It’s 10pm. My bedtime. But I know I won’t be able to sleep without getting this out into the world first.
I’ve always loved this excerpt from a favorite book of mine, Bittersweet by Shauna Niequist. The book itself is like a great big bear hug, squishing you and comforting you, and ensuring you know you’re not alone in this life. But this paragraph has always stood out to me.

(from Bittersweet by Shauna Niequist)

But it doesn’t just speak to me; it’s shouting. And I think that’s because, deep down, this is exactly what we all want. What we NEED. We want a tribe. We want people we can depend on. We want a home team.
My home team came through for me again today. Uninvited, as usual. They just showed up in the flesh, and through the mail, and through a text. Entering into my day, taking over like they’re the boss {and let’s face it, they sometimes are}.
My mom texted me last night to ask if I wanted help with the kiddos today so I could focus on organizing and purging without interruptions from the littles. She came over, brought lunch, folded clothes, changed diapers, washed dishes and entertained both kiddos while somehow also keeping me on task with what I was doing and managing a few sorting and organizing jobs of her own. I swear she has super powers. Then she and my dad treated us to dinner. You’re never too old to rely on your parents. Never.
AND at some point in the midst of my crazy whirlwind purging this afternoon I got a text from my BFFAEA {best friend forever and ever amen} who lives out of state telling me to “check the mail *wink wink*”. Y’all she surprised me with this muslin bison blanket I’ve been obsessing over for Peep and the sweetest note. My eyes are leaking again just thinking about it. I can’t handle the kindness. It’s too much.

 
THEN I got a text from my other BFFAEA {seriously, she will be my friend forever; she knows too much} asking me about the gym. We go every week {*cough cough* though one of us is more dedicated than the other}, so this text was nothing new. It just served to remind me that she is one of my people. She’s there. She pushes me. She checks up on me. And I depend on her. I depend on all three of these women. They are part of my home team.
A few months back I posted about another time my home team showed up for me. I still stand behind these words:
“People need people. I hope you have people; but if you don’t, the first step is to strive to become the home team for others. You bring the coffee. You wash the dish.  You change the diaper. You send the text to check up on someone to make sure they’re surviving. You ask “how can I help?”. Before you know it, you’ve got a stellar home team to call on when you need them.”
Today, I worked my butt off going through things and making tough decisions about what to get rid of and what to keep. I swept, I mopped, I changed laundry over. I worked. But at the end of the day, what’s at the forefront of my mind isn’t how taxing it was or how annoying it is that I’ll just have to sweep the floor again tomorrow. All I can think of is how thankful I am for my home team. How amazing God is for putting these women in my life to take care of me. To love on me and tend to me when I’m lagging behind and needing a hand. I checked things off my to-do list, I had a gigantic lemonade from Chik-fil-a, I got a sweet present in the mail accompanied by an even sweeter note, I ate biscuits from Cracker Barrel {which are essentially crack}, and I got an “I’ll be back to help again tomorrow” from my mama.
God, open my eyes to all the opportunities you give me to come through as a someone else’s home team.
Xoxo,
Ashley