30 Things, Day 16...accomplishments

16. What are your 5 greatest accomplishments?

I have to get my mommy on the phone for this one...literally.  I have no clue where to even start.  I am a single, stay at home mom...who God is having to build up to be able to see herself the way that He does...and I am far from being able to do just that, yet.  For me to sit down and try to figure out if I have any greatest accomplishments, let alone five, seems more daunting then shoving a semester's worth of Abnormal Psychology into five weeks!  I don't really feel as if I "do" that much.
1)  I know that I have said this before...but coming to the end of me, and realizing how desperately I needed a living relationship with God has to be one of the best things that I have ever done in my life.  There just isn't anything that compares to the fullness of life available in Him, and the things that I can do WITH Him are limitless!
2)  My girls.  One of my greatest accomplishments... investing time into them on a daily basis, helping them to reach towards their potential, holding them as they throw fits trying to figure out their own emotions, being the mother that they need me to be in order to foster healing in their lives, providing an environment for them to thrive in and continually move forward.  Being their mother is one of the best things that I could possibly ever do in this lifetime.
3)  Going back to college...and continually working at it...carving time out of the week to give it my best, rather than my worst.  I just finished what is considered my first academic year at Ashford University, 8 classes...a whole semester of class shoved into a five week session.  Eight straight A's.  This is something that I have never done before...and I have more responsibilities now then I did when I was in college the first time, just as many distractions, and single.  Going back to college is huge, in and of itself, even more so with all the responsibilities that come along with being a single mom.  It is a privilege to be getting this close to graduation, and the party to celebrate that will be the biggest one I have ever thrown/gone to!  I am so thankful that God told me to go back, put all the details into place, and gives me the strength and wisdom to succeed at this one.  It means the world to me and I cannot wait to hold that diploma in my hand!
4)  My mother told me that one of my biggest achievements is my ability to overcome adversity.  She was telling me, from her point of view, that sometimes all the crazy things being thrown my way, that I overcame with God's help, were enough to make her want to run and hide.  In the midst of the hard times, it really didn't feel as if I was achieving anything; it just felt like I was clinging to God and fighting for my very existence.  But looking back, God and I--we truly have overcome a lot!
5)  This one goes hand in hand with number four, and has been mentioned over the last 16 days before.  And it is one that can sometimes be a daily struggle for me.  After the divorce, I gained an oversensitive "flight response" to drama from others or feeling as if I had overstepped my place in friendships, or if a friendship felt like it possibly might be more work then it was worth to fumble around and get back to a good place.  However, that being said, God has been growing in me a strong desire to stick with it, to choose not to walk away when it feels like work, to ignore the comments from others that He does not support.  One of my best friends and I were talking about friendship through texts yesterday.  I sent one that said something to the effect of...is a true friend the one that just settles in, digs their feet in, and says even though this seems as if it is too much work, I choose to work for the relationship.  She sent back a text that said something to the effect of... good friends sometimes choose to walk away, the ones that choose to stay are best friends.  I think its the friendships that survive the insane ups and downs together, that are even more rare then best friends...they are the friendships that you don't get very many of in one lifetime...where you work through really hard things together and it just makes the bond tighter and more precious.  I have had three or four of those kinds of friendships in my lifetime and they are precious to me.  And they help me to practice not running.