some things are meant to be....

do you ever feel that way? that things happen for a reason? when we heard we were moving 17 hours away from our home to san antonio, texas 3 years ago i was devastated. we were excited to get to discover a new place, but how could i take my parents' only grandchild away from them? how could i leave all of my friends and family? but we ARE in the air force so we had no choice.

so finally after a little over a year in texas with just one or two friends and not one with kids, i decided to find a hobby and find some way to meet people. so i started scrapbooking. one of my friends took me to the memory bucket, a local scrapbook store, and told me about the website two peas in a bucket. i wouldn't have ever imagined how much that day was going to change my life!

i was too nervous to post anything on the site for months. i was in awe of all of the beautiful pages in the gallery. i didn't even know there was a message board for a long time. but when i finally did find the message board, i discovered that there were tons of other scrapbookers that all lived close to me. i finally got the nerve to email kristin (or did she email me first?) only to discover that she lived about 5 minutes from my house. she invited me to go to a crop with her and her friends, and i had so much fun! they are such a great group of friends and they welcomed me with open arms to their group. it meant the world to me!!! they were and still are the most wonderful friends!!!

and then, of course, we got word that we were getting moved back to omaha. how was i going to leave all of my friends??? once again i was devastated. we still miss san antonio A LOT! (especially considering that a snowstorm is coming tonight. and this pregnant girl NEEDS some charlie's!) :) but we were moving back closer to our families so that helped soften the blow a little.

and through 2 peas my friend doris introduced me to gluestickgirl. our kids are the same age. she knew of a great preschool for anna - the same one where her little boy attends. i am usually so shy with new people at first, but with lisa it's like i've known her for a long time. and well, we kind of have through the message boards. but sometimes people are a little different than they seem on the boards. but not lisa! she is just as cool (if not MORE cool) in real life! our kids have so much fun playing together (when ella isn't being naughty - lol!) and sometimes they even let us scrap! and she is so generous with her talents --- she is such an inspiration and help to me!

and then she invited me to bagels with miley and kelly. and ella kicked kelly a few times and yelled at her and miley not to look at her. i was mortified!!! thankfully they didn't hold that against me (or didn't admit it, anyway - lol!). and they even let us come back. now ella loves "miss kelly" and "missmiley" (she says it as all one word) and even painted kelly a picture (now that is high praise from miss ella). :)

and last night we had a celebration at old chicago. i finally got to meet stef hamilton in 3d and to see becky novacek again. we had sooo much fun!!! we laughed and chatted and harassed our waitress for 3 hours. the time just flew by!!! i already feel so blessed to be able to call these girls friends. they are so much fun!!! and so genuine, honest, talented and inspirational. (they all have great pictures from last night on their blogs. in my rush out the door i forgot my camera. :P some scrapper i am!!!)

but what if we hadn't had to move to san antonio? and i wouldn't have started scrapping? and i wouldn't have heard about 2 peas? i wouldn't have the wonderful friendships, support and inspiration that i am SO lucky to have. i wouldn't have so much fun doing something i love to do so much and that hopefully the girls will appreciate some day. sure it's cost me a few $1000 in supplies - lol!!!! but some things are just meant to be.