Neighbors are Blessings

Friendships and real authentic community always fill my cup to overflowing. My neighbors in the sweet community of Mt Vernon, Illinois, were wonderful. 


Neighbors are the people that God has called for us to love.  There are so many neighbors that I have loved in various towns, one great place we called home was Mt. Vernon, Illinois.  We lived in neighborhood cakes the “Fruit Bowl.” Two houses down was Gai Millwood an awesome, inspiring, tri-athlete, an AWANA cubbies leader and mom of boys.  I've seen her pray with my kids and enjoyed watching my girls learn memory verses for Awana while in her class.  Gai invited us to her church on day one. That's love!


The neighbors that God wants us to reach with his message of Jesus Christ's grace and plan of salvation will be there wherever you go. Next door  to us lived a hard working couple, Erika and Jason Young, parents of two toddlers at the time, both parents were always helping someone and had the  time to keep up with friends and housework too. This couple has grown so much in Christ since the family made the decision to return to church. God is always at work in this world we just need to open our eyes to see.  


Two houses in the other direction lived the most compassionate mom, sister, wife, daughter, & friend who works as a dental hygienist. She makes sure her daughter gets to dance class & softball and gets her son to baseball and soccer.  Selflessly this mom had been spending at least a year or more caring for her brother who was going through cancer treatments. What love! I am thankful to witness her caring heart and compassion.  Across the park from us loved a family that has devoted itself to reaching the under-privileged teens of the Mt. Vernon community. The mom ran her own health ans wellness consulting business as well as served on the school board, and she sings beautifully. Within our little neighborhood also lived a police Chaplin and his wife too. All over my neighborhood I found examples of God's blessings in my life and in the town.   


 I may not live in Mt. Vernon, Illinois, anymore and I never miss the house I left behind. However, I miss the people! I miss the kids playing together and the nights spent chatting in the front driveways.  I love the opportunity to invite people into my home to eat good food, to laugh, to play Wii Kids Dance, and to study the Bible. To meet new moms through groups like MOPS and Making Our Mothering Significant. I have since moved to & on on again from the tornado swept town of Joplin, Missouri. As a person who goes ALL IN I loved on and got to know many great people there for 4 years. When we moved we had to find the food in good-bye. After my husband and his co-workers helped to build the Joplin replacement hospital and patient towers for Mercy we had to move again. The neighbors we have met along our way to our current home in Nixa, Missouri, molded and shaped us.  We have lived in our Nixa home nearly 5 years now. I am always ready to meet more awesome people to make new friends and to help other mothers moving to gracefully and meaningfully meet others and love well so that they can transition well into their new city. 

Joy found in Friendship

When life is happening one move after another what I've come to realize over my 32 years and 9 years of moving, people come into your life for a short blip of time, more often than not, filling your life with joy. Throughout our travels and moves I have taken comfort in the fact that everywhere I go I find a new friend or two.  Sure, it sounds like it's SO not a big deal to those of you that have been able to stay connected with those close friends made in your high school or college years. Even connections made through your work or spouses workplace can have a meaningful impact in your life.

In extending myself and offering my friendship to others, I fully realized that I would merely be an acquaintance to some people and that I may never see them again but...I did anyway in hopes of having a good friend close by to turn to wherever I was.   Some unexpected friendships resulted along the way, some that didn't workout, some that caused heart aches upon parting but mostly I found joy in friendship.
I'm thrilled to say that I have some friends that have Always been there for us and we've been so blessed in sharing in their joys throughout the years. Scot and Emily Davidson are definitely friends we can always call on anytime.  This year we celebrated the adoption of their son, Juwan,  in Decatur, Illinois.  I hope and pray that you will be able to keep those friendships throughout the years.

We've also been blessed with groups of friends that have been a family to us when we were so far from our own.  This group brought us meals after the birth of our daughter, meals when I was ill with H1N1 and pneumonia, they also helped watch our kids so we could have date nights, and they invited us to join them for various holidays and celebrations.

Lately, we have been able to enjoy the best of both since we've been closer to family then we have ever been as well as building new friendships. The thing to remember is that you too bring joy to others, you have much to offer and by extending yourself.

Joy in the Move

Just a year ago January 1, 2011 my husband and I ventured to Mt Vernon, Illinois, in hopes of finding a "great" house to rent. Last night my husband and I were sharing our favorite songs that have encouraged us along and during each of our moves, for me I love Chris Tomlin- I Will Follow and his  Third Day- Gone.  Unfortunately, being New Year's day only one Realtor was willing to work with us that day and the house he took us to was falling apart.  That day we did have some divine intervention as a friend of my husband's happened to have a relative that had a rental house come available that very day.  Of course the friend, didn't know if they would be available to let us see the home so he called....we were amazed that yes we could stop by and take a look.  However, the house was a disaster. Floors and bathrooms caked in animal feces, counters dirty, wallpaper dating to the 70's it was SO bad I cried myself to sleep.  The couple assured us they would never have shown the house to us had they known. Needless to say, they would never rent it to us without a major overhaul inside.  What seemed like a total disaster actually turned into a blessing.  The landlord tore out the flooring throughout the home, hired painters to remove the wallpaper, patch wholes, and resurface the ceilings as well as paint, and the house was thoroughly cleaned.  We moved in after just 5 weeks. Yesterday, I praised God for letting me be willing to be willing to take a chance on another B-I-G Huge move.  Change is never easy, we've moved across the country, lived in 4 different states and I've found joy in every move. Look for your blessings, joy will find you wherever you go!