long over due.

i have said this before and i will say i again but it is so very true. what we write on this blog. the pictures we share and videos we make are just a small window into our life. you can not possibly document everything or share every little piece of your life. i do not think we are meant to. but i do love that this has become a place where we share our lives. what we are learning. how we are growing and where we are headed.

but sometimes things get missed. it was just such a busy july and a whirlwind of a summer. i did share this first part so start there. here we go. 

i did fly out at 8pm that night. but around 6pm justin offered to keep ava at home so i could really get away and be with my friends. although the sweet but challenging aspects of traveling and trying to connect with friends you barely see with a little ava running around..sounded good...it sounded way better to make this trip solo. after a few mass text messages to friends we had the next three days covered for when justin was working. thank you girls for rallying and making it happen. it honestly changed this entire trip for me. it came at such a great time because the night before i left we had shared the news of our upcoming move to harrisonburg with our young life committee. they are not just a committee but family. these people not only helped us through cancer this past year but honestly made it possible by cooking meals, babysitting and cleaning. i literally ached in pain as we talked about where the Lord was leading us and that we were in fact moving. i know now that people. especially people you love just need a second to process and let things settle in. but those moments were heart wrenching for me. so after many tears and some severe anxiety my husband said...

"please go. rest with your friends. i got ava."

i did hesitate for a moment. going back and forth in my head. it is funny as a parent. even when you want a "break" you really do not always want to actally follow through with that. but sometimes it is necessary. it was good for me. justin and ava too. they had some really special time together those four days. so i left. all by myself even though it felt odd like i was missing something. but she was safe at home.

our time was spent at my friend Britt's parents house in rural ohio who literally treated us like we were at a bed and breakfast. honestly. the beds were "turned down" at night.  extravagant meals were made for us and brought pool side. it was incredible. we spent our time in the pool. talking. eating. shopping. watching movies. doing what girls do best. being so intentional with one another knowing our time was limited. we shared life. husbands. work. about babies. the difficulties in getting pregnant. the loss of a baby. cancer. marriage troubles. new relationships. in many ways we were all shocked to see how much as happened in each of our lives from the seemingly careless days of college just five years ago.

what i cherish the most about this time is that this is it. for me this is the only time i see these girls. some of my best friends in the world and we only get a few days once a year. but we do it. we make it happen and we will do the same thing next year. even when life gets crazy and money is tight we make it happen. maybe next year it will be all 6 of us for the first time ever.

there is something so precious about being known. like really known. the honesty and the vulnerability to share what is hard. ugly. bad and sometimes even embarrassing. right along side the joy. but with these girls you have it all. after moving a few times since college i know how much i cherish being known. having history with people. i know every relationship starts somewhere and you build from there. i am experiencing that right now in our new town. i am looking forward to being known here too. but there is something easy and relaxing about being with people where you can be you. just you. all the good and the bad. they love you for all of that. that is what i took away from this time in ohio. that the Lord brought us together back in 2002 on first timmer at calvin college in grand rapids, mi. our leaves were meant to intertwine and grow. even from four different states we a continue to share life with one another. when months go by in between phone calls or emails stop for while. we know we are all in this together. we pick up where we left off. that is just what you do. i love you and cherish you.

a glimpse of our trip.

we take our mexican food seriously.

 we headed to a little random hippie town nearby.

he sang for us. on the street right outside the grocery store. classic hippie town and a tree was wearing a sweater.

i had to imitate what a nice man from the aveda salon did to me as he demonstrated how there product would transform my hair.

we came and ate this fancy meal.

my sweet friends gave me that necklace as a memento for this past year. we had given bethany a necklace similar to this when she lost her sweet baby leyton in july of 2009. the necklace even had dwyc (don't waste your cancer) engraved on the back. i love it. thank you. it is perfect. it will always remind me each of you and the way you loved me and cared for me through cancer. in so many different ways.

we spent the rest of the night talking. hoping it would never end. but it did. like they always do. but our time was sweet and necessary and rejuvenating. i know it was for me. thank you for being my friends and loving me the way that you do. i have many many relationships that are important to me. it is hard to maintain some of them and time gets away from you and life happens. but i know it is imperative to make the time. make it happen. do what you need to do to and not waste the relationships in our lives. we may not always do it right and we we will fail. period. but i believe our hearts were made for friendships that last and run deep.  just be real and intentional. i am beyond grateful for the many friendships in my life that i know run so so deep.

don't waste the people around you.