The Farmhouse

Day 62.

There are some days you just know are going to be amazing.

Today was one of them.

I had the amazing privilege of going through a Blended Teacher Education Program at Cal State, Fullerton. In addition to receiving an amazing education and my credential, I graduated with a group of ladies that had become like family. We have seen each other through everything. We use to get together once a month. Then it was every other month. As time has gone on and we've all grown our families (and had moves here and there) we make time to get together for special occasion and we still always try to have a Christmas get together. Now, due to being a military family, we are not always here for every gathering, but these girls have stuck by my side through it all. At the end of this school year, we will have been friends for over 19 years. We've been through a lot with each other.

Anyway, today was one of those special occasions when we were able to get together and celebrate our sweet friend Julia as she prepares to have a baby. Julia's story is amazing, but it's her story to tell. I will say this. When I think about her amazing story and the fact that they are getting ready to bring home their third child, tears fill my eyes...they are happy tears. I am so excited for her and this amazing journey she's been on. I'm also super excited to find out what she is having in a few weeks. She's been so strong and hasn't found out what she is having. Love you Jules!

I just love each and everyone of these girls. A huge part of who I am today has to do with the fact that I had their love and support during college and we were all there for each other in so many different ways. What I've loved about our story is that no matter what we always find a way to connect and get together. It's important to us. Our kids (whether they remember it or not) have all been huge parts of each of our lives and our kids all have so much fun together.

Today, my sweet friend Kara, who has been the biggest blessing during this deployment, invited my kids over to play with her kids while we went to the shower. Her amazing mom came over and watched them for us so that we could go have some girl time with our friends. Kara and I have been on an amazing journey together the last few months and it's so sweet to see how God is intertwining our stories and has grown us so much closer. We have some sort of communication almost every day and that means the world to me because with Alex being gone, there are some days where I don't have any interaction with anyone other than the kids. Don't get me wrong. I adore my children, but sometimes you just crave relationship with someone who is older than 6 or 10. Kara has been that constant. She has been faithful to check in on me, to pray for me, to listen to me, and to take time out of her schedule to meet up with me. So, all this to say, we met at Kara's house and then left the kids with her mom and drove together to a beautiful restaurant called The Farmhouse for lunch to celebrate Julia. We arrived a little bit early so we had fun looking around and snapped a quick selfie.

Once everyone arrived, it was like no time had passed since we'd all been together. It's pretty amazing actually. These girls all work for SageOak (if you're in SoCal and homeschool, check them out), but because of the nature of their jobs, they don't see each other as often as one would think they would. However, I still think it's pretty fantastic that they all get to work "together" and that they all get to work from home while loving on their families. 

We had such a blast. Each of us gave updates on everything that is going on in life right now. We shared for memories. We talked about our hopes and dreams. We did was we do best, we shared life with each other and soaked up every minute we could, knowing that at some point they would have to come to an end. We could seriously have stayed their through the evening, but after a little over three hours and funny looks from the waiters we ended up having to get up and say our good-byes. We are all hoping to get together for a Christmas something or other though. So hopefully we'll be seeing each other again soon. 

As we parted ways, Kara and I headed back to her house to relieve her mom and we found that our kids were having so much fun together. They were begging for another playdate and so we are so excited to set something up. Another thing we learned today is that we only live about an hour and 15 minutes from each other. We'd always met in the middle or somewhere else, so we didn't know the door to door time from her house to our new home in La Quinta. We were both pleasantly surprised at how short a distance it is. So, we're working on planning something for our kids to get together soon...and of course us. 

After the kids and I got home, they went to bed and I caught up on some work that had happened while I was out and then I watched another episode of Gilmore Girls and got to talk to Alex briefly before he had to head into work for the day. 

It was a great day and I'm excited to head into my next training session tomorrow.