my lady friends.

take a good look.

this is the look of a birthday girl surrounded by love.

yep, that was my birthday a couple of weeks ago.

we had a grown up ladies only breakfast at one of my favorite restaurants.

this picture makes me so happy.

when i look hard at each one of those lovely faces, i start to feel loved, even through the photograph.

these ladies are God's the hands and heart and listening ears and patient understanding and tough questions and even tougher observations and loyal grace and courage and kind gifts, in my life.

happy mother's day to me.

completely.

i will split them up into groups of two.

today lena and robin.

first, lena.

see that super cute lady friend on the far right?

yah, that is lena.

here she is with her adorable daughter.

could they be and sweeter?

lena and i go back, before i was married.

she was a bridesmaid in my wedding.

and she and her husband knew and loved my mom too.

she was there for me during the time that my mom was sick and she helped in practical ways.

you know those people that are willing to just do the basic serving?

i remember her helping clean my moms house when she was very sick.

she was just there.

not drawing attention to herself.

available.

i will never forget that.

fast forward a handful of years, and our kids love each other and even though lena's daughter is only 4, my seven year old thinks she is totally marriage material (he told me he is looking for a younger woman, sorry timo :) look out! jake is gonna be one of those sensitive guys that the ladies are all about)

ok ok back to lena.

she is understanding of my hideousness about retuning calls.

she is patient at helping to plan time together, even though i am seriously bad at planning play dates and stuff.

she is God's wisdom and strength and loyalty and servants hands and patience and undeserved favor in my life.

thank GOD for lena!

next, robin.

see the blond second to the left up there?

that is robin.

isn't she so pretty?

i love taking pictures of robin.

i think i might be a little jealous of her blond hair.

robin and i know each other through our husbands.

they've known each other since college, but i feel like she and i have become much closer in the last few years.

robin is a planner.

yah, i know, so was lena, right?

are you starting to get the picture that initiation is not my strongest trait.

i pretty much suck at that and so if weren't for these ladies being patient with me and good at that themselves i may be wondering this world void of friends.

in the last two years though, robin and i have tried to meet up at least once a week.

our relationship has grown and i am so blessed.

she and i are very different, but also somehow the same.

she is honest and so am i.

she is free and so am i.

yah, we are the real deal.

safe.

do you know what i mean?

i know you do, robin....if you are even reading this.

(i sometimes have to force her to read this....haha!)

so robin, she is God's safe haven, His real friendship, His shared life, to me.

thank GOD for robin!

i know you maybe have a robin or a lena in your life too.
hey, if you do,
you should leave your friend's name in the "2 cents" section below.
and also give them a big hug.
you never know,
your name might get left down there.

stay tuned for the other 2 lovely ladies up there....

bea and leslie....