I just finished Jen Hatmakers book For the Love. Read it. You’ll be glad you did. She has a few different chapters that she titled Thank You Notes. I am following suite, however, mine are not meant to be funny. Mine really are just thank you notes. I am sure I will forget some folks (sorry in advance).
For starters, I should probably explain why I am doing this. Many of you already know this has been such a hard year for me. I will say it again, 2016 has been the worst year of my adult life. The highlights are what I am going to talk about. The folks who helped pull me through, I want to thank. I have already written enough about the drama, the sickness, the tears, and the crappy water. So, I will try to leave that stuff out and just focus on the good. Here is goes. Oh, and there is no particular order really, just who came to mind first (other than the first few). Please do not take this personally if your name isn’t at the top or if I forgot you all together. Sorry.
Thank You, Lord Jesus, for carrying me through this year. I have questioned you, doubted You, been mad as heck at You and yet You have been so faithful. You have given me shelter, food, clothes, friends, and amazing parking spaces (yes, You know you did). This year I have seen the clearest picture of who I am and why You created me the way I am. I’ve always felt like some of my traits/temperaments/desires were a burden. This year, You have taught me how to see myself as you see me. This has actually been a very painful process and hasn’t always been pretty. Even so, it has been one of the best things ever on my journey with knowing You as my loving heavenly Father. You are so good and perfect in all of Your ways.
Thank you, Matthew for everything. You are my most favorite person ever and I would be happy to brag about you all day to anyone, anywhere. You have loved me at my absolute worst. You have spoken tenderly to me so many times this year. Your love for our family is evident in all that you do and I do not ever want to take you for granted. Honestly, you are my best friend. You always will be. If anything could have torn us apart, it would have been this awful year. It hasn’t. Instead, we remain closer and more determined to love one another through this crazy beautiful life we have created together. I am so thankful for you that if I think about it for too long I will cry. I love you forever.
Thank you, Kathleen for being my big girl. You have some crazy strong emotions. You love hard and you cry hard. I am working on being a better mommy for you as we are so freaking similar is scares me. I have no idea what the teenage years will look like, but man we can definitely set each other off right now… You are the most special five year old girl I know. You are always thinking of others, coloring pictures and wanting to give anything we have to help. My favorite moments with you are when we snuggle (but not for too long bc you are like me and there is about a 10 minute max for comfortable snuggling), when I can paint your nails or style your long beautiful locks. I love hearing you laugh (and snort). You have been a great source of joy for me this year. I know it has been such a hard one, full of change. I promise that we are always thinking of you and how to raise you in a healthy way. We want you to love this whole world with that huge heart of yours. This world will hurt you and let you down (so will I) but don’t stop loving. Don’t stop giving. You bring major sunshine, rainbows, butterflies, and millions of smiles everywhere you go.
Oh, my precious Ella, I am forever thankful for you. You make me laugh every day and I have needed that so much this year. You have taught me how to look at this world in a new way. A messy, silly, and fun way. Just when I thought I had it all figured out, you came along and showed me there is so much more love to give. So many more laughs to have. So many more buttons to push. You are my favorite toddler. You have shown me more spunk and strength than I ever knew was possible in a little person. I am not sure why you are always hungry, but you came out of the womb hungry and that is how you wake up every day. I am blessed to be the one who you look to for food, for kisses, and for cuddles (and you have way more than a 10 minute limit). I am excited to see you grow up. You don’t let anyone put you out, or take your toys. Nope, you don’t take crap from anyone and girl I am so proud of you for it. I am praying every day that I can direct you in a way that your fierceness will lead others to the Lord. That your passions will burn brightly and show others just how wonderful your heavenly Father created you to be. Listening may not be your favorite thing to do, but we are working on giving you choices and directing you to be a wise little person. Thank you for showing me I have a lot more to learn and a lot of laughing to do.
Abi baby, you are the greatest blessing from this wretched year. Who knew we needed you? God did. He knew we needed y-o-u. You are the perfect addition to our happy crew. You just go with the flow. So much so that I forget I have a third child a lot of the time. You are happy, easy, and your smile literally brings tears of joy to my face. We always wanted a third baby, and to be honest we really wanted another girl. You have shown us that our hearts can continue to love with an intensity we cannot describe. You came in our lives at a time when we needed you so badly. Thank you for coming when we needed you most. I am so excited to watch you grow this year, and I know you won’t always sleep, stay in one place or smile with the freaking annoying sounds and faces I make at you. I do believe that you will be the most delightful baby we have ever had. I might have your first birthday themed something silly like yellow smiley faces. Ok, maybe something less silly. Sunshine and rainbows? You are my greatest gift this year and I will never stop thanking God for you.
