Krista B.

I just got off the phone with one of my all time best girlfriends ever and we had such a GREAT conversation!

Krista Berry Shurtz is not only one of my all time best girlfriends, she is also my God sister. Her parents and my parents grew up together and are the best of friends. Krista and her brother, Ken are stair steps, age wise, with my oldest brother and I. In fact, my oldest brother, Mike, is named after Krista's Dad and her brother, Ken, is named after my Dad. (I just want to go ahead and say that I'm glad we weren't named after the Moms or otherwise she'd be Patti and I'd be Deloris-weird!)

Krista and I didn't grow up together in the traditional way. Her parents were military and therefore they lived all over the world. (One of my favorite all time memories with Krista is when we were outside playing at our house one year when they were home on leave. I remember Krista telling me that she and Ken were born in AFRICA! I didn't believe her because she wasn't black! I had to go ask my Mom and when I found out she was a white person born in Africa, I thought that was way cool! HA!) Every time her family got leave though, our parents would get together and therefore us kids would get together! No matter how long it was in between visits though, we never had a problem picking up where we left off.

Through the years, God has blessed me with an amazing friend in Krista. We stayed close all through growing up and eventually when they moved back to KC after her Dad retired, we really hung out and got even closer. She has been there through the hard times and through the good times. She was the very first person I called when I found out I was pregnant-even before Mike knew, Krista knew. She was my maid of honor at my first wedding (and I didn't have a maid of honor at my second or she would have been right there at my side for that one too!) and I was the maid of honor in hers. Tanner was the flower girl in her wedding. She came to see me when I had Tanner. Many many times, she was there for me with a shoulder to cry on no matter what time of day it was.

When she was having a rough time after Ty, her oldest, was born, she called me and we talked through things. When her grandparents passed away.....she called me. When mine passed away...I called her. We've had many crying sessions on the phone and we've had some great laugh sessions on the phone!

Though life has taken us in different directions the one thing that has always stayed the same is the depth of our friendship. We may have lived halfway across the country from each other, but by golly, we still stayed in touch! It may not have been the easiest thing to do, but we've done it and our friendship has continued to grow and deepen through the years. I can't say enough how blessed I am by Krista.

Currently she and her family live in Springfield, Missouri. They moved back from North Carolina a couple of years ago to be closer to family. (Her parents own the bed and breakfast in Branson) Even though we're only an hour and a half apart, we still don't see each other as often as we should probably. But you know what? We're still just as close and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

In April, Matt, Krista's hubby, is going on a weekend fishing trip. It happens to fall on a weekend that I'll have Tanner, so she and I are going to go up to Springfield and spend the weekend with Kris and the kids. I absolutely can not wait. It'll be a fabulous weekend, no doubt about it.

Tonight we just caught up on the happenings of life-you know...wallpaper, bedtime routines, birthdays, our parents and the boys, going back to our childhoods, new houses, etc. I hung up the phone with a smile on my face. It was just so good to talk to an old friend.

Thank you Kris for always being such a great friend-I cherish our friendship more than you'll ever know.

And thank you Jesus for putting someone like Krista in my life. Thank you for our parent's friendship and for the example they set for us kids. Thank you for blessing me with a friend like Krista.