A Thankful Heart Series Part 1. Friends and Why They Matter

Happy November! 

This is such a fun time of year! We start to put up our Christmas decorations, the hustle and bustle of the holidays is in the air, we are changing our thoughts toward our friends and family and who is most important in our life and we start to reflect back on the year for things we are grateful for. 

This has been one of the most rewarding yet challenging years for me. Me and my husband had planned to make a big tropical vacation to celebrate our 10 years together but in December of last year we were told we it's time to expand our family instead. We almost immediately got pregnant in January but that same day I found out that pregnancy was not meant to be. A difficult couple of weeks later I was pregnant again! This baby decided to stick around and will be joining our family in only 4 short weeks from now! 

Not long after we got pregnant we were told we need to sell our amazing and beautiful home and build our forever home. I'm basically bawling my eyes out right now thinking about it because we have such amazing friends we found there and now we are supposed to leave all of them? But we asked again and got confirmation that that was supposed to be our families plan. We've since moved into my husbands grandparents cabin about 30 minutes away and it feels so far from everyone. I have had many moments of feeling alone and scared that I wouldn't have anyone close by that I could count on. 

Photo credit: RoxanaBPhotography

 

Well shortly after getting settled in here I started hanging out with my friend Natashia again. She has been one of the most genuine friends I've had and I was so happy she wanted to hang out. She came back in my life when I really just needed a friend to be around. We started hanging out with her friend Aleigh and it was clear we were meant to all be friends during this time in our lives. They are both amazing at this whole blogging thing and they have encouraged me and educated me on how to get this far. Then Aleigh and Natashia asked me to be a part of a Friendsgiving event they were hosting and I couldn't have been more excited! 

Aleigh came up with the event to support her #thankfulheartseries she has been running on her blog for the past three years. It's such a great way to use November by sharing what she is grateful for and continually thinking about it and having it in her hear throughout the month of November. She has invited me and Natashia to be co-hosts to a link up for this series. I would love for any of you to join the link up and there will be instructions and rules at the bottom of this post on how to do that! 

I was originally a little hesitant that I may not have much to share but after reflecting on this year I realized I need to shout out what I'm grateful for instead of just complaining about what this year has dealt me. Since they are the reason I am even joining this series I thought I would start out the series talking about friends.

This is actually a hard post for me. I am most likely going to get too real and possibly offend some people from my past but I'll get to that in a minute. 

I have had an amazing array of friends in my life from the time I was young until now! I have been lucky to have friends that have had such a strong and GOOD influence on me and have shaped who I am today. Truly I don't know if I would have half my shiz together today if it weren't for all my friends, even those from 20 years ago!! 

But at the same time friendship has been something I've struggled with my whole life. I struggle to make real and lasting friends. You know those friends that would do anything for you? Those friends you can call no matter when or where and they will be there for you? Those friends you can count on in every big step of your life to be there to support and serve you? That friend that shows up at your door with your favorite caffeinated drink from Sodalicious because you snapchatted at 3am with a puking toddler?

I don't feel like I've ever had that one friend. I have lots of friends don't get me wrong! Lots of friends who have loved and supported me. And when I really ask and put myself out there I get the help or support I'm looking for but it is almost always someone different, someone new.

I have it figured out though! I have never been that friend in return! I haven't ever been a constant in someone else's life, so how can I expect it from others when I'm not putting in the effort?? I have tried to be better at that since I've noticed it, but life happens. We grow older and have kids, and get busy making sure we are giving everything to our family. We move away and can no longer be the next door babysitter, egg lender or craft night hangout. We can make plans and try to keep that connection but it is so hard to do when you are not constantly around someone. We are constantly growing and changing so sometimes our friends are the same way. 

Hopefully this isn't sounding like a downer post but I want to say that even though I've never had that one constant friend my whole life (except my sisters, but that's not who I'm talking about here!) I am actually so very grateful for the way all of my friends have come into my life even if we are merely Facebook friends now. I know God has placed people in my life when I needed it the most and I wouldn't have made it through the rough times without those friendships even if they were short lived. 

So, no matter what our current friendship "status" is, if you are reading this and we were or still are friends please know I value you and you have made an impact on my life! I am the awesome person I am (yeah, I said it!) because of my friends! Much love to all of you

Link Up Rules:

1) Please subscribe to, follow, or just check out your host and co-host's. (first 3 links)

 2) Visit and comment on at least 5 other blogs. This link up is meant to create a blog community so don't be shy!

 3) In your post, please either share The"Thankful Heart" image above or link back to this post on your blog post.
4) Make your post more appealing and creative by adding whatever pictures you please and as many reasons to be thankful as you'd like! (remember that the post you link up should be about what you are thankful for!)

(#5 is optional but, very much recommended!)

 5) Share your post on instagram using #thankfulheartseries (with your choice of picture) and go check out other posts! Be a friend and comment on or like other posts :)

An InLinkz Link-up