To my cousin Arica, thank you for being my tribe. God has some sense of humor… He really does. Me the annoying little kid cousin who wouldn’t shut up, and you the bossy big one that just wanted some peace and quiet. I did take a bite out of your giant lollipop when we were kids and then you proceeded to make every kid take a bite to see whose teeth marks matched. Why are you always so much smarter than me?! Back to this year, thank you for visiting me so much. Thank you for encouraging me. The long calls, texts, and prayers helped me make it. I am especially thankful for all of your help with moving, bringing Abi into this world, being my personal nurse with my tonsillectomy, and for standing up for me. For standing up for my family. You have loved me better than most. Really though, there are not many people I know that will always have my back, and I know you will. Not just mine, but my precious family too. You love my people like your own people. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I am so glad we come from the same family. I am so glad God made you. He has blessed me so much through you.
Sweet Sheri, thank you for being my longest friend. I laugh when I think back on all that we have been through together. You have seen me change through so much in this life. My strange teen years, young adult years, young married years, young mama years, and now I have three kids and we don’t live close to one another but I feel as close to you as ever. I have seen so much sorrow in my life, as you have in yours. I have walked through many dark and dry desserts, and you have too. We have always been faithful friends, there for the brightest of days and the ones that can only be described as freaking horrid. Some of the later ones have lasted way too long. In a broken world when things just don’t work out how you planned, hoped, prayed or dreamed, you have always been an amazing friend to me. I know I can tell you the worst stuff and you will listen to me. You don’t tell me what I want to hear, you tell me what I need to hear. You encourage me and you are real with me. I know the sentiments are mutual. I truly believe God has this amazing plan for your life and it was just SO different than anything you ever thought. But His plan is exponentially better than anything we could dream up. I am thinking the same is true for my life. So, here I sit with this awful year coming to a close and I have so much to say about how proud I am of you. You astound me. Girl, if you ever forget how amazing you are or how amazing God made you, I will be there to remind you. I will be telling my children and they will their children someday of the good God has done in you and through you. He isn’t done yet. He is just getting started. I love you!
Cindy, my lovely Georgia treasure. I am thankful for you and your entire family. It is evident how awesome you are, just look at the people you have raised, are raising. It speaks volumes. I prayed for a friend like you for years. God wanted me to wait extra long to meet you and then He decided to pull me away from you. That was one of the most hurtful things He has had me walk through. He didn’t take you away, he took me away, and now I have to work extra hard to stay connected with you since it was so easy before. I was so spoiled to have you in Georgia, just a few doors away, and this year has been especially hard not having you and your family so close. I am thankful for you visit this year, for how you hosted us multiple times, and for all of your prayers. Thank you for crying with me on the phone more than once, praying with me, and loving my little family as your own. I feel quite lacking in the family department, especially not having a mom. I know I can always count on you to help in times of need. I know you would give your right arm, throw out your back, or send me one of your kids to help if I was in a bind. Thank you for loving us so well. I wish we lived closer.
Elyse, my precious long distance friend. I wish I wrote you more letters as I know they brighten your day. I wish we met weekly, like we did when I lived in Georgia. I wish so much for us. I long to talk with you more. I long to see you more. I still think fondly of the days when we first met, first time mama’s we were. When I had to nerve to talk to you, and you had the courage to talk back. I wish we could go back to those days and slow down time a bit more. This year you have encouraged me so much and you have helped me more than you know. Really, more than you know. Thank you for giving what you can. You have given me your time this year and I know it wasn’t easy. You gave my children your time. It worked itself out to be one of the most difficult weeks of this year when you took the big girls. God knew I would need a refuge that week and you helped make that possible. Thank you for sacrificing your time, energy, and gasoline to love on my family. I miss you, sweet friend. Let’s try to have some alone time together soon. Somehow, let’s make it possible. And, next time we are in Georgia, please let us stay with you. You are such a gracious host!
My Erin. You are my girl. You know all of the drama and you are such a good mama. I am proud of you, Erin. I am proud of how far you have come and I know you are working on this new road so diligently. God sees you and He hears you. He always has and He always will. I wish I was there because I know the hard days have been harder without support. We used to be that for you and I literally hurt knowing we cannot help more from North Carolina. My prayers cover your family and cover you from head to toe. Prayers of peace, protection, and provision. God hears me too and He is going to take the best care of you and your children. I am so grateful I met you. I am so grateful I can laugh with you. You understand me and I have so much fun with you. Thank you for being you. Thank you for being a true heart friend. Love you so much.
