Friends

****update!! I totally forgot to tell you something! The entire reason I told you that I was in Bunk 28 and what my horses name was!
So I come home and tell Chandler all about my trip. Dont get me wrong, I tell everyone, but this is about Chandler, so hang with me. I said "It was just like when you are at summer camp, but with a bunch of moms everywhere instead of kids." I asked him "So where did you stay last summer, what bunk were you in?" I am really feeling "in the know" at this point. And guess what he said (before I said anything!) BUNK 28! No lie. Seriously. I said ME TOO! We were both really excited about that. He is all "Which bed did you pick? I was in the corner by the door and under the big deer head on the wall. Were you?" I said I was actually in the other corner, but it was very cool that we shared that. Then more talking and I said that I went horseback riding too. And he said "Oh, well, my favorite horse is the one I ride every time and his name is HAPPY!" Seriously, how cool is that. I have always really wondered about his time in Dry Gulch and dont seem to get enough info to satisfy me. I always want more details. Boys dont give details. So I really feel great having experience that "with" him! ****

This weekend was such a blessing to me! I was able to enjoy a wonderful weekend with my very dear friend Ashley at a women's retreat! The most wonderful church in the world, COTM (I am not bias or anything) offered a retreat for us with the theme "Friend to Friend". The speaker was Beth Jones, who is also wonderful. Apparently, that is the word of the day... Wonderful! It was totally amazing and God Filled!

Let me just give you a run-down on the activities that we got to partake in. We left at about 4:30pm Friday evening and drove the 45 min drive to Dry Gulch, USA. We got checked in a went to our bunk to drop off our stuff. We were assigned to Bunk 28. Well, let me just tell you that so were 25 other women! That was the only thing that was slightly less than desirable. But Ashley and I decided that since we never did the camp-thing when we were kids, it was high time that we experienced it in true fashion! Boy did we ever! Complete with twin bunk beds with waterproof mattresses and a shared bathroom for about 75 women! Dont even think for a minute that these circumstances put a damper on any of those womens experiences! There were extreme happy faces and wonderful camaraderie between all of us! (There were smaller bunk houses with only about 10 women in each one, but we got the MEGA one!)

Then we went to the Dining Hall for dinner. It was delicious with Chicken Cordon Bleu and scalloped potatoes, salad, fresh tri-colored green beans and peach or blackberry cobbler. Yum-o!

Then we had an evening session with Beth Jones, wonderful worship music with Andy Chrisman and the COTM band. Beth is an amazing speaker, so incredibly funny and shared with us some very useful stuff about God-knit friends. (More on this later!)

The fun was only beginning. They had tons of activities planned for well into the night! Smores roast on the patio near the lake, at an outdoor fireplace (beautiful and perfect), tons of board games in one room, a chick-flick (No Reservations), Syncing with the Stars competition, (completely over the top and hilarious!) and just good ol' fashioned talking and laughing. Ashley was feeling a bit under the weather so we kept it low key. We turned in about midnight and were the first ones to bed! But, alas we were not to sleep that night. No. The other 25 or 50 women had other plans. Did you know women snore? Hello? I did not know that. I thought that was something reserved for overweight men who are grandpa's. Nope. We had a 4 piece chorus going on all night. A low snorer, a whistler and a couple of accompaniments. Plus those plastic mattresses on the squeaky springed bunk beds! Wow. Noisy night!

But it was really ok the next day. I wasnt really that tired. (God given strength, I tell ya.) We went to breakfast, which was knock-your-socks-off good! Then over to the morning session with Beth. After that was free time. They had tons more activities for us. Ashley and I felt like we were on a cruise. We check out our itinerary and decided which of the fun things we wanted to participate in! We opted for Horseback riding! It was great! My horse was named Happy and was white with gray spots. We went on a trail thru the woods. The weather was perfect. The leaves were falling and thank God my horse knew exactly how to go! I just sat there. My kind of Horseback ride! Then we played some Bingo. We had fun but didnt win any of the great prizes they had. I must have needed my sister Lisa to sit with me to re-call the numbers! Then it was lunch time and another trip to the chapel. They had a Grand Giveaway and tons of BFF Moments that were shared. And then sadly, time to go home.

I really feel like I learned alot about friendships. Most I already knew, but it is great to be reminded. I will share a couple things I learned.

To be a friend one needs only to listen and show interest in others.

If you want to make friends, you dont need to come up with something clever to say as a "pick up line", you just need to ask questions. Where did you get those shoes? What grade is your daughter in? And then, back to number one. Show interest in their answers.

God wants you to have friends. He knows you need other women around you so that we dont weigh our hubbies down with our "stuff"! But I believe my friends help recharge me. They are such a blessing in my life!

And lastly, show up. Show up at dinner with a group like 6 Happy Hearts did! Show up at some MOM's Club events. Heck, just simply show up at the park on a sunny afternoon to get yourself out there. Then once you have friends, show up when they have turmoil to be with them, and show up when they have victories to celebrate with them. Beth Jones said that 85% of friendship is Showing Up. How true.

I think as moms we all go thru a friend famon. When we are concentrating on our babies and husbands and not sowing any friend seeds. During that season of my life, I turned to the MOMS Club and what a blessing that was. I still have many wonderful friends that I made simply by showing up at some functions.

I just know personally that I have cemented in a way that can never be broken a true God-Knit friend in Ashley and made some new friends along the way.