While walking outside and talking with God through different seasons, I love to see how God planned every season for a purpose and also how He provides everything needed for each one. He prepares the animals with everything they need for the specific environment they live in, and they survive in community. I rarely see wild animals alone around here, with the exception of a turtle crossing the road. The birds flock together. flying from one tree to the next, and the deer run around in herds together. When I spot one deer in my yard, I can usually look toward the woods and find several others. When one starts to run away, the whole herd runs away together in the same direction.
God also provides us with community and sends us certain friends for certain seasons. Some friends come and go, while others remain friends for life. But each one represents a season that they accompanied me through that I will always remember.
I'm in a new season right now, in a new place with new friends that God specifically placed me with for a purpose. But I recently had the opportunity to fly back "home" to reconnect with some of those friends that represent past seasons of my life. I'm going to feature a different friend for each of my next few posts to focus on the specific season or seasons of my life that they walked with me. I'm so thankful for the way we will always love one another deeply and for the way we can just pick right up where we left off. These are the kind of friends everyone needs in their life.
To start, I'd like to introduce you to my dear friend, Mori, and the seasons that God put her in my life for.
Mori quickly became my first friend when I moved to Texas. My sister-in-law met her at a neighborhood ice cream social and found out she owned a bilingual home daycare. So when I very unexpectedly moved to Texas to work in Bilingual Education with an almost two-year-old in tow, Mori immediately came to her mind. I set up a meeting at Mori's house within a day or two of moving to Texas, and not only did I find the perfect daycare situation for my son, but I also found a lifelong friend.
Mori and I were born the same year, had sons born the same year, were both Christians, and we were both bilingual moms married to non-bilingual husbands. She ended up watching my son David while I worked, but then we also hung out together on weekends and occasionally in the evenings, too. We did Bible studies together in her home, walked together, rode bikes together, we both pursued adoptions that didn't go as planned, we sent our boys to pre-school together and then also to a Spanish immersion pre-Kindergarten school. Our boys played T-Ball and soccer together, and then they stayed close as friends for years even though they went to different elementary schools. As young adults, they still have a strong bond that will always be there.
Mori and her family later completely accepted and embraced our adopted son, Juan David, and treated him like family, too. Juan David has remained very close to her son and still hangs out with him. The friendship between our families will always be strong.
So Mori and I raised our boys together and watched them grow up together, while we, too, walked beside each other through some high highs and the lowest of lows. She was there through a lot of different seasons of life, but the season I will always remember her through was my season of parenting a child from a toddler to an adult. We may not have been as closely connected through their middle and high school years due to them pursuing different activities and ending up in different circles of friends, but those childhood years kept us close. I'm eternally grateful to God for connecting us and letting us walk together through that precious season of life and for the lifelong bond we share. Getting a chance to meet up over break and share a brunch with her and both of my sons (unplanned!) was a real treat that I don't take for granted.
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