God in prayer. It has been the opportunity to play with friends who aren't worried about their children witnessing tantrums in public or restraining violent children or even having to have a child sit out the entire playdate. Yes, this is my new normal and friends who understand and withhold judgment are a blessing.

Another blessing has been the opportunity to share what God has been teaching me regarding the topic of Biblical friendship during the course of this past 18 months. Two Saturdays ago I was the guest speaker at a women's luncheon for a local church. It was such a blessing to be able to dig into God's Word in preparation for the topic of Biblical friendship and to see all that He has been teaching me during this past season in the wilderness. I always tell the children that we are blessed to be a blessing. The blessing was mine in being able to share with the women the ways God has blessed me through Biblical friendships.

And the sweetest blessing this past weekend during a bonfire when our youngest moved his chair away from his often volatile and angry older sister (who was calm and pleasant at the moment). He reassured her by saying, "Don't worry. I'm moving my chair because it's too smokey here, but I still love you!"