One of the biggest gifts of our trip to the mountains this past weekend, was the 5 plus hours (there AND back) that Jeremiah and I got alone in the car together. You know travelling with babies in the car is a little bit like being locked in a jail cell with chattering monkeys, and I’d almost forgotten that there used to be a time when I actually looked forward to road trips 🙂
I’d gotten two different books on CD for us to listen to…but we never got farther than a chapter into either of them. Justin gave Jeremiah a CD of songs from some artist he thought we’d both love, but we never listened to more than one song. We talked and listened and talked and sang and talked some more. We got the harmony almost perfected on a song we’ve been meaning to learn for over a year now…we just needed some concentrated quiet time. It was a gift, an absolute gift.
I like to throw out big random questions, and then watch Jeremiah try to scrounge around for an answer. He always accuses me of getting my answer all prepared before I ask, making him seem slow…but I really don’t do that. I just let my mind roam over random topics, until I hit one that seems fun, and then I blurt it out for us both to wrestle with. At least one of these random questions, Jeremiah had a quick, solid answer to, while I couldn’t ever seem to settle with myself.
“Who is your best friend, not counting me of course? Because that would certainly be your answer, right? :)”
He answered quickly and then flipped it back to me… … …I stared at him blankly as face after face flashed through my mind. Each one conjuring a different feeling of love, or kinship, or thankfulness, or laughter. There were guys and girls. There were best friends from different stages of my life, and one in particular that’s hung around through each stage. But that phrase BEST friend, left me speechless. How could I settle on one that was the. best.
“How would you define best?” I asked.
“I don’t know…Who would you go to if you needed to talk about us. Like detailed stuff about us.”
“That’s not going to be a good way to define for me, because I would talk about that stuff to anybody who cared to listen,” I said as his face dropped, and I laughed really hard.
“Nothing’s sacred,” he said as he half laughed and shook his head back and forth.
“Nope ;)”
How would you define your best friend? Is it the person you would call if you were in a jam and needed help? Is it the person that thinks and acts most like you–making it easier to be yourself? Is it the person who knows the most about you–your life, your thoughts, your dreams? Is it the person you talk to the most? Is it the person you would call first when you have exciting news? Or the person you would call first when you’d gotten bad news? Is it the person you spill all your dirty secrets to (which is apparently how Jeremiah defines it :))? Or the one who holds you accountable?
These kinds of questions raced through my mind and each question seemed to lead me to a different face. While some encompassed several of these questions, no one embodied them all…and that thought–that realization that there is not one person, but a host of people that I could reach out to for comfort, or help, or excitement, or accountability–was like a shower of blessings over my head. What kind of love has the Father showered down on me, that my life is filled with truly great friends??!!
“What, exactly, HAVE you said to people about us?” Jeremiah popped in, breaking my strain of joyful thought.
“Oh I don’t know,” I answered. “Nothing too embarrassing.” 😉
…to make some new friends and catch up with some old ones.
We did a whole lot of this:
But we also did our fair share of this:
Behind Justin’s parent’s mountain house there was this large hill on a golf course just perfect for sledding: 
My first run down the hill, I rode with Jeremiah, and my protective husband…barrelled right over me and left me like this:
And as I began the treacherous ascent back to the top of our mountain, I almost ate it again:
After getting the hang of things a little more, the boys got competitive:
And we girls showed them that we could compete as well (I hope you can all see how well this is going to end :)):
Then, they got a little adventurous:
And we answered that challenge:
And upped ’em two more:
However, at that point, they started flat out trying to kill themselves:
I have gotten lots of questions about making the bread, and I thought I’d try to answer them all in one post.