Goodbyes

We had to say goodbye to several people from church this week. Our friend Jon is leaving for Marine boot camp tomorrow. We hosted a going-away party for him last Saturday. We went to Olive Garden, then came back to our house for dessert and games. It was a lot of fun, but we are certainly going to miss him. His wife Katy will be staying here for several months longer, so we don't have to say goodbye to both of them yet. It will be very hard when they move to wherever he is stationed. Why do friends have to pursue their dreams? They should just stay where they are forever. ;)

The group at Olive Garden. Katy & Jon are beside Darby.

Wednesday night was my last time to have my little buddy Torin in the Cradle Roll class. I've been teaching him since he was 4 months old---17 months ago! On Sunday mornings he is our only student, so my co-teacher, Stephanie, and I have gotten to know him very well. It's been so neat to watch him grow from a baby into a little boy. He's incredibly smart; seriously, his vocabulary and ability to put together sentences is equal to many 3- or 4-year-olds. His parents are in our Young Marrieds group, and we will miss their whole family; they are moving to Nebraska. I keep saying that someone at church needs to have a baby, so I'll have a student in Cradle Roll again. But, I'm not volunteering for the job, so I guess I better keep my mouth shut!

BFFs: Whitney

Thanks for the advice on my last post. I did want to emphasize that I am very thankful for the friendships I do have. I have several friends that I know I can call anytime and that really do "get me." It's just that they live hundreds of miles away. And, while long-distance friends are great, and I definitely want to maintain those relationships, sometimes you just want someone within 20 miles, you know?

So, in that spirit, I thought I would do a post about my BFFs over the years. My very first best friend was Whitney. My family moved to Robinson Church of Christ when I was 6, and Whitney and I became fast friends soon after. Looking back, the funniest thing to me about our friendship was that we argued all. the. time. We didn't really get in a lot of fights, per se, just bickered back and forth like an old married couple. But, it didn't stop us from being close friends. I don't know how many nights I spent over at her house. Below are just a few of the quirky things I remember about our relationship.

• When the JCPenney Christmas catalog would come, we would call each other and flip through every page together. We were allowed to pick one item per page. (Not to have, obviously; this was some kind of weird fantasy world.) This wasn't just limited to toys; we'd also pick out women's clothes, men's clothes for our future husbands, everything.
  
• We used to make these crazy concoctions of raw eggs, spices, mayonnaise, basically whatever was in the fridge. Then, I guess we'd just throw it out. Not sure why we thought this was fun, but we loved it.
  
• In the summer, I would go with Whitney to visit her grandmother in Corsicana. We'd swim in her aunt's pool and watch soaps with her grandma. Her grandma was so sweet and would do all of our laundry before we went back home.
  
• After Princess Diana died, we bought all these tabloids and magazines and spent an entire evening reading about it (and looking for pictures of Prince William!)
• We became pen pals (yes, even though we lived in the same town). We would write each other letters and deliver them to church on Sunday. Not sure why we couldn't just tell each other what was in the note. :)
• We loved The Babysitters' Club and read all of the books. My mom took us to Dallas to see Ann M. Martin and get one of our books autographed.

I could go on and on. I have so many precious memories of Whitney. We didn't spend quite as much time together in the later years of high school, but our friendship remained strong. And we argued a lot less ,too! I'll talk more about Whitney when I share about my other best friends from the youth group. I am very blessed to have her a lifelong friend. Even though we don't see each other very often, we can always pick up where we left off. And now, I get to keep up with her through her blog. I love to hear her thoughts on books and Christianity and see how well she and her husband are doing in Ft. Worth.

And now, a little photo trip down memory lane.

Our earliest picture together (that I have). My 8th birthday party. Whitney and I are on the left. Hannah's the dork on the floor. :)

Sleepover at my house. Yes, I believe we are only wearing nightshirts, no shorts. We were very comfortable with each others' families.

Skiing in Monarch, Colorado

Our 14th (me) and 15th (Whitney) birthday party at Whitney's house. Probably way too old for a Veggie Tales theme. :)

Dressed up as Sonny and Cher (or at least our ideas of them) to sing "I've Got You Babe" during karaoke night at our friend Jessica's.

At Whitney's wedding 4(!) years ago. She's married to a great guy, Clint, who's in medical school now.

Happiness Project: Friendships

A few months ago, I shared my thoughts on the book The Happiness Project. I've been thinking off and on ever since about what happiness resolutions I should make in my own life.

One area that I really want to concentrate on is friendships. I am not one of those people that needs a lot of friends; I have always been content with having a few, very close friends. But, I've felt like things have been a little lacking in the friendship department ever since we moved to Illinois. Now, don't get me wrong, I do have several wonderful friends here, and there are a lot of nice, smart, fun people at church. But, I feel like I don't have that one special friend—someone I can talk to about anything for hours, someone I can call any time without worrying I'll bug them, someone who "gets" me.

