Christmas Part 3: Colorado

To have friends like the Mays is a blessing that cannot be measured. This was our second time to go to Colorado, share a home with them nestled in the mountains, ski, snowboard, laugh and eat with them. It was even more peaceful and fun than the last time! We did have to drive until 2am one morning, on icy roads, trying to outrun a storm to get there...but it was all the more wonderful to drive up to the house having been through the uncertainty of the roads. Thank you God for these friends and your beautiful creation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LAST days of Summer BASH

LOVE having a house full of teenagers! Playing cards, jungle pong, pictionary, eating snacks, and lauging together. My kids have a lot of great friends and I'm happy to have a place where they all feel comfortable to come. Often.

 

Easter Celebration

One of our favorite things to do is to set the table for Sunday lunch and have no idea who we're going to have over. On Easter Richard invited three college guys from the Praise Band, and one of the college girls that Erin knows from helping in the youth group. I've got to tell you, God certainly cares about the details as he certainly had these friends picked out for us long before we ever set our table.

Sarah is from Conway and grew up in a small Christian school in a family a lot like ours. Abraham is from Mexico and was hanging out with the two Fernandos playing violin for our praise service. Fernando V is from Panama, and is so funny! He made fun of all of us for having pretty southern accents on our Spanish attempts. Fernando S confided in Richard during the day how much he was missing his family and thanked us all several times for having him over. These guys stayed at the house all afternoon and my family loved it!

 The weather was beautiful and we played kickball and fat bat out in the yard. Richard's sisters and their families as well as his parents all pulled in around 5pm for an evening dinner and playtime for the kids. It was an awesome day full of new friends and family and a celebration of our LIFE IN CHRIST.

Loving our Lexi

Lexi is a special friend to our family. She hangs out at our house a lot, eats meals with us, spends time with Lauren, and laughs with us! She's a beautiful girl inside and out and we were happy to cheer for her at Homecoming.

I think I posted this last year, but I love having Christmas cards out during the season. Everyone was a little later getting theirs out this year and for a little bit I thought possibly we wouldn't get any. I love to display them in the picture holders and spread out the picture cards and the cards. I attach them all to a huge corkboard in our laundry room for the rest of the year. It's fun to see faces of friends all year long. I think Christmas cards are awesome.

Honored

I wanted to make sure to record one of the coolest things we did while we were in Colorado. The house we stayed in has an attached lodge with an open upstairs and huge downstairs. Comfy furniture, a wooden canoe hanging from the ceiling, iron chandeliers, skis, oars and animal skins here and there.

The steps up to the upper room are logs split in half and shined, the center post in the room is a de-barked tree with multiple branches. (see photos) We were honored to have the owners of the home invite us to put our name on the tree to commemorate our time in the wonderful Colorado home. Because the snow had been falling for 24 hours, we chose snowflakes and I burnt our names (permantly) in the tree bark. How cool is that?

Thankful

Thankful is the best word to describe how I feel about Erin having some sweet girlfriends to do life with. She invited several girls over during the first days of Christmas break to decorate cookies, go caroling, watch a movie and just hang out. Some had conflicts with family events, but even a few 8th grade girls filled our house with laughter and silliness for a couple hours on a cold Tuesday afternoon.

Wednesday Thanksgiving

One of my favorite new traditions is meeting some of our sweet friends for breakfast/brunch in Russellville on the day before Thanksgiving. The reason this is a little crazy is that our friends live in South Carolina. The blessing for us is that they are in Russellville each Thanksgiving to visit family! It's a morning we all look forward to.

There are some friends that come in to your life and it could only be a "God thing." Kent and Laine are those kind of friends. As a matter of fact, I want to be like them when I grow up! God knew that we needed them and He provided.

This year we ate and laughed, caught up with each other's families AND made plans for the summer. We'd all like to meet in North Carolina and enjoy the mountains together. We'll see if that all comes together. Richard and I have been to Orlando and Atlanta with them...anything is possible!!

Sweet friend

I haven't posted a picture of me in a long time. I haven't had a picture taken of me in a long time...in fact, this picture was taken last Easter, and I just found it!

This is my sweet friend Laura, who now lives in Washington DC and is a regular reader of my blog. She loves me and my family. One of the highlights 2 years ago was Richard getting to marry Laura and "her" Richard.

It could only be a God-thing that I wanted to have this picture, turns out, her parents have moved and I don't know when we'll be together again!

Sometimes God sends people in our lives that we don't expect. And then, he makes you bond with them in a way you never dreamed. I have several of these people in my life, and I should be thankful more.

Counting my blessings.

Across the ocean, they go...

Our friends have been reassigned to Germany with the US Military. Such a sweet family, they all like to laugh and their kids are precious. They like to play cards and games and all our kids can play together without anyone getting hurt. Most of the time. They even let us watch their big screen tv when the HOGS were on ESPN (which we don't have) and they were actually at the game. Good friends indeed.

This is a picture of all of us and another family who we get to play with. It was an emotional Sunday morning. I'm so glad I had my camera in my purse. There's an old Amy Grant song that said if you find a friend that's faithful, if you find a friend that's true...then thank the Lord, He's been doubly good to you. My sentiments exactly.

This is the THIRD little girl in Sheridan's SS class to move away since last year. OK, that's a lot, even for a 5 year old. Really, I'm thinking Sheridan is wondering deep down if we're next. (What she doesn't know is there is another girl in her class whose family is leaving after the school year. Really.)

We're missing our friends already. They plan to return in 3 years. What will we be like in 3 years? Ryan will be a senior in high school. Sheridan will be in 3rd grade. Richard will be in his mid 40s.