My Besties!!!

I have been thinking and planning this blog post for over a week now, I just have not done it. So much comes to my mind when I think about it ... I knew what I wanted to say yet I didn't. I know that more words will come with this post as I type it.

I want to introduce you to my besties. I have 4 of them that I want to talk to you about today. Now, I have more than just these 4 besties. How can I have 4+ besties ... well, that's easy. They are all different and unique in their own ways. We each have different relationship but yet these are the 4 women that I know that I can count on and would be there in a heartbeat. As I have said about one of them, I would take a bullet for them - or I would step in front of a bus for them. I love them all SO much! Everyone knows that a girls absolute best besties are their mothers and sisters - or in my case, my mother, 2 sisters and my niece. I love my mom, sisters and niece more than words can say. I would not be the person or the wife or the mother that I am without them. They are my everything! I mean - my EVERYTHING!! I will do a post later on about them.

Today - I want to talk about 4 special ladies. Like my mom, sisters and niece, again, I would not be the person I am today if it was not for these 4 ladies. They have all influenced my life tremendously. I didn't know what order to talk about them -- didn't want someone to think that I loved one more than the other, not that they would do that -- but I decided that I would go with who I have known the longest.

My sweet Esther Grace!! Wow -- we go back a long time! I first met Esther my freshman year of high school. She was the "new girl" as Mr. Eady referred her to in marching band. She was new to Briarwood that year and would be joining us in marching band. I vaguely remember her first day on the field with us but I did not talk to her. I am sure that she was very overwhelmed coming in after bandcamp and then having to learn the halftime show. I remember the first day of school, sitting on the bus and Esther gets on to ride. We sat next to each other and the rest is history. We sat next to each other on that bus for 2 years. We certainly had our laughs and our tears and our inside jokes - goodness, don't know if I can remember them all now! But we were like peanut butter and jelly. If we were not at ones house on the weekend, then we were at the other! Like any other high school bestie relationship, we let boyfriends get in between us some but nothing could ever take away our love for each other. Sadly, we drifted apart after high school but each time we picked up the phone or met for a cup of coffee, it was like we saw each other every day. I am SO excited to say that 11 years later, 3 kids and we won't mention how many "significant others" later, we are right on track again. I am thrilled and honored to be standing next to my bestie in her upcoming wedding. 

Oh - and let me add what dorks we were in high school - this was LONG before the days of email and text messaging. There were numerous occasions that either Esther or myself were not allowed to talk on the phone - and that just broke our hearts!! So, we had to come up with inventive ways of talking to each other. Our parents couldn't ground us from the fax machine!! HAHA! "Good Night, Gracie!"

This is my Carlie!! Carlie and I first met at Huffman Baptist in the Spring of 2000. I was a freshman in college and I am not sure what grade Carlie was in. I could probably do some simple math in my head, but... I think she was a freshman in high school. I was a newbie on the block, didn't know anyone but I quickly got active in working with the youth. Who knew - I was just a youth myself! But Carlie was very active in the youth and we hit it off perfectly! I took her home after church, if her momma wasn't there, I chaperoned a trip to Panama City Beach which really grew us closer together. Carlie and I both had a "crush" on one of the youth leaders and I was dreading telling her that he and I had started dating. Well, almost 11 years later and neither one of us are with him but we laugh about it all the time! Carlie came to work for me in the Spring of 2007. I gave her ALL of my wedding planning secrets, taught her everything I knew about a wedding and we worked well right along side of each other. She was with me during the hardest days of my business when we closed it. She always apologizes when she refers to Bubbles and Bells as "ours" but I laugh and tell her she made more profit on the store than I did. It was just as much hers as mine! She and I have grown to love each other as sisters and I am thrilled to have her in my life. We have definitely shared our ups and our downs in each others lives - we have faced happy moments together, marriage, baby and we have shared tragedy and loss. Carlie and I both know that we can always depend on each other through thick and thin!

