friendship that runs deep...

I rarely have pictures of me with other friends who live here...unless it's a birthday but lately I've been taking a ton of Kelly and I. For a specific reason. This one was taken at the shower that Molly and I threw for her at Mimi's Cafe.

And this was the next day when I took her out to celebrate her birthday at Chili's. We had so much fun talking and laughing for several uninterrupted hours!

This one was taken at a CFA kids night...good times.

And the last was taken at Bojangles on Kinsey's gotcha day. I'm now noticing a theme...we tend to only think about pictures while eating out! And apparently we've eaten out a lot lately! This one was right after Kelly told me that Brandon had accepted to offer from his new job....in Texas. It's been a long process of waiting and interviewing...but my gut told me I'd be saying goodbye to my closest, most dear friend in Raleigh at the end of the summer. It's not fun. And I've cried with her...and prayed for God's will no matter how hard it would be or what that meant. And it makes me SO sad.

Kelly and I have known each other since we moved to Raleigh back when Cailey was 14 months old and she didn't have any kids. They helped us raise money to adopt Braden when she was pregnant with Caden. I remember helping her with sleep training when she had Caden. Sigh. Our youngest three children are the best of friends and Cailey has loved playing with and helping out with both Caroline (since she was teeny tiny) and Carter. Cailey had already claimed Charlotte as 'hers' in the Klick family. Sigh. At this point I'm typing through tears as I think of how much we've gone through together and just how much of a void I'm going to have in my life without them here.

We've raised our babies, then toddlers, and now big kids together! The days of the mall play place and Pottery Barn kids are gone and now replaced with park days and sleepovers. We've spent hours and miles running and talking together. (Kelly hated running...yet I got her to do it with me. She trained for months of hating it until the half marathon where she came to love it!) We've road tripped and laughed like crazy.

Kelly is the only friend I see on a weekly/or even daily (at times) basis. We spend the summer together working out and spending all day at the pool before usually trading kids for playdates. We teach co op together, the kids do gymnastics, field trips, and just SO much together. I've had a rough year homeschooling and if it wasn't for Kelly there is no way I would have gotten through it. Our families get along great and they are a family that we just "do life" with.

My favorite story is the Carter one. How we were DONE with kids and sold all of our baby things until Kelly got pregnant. Long story short we decided to adopt and ended up with two boys born a month apart...continents apart...who love like brothers:).

Family vacations, couple getaways, girl weekends in Winston Salem:), men going to games together...and yelling at the tv together:), dinners out, dinners in, I just have so many fond memories...they are such a blessing to us!

Reality hit a few weeks ago...and for now I'm living day by day trying to get in as much time as possible..for me AND the kids:). The kids are SO sad (each showing it differently)...the youngest three have now lost two of their closest friends to moving! (The Corbett's move to Greensboro is not nearly as bad in comparison though because at least we can still get together!)

We know we'll see them...and are already planning trips and summer vacations but it just won't be the same. Kelly has been such a support...and the kids are such great friends that we will be so sad without them here.

Praying that God will bring them back to Raleigh soon and it will feel like a blink of an eye...yet not wishing away the kid's childhood! If their plan works then our big boys will be close to middle school while our little boys will be starting Kindergarten when they hopefully move back. PRAYING they move back:). We love you guys!!