Honestly, Sandie

Gemstones 21/30

Nephrite jade has been treasured for thousands of years because of its strength. It isn’t the brightest stone in the display case, and it doesn’t need to be. It’s known for endurance, family, generosity, wisdom, and relationships that stand the test of time. Some gemstones catch your eye. Nephrite jade settles into your life and stays there.

I met Nephrite Jade on the very first morning of MOPS.

She was everything I imagined Eastern Washington would be. Down-to-earth. Easygoing. A house full of kids, open doors, and the kind of hospitality that never felt like work. You didn’t wonder if you were welcome. You already were.

Our playdates were never really playdates.

They were entire days.

We’d show up around ten in the morning with kids ranging from babies to elementary school, and somehow it would be six o’clock before either of us looked at a clock. All the other moms had headed home for naps and dinner and here we were fully engaged in conversation. We closed down parks. We’d pack lunches, snacks, sunscreen, strollers, and whatever else it took to survive a day with that many kids. The best part was that none of them ever complained. They’d find another game, another stick, another imaginary adventure, and keep going. Looking back, that probably should’ve been my first clue. Our kids fit together just as naturally as we did.

She also introduced me to the greatest parenting hack I’ve ever seen.

The family closet.

Instead of every bedroom having clothes stuffed into drawers and closets, she dedicated one room to every child’s wardrobe. Everything was organized by kid. Nobody was digging through laundry baskets wondering whose shirt belonged to who. I never had enough space to steal the whole idea, but I stole enough of it to make my own house work a little better.

That’s who she was.

She didn’t make motherhood look easy.

She made it look possible.

One thing I didn’t appreciate enough back then was her faith.

She was one of the MOPS moms who never attended the church where we met. At the time, I didn’t think much about it. I just knew she loved Jesus, loved her family, and loved people. There was never any pressure. Never an agenda. She wasn’t trying to recruit anybody or prove anything. She simply lived her life.

Years later, I understand why that stood out.

She moved away, our boys grew up, life got busy, and somehow none of that changed the friendship. She has an open invitation for my family to come visit anytime, and I believe her. That’s a rare thing. Some friendships demand constant attention to survive. Others are built well enough that you simply pick up where you left off.

Facebook has been a gift for friendships like ours.

Not because it replaces real life, but because it lets you stay close enough to keep cheering each other on. You don’t have to spend the first three hours catching up on every detail. You already know the headlines. You get to skip straight to being friends again.

We were both trying to point people toward Jesus. I just believed the best way to do that was from inside the machine. She spent all those years showing me there was another way. It just took me a long time to recognize I was looking at it.

Nephrite jade doesn’t become valuable because it’s loud.

It becomes valuable because it lasts.

So do the very best friendships.

This one belongs with this story.

I’ve listened to Rivers and Roads by The Head and the Heart more times than I can count while writing about Nephrite Jade. It’s a song about distance, time, and the friendships that never really leave you, even when life pulls you in different directions. That’s what this one reminds me of. Some people move away. Kids grow up. Calendars fill up. Yet there are friendships that never ask you to start over—they simply pick up where you left off. She has always been one of those people for me, and every time this song comes on, I think of parks we closed down, houses full of kids, and a friendship that has never needed constant maintenance to prove it was real.