Meet the Turtles

I have been writing this blog for nearly a year and can’t believe this is my first time to introduce the Turtles! The Turtles are my closest college friends and for the 20 years since (#seriouslywheredidthetimego) we have faithfully put aside our busy lives to escape together somewhere near or far.

We first started going on trips together after the slew of post-college weddings died down and we wanted to know that we had a planned time to see each other again. It’s really after that time the seven of us, as a group, became solidified for life. And so we decided we needed a name, which you may be wondering, “Why the Turtles?”

We were on a plane to Mexico and two of us had brought along our toddler daughters, me being one of them. My daughter was not quite two but was very verbal and expressive and was telling my friends about the HUUUUUUUGE Turtle that her Popsy (my dad) picked up. The way she said it in her cute little voice just cracked us up and all weekend we just kept repeating “HUUUUGE Turtle” and so it stuck… only we felt it best to drop the HUGE part 🙂

Here is a picture from that particular trip 13 years ago…

And, from our earlier SMU years… though praise the Lord I think we look better now!

And, here we are yesterday (sadly two couldn’t make it) at the Dallas Cowboys game where we reunited for the afternoon…

Six husbands and 22 kids make up the full Turtle tribe now.  It is fun that our husbands are also now friends and our kids too. In fact, my boys have each gone away to summer camp and been cabin mates with sons of my Turtle friends.

This trip to the Cowboys game though is a rare exception that the husbands and kids are allowed to infringe on our girl time. Girl time that has been a respite from hectic schedules. A time of reconnecting, picking up where we left off despite the fact we are now spread between three different states and five cities.

It’s a time we can shed our many hats and enjoy being in the company of close friends who love and accept us. Over the years, our time together has served as a healing balm and time of prayer through the ups and downs.

One has survived leukemia, another a stroke. One has lived in the Dominican Republic and Uganda doing mission work. One has adopted from China. We have walked alongside each other through parents’ separations, divorce and health issues, including the death of one’s mom. Job and financial uncertainity, moves and the many struggles that come with parenting have all touched us. Oh, and on a lighter note, we’ve self-published two cookbooks together…

What a blessing to have shared in each others lives now for all these years. And a motto we continue to laugh at (first seen on a menu on one of our trips and then later on a plaque) and claim to be ours…

Thankful for my Turtles!

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