It Takes a Village

{picture c/o sarah avitua photography}

If you follow me on any sort of social media, you know that the highly anticipated return of my hubby happened this week. On Monday, to be exact. He wasn’t supposed to arrive until late that night but he ended up getting the heck out of Dodge and arrived just before dinnertime. Both of my older kids were thrilled beyond measure. Brady even had tears in his eyes when Jeff walked in the door and then animatedly squealed “I think I might cry”… surprised at his own emotions and not really knowing what happy tears are for.

It was a joyous moment for so many reasons. This session was hard, but it was laced with God’s gracious favor and His faithfulness. It went by fast in time and with little tears on my part, which is a huge answer to prayer. It kind of is what it is, knowing that this is what our life looks like and what we’ve chosen as of right now for our lives and our family, but this session there was a huge factor that we were not counting on. 

Our village.

I think Hillary Clinton coined the phrase “it takes a village” that was widely unpopular amongst “conservatives” at the time, I’m sure. But she is right, y’all. It takes a village for us mommas, and I feel overwhelmed and humbled by the support we received by ours these last six months in particular.
Let me back up and give you a bit of a back story. We moved to our neighborhood from Plano - where Jeff went to high school, where we fell in love and where we go to church. I did not want to move out of Plano when we were searching for a home to buy. I always said that it would take the perfect home to get me to move out of that suburb that I loved so dearly.
 

And then we found it - the perfect {for us} home. A farmhouse right in the middle of the suburbs - which are harder to come by down here than you’d think. And I found myself moving to a new suburb, further away from Jeff’s office and from our church and from our “normal” places to frequent. So we started Kindergarten that fall and we immediately fell into a sweet group of girls and over the next year I met more and more and we became quick and deep friends, mixed with other friends that I have known for YEARS…. we developed a true support system that, by all accounts, none of us really knew we needed. 

We are involved in our church - and the Sunday school class at our church is amazing - but like I mentioned before, we moved further from our church, not closer, and having friends that we go to school with, play sports with and can ride bikes with has been KEY in our success this session.
 

Let me tell you about our beautiful village. 

They pray for me… for us. For my family. They encourage me with random texts, emails, bible verses and the like. I’ve received countless screenshots of worship songs and podcasts that I need to listen to over the last several weeks. I’ve had pots of flowers mysteriously left on my porch. Cards dropped in the mail. Dinners made, brought + served. A surprise birthday party at my own house after the kids went to bed. I’ve had my kids kidnapped for some time alone. I’ve had someone come over late at night simply so I’m not watching Nashville alone. These sweet girls, all ages, from all backgrounds, and their prayers have gotten me {and us} through this session. They have loved on me, served me and built me up beyond anything I ever thought I needed or wanted. I am forever grateful to the One who put these amazing women in my tribe… and I know it’s not by accident and there is something deeply comforting about His sovereign plan including true and meaningful friendships for me and for us. 

{picture c/o sarah avitua photography}

 

Do you have a village? I have always felt that if you have one deeply close friend you should count yourself extremely blessed. It’s not about quantity, it’s about quality… I’m a firm believer in that. Even Jesus had the twelve, but then he had the three that were closer than a brother. I am extremely and abundantly blessed by these women in my life and I pray today that you, too, would feel an extreme gratitude for the women you have in your life that support and encourage you as well.
Blessings today!