The sun and my babies were definitely up before I was ready this morning, but so was my Honey. He must have taken one look and and known I didn’t get much sleep, because he made breakfast, and the children thought it was the best thing ever.

My heart melted into a puddle when Anna Grace hugged him after breakfast and said: “Thank you for the breakfast, Papa! You’re the best cooker… uh, actually you’re the same kind of cooker as my mommy!”

After breakfast I really wanted to get out of the house and go for a walk, so dear Hubby watched the children while I walked around the farm, checked on the turkeys and all the animals, and got the mail.

Then, while I worked up the pumpkins that a friend gave me earlier this week, I finally caught up with my best friend who lives in Wisconsin. We never seem to coordinate our schedules to accommodate a decent phone conversation, but today we were able to chat for a whole 18 minutes. With only one interruption by a misbehaving child. That’s not a long chat to some of you, but we both have new babies, and compared to our recent calling history, 18 minutes is something akin to forever. It was wonderful. Perfect, actually.

While I was still on the phone with my friend, another best friend walked in the door, with a smile and a latte. A latte for me! Could this day get any better?

Yes it could. Not only did she bring me a latte, she sat down at my sewing machine, and picked right up where I had left off on my new dress. She put up with my clickety-clackety , rather grouchy Singer sewing machine, even though she’s used to a Bernina, and we had coffee and a wonderful chat as always.

*quick disclaimer about my “best friends”… I seem to have a little problem. I can’t choose just one. It seems like a good problem to me, but it may cause some confusion for others. If you hear me talk about my “best friend,” I may be referring to one of… oh, I don’t know, maybe 10? It’s easier to say “my best friend,” than to say “one of my top ten,” so happy guessing. 🤷🏼‍♀️ 😅

This evening I babysat for a friend, so she could go out to eat with friends. She babysits for me a lot, so it was nice to be able to return the favor. She came early, so we could chat and catch up, which of course I enjoyed. (She should do that again soon.) ❤️

The children had so much fun playing together, and there were only a few squabbles. 🙂 She also brought a delicious chicken and rice casserole and a salad for our supper that we all enjoyed immensely.

After we ate supper, in the door walked two more friends, with whom I’d made evening plans. We love getting together when we can, to sew or work on other projects, but this time, baby Ruthie had other plans for me and I just wasn’t getting to my sewing machine. So for the second time today, a friend helped with the sewing on my dress.

By the time they left, it was ready to have the skirt and bodice sewn together! They also found time to read stories to my children and wash up my dishes.

They say extroverted people get energy from socializing with other people. I believed it before, but I really believe it now, because recently I have been crashing as soon as my baby settles in for the night; but at the end of today, I was still feeling like I could take on the world.

After my friends left, and all my little people went to bed, I was able to get my dress ready for zipper and hem, and I roasted the seeds from all those pumpkins, with butter, salt and ranch powder, to make a yummy, healthy snack.

I’m now ready for bed at 1:30 am, and feeling so blessed. What would I do without friends? I know my life would be a boring and sad life if it didn’t have so many sweet people in it. Sewing by myself is probably the most depressing thing I can think of. Thanks to my friends, I usually have company for that job.

But seriously, our children get the blessing of having so many positive influences in their little lives, Cory and I have the blessing of being challenged and encouraged in our walk with Jesus, and just so much support and community in general, as we attempt to do this thing called life.

I guess technically since it’s after midnight, I should change the title of this to “Yesterday Was a Perfect Day.” Oh well. I’m gonna grab some sleep and maybe today will be a perfect day as well. I have a long list of jobs I want to do, and as always, an unrealistic confidence in my ability to get them all done. What could possibly go wrong? 😅

I hope your day is perfect too. ❤️

📷 credit for this picture: another best friend. 🙂 thanks Cynthia.

~Quick Anna Grace story: 🤷🏼‍♀️

She’s an extrovert like her parents, and when my friends walked out the door, she burst into tears because she didn’t want them to go. After sobbing for a few minutes with her head in my lap, saying “It’s not fair! Now I have no friends! I want my friends!” she stopped crying, hugged me and said “Oh Mom, I love you so much! It feels like you’re my friend!”

Oh my heart. Her love for me is so unconditional. She sees the frazzled, impatient, tired and grumpy sides of me, and yet she’s still her mama’s girl. I hope and pray she always “feels like I’m her friend.”