Friendship Blessings

We had such a wonderful, happy visit with friends today! Some of our dear friends from our church in Virginia spend almost every October at Myrtle Beach, and since they are "only" 3 hours away from us, they make that time sacrifice to come and see us. Today they even brought lunch with them, so all we had to do was enjoy their visit... they are such sweet, kind people! 

It was so nice to catch up on what is going on at Friendship, to hear how some of our friends that we haven't talked to for a while are doing, and to share some memories and friendship once again <3. As a testimony to how much we love them and they make us feel loved, I was telling Josiah, who was only 3 when we last saw them, that we would be having some friends over, who he "might not remember, but they..." and I as I started describing them, Josiah says, "I remember them." And then follows it up with something about how nice they are to us. I mean, they made an impression on a 3 year old that lasted a whole year (well, minus 8 days according to Tori). Friends like this are definitely one of God's blessings to us in life <3!

After lunch (and a fun ice cream cake, because Miss Karen wanted to celebrate all the birthdays she missed <3), everyone had lots of fun playing games and talking. Josiah soundly won the "Find it Fast" game that Peter pulled out... I am 99% convinced he has just memorized the cards, but, you never know, maybe his eyes really do work that fast ;)... Miss Karen and I also spent a short amount of time discussing a project we are working on, while Noah especially had fun with their little dog, following her around the house, laughing, 'It's walking! It's walking!"... haha! It is hilarious to us that Noah's hair practically looks identical to the puppy's fur. It was also their first time meeting little Isaac - and Miss Karen and Mr. Jim were his first out of state visitors!

It felt like we picked up right where we left off... but the time went by so fast! We are hopeful that they may make it back down once more before they go home, with Miss Karen's sister who is planning to come to the beach for a few days as well, but we are also very thankful that this visit worked out! It's easy to take the normality of seeing people every week for granted when it's a regular part of your life... it makes you stop and realize what a precious thing it was, when you no longer have that ability! And while it is a wonderful thing to be able keep up with people long distance through technology and letters... there is nothing like being able to sit beside someone and just spend some time with them! The Lord is kind to give us these additional earthly gifts on top of His unmerited gift of eternal life <3.