#Thankful Series: Day Eleven (+#Giveaway News)
All this month I will be watching on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and my new subscribers for my monthly-0r-so newsletter. If you tag me @JulieArduini and tell me you’re #thankful or #juliearduinithankful, I’ll enter your name to win a copy of my fiction books. This includes Entrusted, Entangled, Engaged, You’re Beautiful and the boxed set of A Christmas to Remember (only available as eBook.)
If you live in the United States, you have the choice, if you are the one winner randomly chosen, of print (except A Christmas to Remember,) or eBook. If you are outside of the US, it is automatically eBook.
I’ll add your name once a day for each shout out I receive (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, plus one total entry if you are a new subscriber to my newsletter.) You may or may not receive confirmation from me for those entries, and my random draw is final. If winner doesn’t respond after 30 days, I will choose another. I’m thankful for you.
Yesterday I wrote about how I was thankful for the friends I’ve kept close from Upstate NY despite our 300 mile separation. Today I want you to know how thankful I am for my Ohio friends. It’s hard to believe, but we’ve lived in northeast Ohio for fourteen years. When we arrived, I wasn’t just broken, but shattered. In a matter of months my husband’s job changed, our daughter nearly died, my dad died, my husband got a job in Ohio, we sold our NY house, our son needed surgery right before the move, and we landed in Ohio.
I worked hard to make sure my husband and kids had a smooth transition.
Me? I cried every week during Sunday School.
As my husband flourished, especially at church, I had people ask if I was a visitor. Everything about my Ohio life was so different than what I knew. We were less than a mile from an inner city. The school our son attended was just inside that border. Neighbors were right next to us and one made it her mission to know everyone’s business. There were numerous traffic lights that I still can’t get used to how long they take and no hills.
I can’t tell you how much my friends mean. I first met people through church, especially Vacation Bible School, where I volunteered to help. Getting to know me wasn’t easy, it probably still isn’t. Back then, I was scared. The one person I reached out to in one day called me and asked if I knew of a babysitter, she just found her husband dead. She came to the area from my hometown, and moved away after the funeral. I was afraid there was some curse attached to me where sickness and death prevailed.
But these sweet friends persisted. They brought meals when I arrived. They invited me places. Let me know I didn’t need a perfect house or life to get to know them. As I healed through the grief, I grew in a way that reminds me of a caterpillar’s metamorphosis. Tragedy and change definitely scarred me, but it also created a prayer warrior who believes God. I’ve watched Him do incredible things and have the honor to stand in the gap and pray for others to be set free.
We’ve also enjoyed dinners, chats on the deck, concerts and more.
Writing definitely limits my interaction with others, but the friends I have in Ohio?
They are gems.
