Great family, great friends

1st of all - see Transformers 2 - it was great -action, comedy, kissing..., teary eyes. Good, good.

Next, tell your family you love them. And give them grace. My mom died in December and I am learning how to live this "new normal" life. I don't always choose patience with my family, but when I give them grace, it is wonderful. I live for the unplanned bonding moments - like tonight with my dad - when we have good conversation and make dinner together (though tonight was rushed a little... sorry Dad:))

Also - friends are wonderful. I have friends of many different sorts - old friends that have known me forever, pretty old friends who I'm really close to from college or my 1st round of grad school, newer friends within the last 2 years in Iowa City, friends from class, friends from church, friends from work, new friends from my apartment building and their friends:) All of these are awesome and wonderful and amazing. My favorite is when you can call up a friend whenever just to say hi or when you can say - "hey, let's go do....[fill in blank]" randomly and they actually will! And friends who really nothing is said or explained and you really just met a few weeks ago, but you feel like you've known each other longer and there's just a peace about that friendship.

What I love most about friendships is when they are God-centered. I think that's when you really start to feel like family - when a 2-week knowing of someone can be a broken-down barrier leading to a feeling like you are loved and cared for by someone. It's when you don't get a lot of chances to talk to a really close friend because you live in different states or across the country, but when you do talk or visit each other, it's like you're just picking up where you left off - there are never any hard feelings for not talking as much and you love to just be in each others' presence. It doesn't matter what you do when you hang out. It's great.

So take a minute and thank God for the people He's put in your life. Yeah - even the more difficult relationships. He is teaching you something through each one - easy or hard, close or distant.

Thanks to all my family and friends! You are wonderful!

P.S. Tomorrow's my last day teaching this program! I will miss some things about the students and hope they enjoyed at least some parts of it! Tomorrow, they will be making presentations in the morning and we'll be doing wrap-up stuff in the afternoon - pretty laid-back. I hope I don't check out too early...ha

And then frantic (well, at least quick) laundry so I can pack for Colorado!!!!! This is when the blogging really comes into play - when I'm away and climbing in the mountains:) yay! I will try to venture into posting pics too.