Anyone else feel like they could be a borderline-hoarder if they're not kept in check?? *raises hand* Guilty! I don't necessarily think that I need lots of stuff... I just think I might need MY stuff again some day, even though I haven't touched some of it in years!! I still have tons of boxes in my basement that I haven't taken care of since moving in about a year ago, and some of it hasn't even been touched since college... and that was almost 10 years ago!

I'm not sure why I'm keeping some of the things that I still have down there, maybe I think some of them will be of value some day... but the reality is, I'm mostly just too lazy to get around to organizing it or figuring out what to keep and what to trash. So I finally started working through some the mountain of boxes in our basement and trying to get some things organized (my husband has been so patient with me)! One of the boxes I stumbled upon was a box of college papers, which included a stack of birthday cards, notes, and other mail that I received when I was in college (Mailbox #5452!). Most of these cards are either standard greeting cards with my parents names written at the bottom of them, or cards from people I don't even talk to anymore, but a few were sweet notes from dear friends.

... and then I found this gem.

I'm not sure that I can truly describe both the joy and sorrow that swept over me as I read this card. You see... I lost one of my dearest friends almost 9 years ago, and here were her words once again, in her handwriting. Not one of the Facebook posts or emails... a real, handwritten note.

... a note from my dear, sweet Janet Rose.

I sat and read over this card, shed some warm tears of great joy, then read the card again. When my husband walked down the stairs to see how the organizing was going, I handed him the card and had him read it too. I wish so much that he could have met her. I think he would have laughed at the two of us together. But I think he would have loved her. Because she loved me, and she loved other people, and she loved Jesus deeply. And that love was contagious.

Then my husband suggested one of the sweetest things... that this card needed to be framed.

So that was my project over the past few days... I grabbed an extra frame, some scrapbook paper, and printed out a few photos of Janet and me... and put together one of the sweetest earthly treasures that I own.

And I echo the same words that Janet wrote to me nearly 11 years ago: "I think God knit threads of our hearts together long before we met."