If you don't have one, get one!

I was recently making my very first vegan

recipe and found the following words . . . 

Use an immersion blender to blend about half the soup.  If you don't

have an immersion blender (get one!) then transfer . . . 

I found that so fun that I read it outloud to two friends that were

visiting.  There are things in my life that I could NOT live 

without.  I really enjoy telling others of these items that I have 

found helpful, and if I got a deal on that particular item

my excitement level in conveying the importance of said item

is amplified.

Below you will see a picture of my best friend.

Kristy Race and I have been through a lot and I cannot imagine 

doing life without her.

So let me tell you about her

(in a very excited way).

While we were away a few weeks ago Kristy and her family 

came and joined us for a few days.  Now our friendship goes back, oh about 10 years.

I know this because her daughter Annah who was an infant

when we met just turned 10.  We celebrated

her birthday together.

My first memory of Annah is of her crying as I held her.

As I passed her back to her mother, Annah looked 

me in the eye, smiled and said to me with her 

eyes in a taunting fashion, "you aren't cutting it,

I need my MaMa."

I met Kristy at Calvary Baptist Church in Reading, PA during a

church service.  Little did I know the blessing God had introduced me

to that fine day.

Kristy and I share some amazing experiences.

We knew each other when we were each pregnant,

 ministered together to teens, 

we've shared friends, losses, and tears,

and continue to experience motherhood and life as a wife

together via many a telephone conversation.

Kristy has moved 4 times since then, and we have moved once.

We have lived 15 minutes from one another, 1 1/2 hours, and now

it is 9 hours (not that I'm counting though).

I was her very first phone call seconds after she got into

a life changing car accident with both her children in the car.

She watched my children as I was in the hospital when

Caleb was born,

 and witnessed the birth of my fourth child, Micah.

She has loved me, encouraged me, prayed with and for me,

corrected me when I needed it, and listened to me

for years now.

Here she is with her husband Chuck while with 

us on vacation.

So, all this to say, if you do not have a friend that you value in 

special ways like this, GET ONE!

No one should go through life without one.

Favorite thing:

my immersion blender that I use

so much that it simply stays

plugged in on the kitchen counter