"Good things come to those who wait."

Not sure why, I just need to hang onto this thought today. Wait on the Lord.

It feels like standing out on a sunny, but windy day, facing the wind, bracing myself as the air comes rushing into my lungs, living in the exhilarated feeling that comes with. What is it I'm waiting for, I wonder?

I realized something today. I've lost sight of this blog/diary. I've lost my vision for it. About halfway through my entries, I decided I wanted to use this as a way to minister to others by using my life as an example of what I've learned--and lately it has just been my place to complain and vent. Complaining and venting has its place sometimes, but making this journal ALL about that is not what I intended or what God intended for it.

So with that changed mentality, I'm going to talk about what God has done today.

As you know, I've been mourning over my lack of friends for the last...way too long. :) Well, I went to a women's retreat with my church (which I forgot to post about) a couple weekends ago, and I met a girl named Kimber who I automatically liked and was drawn to. She's shy and quiet but smiles a lot and seems very peaceful in general, albeit a bit insecure at times. In short, she's a LOT like me. She is older than me, with a couple young kids, but I nevertheless felt a kind of instant connection to her.

I meant to call her during the week but was scared. But on Friday it was a beautiful day and I, of all things, had plans--to go to a book sale at the Tigard library. And as I was preparing to go, it dawned on me that a book sale might be something Kimber would be interested in. She struck me as a girl who likes to read. So, after several minutes of trying to get up the courage (LOL), I gave her a call. She didn't answer, but I left a message inviting her along with me if she wanted to come, and told her what time I was planning on going there.

An hour later, she returned my call and we talked for several minutes. She asked me how my week was and we had a really good 10- or 15-minute conversation. Her littlest one, Maya, takes naps from 2-4, so she couldn't come with me to the book sale, but we did make a date for me to come over to her house for lunch the next week (this week). I told her, "I like the idea of lunch together, it'll be a good get-to-know-you time." I was talking about getting to know Kimber, LOL, but she understood me to mean her kids, since we had just talked about them. "Oh, you'll get to know them all right!" she said, and I laugh even now to remember it. :) I wondered what kind of little devils her children were to make her say that, LOL.

So today was my lunch date. And I haven't had so much fun in a long time. :D Her kids aren't little devils at all, especially Cade, her 3-year-old boy. Maya, 2, has a mind of her own (don't most 2-year-olds?) and she was a handful. But I still had a lot of fun with them.

It was hilarious to watch all the book knowledge I've been gaining come true before my eyes, about the differences between little boys and little girls, first-borns and second-borns. :D It was great to see it in action, really. They had one of those wooden train sets (I LOVED those as a kid!) set up on a play table, and Maya showed me all about it and asked me, "Where does this piece go?" about all the extra pieces laying around. Then she brought me a couple of books and said, "Can you read this one? Can you read this one?" Kimber read her Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and Cade paid attention for a little while, but then he went and "played" with the wooden train set. His version of "playing" with it was knocking down every single piece that was set up, and then compounding it by lifting up the volcano and knocking over more pieces with it. I didn't do anything because I wanted to see what Kimber would do. Kimber kind of laughed and said, "That's a boy for you..." That totally made me laugh because that's what I've been reading and hearing. Boys like to play destroying, "dangerous" games like that. And I've heard a lot about how we've been trying to make little boys act like little girls and how that isn't good--the whole "suppressed male" of our culture that you see in sitcoms about married couples (e.g. Ray and Robert and Frank in "Everybody Loves Raymond"). So it was good to see for myself a mom who was trying to let boys be boys, just like I've been hearing you should do.

It makes me wonder what you do with little boys in public though... Maybe I'll find out about that next time.

Maya was pretty funny at the beginning. When I first came in, her mom prompted her to say hi, but Maya just kept her mouth shut and stared and stared and stared at me for probably the first 15 minutes of my visit! She didn't look scared--just like, "Oh, this person is new!" Like she was trying to read me or something. LOL. She even gave me the brightest little smile a couple times, but she still didn't say anything until we were safely on her couch. LOL. It was so funny. I have never seen that vary in her age group! They just try to read you with their 2-year-old minds. It makes me wonder if she'll do the same thing next time I visit her. :)

I read Cade a book called The Seven Silly Eaters. It was really good! It was funny and written very well, in rhyme. It was easy to get into, too. It was about a mom and her seven picky eaters. Cade paid very good attention--but Maya interrupted me at every page. When we had read only a couple pages, she wanted to play a bingo game. I even told her a couple times that we were reading right now, so we weren't going to play games yet, and she still persisted. My first crash-course into 2-year-olds! My, oh Maya! :)

Haha, I just made that up. :D

Anywyay. :D I came away thinking that I did pretty well with those little tykes, and they weren't nearly as difficult as I had imagined. I thought to myself, Maybe I can be a good mother. Obviously, one visit doesn't determine how well I work with kids...But it was easier and even more fun than I expected.

I think I've forgotten how fun little kids can be. I'm glad I know Cade and Maya now so I can remember how fun they can be. :)

So I'm really excited to get to know all of them better. I would love to establish a relationship with the whole family, so that maybe I could even babysit sometimes. And I know Kimber needs some adult friends, too. She doesn't know many people at church because she spends a lot of time helping out in the nursery. So I'm excited to see what OGd has planned for this relationship. I think it'll be good. No matter how long or short it lasts.

I think that's all I'll say for now. I have some letters to reply to. :)

-Stephanie

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