Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Big Girl

God has blessed me with some AMAZING friends. My whole life. I could start with my VERY 1st friend from birth and go to my newest friend that I have met this year and let you know how GREAT each one of these people are. BUT, I want to focus on ONE friend who came into my life WAAAAAY back in 1997.

Freshman year. North Central Bible College--I arrived on a Saturday. My parents drop me off and leave. I'm all alone and getting ready to embark on a new adventure. One night, I can't remember what night...BUT during WELCOME WEEK, they had OPEN GYM and pizza and all kinds of good stuff. SO, my floor and I headed down to the gym. They had started a volleyball game (ya know the kind, 20 people on each side) no one is really paying attention, people come and go, yet you have TWO people on each side acting like it's the FINAL GAME at the Olympics...going for the gold. (NOTE: I was NOT one of them!) Anyway, the girl next to me started talking. Her name was Beth. She was from WI. She was here to be a teacher. AND COME TO FIND OUT, we had a class together! A friendship RIGHT on that court was formed in my heart...right there.

The next day, I walked to her 3rd floor room and together we walked to our class...some sort of 1st year education class. Over the next few weeks, Beth and I becamer closer. Her birthday was Nov. 6th and mine Dec. 6th. ONLY one month apart! She told me she was known as BIG GIRL BETH and liked to do WILD and crazy things like SNOWBOARD, and other things I've NEVER even thought about doing. She had this wild passion about her--that I just loved. Yet, a soft side that made me like her even more.

Little did I know that night, on the court playing 40 man volleyball, that a DEAR friendship was in the works. Nope, the two of us didn't get asked to try out for the college volleyball team (the girl next to us did!) BUT, had I known what Beth would mean to me, we would have taken a picture of that night and framed it.

The following year, we were DL's together. Our JR. year, we were RA's together. SO MANY stories are in those two years. SO many hardships, so many smiles, and laughter, and so many tears. Both of us were growing into the women of God HE called us to be!

Our senior year, Beth left me (hee hee) to do her student teaching in Kenya. I missed her SO MUCH, and remember writing in my journal, "I need my Big Girl Beth and she's in Kenya...and I need her here with me!" I realized that this was our future--we were no longer going to be right down the hall, or just across the street. This was REAL life, cause God had a DEEP call on Big Girl. AND He needs her for Him.

Big Girl graduated in 2001. She moved to SNOWBOARDING COUNTRY in CO. The slacker that I was, spent my SUPER senior year still at college. I MISSED her. Big time. BUT, I always KNEW God had a call on my BIG GIRL! We kept in contact as well as could be expected with life so busy. She called me when she got engaged. (Just to show you her wild side..she met her husband to be the night they all decided to take a porta-potty and dump it in a water fountain) ME--totally would have gotten caught. But, not Big Girl.

I drove up to her wedding in WI. Beautiful...so Big Girl! So much fun and it was great to meet this DAVID I'd heard so much about! Loved hearing their story, and how they fell in love.

Over the next few years, I KNEW GOD would give Big Girl the desire of her heart. AND, I'm so glad I'm in the wings to watch! God gave them a beautiful baby boy named Zane a few years ago. Since then, God has called Dave and Beth and little Zane to Argentina to be missionaries.

The plan is for them to fly there the beginning of March. I'm SOOOO excited for them and to see what God has planned for their lives! Life-changing things are going to take place, and I'm SO honored that Beth is my dear friend!

They do have a blog you can follow here! Follow them! Support them! Pray for them! They need SO much support! A new country, a new life, learning new things...YET, God has called them...and with a call comes His guidance! Trust me, Beth is so much fun and full of life, you can't HELP but want to follow their story!!!

SO BIG GIRL...My Beth...I'm SO PROUD OF YOU! SO honored that God would take a small town girl from FLOYD, IA and give her a great friend like YOU! God WILL work everything out! He is SO trustworthy! I'm proud of you and David for taking this call and running with it! You are following the King of Kings and I support you ALL THE WAY! May God bless you and your family and may lives be changed because of your call to obedience! I love you and KNOW that our mansions in Heaven will be RIGHT next door so we can catch up about your life on earth! Big girl...Love you so much!
Always and forever your,
PHILLY

5 comments:

jessica m said...

LOVE the way you tell a story!!!
Very sweet time of your life...
:)

Holly Lefevre said...

How beautiful. What a lovely story about an amazing friendship. Thanks for stopping by 504 Main and following. I am your newest follower!

Duchess of Tea said...

Hello darling, thanks for visiting my cottage and for the kind words you left behind, much appreciated. What a lovely ides to have tea parties for special occasions at your church. The gift giving idea is an excellent one. I simply adore vintage china, especially teapots and teacups. I look forward to our future visits, tea and talk.

Love & Hugs
Duchess

Unknown said...

Following from Friday Follow:) what a beautiful story!

furygirl3132 said...

What a wonderful story, thanks so much for sharing it! Happy Follow Friday! I am a new follower and stopping by to say hi, have a great weekend!


Eloise
Mommy2TwoGirls
http://mommy2twogirls.blogspot.com/