Saturday, February 4, 2012

Loving Our Future: Erika

In creating the Loving Our Future campaign, my first thought was to be more intentional in the way I demonstrate love to others. Unfortunately I have had little energy to genuinely love others outside of my immediate family. And I must say, with all the stress, intentional love for my family can be difficult to come by most days. We can't all be perfect, right? So, I have decided to share with you a demonstration of love I feel perfectly mirrors the intention of the campaign itself.

 I had not seen my friend Erika since I was eight months pregnant with Izzy. We met because we had a mutual connection to the Air Force. Knowing what it was like to be the wife of a deployed military service member, she took me under her wing while Pete was away; consoling me during some of my most emotionally taxing months of pregnancy. She was a true godsend to me at that time.

But alas, those same forces that once separated us, brought us together again when her husband informed her of the latest news buzzing around the squadron. It was that of Pete's diagnosis. She immediately contacted me and and offered support. We vowed to get together as soon as things calmed down a bit.

When it finally came time for us to meet she not only offered to bring lunch but also to drive the hour and a half to our home. I must say that when she first offered to bring food, I was a bit skeptical; wondering how the food was going to fit into my new found standards for nourishment. Well, she completely blew me away. Not only was the food amazing, but it was all vegan. Erika was very aware of our dietary changes and made sure to incorporate them when planning the meal. She even treated us to an amazing chocolate mousse torte.

It was such a pleasure to visit with Erika and catch up after so many years. She has such a caring spirit and readily offered to help if ever we are in need.

Erika, thank you for your generosity and for your willingness to serve others. You are truly a blessing to those around you and I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all you have done. Thank you for loving our future. We'll be sure to pay it forward. God bless!

With love,
Alysha

2 comments:

  1. Alysha you are too kind! I feel like I have now had my 15 minutes of fame! I've never been blogged about, what an honor to be mentioned in your beautiful writing. I loved spending the afternoon with all of you. With love and prayers always, Erika

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  2. Of course I had to brag about you! I thought about asking your first but I thought I better just go ahead and do it.

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