Goodbye Clarks!

Our very dear friends Shelly, David, and Winnie Clark are leaving soon for Charlotte, North Carolina! Part of me is thrilled for all that awaits for them up there- I believe that is where they are being called to go and I can see the excitement they have about moving up there. Another part of me is in denial that they are moving. I don't think it's really going to sink in until a couple of weeks from now.

I love the sweet memories I have with them when I was pregnant with Andrew. We would go to the pool, grill out, and spend a lot of time in their condo (aka 'the dungeon'). My favorite was playing board games in their master bedroom floor and trying to whisper to each other so we wouldn't wake up Winnie from her nap. We sometimes couldn't help but laugh so hard that we would still wake up Winnie!

But I also love the memories I have of them during our darkest of times. During the time Andrew was at the NICU I remember David faithfully calling us every morning at 10am to pray. Shelly joined in after a day or two, and we would conference her in from her office. The four of us would pray, one by one, asking God to take care and heal little Andrew. Very often it was this phone call that would wake us up in the morning as the NICU didn't open to visitors until noon. I loved the encouragement the Lord gave Steve and I through this time of prayer. I felt a peace knowing that even if at times my faith failed and my heart was discouraged, there were three other people by my side who were lifting up Andrew by their own intimate and personal prayers. Now I know our family and home church was faithfully praying for Andrew as well, and I will be forever thankful for that. But there is something special about praying side by side with someone else that just touched my heart in a different way.

I was actually somewhat surprised we remained close after Andrew passed away. I know that such a tragedy is so hard for some people to comprehend and I would not have blamed them if they just needed their space or time apart. But that didn't happen. The jokes and laughter we shared were such good medicine for my heart.

I remember just a couple of weeks after Andrew passed away I started getting small anxiety attacks when I was out with people. I would be in the middle of dinner and out of the blue I would feel this need to go home to take care of my baby. But there was no baby to go home to. Even though I was physically in a place, my mind would often feel that I needed to be at home nursing and taking care of my little one... but for some very odd reason it didn't happen when we were around the Clarks! And that's why I enjoyed being around them- because when I was with them I didn't have this feeling that 'I should be' somewhere else. I could just be and laugh or cry if I needed to. I remember one evening during that time I laughed so hard my stomach hurt so much it took me a while to get off of their couch. I am thankful I was given the blessing to laugh with friends in the midst of a very sad and difficult time.

We have gone through lots of ups and downs along with them. I won't keep on going on about them. I just wanted to share little glimpses of our friendship that made them so special to Steve and I.

I am going to miss the daily dozen emails between Shelly and I.
I am going to miss Winnie's flirty smile whenever she says hi to Steve.
I am going to miss David's off the wall and completely inapropiate sense of humor!

Below are some of my favorite pictures