A sister is a friend for life!

When I was eight years old I was blessed with a baby sister named Laurie Ann. She was a beautiful baby with a sweet disposition. I fell in love with her the minute I saw her! At first, I thought she was Baby Alive and I loved to take care of her.  Two years later my brother David was born. I also have a brother Larry who is two years younger than me. But I was always the big sister!

Hugging younger brother David, he is tolerating it!

Due to some challenges my mother had I began to take on more of the duties around the house and also care of my younger siblings.  I never resented caring for them in place of doing things with young people my age. I have so many fond memories of being a substitute mom for Laurie and David.  My sister was always such an affectionate child and loved giving and receiving hugs.


She had naturally curly hair and I enjoyed fixing her hair in beautiful ringlets and dressing her up and taking her downtown to show her off. 

Laurie was a joyful little girl!

Look at those beautiful ringlets and dimples!

I was very protective of her and when I grew up and moved about 200 miles away I was so homesick for her and David that I would come home every weekend for about the first 6 months and then began coming monthly after that. I would always bring them gifts and take them places. 

Through the years the bond between my sister and me continued to grow. When she graduated from high school my husband and I invited her to come to stay with us in Dallas, Texas and she helped me with our newborn baby girl.  She went to cosmetology school and then became a beautician. 

My sweet sister

It was during her stay with us that we were able to share our new found faith with her and one Sunday afternoon after church we read a small tract to her called "Four Spiritual Laws" and she received Jesus into her heart. The track gave these four spiritual laws. 

• Law 1  - God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life. (John 3:16, John 10:10)

• Law 2 - Man is sinful and separated from God. Therefore, he cannot know and experience God's love and plan for his life. (Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23)
  

• Law 3 -  Jesus Christ is God's only provision for man's sin. Through Him, you can know and experience God's love and plan for your life. (Romans 5:8, I Corinthians 15:3-6, John 14:6) 

• Law 4 - We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can know and experience God's love and plan for our life. (John 1:12, Ephesians 2:8-9, John 3:1-8, Revelation 3:20) 

This is the prayer she prayed, "Lord Jesus, I need you. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive you as my Savior & Lord. Thank you for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of my life, make me the kind of person you want me to be." 

From that point on she was not only my sister by birth but she was also my sister in the Lord.  We became even closer to one another.

Laurie met her husband at the Methodist Church where we were members and when they got married I was privileged to be her maid of honor.  She began life as a military wife which led her to live in several different states but when we wrote to one another or we called one another it was like we hadn't been apart. I was able to be with her when she had her daughter Leanna and son Landon and both of her children are very dear to me.

Laurie's wedding day

Maid of honor and bride

I remember when she was going through a very difficult time in her life I seemed to know exactly when to pray for her and I would send her encouraging cards with scriptures that she carried with her in her purse.  She told me when the stress was so heavy in her life there were times she would pull off the road and read those notes I sent her and it was as if I was right there with her. 


 About 17 years ago she and her kids moved to Oklahoma and now only lives about 70 miles from me.  She moved my parents down here from Michigan so they could be close to family. It was a wonderful season for my elderly parents to be with their children and grandchildren.

Laurie and her first grandchild Lauren

Laurie has so many giftings, here are a few:

• She is a wonderful salesperson, I remember seeing so many award plaques on her wall in her real estate office when she lived in Ohio. 
• As a Shaklee distributor, she encouraged me to take VitaLea and forty years ago later I still use those vitamins.  
• Wonderful hostess with the mostest! Her years of being an officer's wife gave her many opportunities to bring out the china, crystal, and silver for entertaining.
•  An excellent cook and really enjoying cooking both gourmet recipes as well as the down-home comfort food.
• Anointed Bible teacher and can pull out some wonderful nuggets of truth from God's word. 
• Entrepreneur spirit about her and is willing to take more risks than me.
• She believes in her family and will go the second mile and beyond for them.

We love family time and have so many great memories of our get-togethers. One the first anniversary of my dad going to be with the Lord we decided we wanted to do something special for our mom.  She joking always said someday she wanted to go to Glamour Shots.  So we decided that we would take her there and then have a luncheon with the ladies in our family. What could have been a very depressing day turned into another memory maker as we changed her outfits several times and told her she was the "glitzy mama!"
 

Laurie and I with my mother at Glamour Shots!

We both have full lives and haven't always lived close to each other but we have this bond that just helps us know when the other person needs that extra dose of prayer and encouragement.

Thank you, sweet Laurie, for being my little sister but also my sister in the Lord.