God is So Good!!

As evidenced by the array of May postings, it was the spring of Palmer College reunions for us.  I couldn't leave out our last stop, thus far, which was with our friends, the Perrines.  We met up with them on our way home from Tulsa for dinner at, where else, but good ole Cracker Barrel in West Memphis, Arkansas.

 Brandon was a few trimesters behind me in school, but he and Nicole were our neighbors and we went to church together, so we saw a lot of each other.  Plus, the Perrines took extra good care of me during the four months when Eric went before me to Tennessee while I finished up clinicals at Palmer, during my second trimester of pregnancy with Biz.  Tuesday nights were my "date" nights with the Perrines, when Nicole would cook me dinner and we would all hang out together.  Yes, our good friends know, the best way to care for a Workman is to feed a Workman.  And the Perrines were wonderful friends to us.

Eric and I had the opportunity to visit with the Perrines about a year and a half ago, but this was the first time all of our boys had gotten a chance to meet and play together.  And the next time we meet up, there will be a little girl in the mix.  Sweet Lilia is due to arrive any day now.

Some people only need a couple of companions in life, but God wired me differently. He knew I needed A LOT of help in this life journey, so He gave me an extra dose of people to surround me. Thinking about all of the friends God has placed in our lives over the past ten years or so just overwhelms me.  I have not lived near family for nearly fourteen years (excluding the nine months spent in Richmond between undergrad and grad schools).  Eric and I have been blessed with wonderful, wonderful biological families.  But God's plan was for us to be uprooted and live apart from them.  God is so faithful, though, and has always surrounded us with friends who have become our family. 

He had it covered from day one, when I first moved to Iowa alone.  I just so happened to sit in front of Matt Biddle every day in class for the first trimester.  Matt Biddle invited me to his church, and from there so many of our lifelong friendships began.  The friendships from Palmer College and Grandview Church helped sustain us through the intense three years of graduate school, our newlywed years, and when we all began to start our families. Late night Rook, lots of Whitey's ice cream, lots of "practice" adjustments, weekend trips together...all pre-kiddos, when we could stay up past 11pm and still function.  Our very first church small group ever was in Iowa, at a time when I was first learning to what it meant to truly walk with the Lord, and those were good times with awesome people!

I think back to when we moved to Nashville and when Eric needed a place to stay for a couple of months before I could join him in Tennessee, and  the McLaughlins (literally) took Eric in as there own, and therefore, "adopted" our boys and me, too.  If you know us at all, you know what the McLaughlins mean to us. 

I think of the small group that we first visited when we were new to Belmont church and didn't know many people in the area.  Out of that group, nearly six years ago, grew friendships and family, that although every family does not still attend that church and the small group has long since dissolved, they remain some of our closest friends.  What a special group they are. We had our babies together and walked through the early years of parenting together and today continue to be there for each other, playdate together, girls' night together, and whatever else we can because we enjoy each other so much.

And now since we began attending Harpeth Community, God has placed new family members in our lives, who walk beside us daily.  We continue to learn so much from these friends, since for the first time since moving to Tennessee, we are among a group of friends where we are not the family with the oldest child.  Oh, the wisdom and experience that we have been gaining since being enveloped into our Harpeth family.  And the mentors we have met there who are so seasoned in the Word of God and share His knowledge so freely. 

Each step of the way, God has known our needs and provided.   Be it through our church, work, school, a trip to the park, our neighborhood, God continues to place amazing people in our path.  And in His beautiful grace, we have not had to trade biological family for family friends or old friendships for new; He has allowed us to keep expanding our hearts and our lives to accomodate the new people He has for us to know.

This is community.  This is family.  This is what it means to live and love in the body of Christ.