Friendships

Well one of the things I love most is the development of new friendships and the wonderful feeling of talking with an old friend. With new friendships it is great to imagine what you will get to share over the coming time together as will an hear new stories and experiences. I love talking to my old friends- who know me so well I feel open to cry, laugh or just express how hard some things in life are sometimes. Since we have moved to Kentucky it has been a very different stage in our lives. We have had many changes- new house, more children, getting grey hair etc. But also life has become busy which lends itself to not making the kind of friends we had earlier in life. Well the past few years we as a family became friends with our Japanese neighbors the Mase's. I must say that there are some friendships that are comfortable from the start and this is one of them. It is a great feeling as a parent to have someone truely love your children. I must say there are probably only a handful of friends I know look past the rough edges of my children and see the wonderful gifts God has given them, and for those people I am truly thankful. Last Monday we had to say goodbye to the wonderful friends we have enjoyed having a couple doors up the street- it was difficult to say goodbye but must say that we are thankful for the time we did have and look forward to a future trip to Japan! Well with that being said- I knew that me and Darcy would be sad to say the least to see them go- but was not quite prepared for the crying that my children did. These are people they have spent major holidays with, celebrated birthdays with and just had fun playing tag- to them it was heartbreaking to see thier house packed and them moving. It is so difficult as a parent to see your children upset and sad- we have prayed for our friends and laughed this past week at memories of fun times. It is amazing how God opens door in your life to things you weren't even looking for- the boys went to science camp this week and due to their friendship with Haruka and Sho they wanted to make friends with another Japanese child- they said they do not want to ever forget them. Well we did meet a new family and the great part is they know the Mase's and Haruka and Sho. Well Samuel came home with some new string tricks- something popular in Japan and is missing his friend Sho but determined to have another friend from Japan (i love it) Amelia has also made friends with another Japanese mother while waiting to pick the kids up- she says " mom I think she is friends with Ms. Iho" "I think she will know Ms. Iho" It is so touching to see the impact that this dear family made on my children. So the point of all this is- we are thankful that we stopped the crazy busy schedule that I think it so easy to get sucked into in the US and spent some time with people!! Well tomorrow is the last day of science camp and as i hate endings the boys made me promise already that they can go back next year- yikes they know how to get me when I am emotional! It has been a wonderful week for the kids as they have done all science all day- and I have had to do none! Amelia had gotten a crazy amount of attention and time with mom- which she really needed and the twins actually got to get into the swimming pool- although they may be scared for life as it was so cold! So my goal over the next two weeks is to figure out what things we are going to be involved in next year and make sure the schedule leaved some time for fun and new and old friendships!!!