A Sister Friend

How did I find such favor with God, that He would send me a sister friend like Karen?

In many ways, we are two of a kind. We both cry at movies. We both feel things deeply. We both desire to walk with God and be pleasing to Him.

We both like to laugh. A lot. And we often think we're funny.

Karen often looks beyond my words and hears my heart. She listens when I rant. She listens when I whine. She listens when I share a struggle. She chats and plays Word Twist in the middle of the night when I can't sleep. She'll happily climb in the car at midnight to go to Wal-mart and make me laugh when she turns every day oven mitts into full-of-personality hand puppets in the middle of the store.

She's walked through grief with me and never told me it was 'time' to be past it. She's willingly jumped into my projects and made them so much more fun. She's sat in my garden and spent hours pulling dandelions out of my lawn. She's raised a sweat, mixing 80 bags of cement and fussed when I wanted to do it, because she didn't want ME to throw my back out. She's helped me form that cement into a wonderful 'flagstone' patio and walkway. She's hiked through the forest when it was too hot to breath and brought me rocks, because I didn't have enough to finish a rock wall. She's brightened my garden with gifts ... the most important being her presence.

She's helped me paint my house when I've decided it must be done NOW... three days before my sons wedding rehearsal dinner. Not just any plain ole paint job, but a special faux finish that had to be done by hand. She learned how to do a form of tole painting with me, by watching a video in Japanese (I ordered the wrong tape.) She spent hours in a pottery shop painting pieces of bisque because it's what I wanted to do.

She's encouraged me to think that I can do anything... and do it well. She's my cheerleader and my fan. Everyone needs one! And I think she's terrific.

Not many friends would let you take a photo when you both show up wearing the same shirt, but a sister friend will! A sister friend will also forgive when she finds out that you posted those photos on your blog.

I love you, Karen.