Posts Tagged friends

Motivational Monday

Monday, December 3, 2012

 

 

“As iron sharpens iron,
so one person sharpens another.”

Proverbs 27:17

 

 

Teamwork leads to relationship

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

There is a lot of assembly required following a big move. And heaven knows we had more than our share of it. Of course, Dad got saddled with the big jobs. I always seemed to be tied up with something important when it came to some of it. I got my fill of reassembling furniture with our two dining tables.

I tried to be MIA the entire time, but ended up holding the monkey bars in place. And it was so humid that day. Did I mention humidity makes me cranky?

After being such an asset to getting the playset put up for abuse, I mean play, I went into hiding in the house. When I peeked out the window, I saw that I had missed the beginning of another construction job in the works.

 

I’m trying to be sly so they don’t see me snapping shots, but Cooper and Anabelle are hard at work. Well, maybe Cooper is. It seems Anabelle is in a supervisory position.

Anabelle often does place herself in a supervisory position. After all, why should a princess do manual labor?

It appears there is a problem. The look on Cooper's face is priceless, and Anabelle's hands are most definitely headed for her hips. Things are coming to blows, People, stand back.

 I try to stay out of their disputes. First of all, there are too many of them; it would be exhausting. And secondly, I want them to learn to compromise and problem-solve without a referee.

It appears the labor dispute was resolved. Everyone is smiling and there is a roof over their heads. Well done.

I loved watching Cooper and Anabelle working together. Teamwork is vital to any successful relationship, personal and professional. Any opportunity they have to practice teamwork, I want to let them do so. While I do care about their grades, at teacher conferences I always ask how they are doing socially. I place equal, if not greater, value on that. I know that it doesn’t matter how smart they are, if they cannot get along with others, their chances for success drop considerably. Not too mention what they would miss out on by having close relationships with others. And those relationships, loving and serving others, are what will give their life meaning.

I know I cannot imagine what my life would be like without the close relationships I have been blessed with over the years. I have grown, laughed, cried, celebrated, mourned, worked, played, prayed and been loved beyond comprehension by these close relationships. These are the things I don’t want my children to miss out on in life.

Proverbs 27:17  Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The blessings of girlfriends, part 2

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

After all the trucks were loaded and the girlfriends were gone, off we went in our convoy. The convoy consisted of a 26-foot Penske truck driven by my husband, a 26-foot truck driven by me (extremely scary!), a 16-foot truck driven by Angel and my Yukon driven by my mother. We were off like a herd of turtles.

Looking back on the trip now, it seems like a big blur. I was white knuckled most of the time driving the big truck, with a small part of me feeling empowered and invincible. Before we left our house in Las Vegas for the last time, I gave the camera to the girls and asked them to go around and take some pictures for me. I didn’t have a chance to look at them until we got to Kansas.

This was what our first night in our master bedroom looked like.

We were so excited to finally be home. Our new home. Exhausted and relieved to have arrived safely, John and I crawled into bed (blow-up mattress bed, that is) with a sigh. Re-living the last few days, we grabbed the camera to scroll through the pictures taken. Within seconds we were laughing out loud so hard, we were afraid we would wake the children.

 

First we saw pictures of rooms. Then gradually the pictures became more random. Knobs. Oh, silly girls...

 Then there were pictures of the stove top, light fixtures up close and personal, and then…

 

I guess Autumn is done with packing. I see resentment beginning!

 

 

While I was in the other room, the real fun began for these girls....sliding down the banister....

 

...Autumn on ledges 12 feet in the air....

 

...Angel playing in the backyard in Cooper's marine hat....

 You know they had to eventually find their way to the bathroom too. Oh my. Girls, girls, girls.

Jill taking a bath? She is kicked back anyway...

 

Angel in the shower? Really girls?

 

Autumn and Angel. These girls deserve an award...I just don't know for what!

And the pictures went on and on. Almost 200 pictures. Of knobs, wall corners, light bulbs, even the vaccuum cleaner. And many more silly pictures of the girls posing. I laughed until I had tears in my eyes. I am blessed. My friends came and sweated and worked on my behalf. Then they sent me on my journey with a little gift to find on my camera, a special gift to remember them by. The gift of laughter and sweet memories. Their last picture summed it up nicely. Thank you, girlfriends. I love and appreciate you all.

This was on my entry wall. The first thing one would see as he or she would enter our home. Our home was warm with the love of Christ and our friends were many. Truly a blessing.

 Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work; If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 NIV