Casey, my wonderful friend with amazing fashion girl hair (as Kat would say), you are priceless. I have only met a few people like you in my lifetime and I am always better for knowing you and seeing you. I think your journey has given you scars and stories that only make you a better friend for me. I will never forget the first time I met you at MOPS almost one year ago. You were so honest and kind. I knew I wanted to hang out with you but I was scared. You actually wanted to hang out with me too! I have seen your kindness towards my family grow and grow over the last (almost) 12 months. I love how you never make me feel like a bad friend. You never make me feel like I don’t see you enough, text you enough, or whatever. You always understand and support the craziness that I am in right now. I love how you aren’t afraid to ask me questions. I also love that you aren’t afraid to speak the truth to me. God knew what He was doing when He brought you into my life. I have praised Him for you and for your family and I will continue to do so. Thank you for making me finally start to feel wanted here in Asheville. Thank you for going out of your way to make me feel so loved.
Lindsey, you are so beautiful to me. Everything about you is beautiful to me. You are the very first person I met when I came to Asheville and I instantly knew we should be friends. You made time for me and loved on my family when we first came here, and you are the only person that did that. You brought us food, sent me texts, and always gave me a warm smile when I saw you. Sometimes, that smile was all I had to show me that someone in Asheville actually cared about me, cared about my family. This year has been riddled with sickness, pain, and tears for us, and I am thankful that you were my friend through all of that. Now, we are in a new season of our friendship. Again, a beautiful one. One where there are no walls put up. In fact, walls are coming down. Nothing is too awkward or painful to share. I believe you are a true heart friend and I am so thankful I met you on the weekend of the 4th of July in 2015. I am so thankful that our kids are similar ages, stages and temperaments. I want to encourage you, pray for your family, and be a good friend to you. You have been a good friend to me. Thank you so much for helping with our kids when I had my tonsillectomy. They love you dearly and so do I!
Dear Angela, you are so loved. I also met you at my first MOPS meeting and I knew there was something special about you. It wasn’t until my family was sick for the millionth time this year, and you went out of you way to serve us in the most thoughtful way. I treasured your meal, dessert, and activities for our girls. Your generosity reminded me of what I would do for someone else, but few people have done for me. It touched my heart deeply. Since that time, I have grown to admire you and your personality. I love your sense of humor and your generous heart. When we first met, I knew I wanted to get to know you more but I was in an impossible season where I didn’t have much to offer in terms of friendship or time. Through the brokenness of this year, and your willingness to let me in some of the dark places, I have grown to love you more and more. Thank you for not being afraid to tell me the hard stuff. Thank you for being real with me. Thank you for not rejecting me when I was real with you, or when I may have said the wrong thing. I want you to know you are worth so much. No matter what this journey looks like ahead, I am glad to call you my friend. I am praying for you often, never forgetting you or your love for Milo. I am better for knowing you and for sharing in this pain with you.
Meg, my friend who just came like a gift from heaven. You have lightened my load. I think of you and I think of kind words, a sweet smile, and lots of love. You are an encourager, you encourage me so much! You are a lover, you love so well! You have text me often and let me know that I am important to you. You are important to me too. I love that we go to the gym together, that we have a deep longing to love and help others, and that you have stepped in and cared for my family so willingly these past few moths. I am blessed by your kind texts, your accountability at the gym, and your love for my family. Thank you for being such a gift from heaven.