Oh - and did I mention that Carlie, being the GREAT friend that she is, dressed up like Tigger for my rehearsal dinner?? HEHE!! Yes she did - I'll have to see if I can find that picture and add to my blog! That's true friendship!!

My sweet Jennifer Day!! I had no idea that working at the bank would give me such a lasting friendship! We talked on the phone each day at work and even shared lunch together as often as we could. I remember being SO excited when she started working at the corporate office and we could have lunch together everyday. I will say that I am the one who taught her to eat her french fries with pepper! HEHE!!

We shared so many laughs together - not so many tears - well, never mind, yes we have. I am totally the one to blame for the tears at her baby shower! We have lived through weddings, babies and loss. We have sweated together working out our stress - I didn't do so hot in that area but we won't go there! Jennifer is the one that I can pick up the phone and tell anything too!! As we grow further in our lives, we are amazed at how much we have in common - most importantly, our FRIENDS! Oh my gosh, Jennifer and I could have an all weekend FRIENDS marathon and be thrilled. Hum, we might have to do that one day! I will never forget what a friend she was -- I had about 400 wedding invitations to assemble, Noah was only 2 weeks old and was not really allowing me to get much done (boy, what did I think then compared to now) and there she was, 7 1/2 months pregnant and she comes to help me assemble invitations. What do you think we did when we assembled invitations? That's right - watched FRIENDS!! I am so thankful for her and am thrilled to see where life takes us!

And then there is my Jen! Where do I even begin?? Jen is my bestie that I have known in the least amount of time, but I swear, she is my counterpart. Is it sad that I remember the first time I met her husband but I don't really remember the first time I met her?? I first met Jen and Rob at CrossPoint in the Marriage 101 SS class. As you can tell by the picture, Rob is a little recognizable (I mean that as a complement. The red hair, the beard...) I will never forget our first Sunday in that class ... we are sitting there in the corner, like a fish out of water - as uncomfortable as we could be, and Rob comes up to us and introduces himself. First of all, I was amazed at his red hair, but he was so sweet and so outgoing. I am pretty sure he introduced us to his wife, Jen or he at least pointed her out to us. Jen and I mutually knew each other through Sunday School and occasionally shared an email back and forth. WELL -- I remember her emailing me telling me that she had found my wedding pictures online and they were beautiful. I instantly loved her. I mean, come on, what girl doesn't love to be told her wedding was beautiful - 3 years after the wedding. We continued to share emails and found that we both were wedding planners. Wow - someone else who understood my job. Then it gets freakier - she also had a business where she sold invitations and accessories. Your kidding me -- she had the same job I did - completely!! She helped me out in my store when Keith and I were on vacation one time and the rest is basically history! We grew closer as accountability partners and I honestly don't know where I would be without her today. We enjoyed our time of heart to hearts, and trips to market (ok, who are we kidding, we just went for the shopping!) and just being in each others company. It wasn't long after our friendship truly bloomed that Rob got a job in T-town and he moved her away. I laugh saying that their house here never sold so that was a true sign that he needed to bring her back to me! HEHE! She was the first person I called when I had Noah, outside of family of course, and we were both there when we had babies! She truly knows my insides and outs. Like I said, we absolutely share a brain - it's scary. She's my twin from another mother. Whats funnier - we both love weddings and anything to do with them, both married red heads, both have red head babies, both of our daddies are ministers/pastors and both married ministers kids! I love her, I love her, I love her!!

So - there you have it, the 4 women in my life. I pray for them each all the time. They are each going through different difficulties in their lives. I ask that you also pray for them. One of them is going through an especially scary time right now with an illness. Please pray with me that God will allow a divine intervention and remove the cancer from her body. I know that my God is bigger than anything and he has the power to intervene.

I pray for all of us as we grow older and wise. Wait, maybe I will say, as we grow younger and wiser! I pray that we will be the wives that God will have us to be and I pray that any and all children that God has given and will give us, that we will raise them in a Godly home and that our children will grow to have a personal relationship with Christ!

I love each of you VERY much! Please know that you mean the world to me!!

~Randi