17 Years and 7 Kids Later..........

I'm sitting here tonight with my favorite people in the world. Lee let the kids and me stow away on his Nashville writing trip this week and we've been staying with the Moffitt family. Lee and I first met David and Susan (who was not Moffitt, but Bryan, at the time) in 1990 when the three of them traveled in a group called "The Living Word Singers." None of us could have known, or even imagined, way back then that we were entering into a relationship that would be such an incredible journey. Heck, for that matter, Lee was still referring to me as his "friend girl" because  "girlfriend" was just WAY too much commitment. But when that summer ended, a new phase of our lives began: the road to (gulp) becoming Grown Ups..... and I'm so, so glad that we've shared so much of that road together! 

David and Susan got married and moved to Nashville. (well, a little north of.) Not wanting to miss out on the fun, Lee and I decided shortly thereafter to follow their example. When we moved to Tennessee, they were the ONLY people we knew. (As an aside, I highly recommend moving away from most everyone you know right after you get married!) In those early years, the four of us worked crazy jobs, shared many meals, and found a church that we all loved. We even formed a brand new Sunday School class for "Young Marrieds with NO KIDS!" (I'm sure God was smiling at that)

The children started coming in 1997 and that's pretty much all we did until 2002. Us, then them, then us (times 2), then them again, then them again, then finally us. Whew! That was a lot of months pregnant and nursing, wasn't it, Susan?? (and the labor room stories.... but that's for another blog!)

Somewhere in all of that baby-having fun, God decided to move Lee and me back to Alabama. While we hated leaving our Tennessee "family," we knew that we were supposed to go. And actually, just to get things chronologically accurate, those last two "us" and "them" babies were born after the move.

Thankfully, God blessed us with that special kind of friendship that can survive (and even thrive) across the miles. We've grown closer as we've realized just how precious those early years were. Now that Lee is traveling back to Nashville every other week for his songwriting, we've been so excited to get to spend a good bit of quality time together again. We laugh, tell old stories, laugh some more, share new stories, etc. But the biggest blessing, by far, is now watching our children fall in love with each other. I mean, they REALLY love each other and love getting to be together. Listening to them all laughing upstairs as I've been typing tonight has made my heart happy.

Thank you, Moffitt Family, for loving the Blacks! We love you all right back!! 

(OK, Lee and David have started making up (and singing) choral arrangements to current songs and I'm laughing too hard to write anymore.)

Mel