Mom-ing Together

Friendship is important to me.  Maybe you think that is a lame thing to say because friendship is important to everyone.  But still.  Friendship is important to me.  And one of the cool things about having friendships as adults is that, generally, each girlfriend is packaged together with a whole bunch of people that they call husband and children... so when one girlfriend comes to visit, she might bring that whole package of friends with her to mix and blend with mine.  This always makes my house feel very full and happy.

Filling out NCAA brackets.  Yes, this was in March, but who's counting?

The Birdnos came to visit from Arizona for their spring break.  Merrill had a conference here in Vegas and, since it paired with their kids' spring break, would have made a family trip to visit seem like a no brainer under normal circumstances.  But, in this case, the circumstances were not very normal, as poor 13-year-old Mikayla was scheduled to have a tonsillectomy just a couple of days before Merrill's conference.  So, Cami put me on alert a couple of weeks before and said that, as long as Mikayla was feeling up for it, they would be here to play.

I'm not quite sure exactly how 'up to it' Mikayla was feeling, but they came! And we made a nice bed on the couch right in the middle of the fun for her to rest and heal, yet not miss out.

Brian and Merrill were both gone throughout the days, but Cami and I are mom-pros and handled the 10 children on our own just fine.  It was a different sort of reunion for us, though... generally when we get together, we like to Go and Do throughout the days - but with Mikayla in her post surgery state, we were rooted to the home and I got to spend time with Cami as we both filled our roles of mother.  I helped my kids with homework and made dinner while she answered the call of her alarm to give Mikayla more medicine.  We toweled off freezing kids from the pool, and we covered tiny scratches with band-aids.  We filled hungry tummies and brushed hair and fielded arguments and, just when we were getting into a good conversation, would be interrupted to do it all over again.

This water was quite cold.  And the air wasn't much better.  But peer pressure can be a powerful thing, you know.

I always love watching Cami be a mom... her patience with the kids' unceasing requests, her love for their sweetness, her laugh at their cuteness.  She is a worker and her work is her children.

We were able to get away for a short while, though, and Cami took me up in the mountains to introduce me to one of her favorite things: mountain biking.

I loved it.  Being out in the mountain air, feeling the sun on my skin, breathing hard and deep as I pedaled up the mountain climbs, learning to trust my bike and, best of all, being with one of my very best friends.  We laughed and talked and cheerfully solved our way out of being lost. 

Cami is such a great friend.

The last night they were visiting, we popped a pizza in the oven for the kids, set up a party outside, and then left them all to fend for themselves.

We adults drove into Henderson and had our own, grown up dinner (read: no pizza), and had some heart-healing conversations about life and faith and friendship.  We are so lucky to have the Birdnos in our lives and can't wait till they come visit again!