No longer "The Girls"

We started a journey together. A journey that has ended. A journey that holds so many memories....

From the shores of the Pacific Ocean in Santa Cruz in the early fall to Canada and the shores of lake Erie in the middle of winter.

From snowball fights on birthdays to pictures at graduation.

From crazy glasses and faces to sweet smiles.

• When we were living at the Graham's, they had their mail box in a bucket. At the time, we did not know it, but apparently, they did this because it got knocked over a lot. One of the first weeks we were living there, we pulled up in the drive way and saw that the said mailbox was in the ditch. Deciding to be helpful, as only we can :), we went to pick up the mailbox. The bucket was loaded down with rocks. I am sure it was the funniest thing watching us make several attempts to role it up the ditch. We fell down, got scratches, not to mention the mud, but I am proud to say that we got that mailbox back where it belonged. (Only after taking out all the rocks, putting the mailbox in place, then hauling the rocks up the ditch to put them back in the bucket, but that's all beside the point!)
• We had our share of "moments" too. Once we were in the store, trying to gather all the things to put a meal together for a hang-out night at the boys. I wanted to make peach cobbler....with fresh peaches. Becca thought we should get canned peaches. She ended up stomping her foot saying, "You're so stubborn!!" and slapping the grocery list down in the cart. We got fresh peaches. In return, I was the one who stayed up late cutting them up and the like. Little did I know that you are supposed to peel peaches for cobbler. Yup, ended up being the nastiest cobbler ever!
• In the summer, our apartment had flies. Lots of 'em. I got very good at trapping them in windows between the screen and the glass. I would leave them there until they died. Becca introduced me to a fly swatter. One day, I saw a fly on the screen of an open window. I grabbed the handy-dandy fly swatter and hit the little guy. Down tumbled the screen. It landed on an unreachable ledge, so we left it for a couple of days until late one night when the parking lot was empty. I taped the mop handle and the broom handle together, Becca went around back, I leaned out the window, pushed the screen to her, she caught it and ran back around and up stairs. We never were able to put that screen back in the window....had to call the landlords.
  
• The day we discovered the one and only Chick-fil-A in Michigan, was priceless.
  

Just, ya know, taking pictures while we were in the open-air at Michigan State University.

We went to a Tiger's Game in September of '06. This was the same season that the Tiger's made it to the world series, by the way.

For Halloween 2006, we dressed up. Becca as an Indian, Christina as a fairy, and I dressed up as a cowgirl. After pictures, we passed out candy packages with gospel literature in them on Main St. Armada. For more pictures and to see what I said then about the night, click here.

Other memories:

• Traveling thousands of miles in her spaceship last summer, not to mention the countless times we made the trip from Michigan to Georgia and back.
  
• Girl's nights.
  
• Our shared love of walks and pictures.
  
• Working in Cubbies and then CTU together.
  
• Moving into an apartment in Armada together and all the unforgettable, fun, trying times that included.
• Studying together, or finding things to talk about to keep from studying.
  
• One time, I think we were in some hotel in Kentucky, we saw this really tall older man. He was looking at us, so I said "You're really tall." Of course I ended up riding the elevator with him about three times within a couple hours and just saying "hey". The next morning Chris came up to us all excited to introduce to a famous professional basketball player. Yeah, it was that guy.
• Sharing a car, then having none, then having one, and back again. One time I took Becca's car somewhere. When I got back in it, it would not start. I waited an hour for the wrecker. He got there. Turned the key. The car started. I promise it was a phenomenon. Becca's face when I got home was priceless.
• Learning life lessons like submission, forgiveness, and loving through the tears.
  
• People getting our names and us confused all. the. time. even though our personalities are so different and we do not look alike....all because they always saw us together all the time. We eventually just became "the girls".
  

If you squint hard enough, you can see snow in this picture. It was the first "snowfall" of our time in Michigan.

Sleeping in the same bed in winter to keep warm.

We are no longer "the girls". God has put us on different paths now, molding us into the women He wants us to be. Women that know Him, serve Him, long after Him, and desire His relationship above any other. Just because change is hard, does not mean that change is not good. It thrills my soul to think that the Lord wants to use us! I would never want to hinder Becca from that, or she me.

"...The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."
- Job 1:21