My Sister, My Friend

Today is my older sister, Theresa's birthday! (Of course I needed to put the "older" in there ;) ) So this blog is going to be dedicated to her and I need to throw a "Happy Birthday" to my brother in law, Matt, whose birthday was 5 days ago and he never got an official "Happy Birthday" from me.

Now Theresa is 3 1/2 years older then me, and she was 4 years ahead of me in school. Growing up I remember playing with her some and fighting with her some. As she got older and "too mature" to play with us little ones, she kind of stayed to herself and did a lot of reading! Which she still does both :o)

I believe our relationship started budding into more of a friendship my sophomore year of HS, and her second year out of HS. What would have been her sophomore year in college, she decided to live at home and work so she could pay off the loan she took out for her first year of college. Well when she went to college I got her room and finally had my own room! So when she came home she had to share a room with our younger sister Tammy. Now something you need to know about Tammy...she was messy!!!! Now I've been dealing with that my whole life and now Theresa was dealing with it. Theresa at the time would have been 19 and Tammy would have been 12-13. Needless to say that arrangement wasn't working too well.

Theresa then came to me and begged me to consider sharing a room with her and letting Tammy have her own room. I was very hesitant because this was going into my second year of having my own room and I didn't think I wanted to give that up. I then got more info to work with and to consider. My parents were willing to move out of the master bedroom to let Theresa and I have that room. So here were my thoughts....Theresa is only going to be here one year (she was going back to MCC and getting married the next year.), so that meant if I could live with it ONE year then I would get the BIG room to myself!!!! I know, completely selfish motives, but we all got what we wanted! :o)

We then went through many things together, like her wedding, two of her children, my wedding, my kids and four different ministries between the two families. We were on the phone often and I remember my phone bills being a couple hundred of dollars and that was at .05 cents a min.. We were each others support because we could understand what we were going through in ministry and we were safe ears to talk to without affecting relationships in the churches we were at. Thank God we both have unlimited long distance now!!!!!!!

We then moved into another stage...Matt and Theresa moved to Hugoton where Jeff and I were. God called Matt to do youth ministry there while Jeff was the lead pastor. This was the first time that I actually had family living close. When we had potlucks, I had help with the kids. I always had someone to sit by. I had someone to help watch my kids when I needed a babysitter. She was one who could come over no matter what I looked like or what my house looked like. We still had each other as support through ministry and the tough times we went through. Now I do have to say it was a little harder to stay separated from a situation when they were hurt then it was when we were in different towns.

I then went through some health issues after I had Kaylie. Who knows, this could have been Gods sole reason for them being in Hugoton and having to go through the hard times there, just so she would be there for me during that time. (I don't believe that was the sole reason, but I know it was one of the reasons.) I ended up having Post-Partum Thyroiditis. My thyroid went hyper or high for about 3 mos.. Until we got my thyroid down to normal, I was having major anxiety and panic attacks. I constantly thought I was dying because I knew my body didn't feel right. Theresa, basically had to babysit me! She was so willing to come over and drag her own TV over so her girls could do school at my house. She would sit on the phone with me and play cards with me to keep my mind busy so I wouldn't "think". She definitely was a calm in my storm!

After two years of living a block away and going through so much together, God called us to physically go separate ways. Her and Matt were called to go to the Oklahoma City area to work with the ministry Creation Truth Foundation. And at that point we had no clue where we were going to end up. When they moved it was one of the hardest things for me and probably for her too. It was hard to separate the cousins who had also grown close.

We now once again have the phone as our life line. Rarely do we go a day without talking, and typically we talk several times a day. Having an hour time difference has made things a little more difficult because we can't watch TV shows together, yes, over the phone And sometimes once I get home and get my kids to bed she is already in bed and it's too late to call.

We have to learn to cherish the times we do have together. It is always great when her and the girls, and Matt if he can, comes and visits or me and the kids go and see them. We have a great, relaxing time, and the cousins LOVE having that time with each other.

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sister, my friend!