Happy Birthday Friend!

I can only think of a couple people who are as big of freaks about their birthdays as I am (2 actually, Amy Shelton and Courtney Roberts) and TODAY is Courtney's birthday!!! It also happens to be my half birthday, and no, I don't really celebrate half birthdays, but it's still kind of cool that I have two friends whose birthdays are on my half birthday (Happy Birthday DREW!!!). But, I want to take this opportunity to wish Courtney a very special day and tell her how much I love her!!!

For some reason, when you get married it gets even harder to make friends because not only do you have to click with someone, but you have the click with their spouse and your spouse has to click with both of them, it just adds a whole different dynamic to the friend making process. In fact, I can only think of a handful of couples to where all the factors have lined up. But, Josh and Courtney are definitely one of those couples.

As we've been preparing ourselves to close our San Antonio "life-chapter," I've been getting pretty emotional about leaving our friends here (shocking I know, me emotional?) I just am overwhelmed looking back over our lives to see how God has provided for us no matter where we are. I have to confess that I drug my feet quite stubbornly when we moved here to San Antonio, but once we arrived God blessed us immediately...from giving us a great place to live, friends, a wonderful church home and a son, which we didn't even have to wait nine months to meet :) With all those blessings, we also have faced lots of challenges over the past 2 1/2 years and we were forced to learn a hard lesson....how to ask for help! I know it is our, as I'm sure it is for most people, tendency to want to be the ones who "have it all together" (HA!) and we'd just rather be serving than the ones being served. But, out of all the lessons (and let me tell you, there have been quite a few) that we have learned here, that is definitely the one that really stands out. In learning that lesson, we also have realized that it takes a special kind of friend to let your guard down with and ask when you need something. And usually they're only the friends that you have a long history with, but that is what has been so wonderful about San Antonio, God gave us that special connection with people here without having to have a long history, the kind of relationships that only he can ordain.

So, I would like to thank ALL of our wonderful San Antonio friends for seeing us through one crisis after another during out time here and for loving us even though we so DON'T have it all together :)

Courtney, Happy 25th Birthday!!! Brad and I feel so lucky to have you and Josh in our lives!