thankful for dendrochronology...

i am so thankful that no matter WHERE i have lived (and i have had a LOT of addresses LOL), i have had the gift of friendship...the gift of other women who have loved me and encouraged me...during times of my life that were filled with laughter...and also in the times that have been filled with tears (and there have been a lot of BOTH of those things too).

as i've moved from season to season, i carry these friends with me in my heart and in my mind. they have impacted my life.

my 'newest' friend is cheri. you can't walk into a patriot volleyball game and not notice her. she's the one who is VIBRANTLY cheering on the team. she's surrounded by friends and family in the stands (and she has about as many children as i have addresses...okay maybe not QUITE that many, but when you add in the friends they need their own bleacher section :)

i'm just getting to know cheri...but what i know, i love. i am so grateful that i have her with me in this new season. she mentioned to me that she co-teaches a parenting bible study and i decided to join her.

i wasn't quite sure what to expect, but it has been A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

this is NOT your normal bible study. the first session i scribbled as fast as i could trying to take down all the info. today i decided to just LISTEN and hope that what i need to remember will be downloaded straight into my mind & heart. it's deep stuff, neurological stuff, medical stuff...and it's GOOD STUFF. i fought back tears today as i listened to some of the information i'd never heard before...and was just filled with a sense of gratitude for my little family of six.

after class, i headed out...places to go, things to do. and i got stuck behind the SLOWEST TRUCK EVER. a policeman was in the lane next to him. so it's not like i could race past him and get the HECK on my way. no. instead i was forced to just sit...light after light after light, staring at the big ol' truck and his load full of trees. my mind began to wander, thinking how lovely a grouping of tree trunks would look as a coffee table...

i started really checking out the beauty of the tree rings. and started to think about what it would look like if i were a tree (yes, this IS how my mind works...please tell me i'm not alone???? i even decided to take a picture because i knew right then that THIS was my blog for the day...the picture is not so great...cell phone...rain...policeman right in front of me probably wondering WHAT ON EARTH i was doing...). anyhow...

when you look at a cut tree, you can learn a lot:

you see the different seasons that the tree has gone through. when conditions encourage growth, this gives the tree wide rings. seasons of drought give the tree a very narrow ring.

forest fires leave scars on the tree.

you can also see if the tree has had enough space or if other trees were too close in proximity. it is good for a tree to have some boundaries ;)

varying species of trees require different types of rainfall/nutrition for their growth.

all trees are not the same.

if you sliced me open and there were tree rings (instead of lots of blood LOLOLOL) i think you'd find a LOT of variation in my rings. i have had seasons of tremendous blessing & growth...and i've had some years that have felt claustrophobic & dry as the sahara desert. some of my years have left scars on the inside. but when you look at ALL OF THOSE YEARS combined, they make a beautiful picture that is ALL MINE.

and i know that YOUR tree rings are a beautiful, lovely creation as well.

i am thankful today for every ring...for every single giggle or tear that has helped form them...yours AND mine.