I have been fortunate enough throughout my life that those types of friendships have just fallen into my lap. But that hasn't happened this time. I'm not sure what it is. Am I being too picky? Am I not trying hard enough? Am I just a complete dork? Just kidding about that last one. Kind of . . . I realize that it probably does become more difficult to make friends once you are out of school, but I know plenty of people who have best friends they met as an adult so it is possible.

After 2 years of throwing myself a little pity party, I've decided that I'm going to have to do my part to be more satisfied with my friendships. I came up with a couple of goals to help me:

• Twice a month, I will initiate plans with friends. I am very guilty of waiting around for someone to call me. I am often reluctant to ask someone to do something, thinking the other person will say yes just to be nice. But, that's ridiculous, and I've got to get over that. If they don't want to hang out, it's their responsibility to say no. And, probably, there are other people like me just waiting for someone to call them, right?
• Once a month, I will call one of my college friends. I'm pretty good about staying in touch with friends via e-mail, facebook, etc., but I think there's something different about a phone call. Any time I talk to one of my friends, I feel so much happier after I hang up. I'm not much of a "phone person," but I think once a month is something anyone should be able to handle.

Ok, everybody, hit me with your best friendship advice. How do you initiate a friendship? If a friendship doesn't immediately "click," how long do you keep trying? How do you keep up with friends from high school, college, etc?

3 years

On Wednesday, Darby and I celebrated our third anniversary. I'm so grateful for another wonderful year together. Our initial transition into married life was smooth, and it has only continued to get better. The longer we are married, the more appreciative I am of all of the little routines and traditions that make up our life together. Obviously, we love taking trips and going out for special occasions, and so forth. But those aren't the norm. The norm is waking Darby up after I get out of the shower, him doing the dishes while I put away leftovers, rushing home after church to start our Sunday afternoon nap, trying to beat each other to the punch on "that's what she said" jokes, kissing Darby goodnight in the office while he works on homework, sitting on the couch playing Dr. Mario, eating way too much ice cream, admiring our work after our Saturday cleaning sessions, Darby coming to meet me in the garage to carry in the groceries, getting up at 5:30 a.m. to eat breakfast together before I go to work at 7, texting each other to say "I need some encouragement" and getting a response 30 seconds later, going to Starbucks to read, working out together, and saying "I love you" twenty times a day.

There's no one else I'd rather share life's little (and big) moments with. I am a blessed woman.

Florida!

We just got back from the second annual Hewitt/Wann 4th of July trip. Last year, we met our friends, Dylan and Andrea, in Nashville. This year, we decided to go to St. Petersburg, FL. The Wanns live in Georgia, so they were able to drive down. Next year, we'll go somewhere near us, like Chicago.

We had a wonderful time! We stayed in a cute little beach house in a town called Pass-a-Grille. We could easily walk to the beach, and our little section wasn't crowded at all. It was a fairly rainy weekend, but that didn't stop us from swimming, looking for shells, and going on a dolphin-watching boat ride. Thankfully, the rain let up long enough for an awesome fireworks show. And, of course, playing games, eating ice cream, and chatting don't depend at all on the weather. And, as you can see from Darby's forehead in the pictures below, we got more than enough sun. :) What you can't tell from the pictures are that my legs got burned completely unevenly. I was sitting cross-legged on the beach reading a book, so only the insides of my legs burned. It looks pretty strange.

Darby and Dylan goofing off in the water. This was the beach right next to our house.

See what I mean about Darby's forehead?

Andrea and Dylan. On the 4th, we grilled out on the porch of our house. We had yummy steak, potato salad, and corn.

Dolphins! About a third of the way through our dolphin boat tour, it started pouring. The lower deck of the boat was covered, but it was easiest to see the dolphins from the uncovered part, so we stood in the pouring rain for about 30 minutes. It was worth it to see the dolphins, but...

we ended up looking like this! The funniest thing was, when we got back to our car, which was parked on the now-deserted beach, we saw two dolphins swimming maybe 30 yards from shore! Oh, well, it was an adventure.

Another year, another great trip. It was so nice to just relax and spend time with our good friends. I wish we lived closer, but living far apart is a good excuse to take mini-vacations together!

Texas Trip: Part 3

We drove back to Waco late Sunday night. On Monday, mom took me to get a pedicure while Darby cleaned out his old bedroom. Tee-hee! That night, both sets of parents took us to Chuy's to celebrate our birthdays. Yummy. Afterward, we ate dessert and opened gifts at my parents' house. My mom made me an Oreo cheesecake, and Darby's mom made him an apple pie. I had a little of each. ;) I got a new wireless printer and Wii Fit for my birthday. They were shipped to our house, since we were flying. My printer came Wednesday, and I love it. I can't wait to get my Wii Fit!

On Tuesday, we headed to the airport---after a healthy breakfast of cheesecake and apple pie. It was such a wonderful, busy trip. I always wish we had more time to spend with everyone, but I'm so thankful that we were able to see so many friends and family.

Now, we're headed to Florida to meet up with some friends from ACU for the holiday weekend. Pictures to come. Have a happy 4th!