A Fond Farewell...

Usually I'm the one who is saying goodbye as we move to a new base...I have now experienced what it's like to be on the other end of things! Sarah, my dear friend and running partner, moved to Texas the week before our family left for our Idaho trip. We've known for months that the B family would be moving, though the original plan was that they would be moving to the Denver area for Ken's job. We decided that was an appropriate place for them to live, since we'd be able to see them every time we visited Ted's family. However, God had other plans, and within a month everything changed...they made the decision that Texas was where Ken would work, their house sold within 48 hours of that decision, and the flurry of activity began! We had a girls' night out (which is when this picture was taken) and a goodbye party, during which we presented the B family with housecleaning gifts (a collection taken to get their old house here and new house in Texas cleaned for them) and a scrapbook album filled with pictures and notes from friends. And then they were gone!

We've been able to chat this week, and I've learned that they are settling in quite nicely and enjoying their new home (and pool!!). I am definitely happy for them, because it was so obvious that this is part of God's plan for their family. So how can I be sad?! I will definitely miss Sarah and her whole family. Our kids became sibling-like, complete with tattling on one another and hitting each other. :-) They loved playing together, and I know they'll enjoy being pen pals and keeping in touch. (Tobin already wrote TJ a note informing him that Charis was making a trap for the boys!!)

Sarah was the first friend I made in Las Vegas. We met 2 days after our family arrived from Maryland when I attended a home school meeting. (I had looked at the info for the group online before we moved.) Little did I know that she was the one I had emailed as a contact from the Sonlight forums when I was browsing. I found a few posts by "Vegasmom," her user name, and noticed from her signature line that her 3 kids were about the same ages as my 3. We exchanged a couple of emails, and I thought perhaps I'd contact her after we got settled. At the home school meeting, Sarah did the icebreaker and mentioned something about using Sonlight...when I noticed her last name, I realized she must be the person I had already contacted! We connected at home school events over the next month, but it was in October (2005) when Ted was TDY the whole month that we began to get to know each other better. I have to credit Ken for helping us get a closer friendship started, as he encouraged Sarah to call me, knowing my husband was out of town.

And the rest is history! We chatted on the phone several afternoons a week, helped keep each other accountable in many ways (from running to staying on a schedule to doing our quiet times), got together at numerous parks, shared many a meal that included macaroni and cheese, and so much more. We do plan to keep running "together," at least sharing our progress and working towards running a marathon together someday. And I know we'll be able to catch up by phone and email here and there. But I already miss getting together!

So, Sarah, here's to you and to our friendship! I love you and miss you tons, but I'm so thankful God brought us together to share the last couple of years as friends in the same state! You've encouraged me, cheered me up, let me vent, laughed and cried with me, introduced me to more wonderful people, helped me fall in love with running, and paved the home schooling way for me by being one core ahead of our family in Sonlight! You've enriched my life, and I hope and pray that I've done the same for you.

And now you can print off this post and put it in your scrapbook, because it may be the only "letter" I'll be able to write for you without getting all mushy and teary-eyed! ;-)