Friends

This past weekend we got to spend some good quality time with our friends Dave and Jess.
I first met Dave when Brian and I were dating. Dave and Brian had grown up in the same town, but were just then becoming good friends. Dave ended up helping out when Brian proposed, set everything up for us, lit the fireworks and entered into our joy. He drove the loooong drive with Brian down for our wedding and spent the whole week beforehand running around with us, sitting in on our premarital counselling (well not actually sitting in on, but was listening in. haha), fielding phone calls from my grandma and just generally hanging out and making things more fun for us. After we were married it was Brian's mission to see Dave married and he attempted some disastrous set ups which Dave humoured us by participating in. And then Jess came along. Brian would like to think he had a lot to do with them getting together, but really it was a small part. We were so happy to have Jess enter the picture, and I have to say I have rarely seen a couple more suited for each other! We have learned so much through observing their marriage, and their love for one another.
Anyway, we have been SO blessed to have them be a part of our lives. We are not always the greatest of friends, we have not always done our part, but we have been blessed to have Dave and Jess be friends who are not afraid to call us out, to let us know when we are not living up to our part of a friendship, they have loved us enough to not give up on us. They have encouraged us in our marriage, they have rejoiced with us with our children, they have invested in us. We have made some great memories with them and this weekend we got to make more. We stayed overnight at a suite in the mountains, we went on a hike that was maybe a bit more steep then we would have liked, we wiped runny noses, changed poops, took a ton of pictures, finally got kids in bed, stayed up way late to visit, and all around had such a nice time.
All this to say, that sometimes we forget to say how much we appreciate people, and I just wanted to take the time to say how much we have loved having them be part of our journey and we look forward to lots more good times in the future.
Here are a few pics...
Our boys who are 3 months apart. This picture tell a lot about their personality's

Beautiful Girl

Headed up the steep trail

These boys crack me up, they hold hands all the time. :) Such good buds.

Enjoying the view!

Jess and I taking a rest with Soren. :)

OK so just have to vent a little, and then it will be a happy post I promise. I HATE (yes a strong word I know, but it fits here) living in a town where everybody leaves!!!! Seriously, it is just SO hard. I am so serious that I just don't even want to make friends anymore, the motivation is dying people! I know everybody is a general word, and no, not everybody leaves. BUT most people do. This is not a permanent setting for most people. I understand that, we are in the middle of nowhere, there is the college, so obviously people are just here to do their school and move on. This is just getting ridiculously gut wrenching though. Tonight as we hung out with a few of our small group friends to kick off the year, I was thinking about how in the next year and a half 2 more of those couples will be gone, and one already left and it is just so sad. Like really sad, and I know I am someone that tends to lean more to the emotional side, and I feel things really deeply, and I cry fairly easily, but it just aches, and there is no easy answer. I wouldn't trade the richness of knowing these people for anything, the joy, laughter, challenges, truth, love, realness that they bring to my life, it is invaluable! But the goodbyes....I just don't know.

Anyway, this blog is in some serious need of positivity (if that is even a word) SO here are things that I am loving right now.

- Baby snuggles and soft fluffy hair and baby smells! (although this poor poor child has my skin, so sensitive)

- A husband who reads to his children! This guy can out read me sometimes, and for a man who doesn't read himself to try and instil that quality in his children, that is so wonderful!
- A really beautiful fall so far, the weather the last two weeks has been SO nice! (for where we live at least)
-Good friends to laugh with and share life with
- That my dear friend in Africa has better Internet access then she did before she went and it makes the distance seem not quite so bad.
- TEA!

A dear friend of mine introduced me to this tea that her mother-in-law sent her and it is my desert! Typhoo tea, decaf, I LOVE it. I look forward to the time during the day when I can sit down and have my tea while...
- Enjoying the At Home In Mitford books! These are just books about a small town and their everyday life, I love them.

- My two year old's imagination. This kid blows me away with his speech and what he comes up with, he is so funny!
-Amazon's wish list thing and their universal wish list button! Ingenious!
- Mom's Time Out! This group refreshes me, I love it, and it's making me seriously rethink the way we are doing holiday's and where the focus is. Sadly it hasn't been on Christ enough. Things are going to change this year. But all that to say that I love the way this group challenges me and helps me grow and connect with women.
-Pillsbury cookies. I know I know, SO bad for me on SO many levels, but it is like my breastfeeding weakness! I craved these things when I was breastfeeding Theo and now again. I husband has to do serious intervention to get me out of the isle or these out of the shopping cart in the store. lol

Well, there you have it! I do have so much to be thankful for and apart from all these I am SO eternally grateful to a God who chose to save me, to give me a wonderful husband and bless me with two children. I love that he knows me better then I know myself and even if I don't always like his choices for my life, like withholding things from me that I want, I am thankful that I HE is in control!

Happy Thanksgiving!

P.S. What Soren does while I type..