Extended Family
It is so amazing how God provides when you are least expecting it. As a military family we move often and we never know when or where God has that special family waiting for us but they always manage to find us. The one special thing about these friends/families is that I am not only friends with the wife, but Mr. B is friends with the husband, and vice versa, and the kids are all friends. It's so great to have other families to hang out with where both of the families get along and want to spend time together.
I decided to dedicate this post to those 3 families and share why they are so special to us. Don't get me wrong there are other families that we have made friends with but these are the families that we'll be friends with and stay in contact with for life and one day get to spend time with them again!
The first family is my great friend Y and her family. This family was so important in determining the way our first overseas tour went and through spending the 2 year tour in Iceland with them we learned we LOVE living overseas, a major part of it was because we got to spend it with them.
The way we met was very interesting and certainly God played a major part. We left AL when Bea was 4 mo old, she was a high needs baby (fussy!!!) and didn't travel well. We first ran into Y's family in the Baltimore Airport USO, I'm sure I looked like a wreck stressed out traveling with this fussy, nursing baby. I had also just did a chop job on my hair (I hated it!) so it probably looked like a wild woman! Mr. B did most of the talking (imagine that!). When we arrived in Iceland we found that we were also staying in the same temporary housing unit and they lived upstairs! When we finally moved into our permanent house they lived in the same building on the other side! It was during this first few weeks that our families started hanging out and touring Iceland together. From then on our relationship only flowered and grew stronger and by the time 2 years past I was leaving and it wasn't a dry occasion. It's so amazing how another family can touch your life in such a way that you can't imagine now living your life without them! It was also with them we came to love wild and crazy road trips, I'm SO thankful for them and all our experiences!
We Love and Miss Ya'll!
Photo taken by Y May 2005
Me and Y Aug 2005
The next family is my great friend D and her family, they played a HUGE role in our wonderful tour in Misawa, Japan. We had arrived in Misawa, Japan just before Halloween so we didn't know anyone around holiday time, and while we enjoyed spending the time with just us, it brought back memories of the past years holidays with Y's family. Mr. B was starting to wonder if we'd ever meet anyone and I told him that God has always provided and He would again we just had to be patient. I also told him I thought we might meet other families when the boys started basketball in Jan, and boy I didn't know how right I was! It was there at Bubby's basketball practice/games that we met them. Mr. K and Mr. B happened to be coaching the kids team together and me and D were in the bleachers talking trying to entertain the little ones. D being herself, casually mentioned that she would be willing to watch the kids if I ever needed it as we'd been talking about my doula work. Little did she know I'd be calling her very soon!
I had a client who needed me and I needed childcare so I called her, and truthfully with the experience I went through with the client I needed her to talk with as well. It was here in this selfless moment that was the start of D and I's friendship as well as the guys and kids. I'm so amazed at how God keeps leading me to families who are so selfless and compassionate and I'm praying that it's rubbing off on me! We spring boarded the adventures by going on a day trip with them...and truthfully they had no idea what they were in for...and I'm surprised they ever came back! Once again the friendship flourished over 3 years and I wasn't ready for them to leave this past June :(
We Miss You Lots!
Photo taken Sept 2007
Me and D March 2008
There is also other family comes into play in Misawa, C's family, and truthfully C was a lifesaver for many times I needed help with the kids and just to chat with. One of the neat things about C and her family is that they were literally our next door neighbors, we didn't chose them and they didn't chose us, God put us together :) It was great because our kids were all about the same age and Bea and Little A were best buddies. We spent many days after school outside talking and sharing stories and it was here with C where my faith continued to grow leaps and bounds.
We Miss Ya'll! Keep and eye on the 'house' for us ;)
Photo taken Sept 2007
Me and C Sept 2008
Some of my favorite pics of the guys!
Each and every family has been put into our lives for a special reason and I'm so thankful that God provided them for us. We still keep in contact via the Internet and phone calls but I can't wait for the day when we'll get to 'see' each other again!
Thanks again to you all for embracing and accepting our family as Iceland and Japan wouldn't have been a great tour without you! You all mean the world to us and we're proud to call you 'Family' and I can't even put into words how much ya'll mean to us!
posted by Mrs. B @ 7:30 AM
2 Comments:
Okay...this one was a tear jerker! You know, you really have a natural ability for writing! I see why you had no trouble with paper writing.
Christy
Thanks for making me cry :)...Mr L and I were just talking the other day about how we wouldn't trade some things in life for anything and one of those was meeting you guys. In my perfect little world, you would live right next door forever. We love and miss you guys....Yvette
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