After our "Friends Get-Together" on the 29th we were talking (sadly) about the fact that Christmas was over for the year. We had given and received the last of our gifts and felt so blessed by the joy of it all, but sad that the season was ending. You see, giving gifts is one of the things I enjoy the most.

Little did I know that God (and my friend Scott) had one more surprise in mind.

You need to understand that I have known Scott since I was probably 5 years old (which is a LONG time)! He's close to my older brother's age and came to our house to do projects and earn badges for Cub Scouts when my mom was their Den Mother. Of course, at the time we weren't really friends, he was just one more boy at the house to keep my mom busy.

Many years later, Scott and I became great friends who shared our love for God and his Word. He was one of the people that helped me grow in my Christian walk when I first accepted Christ at the age of almost 15. We spent hours and hours in Bible study, learning, sharing, singing, worshiping, processing life and growing deep in God's love that summer and the following school year. We went through many joys and heartaches together. I loved to watch him sing and play his guitar and was amazed by his creativity in our high school art class as well. I still have pictures in my mind of some of the work that he did that was so wonderful.

Although it turned out for good, the following summer it was hard to understand when God chose to move my family to Arizona (from Ohio) and my daily times with Scott and my other precious friends came to an end. But, even though we've been 2000 miles apart for over 30 years, God has allowed us to stay connected over the years.

Before there was email, we would write back and forth maybe once or twice every year or so. I always looked forward to his long hand printed letters. You see he's an artist in so many ways. Even his letters are filled with gorgeous printing and beautifully descriptive words. Sometimes he even throws in a drawing or two! I loved them. We've had a chance to see each other a sprinkling of times over the years when my family would go back to Ohio. Maybe someday he'll get out to AZ to visit as well.

Now that we have email and blogs, it doesn't take quite so long to catch up. With busy lives like everyone has, we still don't write too often, but every once in a while Scott comes to mind and we reconnect. So...that's a long explanation to prep you for yesterday's surprise.

A couple of weeks ago I got an email from Scott that asked to confirm my address because he had something to send to me. Of course, I wondered what it was...maybe a photo from those teen years or some other story or treasure, then I promptly forgot about it.

Late Monday afternoon, we heard a knock at the door. When I opened it, the mailman handed me our mail as well as a long cardboard tube, probably 5 feet long. What in the world was it? I could see that it was from Scott. Wow! I couldn't imagine what he could have from the past that would be so huge.

When I opened it, the note above was attached. It's always fun to hear about those mysterious people that are reading my blog, but choose not to comment. Scott is one of those souls.


Anyway, Scott is an elementary school teacher, which is how he had access to this truly amazing nearly life size poster of one of my favorite NBA players, Steve Nash!!!! Isn't it awesome! It just makes me smile. As soon as I opened it up I hung it on the wall just inside our entry in the living room. I know it won't stay there, but I just love looking at it. It will soon be moved to the scrapping and exercise room to provide extra motivation there. From what I've heard of Steve Nash, he's a bit of a rebel, but is caring, compassionate, fun-loving, hard-working, unselfish and so giving of the gifts God has blessed him with. What a pleasure to see his smiling face on our wall.

Thank you, thank you Scott! What an extra-ordinary gift from an extraordinary friend! I will treasure it forever!

And just for fun, I've attached a little clip of Steve shooting the ads for this BodyByMilk campaign.

Oh, and you can also vote for him to be on the 2008 All Star Team here.

Happy New Year!!!!