New Friends

I don't know what your bedtime routine looks like with your kids, but ours goes something like this...read books, pray, and then I sing a few songs to the kids before tucking them. Well, for the past several months, Carson's #1 prayer request has been that we'll "make more friends". The first few times he asked me to pray about that request I thought to myself, "ahhh, he's just going through the normal adjustment period of thinking about being at a new school with a larger group of kids...or something like that". But now we're well in to the whole school routine, and last night at bedtime he said again, "Mom, don't forget to pray that we make more friends". So we prayed together and asked that God would allow us to meet more friends. For some reason I couldn't stop thinking about Carson's prayer request. I kept wondering why he was so adamant that we make more friends.

This morning as we were getting ready for school and talking about the day, I reminded Carson that one of his new friends Bryce was going to be getting off the bus at our stop with him because his nanny was called in for jury duty and we were going to let him play at our house until his mom got home from work. All of the sudden Carson turned to me and said, "Mom! We made a new friend!". I smiled and we talked a bit about how cool it is when God answers our prayers. Then Carson started talking about several other new friends he's made in the last couple of months. And that got me thinking...wow, the past few months God really HAS brought so many new friends into our lives. It was actually really exciting to think about and realize all the awesome new people that we're now connected with. Many of these new friends we've met through Special Olympics, which is so great, especially because Carson considers all of the athletes his friends, too. I loved hearing him name off athletes as we talked on the ride to school this morning about all of the other new friends we've made lately.

Now I've been sitting here thinking about this all morning, and I am just blown away by how many new friends our family has made - specifically related to Special Olympics. About a year ago when I contacted the Special Olympics Minnesota state office to see where the nearest delegation was that Peyton could get involved with, I had no idea how much it would change our lives! When I attended the first few meetings with a handful of others looking to help start a delegation in our area, I was excited to think about what an impact this could have on the future athletes, but I didn't even think about the huge impact it'd have on my own family. The first couple of sports that we did as a team were fun and friendships were formed. We're now in our third sport (bowling), with our largest group of athletes yet, and the bond that's being formed with not only the coaches and athletes, but all of us as families it absolutely incredible! There is something so special to be able to come together and celebrate accomplishments with the athletes and their families - I absolutely LOVE it. Last night at bowling, I felt like a "proud mama" watching all of the athletes doing so well and having such a great time!  Everyone was going crazy cheering as several of our athletes bowled spares and strikes! It's pretty neat to have new friends. And now I fully understand why Carson's prayer request is so important to him. Because new friends can change your life!