More Than One Kind of Family

When you look up the definition of family there are many different versions to describe what a family is. One of my families is my church foundry. I started attending my church The Foundry back in the fall of 2008.

Our church was started by a planter church. Our pastor Ashley Evans and his wife Briggette felt the calling to be missionaries and uprooted and moved their entire family out to Tucson to minister to our community and teach about God.

Over the past few years we have taken part in many church activities. Our church is awesome at involving the community and reaching out to the families and youth to get everyone involved to have a great time while learning about God.

Pastor Ashley at Make a Difference Day - We planted trees for our local middle school! That was hard work!

Pastor Ashley at one of our Memorial Day celebrations - Our church honors and supports all of our military and veterans.

Pastor Ashley manning the grill! Not only can he grill but he can make a mean brisket!



Pastor Ashley, Mike, Matt, and Teresa helping out with UFC Day with Youth!

Our church's youth group is awesome! We call them G.I.F.T (God Inspired Foundry Teens).  We love our youth group!



Pastor Ashley as always doing an awesome job leading our youth group!

I think for many people life gets busy. Weekends are busy.  I love my church and I love my church family. Over the last couple of months I haven't been attending on Sunday afternoons like I should or would like. I can make every excuse possible but bottom line I should be there, I should have my family there. I know though however, that God loves me. God forgives me for any of my sins. I am fortunate that I have an unbelievable Pastor and church family!

Pastor Ashley and Briggette are an amazing asset to our community and I know that God spoke to them and placed them in our small community for a reason.

I encourage each and every one of you to find where  you are needed. Find where God is calling you! Know in your heart that just because you don't make it every Sunday that God still loves you and God still forgives you for your sins (when you ask).

Pastor Ashley and I at Corona Kids Camp in 2009

Pastor Ashley doing what he does best - Sharing God's Word! What an awesome pastor he is!

Pastor Ashley and our live nativity scene at our Christmas Eve Service

An unbelievable day of celebration as Pastor Ashley performed around 10 baptisms of our youth!

What a celebration!!

Pastor Ashley being a hoot with Cody and Dakota on a fall Sunday Cookout!

Thank you Pastor Ashley and Briggette for everything you have brought to our community! Thank you for your continued sacrifice to share God's word and provide a welcoming Church to anyone that wants to attend!

Life Savers

I am sure you all have read that poem about how we have friends come and go in our lives for a reason for a season and so on and so forth. I think it is a great poem and I really believe that this is true too.

I often tell my friends that are having kids for the first time to make sure they keep close with their mommy friends and make sure they ask lots of questions. If it weren’t for my mommy friends I think sometimes I might just lose my mind.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love all my friends even those without kids and they bring a very important side to me out and they offer a lot to my life as well. But there are times that I need my mommy friends. We are all at different stages and it really helps so much to bounce off ideas and how you are feeling to know you aren’t going crazy and you aren’t going to ruin your kids forever!

My first mommy friend - My Sister Brooke! I am not sure what I would do if I couldn’t call my sister every day!

This was from a trip when my sister came out to visit me for a girls weekend! We are at Tombstone, AZ here.

Our kids are stair stepped so they go like this Cody (my oldest) 12 (1/2), Anna (her oldest) 11 (1/2), Haley (my youngest 10 (will be 11 in 15 days!) and Abby (her youngest) 10.

This was a long time ago but a really good pic of all them together!

We are always bouncing ideas off and reminding each other that our parents are still around so obviously we didn’t kill them and didn’t put them in a crazy house! She’s my older sis but she is also my best friend and mommy friend!

Then I have Mindy! I refer to Mindy by lots of different names but often times she is my saving grace!  I love that she has already been through the stages before me and I know that no matter what and no  matter how brutal she will be honest with me and tell me if I am screwing up as a parent. She will also tell me if I am being too soft and reminds me that it isn’t just me. I love her and just don’t know what I would do without her friendship. Mindy has stood in for me when Cody needed to go to the Dr. when he was sick and I was out of town on business and Mike was at work. Mindy has met me at the airport to take my kids so I could run to work and not have to take another vacation day after flying across the country -- I think there are too many to list! Thank you Mindy!

