Pretty Ladies All In a Row

A wedding day is one of the biggest days of a girl's life. Mine was no different. And who do you want to share in your big day more than your biggest fans, your closest friends.

I had the pleasure of sharing my wedding date not only with my best friend (see last post), but with my current three best friends. Amy Morris, Amanda Whitteker, and Alison Lapan (the alliteration is a coincidence, I promise!)

All three of these girls are more so important to me. Amanda dates all the way back to the beginning of high school. From band practices (yes Sir, we'll try to be more quiet), to trips, to math and english classes, to the gym, to movies in her basement, to walks around town, to emails from college... And believe it or not, she even took my right big toe on a trip around Europe!! (The rest of me couldn't afford to go.) I am so glad to have a friendship that has lasted over time and distance. Amanda, I love you!


Alison and I don't date back quite as far, but the love is there! She and I attended 4 years of college together, and while there were semesters that we didn't spend a lot of time together, she was always there to come back to. I've always been told that the best way to ruin a good friendship is to live with the person. This wasn't true for us. Our last and final semester at school, we decided it was high time that we lived together. With an invitation from Julie Parrot (McComiskey) and Tina Becker, we moved into the townhouses. What a great semester :) Sorry about all that Wes stuff. I hope you still love me!!


Amy Morris... ah yes. Of the three, Amy and I date back the shortest length of time. However, she is one of my dearest friends. She is a true to life answer to prayer for me (and I for her!!). Upon arriving home from Bible College, I needed a job. I was volunteering at the church, but needed to make an income. Amy worked with the city of Ottawa and basically, without knowing me, gave me 2 positions to start when I got home. She had started attending the church while I was at school and had become a Christian with a heart on fire for God. It was a joy to work with her. But there was more to my prayer than needed work. I needed a *friend*. At college, I had been surrounded with Christian friends, much opportunity for companionship, or even just someone to hang out with. At home, having left all that behind, I began to feel very alone. My prayer was for a close friend that I could pour into and who would pour into me. Little did I know, that was Amy's prayer, verbatim. Over the 2.5 years that I lived at home before getting married, Amy and I became the best of friends. We watched movies, scrapbooked, spent hours walking around town, spilling our hearts to each other. She was my boss in the city, I was her boss at the church where she volunteered in the children's ministry. She truly was (and is!) an answer to prayer. She and her husband Mike continue to be two of our biggest supporters. This will not be a friendship that is soon left by the roadside. We've become too important in each others lives to say goodbye so easily.

When choosing who of my friends I would like to stand with me at my wedding, there was no doubt in my mind that these three girls would be the ones. I am honoured and thrilled to have had such amazing friends and confidants as these three. God has blessed.

You will forever be loved here!

Thank you Jesus for giving us friends!

One is Silver, the other Gold

I have been contemplating a lot lately on the importance of friends. Not just acquaintances but good, close, faithful, trustable *friends*. In my 26+ years on earth, I have been blessed with a good number of close friendships, in many different stages of life. While some of these friendships have not lasted "the test of time" (mostly because of a change in distance), at their appropriated time, these friends were all like silver and gold to me. Over the next week or so (I added the "or so" because I'll be away tomorrow through Tuesday and don't know how much blogging time there will be), I want to revisit some of these stages of life and friendships that made those times great.

Today, I'll start with my most current best friend - my husband. Jeremiah Xavier Gomez (don't bother following the link - he doesn't blog anyway!!) was not always my best friend. In fact, it wasn't until after 3 years of college together that we had any kind of friendship *on our own*. (Before that it was mostly because our friends were friends that we spent any time whatsoever together.) And in fact, it wasn't until 16 months after graduation that we even started dating. And in fact, if we're being honest, while we were dating, there were approximately 2.5 months where I couldn't stand the boy (no worries.. he knows, he was there!!)

But we took on the horrors of a long distance relationship and we won! After a heart wrenching breakup, we got back together, and from that moment on, neither one of us looked back. From that moment on, I knew this was the man I would love forever, the man I, if he would have me, I would spend the rest of my life with.

Six months (next Saturday) have passed since I walked down the aisle and said "By the grace of God, I will." Six months have passed where we've been able to wake up and see each other face to face. Six months have passed and we still love to hug and kiss and, heaven forbid, slap each other in the butt whenever we get the chance.

Jeremiah will forever be my best friend. I thank God for him every chance I get.

Thank you, Jesus, for giving us friends.

So much to write about... but first..

Have you heard the new Microsoft news?? They will give a donation to a "charity of your choice" (you pick from their list of 10) for every MSN conversation that is started *if* you are part of the "i'm" initiative. Check out more at the website www.im.live.com. Then you simply choose your charity and put the code in your name and PRESTO! Donations made on your behalf just for sitting at your computer and using MSN!! My sister works for Microsoft. She wouldn't pull one over my eyes. She says it's a very small amount but that with millions of MSN conversations going on, it adds up fast (she estimated in the millions of dollars a day..)

COME ON!!! Make a difference! Go to www.im.live.com now and sign up. You need MSN 8.1 but there is no new list or new program involved. Just sign up, add the code to your name, and make a difference!