Make new friends, but keep the old........................

In the last five years I have moved to three different states (NM, IL, and WA) and it hasn't been easy because in each of those places I either didn't know a soul or only knew a token few people. With each move though and with a little time, God has provided me with some of the most cherished friendships I've had in my life. In Albuquerque we made many friends through our small group at church. Many of us felt like we were family to eachother and spent many Friday and Saturday days and nights together eating, laughing, playing Settlers, Hand and Foot, and Dominoes together, scrapbooking, mountain biking, playing Halo, and just having fellowship together. Many of us all had babies around the same time as well. I also met some great people at East San Jose where I taught 4th grade. I was crushed when we had to leave everyone to move to Chicago. BUT, God provided there too. I almost immediatley got involved in two mom's groups through our church there and met many lovely mothers and friends. I also met some great neighbors around our community. Many of the women I knew stepped in to help me with my kids when my health was so poor last year and really showed their servants' hearts in helping me. Some of us swapped babysitting with eachother so we could have occasional date nights with our husbands. One group of mine got together for monthly ethnic food themed potlucks without our kids! And, one friend in particular acted as my doula for my labor and delivery of Gabi. What treasures my friends are in Chicago! So, when we picked up to move yet again to WA, I thought, "Here we go again, leaving more great friends only to go to a place where we don't have many." I knew not to worry though because God had shown to be faithful in the past with providing us with friends, it just takes some time and patience on our part and some effort in pursuing people. Thankfully, we have built in friends with my brother Michael and his wife Emily living so close now, but I knew we needed to extend ourselves still to meet some new people. I've been praying about it for a while now and reminding myself to be patient, and I see that yet again, the Lord is bringing people my way. In the last few weeks especially I have started meeting some wonderful people and potential friends at the library, swimming pool, a new bible study, MOPS, in our neighborhood, at church, and at the park down the street. Yeah, I'm so excited! Thank you God. I guess my Christmas card list just keeps getting bigger and bigger and that is a blessing!