Another Giveaway!

My friend Traci is at it again. Click here to see her latest giveaway.

One Year

To all who may be wondering, I’m okay. I survived the one year mark, not great, but I survived. Josh, Kristen, Chris and I went to the cemetery on Saturday. The day matched my emotions perfectly; bitter, cloudy and cold. As we stood at Christy’s gravesite we all cried. What a blessing it is that Josh has a wife who will not only allow him to grieve but also shares his grief with him. I realized on Saturday, more than ever, why God chose Kristen for this season of Josh’s life.

On Sunday Chris and I went back to the cemetery. We planted mums at Christy’s grave and tulip bulbs at hers, my moms and grandparents graves. We were there for about 2 ½ hours, just working and remembering. (Thanks Brian & Jennifer for the beautiful mums! I had planned to buy some myself for Christy’s grave but the ones you brought were just perfect.)

Then, when we got home from the cemetery I got a phone call from Barbara. Frances (Puckett) Price’s son, James, was killed in a car accident on Sunday – October 11th. My heart fell to my feet as she repeated the words that I thought surely I had misunderstood. Oh Frances! Frances lost her husband in a car accident when her boys were small, and now she’s lost one of her sons the same way. How much can one woman live through? Why does one wife & mother have to endure so much? James leaves behind his wife and two very small children, please pray for this heartbroken family. Frances is Barbara’s cousin, so Barbara and her sisters are all headed to North Carolina today. Pray that they make it down and back safely. I can’t stop thinking of Frances, I know the heartbreak she’s going through all too well. I wish I could offer up words of comfort to her, but I know that I can not. Her pain has to be felt, she too will survive. Though I’m not sure how any of us do.

I have spent the past week thinking of little other than my sweet girl. Oh how I miss her so! Every single day my heart cries for her. I live each day clinging to the promise that we will one day be reunited. Please continue to pray for me as I walk this path. Thanks to each of you for your love and support.

Love to all,
Julie

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Jill

Those of you who work know exactly what I mean when I say that I spend most of my waking hours at my job. It’s not all bad, but not really much fun either. I’ve always jokingly said that I’m a stay at home mom trapped inside the body of a working woman. I’ve met many people over the course of my working years, some good and some not so good. When I came to work at Lexington Center I promised myself that I wasn’t going to get personally involved with anyone. Why? Sometimes work relationships just get weird. Or, you become really good friends with someone and then one of you gets another job. As you may have guessed, I broke my promise. And I’m very glad that I did or I would have missed out on a few wonderful friendships. One of those would be my very dear friend, Jill.

On Tuesday we will be saying good-bye to Jill as she seeks greener pastures on the other side of the fence. No more early morning walks to Starbucks for the sweet elixir of life. No more walks to Sam’s Hot Dog Stand to sit out in the fresh air and sunshine. Work life is going to get a little less fun and a lot more boring. But the thing that I will miss the most is simply my friend. I can’t really remember how we came to be friends but over the years as we’ve shared many conversations we’ve learned that we have a lot in common. We are both the youngest in our family with siblings who are several years older than we are. We were both raised on a farm. We are both married to city boys who couldn’t tell the difference between dairy cattle and beef cattle if their lives depended on it. We were both raised in small Baptist churches, where we both still attended until only recently. And we both lost our mothers far too soon to the evils of cancer.

Jill, we have shared a lot of laughs and getting to know you has been a blast. But the purpose of this post is to let you know, sister, just how much you have meant to me over these past 8 ½ years. We’ve seen each other through a lot of things, the most tragic of those being just a year ago when I lost Christy. I can’t thank you enough for being there for me during the darkest days of my life. Thank you just seems so inadequate. You’ve been my shoulder to cry on over and over and over and I know you will be again, anytime I need it. I’m so very grateful that God brought us together. You have certainly been a faithful friend and trustworthy confidante. I pray that God blesses you abundantly as you seek this new venture in your life. I vow to keep in touch with you but when I fail, would you please pick up my slack? I know you hate mushiness but I want you to know..... I love you friend and I truly hope that you know just how much you’ve blessed me.

I’ll keep praying for you as you keep praying for me.

Already dreading Wednesday morning,
Julie