We've Come a Long Way...With Babies

My best friend in life is Ashley McClanahan. We've been friends since 7th grade, when we were just twelve years old. I have literally done more of my life with Ashley than without her. Boyfriends, breakups, graduations, engagements, weddings, you name it, we've been through it. We have cried buckets of tears together and for one another, but the laughter has far outweighed any sadness. Very few tales I have to tell don't involve Ash. And though a few of those tales include some tears, nearly all include lots of laughter. She is much like the fourth daughter in our family; In my crazy-close, tight-knit crew, she is one of us. We are each other's people.

One of the greatest comforts and joys of my life has been that Ash and I have gone through parenting, basically together. Sophie and Jack are just 10 months a part, and then Will, Cole, and Lillie are truly stair-steps, at 2, 1, and new, all with birthdays within three weeks of each other. (It's her turn to have a January/February baby by the way!) Last weekend, Cole was dedicated at the same service as Lillie, and as we stood together with our babies taking pictures, time froze for me for just a moment as I thought about how far Ash and I have come together.

All of a sudden, I saw a snapshot of Ash and I first getting to know each other in 7th grade art class. (No doubt she was making fun of my non-existent artistic ability!) I vividly remember the funny, not-afraid-to-get-in-a-little-trouble, kind-hearted, generous redhead who became my closest friend. As close as we were in high school, never in one million years could I have predicted that Ashley and I would stand together over twenty years later committing to raise our children according to the principles of Scripture. I could not have known that we would grow even closer in college, even though we went to different schools. I didn't realize we would walk each other through first jobs and first houses - that we would really "grow up" together. Never could I have known we would stand together at each other's weddings or be with each other at the birth of our children. Never could I have predicted that our hearts would be so bound together. That we would dearly love each other's children or pray for each other's marriages. (And both of our husbands deserve quite a bit of prayer.) As I stood beside Ashley on Mother's Day, each holding our babies, I could not believe how far we have come as individuals, as wives, as mothers, and as friends.

I think back to the snapshot of us in art class when we were twelve, what our biggest problems were, what we thought life would be like, and I want to laugh and cry at the same time! We had no clue what our lives would hold; we knew nothing of the pain or the joy. It occurs to me that at some point I will look back at the "snapshot" of the dedication service, two moms, pretty early on in our parenting journey. It occurs to me that one day I will want to laugh and cry when I think about what our biggest problems are. That we know very little of the pain - nor the joys that are sure to come. What I do know is that God has given me a friend who is willing to help me up when I fall, to hold me accountable to His work in my life, and to believe that He will be faithful to complete that work, even when I begin to doubt. I am so very thankful that I have Ashley, that we've come such a long way, and that - laughing or crying - we'll travel the rest of the way together.

If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Ecclesiastes 4:10