Iron Sharpens Iron

We are on the road.  And today is another long day of driving.  555 miles.

We spent last night with old friends (even though none of us is getting any older 🙂 ) in Atlanta.  We first met Dean and Laurel when we lived in New York and little Nicole was just a year old -and now she is all grown up and introducing us to her fiance.  Wow.  It feels like a blink in time.  What a great time.

It feels good to and pick up right where we left off since last seeing each other.  There’s lots to laugh and cry about -but the laughing is good medicine.  And sharing life with good friends is definitely a strengthening aid.  I just came across this article about the importance of friendship.

*** w96 3/15 p. 3 We Need True Friends ***
Humans were created with a need for companionship. (Genesis 2:18) The Bible says that a true friend, or companion, “is born for when there is distress.” (Proverbs 17:17) Hence, genuine friends should be able to ask each other for help when it is needed. But friendship means more than just having someone to turn to or being a companion in work or play. Good friends bring out the best in one another. Proverbs 27:17 says: “By iron, iron itself is sharpened. So one man sharpens the face of another.” As a piece of iron can be used to sharpen a blade made of the same metal, one friend may succeed in sharpening the intellectual and spiritual state of another. If disappointments depress us, a friend’s sympathetic look and Scriptural encouragement can be very uplifting.

Most people assume that once there are miles between friends, their friendship disappears.  It’s more like it gets put on hold.  When you have a friendship where you understand and respect that life is busy, but when the opportunity arises (even if years have passed) to be able to pick up where you left off is the true value of a true friend.  It’s like when you are watching a movie with someone special and they have to get up and leave the room they ask “What did I miss?” …that’s what this trip has been like.  But instead of stepping out of the room for 5 minutes it’s been much longer.  India and Selena are meeting people for the first time.

Austin quickly made friends with Tyler and Cameron.  And they even let India tag along.  The boys stayed up until 2am just talking about “stuff”.  They thought that was pretty cool and then they found out that their moms (Cami, Laurel, Jill) all stayed up even later.

Selena thinks she is a big shot just like Cassidy and Nicole.

Mikee originally planned on a 6am departure -but it was too hard to tear ourselves away.  Besides the traffic in Atlanta is best dealt with by avoiding the am rush hours.  People are very concerned about us driving in Mexico …I say, “have you driven in Atlanta?”

Today we left Georgia and crossed into the Central Time Zone at Alabama.  Then Mississippi and into Arkansas to see RHONDA! (and Carly and Mike too)

Not too many points of interest besides passing the manufacturing plants for Honda and Mercedes.  And acres and acres and acres of soybean, cotton, corn fields and catfish farms.

We keep trying to beat the GPS for time but we also don’t want any speeding tickets.  🙂  We not driving a major highway for the next 283 miles.  Just a small 2 lane road that goes through the small towns of the middle of the US.  The speed limit keeps dropping in and out of 35mph.  The towns are spaced out with several miles between each one and each has a single light.  The kids are doing ok -they watch out the window, play their ds games, and watch some movies.  It’s Mikee that’s going to have the hardest time with this part of the drive.

This trip has given us a new Enos family tradition.  Each time we cross a state line we have snapped a picture of the “Welcome to…” sign.  Many states ago Austin started saying “In your face” to the state we left.  Now the whole gang does it.  So, as we crossed into Arkansas everyone says “In your face Mississippi.”  It’s just our thing.

Funniest line of the day:

Mikee trying to get the boys to settle down and go to sleep.  “Do you know it’s 2am and you have to wake up to leave at 6am?”

Oh, and Jill.  The cake was divine!  My fav is the chocolate with raspberry butter cream.  And also delicious was the cream cheese frosting which is incredible with the almond cake.  And I also liked… everything on the tray.