Welcome! This is my first post to the Craftie Ladies of Romance blog and I am so excited to be here. We hope this will be a place where readers can come share time with us as we talk about the joys of friends, family and faith...and as we build new friendships with you. We hope you'll join in on the fun.
I wasn't sure what to blog about since my post is the first official post to blog so I decided to talk about friends...
Friends are so needed and we as women sometimes neglect to maintain those bonds because we get caught up in our jobs, and doing for everyone else. We're just busy people! This picture is of me and my two best friends since 3rd grade. That's me in the white jacket then my friends Deb and Lisa. They have been such a blessing to me over the years but especially over the last five years. While our kids were growing up we were so busy working and taking care of family that we disconnected from each other even though we all lived in the same small town. But after my husband died in 2003, Deb and Lisa made it a priority to come back into my life. They have been a great blessing to me. 
Especially since I write full time and can become a hermit! Really, I've always been a workaholic, only now I hole up here at the house with my imaginary friends and create my books--and while I love doing that I do need to get out. We all need to take time out for friends. For me, a break with people who've known me for so long and who share so much of my past is not only fun but relaxing. What I've found is sometimes the best time for Deb and Lisa to sweep me away for the evening is when I'm on a horribly tight deadline(lol which is most all the time)...why? Because laughter truly is the best medicine. It renews our spirits and lets joy flow through us. My writing is always better afterwards. I thought I'd share a special gift idea that my friend Deb had last Christmas. It was her idea to take the picture above. We had been out to eat and she had us sit on the bench in the order in which we are sitting. Then at Christmas she presented Lisa and I with a cool, double photo, glass frame she'd bought at Hobby Lobby. The frame stood on its own with one photo on top and one on the bottom. This second photo is us at 17 on our senior trip! (As you can tell I'm not the photogenic one but I was having a blast :) We are sitting on a paddle boat and as you can see I have no makeup on because I have been swimming. I thought it was such a wonderful idea for a gift and brought back such great memories. Deb had also placed gold numbers of the date of each photo at the corners to remind us of then and now. I will treasure it always and wish I'd come up with the idea :) Maybe you can use it for your friends.
Especially since I write full time and can become a hermit! Really, I've always been a workaholic, only now I hole up here at the house with my imaginary friends and create my books--and while I love doing that I do need to get out. We all need to take time out for friends. For me, a break with people who've known me for so long and who share so much of my past is not only fun but relaxing. What I've found is sometimes the best time for Deb and Lisa to sweep me away for the evening is when I'm on a horribly tight deadline(lol which is most all the time)...why? Because laughter truly is the best medicine. It renews our spirits and lets joy flow through us. My writing is always better afterwards. I thought I'd share a special gift idea that my friend Deb had last Christmas. It was her idea to take the picture above. We had been out to eat and she had us sit on the bench in the order in which we are sitting. Then at Christmas she presented Lisa and I with a cool, double photo, glass frame she'd bought at Hobby Lobby. The frame stood on its own with one photo on top and one on the bottom. This second photo is us at 17 on our senior trip! (As you can tell I'm not the photogenic one but I was having a blast :) We are sitting on a paddle boat and as you can see I have no makeup on because I have been swimming. I thought it was such a wonderful idea for a gift and brought back such great memories. Deb had also placed gold numbers of the date of each photo at the corners to remind us of then and now. I will treasure it always and wish I'd come up with the idea :) Maybe you can use it for your friends.I hope you will bookmark our site and that you'll count all of us Craftie Ladies of Romance as your new friends here in cyberspace. Come share with us, leave comments, join in on the contest! And when you can, call up your old girlfriends and make a date--especially if its been a while since you connected with them. You deserve it!
Also, if you'd like to know more about me and my books drop by my website debraclopton.com and my personal blog debraclopton.blogspot.com where I just posted a few fun coincidences I share with NYT best selling author Debbie Macomber!
Until next time live, laugh and seek God with all your hearts,
Debra Clopton
Stay tune for book 10 in my Mule Hollow Series, TEXAS RANGER DAD hits the shelves April 2009! For more information visit my website debraclopton.com
Posts
What a great first post. I didn't realize how important friends were until I had my first child, and like you, got soooo busy. Pretty soon I was complaining to my husband about 'the phone never ringing'. I realized I had a dialing finger, too.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder of how important old friends are. Tomorrow I have a lunch date with my best friend from high school--and like you, years of 'life' kept us apart until now, but we are determined to know each other again.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this post graatly. I agree fully and know that for our health and welfare we should pursue friendships and hold on tight.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting Pamela use that dialing finger! And Linda, I hope you have a great lunch! And Traveler Hello--we are so glad you stopped by the site. I'm happy you enjoyed the post. We should hold on tight to friendships. They are real treasures--gifts of God.
ReplyDeleteGood luck in the contest!
How lucky you are to have friends that you have known for so long. And what a great idea Deb had. I don't have any friends that I have known that long since we moved a lot when I was young and I never really made friends.
ReplyDeleteHi Ellen! Thank you for posting. I can relate to what you are saying to some extent. When I met Deb and Lisa I was the new kid in town. I was I think 10 and we had moved more than 10 times because of my dad's job. So feeling settled and having friends like that was really new to me. My friend Lisa is the one who is really great at calling up Deb and I. We owe Lisa for being our wonderful glue :)
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this post and love reading uplifting and lovely thoughts which are so important. thanks.
ReplyDeleteHi Ellie,
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by and leaving a comment! I'm glad the post was uplifting to you :)
Debra
Oh, what fun!! You're all three gorgeous blondes! When I first looked at the photo, I thought you were sisters. I bet the guys used to follow you three around! :)
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Debbie. I got together with my college roommates over Thanksgiving. We had a ball and laughed a ton.
Missy
Wow! I cannot believe it is already book 10 in the Mule Hollow Series. I love this series. I look forward to every new release. :)
ReplyDeleteBrittanie,
ReplyDeleteYou made my day I'm so glad you love Mule Hollow!! I can't believe it's book 10 either. LOL God is AWESOME :)
I love your picture-- :)
When I was in High School I only had one friend. That friend told me I NEEDED friends in my life but I didn't think so at the time. That was about the time she was dumping me for the "wilder" crowd. (she came back, by the way) I'm glad your friends surrounded you and take you away from your work of imaginary friends in your books. Oh, how easy it would be to do that here too. My friends are mostly made up of my church family and they are what keeps me going and pulled out of myself and my things. Yes, they truly are a treasure.
ReplyDeletePam Williams
cepjwms at yahoo dot com