Have you seen this girl????

Been looking through old pictures lately!

My, my - it is amazing what one can find.

Has anyone seen this girl????

Birthday with Carolyn

My very precious friend, Carolyn Long, and I celebrated our 56th birthdays together recently!

YIKES! We are old.....

Carolyn and I have been celebrating birthdays together since high school. We were BEST friends then; AT ALL TIMES, wherever one was - the other was close by.

After high school, we lost track of each other for about 20 years - our lives went very different directions.

After all those years, God moved both of us to Fayetteville, AR and we picked up right where we left off.

One MAJOR change had occurred - we both had found Jesus and were changed girls!

We are both so thankful that we have had the opportunity to know each other again - on this side of the Cross!

We went to the St Petersburg, Florida area for 4 WONDERFUL days to celebrate #56 together! We had a GREAT time and did a lot of reminiscing and a LOT of laughing! We even did a little bit of crying - they were good tears though. We spent time on the beach soaking in the sun - yep - we paraded our chubby white bodies clad in new swimsuits all over the beaches of Florida! It was a sight to see. We wished we had brought framed photographs of our very tan, bikini clad bodies from our high school years to display next to us while we sunned. Those cute young chicks have NO idea what awaits them 40 years down the road. It made us smile.

We shopped til we dropped, laughed, ate way too much really good food, laughed, sang the oldies together at the top of our lungs, laughed, stayed up late talking every night, laughed, worshipped our Savior together on Easter morning, did lots of sight-seeing, laughed... Do you see a trend?

You all know that I LOVE my girlfriends. I am a girlfriend kind of a girl! There is something very special when one is blessed to have a 40 year history with a girlfriend. There can't be any pretending or hiding - each knows the other's history, both good and not so good. We are accountability partners. We could ruin each other's life - but we never would! ;-0

We didn't take many picture of ourselves on our trip - it's really not all that fun taking pictures of one's self at 56! We did take one photo so that we could look at it in 10 years and marvel at how good we looked at 56 - compared to 66!

One of these days, I will find my big box of pictures in the attic and share some old Carolyn/Char pictures from the past.

For now - you will have to settle for one picture from 40th birthday and two from #56!

I love you my sweet friend and sister! You bless my heart and life in so many ways -

I am thankful that God caused our paths to cross in this life - I am very proud of the woman you have become. I loved my teenage friend, so full of life and love and laughter. I love the Godly mature friend that you are today. You hold a sweet place in my heart that could never be lost or forgotten or replaced by another.

I know that we will celebrate MANY more birthdays and days together in our life here on earth and forever in Heaven.

You make my heart happy.........

My THREE sons!

I'm WAY behind on blogs!!!

But I have new "found" time - so I will try to catch up a little bit.

I have been going through old pictures lately - looking for baby pictures of Aaron. He and Audrey are trying to determine exactly whom Lila resembles. It's cute!

My goodness - the years have FLOWN by! Seems like just last week I had 3 little boys. Now I have 3 incredible grown men!

As you look at these faces - and smile with me, I want to share a few of my favorite thoughts/prayers that came out of my mouth every single day as my son's grew up.

1. "A little boy is all God has - with which to make a man." - I loved that saying. I had to remind myself daily that one of my jobs was to teach and love these little boys into remarkable men. God and I were successful!

2. "For these sons we have prayed, and God has granted our petition. Therefore, they are given to Him. And for as long as they live - they are given to Him." I loved this scripture. I spoke it at least once each day - MANY times on some days. I had to remind myself that no matter what had happened that day or what might happen tomorrow - these precious little boys belonged to God and He was bigger and stronger and wiser than me - and ultimately, it was HIS job to protect them, keep them healthy and insure that they became remarkable men. I was aware at all times that the "job" was too big for me!

3. "I thank you Lord that my children are disciples, taught of the Lord and obedient to HIS will. And - GREAT is their peace and undisturbed composure." This was my prayer / my proclamation for my son's EVERYDAY! It still is. Even on days when it didn't look like this was true, I did and still do believe every word of it! God is FAITHFUL to do what we ask of Him.

Mother's day happened while I was away. I made each of the boys get their picture taken with me. They are such good boys. I have attached them for your viewing pleasure.

Ryan and Aaron and I had birthdays too. Ryan on April 22nd - that makes him 32! Aaron on May 4th - which makes him 28! And me, on May 5th - makes me 56! YIKES! I think that it is kind of cool that Aaron became a daddy at 28 - the same age as I was when he was born.

We are going to have a BIG birthday celebration soon. There has been a LOT going on - we all decided to celebrate later - probably going to have a big bar-b-que at the park/pool/golf course by Nene and Poppy's house. We opted to wait until the monsoon season has passed and baby Lila gets a bit older.

So enjoy my before and after pictures!