The Gift of Friendship

EVERY GOOD AND PERFECT GIFT IS FROM ABOVE, COMING DOWN FROM THE FATHER OF LIGHTS WITH WHOM THERE IS NO VARIATION OR SHADOW DUE TO CHANGE.  JAMES 1:17

I have been learning about good gifts lately.  The most recent team that was here had some ladies on it…the first time we have had ladies come visit.  It was such a wonderful gift to me.  Michelle, Kena, and Ginger were all on the team for very different reasons. 

Michelle is a member of the board of Knox ProCorps and has been a wonderful support to us while we have been here.  She is a very behind-the-scenes kind of person, so it was sweet to have her on the scene.  Mark has also worked with her at Cannon & Cannon for the last 6 years.  I really enjoyed getting to know her on a more personal level.  She even welcomed two of my children to sleep in her tent while we were camping!

Kena is a new friend.  She works at First Utility District and came with her husband and other co-workers from FUD.  She loved on my children and me in such a sweet way and it was wonderful encouragement to me.  She brought all kinds of little trinkets to my kids…including baby powder which I have had to hide from Dancing Beauty because she was putting it EVERYWHERE and glow-in-the-dark necklaces which my two middle girls decided to use to throw a surprise party for the team!!  I am thankful she lives in Knoxville and that our friendship will continue.

Ginger Colvett spent a year of her life doing exactly what I have been doing…living in the Ulpan Valley with her family.  Her husband, Kevin, is the engineer who was here for the year before we came.  I met Ginger in April 2012 when I first came to visit Guatemala and we have since met up in Memphis in July, talked on the phone all fall, and visited while we were home for Christmas.  She has been such a tremendous encouragement to me because she totally gets life here.  So, when we found out the team would be camping on the other side of the valley for the week (and therefore, I’d be flying solo for a few days), I mentioned to Ginger coming with this team of Knoxvillians and simply helping me with the kids.  I was so thankful when she bought her ticket and even more thankful to have her here.  She helped me in so many practical ways with the kids, but she also loved on my soul in a very real way.  Little things like:  bringing me coffee early one morning, taking the older kids & I down to play in the river, bringing me a funny, girly book so I would have something to read that’s just for fun, telling me to quit reading the parenting books that make me feel like I’m not up to par (who is??), suggesting we take the kids to McDonald’s in Coban & let them play while we ate & chatted (and therefore, making me feel so much more like a normal momma of littles than I have felt for months)—I also never thought I would be so thankful for McDonald’s, sitting and crying with me as we talked about how living in the Ulpan Valley has changed our lives, and simply being a friend to me at a time where I really needed the physical presence of a friend.

So, the night before the team left as we were all saying our “three words” to describe our week…my three words were “Gift of Friendship”. 

Side note:  I am super sad that I don’t have a picture of these ladies to add to this post---we were so busy chasing the kids all week, I didn’t take a single picture.  So…girls, that means we need a reunion in Knoxville—Ginger, we expect you to come over!