It can be difficult to really connect when we have little ones that require us to always have at least one eye on them. I accepted that season and knew my focus was my children not friends. Thankfully God still met me through the small touches with my peers and even more so through the books He brought my way. About the time our youngest was three we began looking for a family to do a subject swap with. Getting messy with science experiments was not my strength. During this time of looking we got together with another family. The wife asked me who I “hung” with. I told her that I was just starting to feel I had the time to invest in a “good friend” and I was praying God would provide one. She asked if I had anyone I hoped to get to know. Well, actually, there was one lady I knew and really liked but, EVERYONE like her, so I didn’t suspect she would have time for another friend. The wife I was chatting with stated, ”Well, you never know, she may need you just as much as you need her.” Corny is what I thought about that.
None the less, within a couple of months, we were swapping science for character with the woman I had hoped to get to know better. The rest is history…..well, actually it took time and some big changes for us to recognize how close we had gotten. After four years of swapping schooling we would spend a half an hour of our two hour time slot together talking and sharing but, otherwise, life was busy and we rarely connected. Then God moved the Doeblers to Wisconsin. It was sad to move away from this friend. Now, five years later, we are closer than we ever could have been living close to each other. We visit each other several times a year and spend four to five days to together at each visit. God is amazing!! Just when I thought He had given and then taken away, He gave me even more—thank you Lord, for my very special friend, Kathy.