.
..a wife to John,a mom to Kyle and Benjamin,
a friend to many,
a child of the King.
Eight years ago, hubs and I moved to upstate NY to complete his job training. I had never lived more than a couple of hours away from my parents and being newly married, this was a stretch to move more than 20 hours away from "home". Wow what an adventure it would be! We loved loved loved the people we met and became dear friends with many. They were our "family" away from home.
I graduated from pharmacy school only 2 weeks prior to our move. As any new graduate, I was very nervous about starting a new job in a new place. New York's requirements for pharmacists are a little unusual. I was "boarded" in my home state after passing the national pharmacy exam and our state exam, but NY was unique in that it required a "practical" exam to receive a license there. Apparently if you weren't "native" to NY, it was a very difficult exam. I studied and studied, and I showed up to take my exam for the FIRST time. As I was standing in line, of course I didn't know a soul, a familiar face walked toward me. She said, "you look very familiar to me, but I don't know where I know you from." I agreed that she looked familiar, but I thought it was nothing more than that. She asked me where I graduated from, and I told her. Crazy ENOUGH she finished pharmacy school at the same school 20 hours away but was in the class ahead of me. She was from NY and had just moved back to settle there with her husband who was from my home state. She was immediate comfort to me....just to have someone else to stand in line with was a RELIEF! I hadn't met anyone yet, but to find a friend from a common background was so exciting. We chatted and she informed me that this was her second go around on the exam. She gave me some pointers, her phone number, and wished me luck!!!
I found out a few weeks later that I had failed the exam and that I wouldn't be able to take it again until December. Kelly found out she had failed for the second time. She was so discouraged. (The average out of state graduate passed this exam on the third try usually) We had to drive 5 hours to take the next exam, so the two of us drove across NY state in December through a snow storm. We shivered in a hotel room together, nervous as new puppies about this dumb test. She helped me over that 6 month period to get ready for this test because she knew by then what the state board was looking for to pass. I made a very nervous and dumb mistake (it was not a written test; we had to make capsules and creams in front of an examiner), and yes I failed again. Kelly finally passed though. She was ELATED!!!! She kept encouraging me and helping me, and in the summer (a year after we'd moved there), I took the exam for the third time and passed.
Through our failure and success we became friends. I became pregnant with Allie and 4 months later she announced she was pregnant with her first son Kyle. He was born on mother's day of that year:) We had very different work schedules but were able to get the kids together fairly often. Her husband stayed at home with Kyle while Kelly worked full time, so when we would get together, John was always around. He is a GREAT dad. He knew all the moms in the neighborhood and loved his job as a stay at home dad.
We moved south after having lived there for 4 years. Right before we moved, I found out I was pregnant with our second and before we moved, I received a phone call from Kelly that she was also pregnant again. Her second son Benjamin was born the summer after Mary was born, and ironically he was born on father's day. Both her boys have cotton top hair with big blue eyes.
I was able to visit Rochester 2 years ago, and I spent a day in Kelly's back yard while the kids played. Her kids were 1 and 3 by then as were mine. It was nice to catch up. At the time she was fine. Only a short time later, she would be diagnosed with breast cancer. I did not receive a Christmas card from her that year, so in January I called to check in and she gave me the news that she was already almost through with chemotherapy. Of course I was shocked. How many 30 year olds have breast cancer?? We remained in contact and she responded to the treatment and was doing well. This past summer, however, the cancer returned. I was saddened to learn last week that she was doing very poorly. I received a text this morning with the news that she had died.
It is hard to wrap my mind around. She was a sweet friend whom I haven't seen regularly for years, and the last time I saw her she was a happy working mom. It's hard to picture her any other way. I'm not sure why I'm sharing all this except that I want to remember her. She was my friend and a friend to so many. She loved her family and her boys; she was a very hard worker. She worked all night shifts and would flip back and fourth to play with the boys during the day, and she never complained. I ask you to pray for her husband John and their 2 little boys who are now 6 and 3. She is with Jesus, but they need your prayers. I can't imagine what they are going through.
I read this scripture off of Katie's blog today. It is my prayer for this family tonight.
I pray that you...may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ...
Ephesians 3:17-18
Isn't this picture awful?! I found him hanging from the outer side of his crib rail last week. I had ordered this crib tent months ago in anticipation of him climbing out. He doesn't seem to mind it, and now I can rest easy!
Got a sweet picture of Grace!
....no Nanna didn't cook the WHOLE time....she was out at midnight shopping...a true story (sort of:) We actually turned around and went home after we saw 1000 people at Toysrus!
Garrett loved running around screaming...WOW!!
Sweet sistas!
It's next to impossible to get a group pic of the kids at this point! It has become tradition that we go eat hamburgers after all that hard work of picking a tree out. Guess Garrett was hungry!
Bunny gave us this ornament with Reese's name on it. I had put it away for safe keeping, and before I could get it out, Allie said, "mom what about Reese's ornament? We need it on the tree!" She prays for Katie and Jason every night and remembers Reese often. We miss her, and will be praying her sweet mamma and daddy through this holiday season. 
27 days until Christmas...this will be fun!
