(in)Courage

I've been perusing a new website called (in)Courage. It's a brand new website and community of bloggers for Christian women. They are having a little Linky party and giveaway and have asked bloggers to share about what ENCOURAGES them. So here goes...

Today I woke up to some fussy and crabby children. I decided to check my email and found that this morning was a neighborhood playdate at the park. We've enjoyed getting to meet our neighbors at these kinds of activities, but today I was hesitant for several reasons. One of my children was throwing a sobbing fit in the bedroom about the breakfast options, none of us were dressed, it is HOT in Texas right now, it is hard to chase the toddler around the park, and I wasn't really sure how many people would be there and if they'd still be there if we were late. There's usually a pretty low turnout for our neighborhood playgroups.

But as I was cooking breakfast I heard the doorbell ring and a few loud knocks. I found my neighbor and playgroup coordinator there at the door, ENCOURAGING me to join them at the park. Well, somehow that gave me the motivation to get everyone dressed and fed and on their bikes ready to head to the park! We arrived to find a host of children, there was actually a daycare group there, along with 4 neighbors, one who I'd never met before!

I get this giddy excitement about new members to any of my groups, whether it's playgroups, homeschool groups, or church groups, I just love having new members and meeting new friends. Today was no exception, and I was so excited to meet my neighbor L (who happens to live 2 houses down) and her sweet babygirl L.

To backtrack a little, I have been struggling over the past weeks, worrying about Steven Joseph's impending open heart surgery (for a hole in his heart, Atrial Septal Defect). There are lots of unknowns right now, really the necessity of surgery itself is still an unknown. He'll be reassessed around his 2nd birthday in December. But most likely, my sweet little babyboy is going to need to be handed over to a heart surgeon early next year, and I'm really not happy about it. It doesn't do any good to worry, but worry is my middle name, so of course it is always at the back of my mind when little SJ is sick or acting funny. I think I will forever be worried about the health of his heart.

Back to our park outing, I came right up to say hello to my neighbors and introduce myself to the one lady I didn't know. She was talking to another lady about how she used to be a teacher (as I was), while she was pushing her baby on the swing. With her huge smile and happy attitude, I knew we would hit it off, and we spent most of the playdate visiting.

After talking for a few minutes I also discovered that her sweet baby girl has Downs Syndrome and recently had open heart surgery to correct a severe heart defect. I also discovered that her daughter had the same cardiologist as Steven Joseph, and she had the same heart surgeon that he will likely have! Speaking to L about their experiences brought such a peace to my heart about the upcoming surgery, she gave me just the ENCOURAGEMENT I needed today.

Isn't it awesome when God puts people in your life like this, a neighbor who will hopefully help me through this journey. She and her husband also appear to be very strong pro-life Christians (she spoke about the doctors who encouraged her to abort her unborn baby because of the possible Downs diagnosis), and they are even considering homeschooling!

I was just really ENCOURAGED today by L and by being together with my other neighbors (another who might be interested in joining my homeschool group!). I expected that moving to an older neighborhood would keep me from having friendships with ladies in a similar stage of life. Obviously this is not the case and I look forward to growing closer to these ladies and ENCOURAGING each other in our vocation as wives and mothers over the years!