I received the most wonderful e-mail from my best friend in Houston yesterday.

Here it is.

I want to be like you – A well-watered garden whose fragrance causes all around to breathe in…deeply. Kimber Annie Engstrom

A mother laughs our laughs, sheds our tears, returns our love, fears our fears. She lives our joys, cares our cares, and all our hopes and dreams she shares. Julia Summers

No language can express the power and beauty and heroism and majesty of a mother`s love. It shrinks not where man cowers, and grows stronger where man faints, and over the wastes of worldly fortune sends the radiance of its quenchless fidelity like a star in heaven. E.H. Chapin

A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed. Proverbs 11:25


Kelly,

I wanted you to know, from someone who knew you long before you considered opening your home and your heart, to foster, love and adopt children....

You have always been one to express patience easily, show love abundantly, give graciously and expect little or nothing in return.
So know this about your children..

One day they will come back and thank you;
One day they will understand why...;
One day they too will love you
Just as you have chosen to
Love them..
Unconditionally

Happy Mother`s Day to the most deserving, loving and persistent mother I know.

Love,
Sonya and Family

This incredible friend has nothing to do with foster care or adoption. I can escape to her gorgeous home in Houston, and forget about “life” for as long as I want. She has four children of her own, all biological. At one point she offered to carry a baby for me, but her friendship is far too precious to me to risk it by allowing her to do the most unselfish thing she could offer. She’s about as fertile as they come, so I have no doubt it would have happened quickly.

We have been best friends for the past 12 years. We have seen each other through everything. Living 1500 miles apart is hard. We miss each other terribly, but she is still an awesome friend.



The amazing thing she gets my kids. There was one point when she came to visit when we had Sammy, Kory and Mackenzie. She was staying in Kory’s room, and he and Sammy shared a room. Sammy went through phases of jealousy with Kory. Whenever someone met Kory for the first time, Sammy would act up so he would get attention. Sonya had already met Sammy, and this was her first time meeting Kory.

At one point Sammy’s glasses got broken. It was Sonya who figured out that Sammy had done it and said Kory did so that Kory would get in trouble. She even got Sammy to admit it! That was a feat in itself.

Sonya has two Mother’s Day cards on her way to her. They left my mailbox today. One card alone would never express the gratitude I have for my incredible friend. I thank God that He placed her in my life.

The first photo is Sonya and her handsome husband, Rick.

The second photo is Sonya and our friend Mary. Mary is a fairly new mom, only 2 years, and her son had some medical issues shortly after birth.