My Sisters

A blog that I frequently read is Kelly's Korner.  I don't know Kelly personally, but am always inspired by her blog, and just enjoy reading what she posts.  She has a daughter right around Matthew's age, and has an inspiring story behind getting pregnant and then a serious health scare with the baby when she was born.  I am inspired by her faith, creativity, and intrigued by the "Southern Living" lifestyle.  Anyway, that aside, yesterday she posted about "Sisters" and I felt like I could totally relate to what she had to say.

Actually, prior to reading her post I had just uploaded a photo of my Womens Connections group, and how awesome it is to have these sisters in Christ.  I am truly grateful that God has placed them in my life.  However, I feel abundantly blessed that the Lord allowed me to grow up with a sibling-sister - not sure how I would have turned out if I had brothers. 

Growing up, I always copied my older sister.  I wanted to play the sports that she played, hence approximately two years of gymnastics, one year of soccer and some high school tennis.  I wanted to dress the way she dressed, and in fact one year had pretty much an identical back-to-school wardrobe.  I wanted to learn what she learned, leading to four years of French in high school and barely being able to remember how to introduce myself in the language.  Then, she lead me to Iowa.  Little did she know that I would meet my husband here, and little did we know or expect, we both ended up staying here.  Blessed in the midwest.  However, I will say that once we hit our late teens/early twenties we went our separate ways with our interests - but what I love is that we still have so much in common - love to read, scrapbook, talk over coffee, and have a girls night watching movies and of course a nice full glass of wine!

Next came these sisters...

My Sigma Kappa sisters, and I am so thankful for them!  We always had a poem that ended with, "... and Sigma Kappa is, I suppose, a kind of evaluation… You grow up inside those chapter room walls and perhaps you do learn more of the circus we call life than if you had spent your time somewhere else.

You learn that no matter where you came from… or who took you there, you’ve still got to find that one small acre that belongs to you, by yourself you learn that the world is made up of people you’re not going to like, and you love them anyway.

You learn that there’s still a lot left to believe in and a whole lot more to hope for…
You learn that love has never been easy and that it’s a long time coming, but with Sigma Kappa you learn that “Love is the greatest of all things" and if you’re very smart or very lucky you learn that no matter how big or how messy the world becomes what is precious and what is permanent is always the same. And in the very end you come to realize that Sigma Kappa is indeed a better way to stumble down the back steps and out the front door of life."

Through those years in Sigma Kappa, I met the man I would spend the rest of my life with.  And, it just so happened that he has a sister too!

Jenna quickly became one of my best friends and "little sister".  While I have only known her since she was eighteen, I feel like I have watched her grow up and become the amazing woman that she is today.  She has touched my life in so many ways and is a blessing in my life.  Her beautiful personality and love for others inspires me daily.

Sisters are forever friends...

"Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts. And we are never, ever the same."

These are sisters from above, but also include Shelley and Erica (my "high school" Erica).  Erica is a sister that has seen me through the most awkward of stages beginning at the age of fourteen, the high school "heart breaks" and all of the drama that being a teenager entails.  She has never judged me, and has never had an unkind word.  She has been there through the transition in to adulthood, and I know that I will be sitting on a porch-swing next to her when I'm eighty, and words won't be necessary.  Shelley is my "accounting" sister.  The sister that I should have meet four years before I did.  The girl across the room that I was afraid to talk to.  She is the sister that I can sit at lunch with and not have to say a word but know exactly what she is thinking, because I was thinking the exact same thing...

And of course, as I have entered the world of motherhood, there are these incredible women...

The impact that my Womens' Connections group have had on my life are indescribable, except for in the words of the Lord.  "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." - Matthew 18:20.

Thank you, Lord for all of these women.

We are truly blessed, in abundance, by the sisters that you give us

through your Son.