Friendships are the Flowers In Life's Garden

I remember reading somewhere that we should plant the garden of our lives with the beautiful flowers of friendship. This bouquet reminds me of the gift of friendship and how important it has been during the past several months.


One of the things I've loved about the past two weeks since we brought Aster home has been getting to see many friends who have prayed for her! I've loving sharing with Aster some of the sweetest flowers in my life's garden. I wish I had photos of each friend that has stopped by to see us or who we've visited. Unfortunately I didn't capture them all on camera but if you were one of them and you have photos please email them to me. Here are a few that I did get:

The first day after we got home, Lysa and Hope came by with a big pot of Chicken Tortilla soup, Redneck surprise for dessert, along with lots of love and kisses! Holly brought us that beautiful bouquet of pink flowers above and her sweet smile. We had such a fun time visiting and getting Aster to giggle!

She things Aunt Lysa is pretty funny!

It was so sweet to see Hope holding Aster again after being the first one to hold our baby girl in Ethiopia the week after we had gotten our referral for Aster.

Holly and Aster playing acrobats. She loves to fall backwards.

My mom came by that night after work to meet Aster for the first time.
I love this photo!

Aster met her cousins Alex and Sara who came to visit the next weekend.

Sara loved playing with her new baby cousin!

Last week we made our first visit to the Proverbs 31 office.
Here are Wendy Pope and Teri Bucholtz lovin' on my sweet girl who is wearing her princess outfit that Micca gave to her. Can you see the crowns on her shirt and jeans?

Wendy's daughter Blair and Aster bonded immediately!

Ahh, isn't that the sweetest photo of two beautiful princesses?
Melissa Taylor and my girl!

Tracie Miles holding the little girl she'd been praying for for months!

Sweet Samantha just couldn't seem to get Teri to let her have a turn. I guess we'll have to go back again and have more play time in the P31 lobby.

Last night I was thinking about how all of my friends (including you!) and my beautiful flowers have really helped me the past two weeks. Both have brought encouragement, joy and laughter to the hard places of this new transition. It's been more thank wonderful to have Aster home but I'd be living in denial if I didn't admit it has been hard to get used to all the changes and balance all the needs.

Yet in the midst of trash cans overflowing with dirty diapers, crusty babyfood stuck to me and my counter tops, rice cereal flakes scattered across the kitchen, emails and calls unanswered, toys and laundry everywhere, days without a shower and sleepless nights - my beautiful bouquet of flowers has sat in the center of my kitchen and each day it catches my attention and brightens my outlook.

And just like those flowers, God has also provided friends who have prayed, sent notes, brought meals, left comments on Facebook or my blog and stopped by to meet Aster and keep me company. Both have helped me find peace in the chaos and joy in the clutter.

So today I'm thanking God for the friendships and the flowers He's provided to brighten my life's garden these days.