There are many other MOPS women I would like to give a shout of thanks to. Women that I may not know well or intimately (yet) but you have made this year richer for being a part or attending such a great program for moms. I hope you know the impact you have made on myself and on others. Also, if it wasn’t for our specific MOPS, I know myself and three other women who would probably really hate Asheville. At the very least I would. So, thank you Dana, Lisa, Hannah, Lauren, Kelli, Shannon, Anne, Erica, Kendra, Jenica, Ahndrea, and anyone else I maybe forgot. Sorry…
Thank you to my community group friends. Renee, you and I are so alike and I am certain God brought Matt and I to Asheville to meet a love on your family. I think that was the very first thing that made sense to me here. I hope we love you well as we are broken people who really have no idea what we are doing. We know one thing, we love God and He will get us through this mess together! You are very special to me and I adore you. I know we have much more to share a learn from one another and I love that about us. The fruits of our friendship are just beginning to bloom and it is quite a beautiful fruit if I do say so myself. Erica, you are wonderful. I love getting to know you. You are one of the most authentic and genuine women I know. I feel like we could probably talk and laugh for hours so it’s a good thing our group has a start and end time or we’d be in trouble. I love your family so much and I am privileged to pray along side you through this season. I am so thankful for your friendship and for your realness. Thank you for being you. I wouldn’t want you any other way! Joelle, you are a delight. I think you are one of the most interesting people I know. I wish I could shower you with compliments but that might make you feel awkward, being an introvert and all. Let me say this, you are kind beyond kind. You are good beyond good. You remind me of one of my favorite people ever and that means there is so much beauty in you in excites me! I love that you are in our group and I get to do life with you. Casey, you are an amazing wife and mother and I feel warm and fuzzy thinkinh about how I met you about a year ago when you were pregnant with sweet Anna. I love your little family and how hard you are working to create the best life, the life God wants for you. I admire your strength and positive attitude in a season when life has been very tough. I have missed seeing your beautiful face and I am very excited that I will be able to have you back in my life again regularly now that football season is over. Becky, you are an amazing person and I love getting to know you more. I always want you to feel safe to share and be open because you have great wisdom and your words are powerful. I am thankful we were in the same bible study and that you had the courage to come talk to me. I thank God I had the courage to ask you to join our group. It would not be the same without you! Hunter, you are so easy to talk to and so easy to love. I am thrilled that you are getting closer and closer to welcoming your sweet girl into this world and that I have been able to know you on this amazing adventure. I look forward to helping you as you walk through this crazy thing called motherhood. I pray for you and your dear family often and I am so happy you are in my life. Thank you for reaching out and joining our group and for loving our crazy family. Charles, you are such a fabulous husband and father. I know this is true because Renee and I are so much alike and you love her so well. Life is never going to get less crazy but we can do this crazy life together. We love your family so much. Gay, you are so much like me in so many ways and I think it’s brilliant. I love that we can be two completely different people and yet we are so similar with our junk. God is funny, isn’t he? I am blessed that you are in my life. I love how you ask questions and how you are honest with your thoughts. Our group would not be the same without you (or me). Cort, you are an admirable husband and a doting father. I love seeing you with Anna because it reminds me of Matt with our girls. Your love for your wife and child are such a joy to see. I am so glad you are in our group and I am looking forward to seeing you more this year!
Allie, you are someone I think of often and I know if we both had more time and less commitments we would be very close friends. I met you at the prayer retreat and I loved how honest and kind you were. It was a treat to learn about your family and hear stories about your life. I love seeing your smiling face greeting people and I love that we were in the same group at the Spiritual gifts retreat. We have a lot in common. A whole lot. I want you to know that I appreciate you. I appreciate the way you think. I appreciate who you are and what you have been through. Thank you for sending me a gift this year. It really came at the perfect time. Thank you for making me meals and helping us. You are so thoughtful and kind.
Lorraine, I love the life you are living and the journey you are on. I think your story is amazing and I love how you and your family are living out your dreams. It has been such a delight to meet you and share in the good and the bad. I know you are in Asheville for a reason, if not a milliom reasons. You have been blessing people all around you, and I am one of those people. Thank you for coming to my house (the old rental and the new) and bringing treasures when I was sick. Thank you for your sweet handmade with extra love gifts for our family. You are talented and I have been blessed by your talents! I pray for your family and for your transition here as I know it has not been easy. It sure hasn’t been easy for me either!
Other honorable mentions from my church would include (but again I am sure I am forgetting someone…sorry) Shirley, Jessica, Kathi, Brittany, Kailyn, Debbie, Rebekah, Janet, and Julie. Each of you have contributed in some way at some moment to my overall mental and spiritual health. Thank you for being there.
And just for some sillies, I really do have a few things that need thanking that are not people. Thank you Amazon Prime for being the bomb. You have met so many legitimate needs this year, and all within 2 days of my order. You are one of my favorite things. Thank you, Harris Teeter express lane, for making it possible for me to buy groceries without going into the store. Thank you, Netflix, for allowing me to stream movies and shows for myself and my family for a very reasonable price. Also, we are enjoying several of your original series. You rock. Thank you, VW van, for making my life easier every time I need to get in the car. I am so happy I got a van.
But for real, a HUGE thank you to everyone who helped me make it through this year. So many new friends and I love you all. 2017 is going to be good. And cheers to being 30.
Let’s close this year with my life verse. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4