Mindy and I on vacation in Phoenix

Eve is one of my mommy friends that I have been friends with the longest. I love to know that I can call or text Eve about the  most ridiculous thing that my kids have done and she doesn’t judge me and she just reminds me of all the crazy things her kids do too. She always makes me feel better and she can always make me LOL seriously.  Eve took care of my kids for days when Michael collapsed his lung and was in the hospital for 8 days. I didn’t have to worry. Eve and Mindy took Haley to her music performance the night of my eye surgery. So many to list! Thank you Eve!

Eve and I at the Ugly Christmas Sweater  Party!

Teresa is one of my mommy friends that I made when I first moved out to AZ.  We have kids that are similar in age but she has so much mommy experience since she has 5 kids and I love to hear all of her ideas! She was a stand in momma for Haley in 4th grade since Haley had a student council meeting and  needed a parent present and I had a previous engagement that I couldn’t miss. Teresa came running over when I was at the store and all the smoke alarms went off and the kids were home. Gosh so many memories! Thank you Teresa!

Teresa and I are rocking it out at Cody's 11th Birthday party themed for the 70's, 80's, and 90's!

Nikki is one of my friends that is probably one of the newest mommies that I know!  There were some issues about 28 weeks into her pregnancy and she was in the hospital which seemed like forever until she had her gorgeous baby girl! She is such a great new mommy! I love experiencing the joys of babies through her eyes! Thank you for all the times you have listened to me, helped me, and met with me for a girls lunch! It was such an honor and blessing to be in the hall when you delivered your gorgeous precious baby girl!

Nikki and I after a make-up  makeover!

Tess is one of my other mommy friends that is fairly new to the  mommy world! Her son (my God Son) will be turning 2 in a couple of weeks and it is amazing how quickly time flies! It has been amazing watching her too become a mother and experience the joys and highs and lows that come with having a baby and now a toddler! Tess is expecting her second baby (A GIRL!!!) Thank you Tess for all the times you came and got my kiddos for a night or two to give us some reprieve. Thank you for all the help with my princess' room! I am so honored you chose me to be the God Mom!

Tess and I leaving our girls weekend

Jen is my longest mommy friend (other than my sis). Jen and I have known each other since I was 18 years old when I moved to KS. Both of us have many experiences in common like moving, moving, moving, continually supporting our husbands in their field of work. Our friendship stood the test of both of us moving internationally, her to Germany, me to Panama and Puerto Rico. We grew up, had more kids, moved back to the States, and then found ourselves living in the same city 10 years later. Thank you Jen for all the times you helped with my kids, listened to me vent, helped when Mike was in the hospital, you name it how can I say thank you enough?

Jen and I celebrating at our first Halloween Party in Arizona!

Now, I wasn't able to list every single mommy friends that is important to me. My blog isn't nearly long enough!  I have so many mommy friends! It is amazing and I am blessed to have so many that I can't nearly list them all in this blog. I love you all - you all bring something important and special to my life and I believe having mommy friends is what really keeps us grounded, connected, and honestly keeps us from losing our minds!

BIG SHOUT out to my mommy friend Erin! I love you girl! You are an awesome mom and it has been a pleasure and honor to watch you grow as a person and obtain goals that seemed impossible at times! I wish I had a picture of us on my computer!



Challenge and Choices

Last week I challenged everyone to Pay It Forward and to do a Random Act of Kindness each day for a week. I want to hear from everyone! How are you doing? Have you done it yet? What happened?

I have followed through and some things I could see an immediate reaction and it was so gratifying! Other things I have done I haven't seen a reaction but that is ok because they don't know it was me and that is perfectly fine. 

One thing I have done is given some co-workers thank you cards in their mail boxes for the hard work they do and let them know someone notices and pays attention and it is appreciated. (not if any of them read this blog my cover is blown and SSSHHH don't tell any of them). I know it can be a great feeling to know someone is paying attention to the positive.

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE?