Pics

The girls and Penny.

And the girls in the tree that is in the front yard.

The beautiful Dogwood tree in our backyard.

View of our backyard from the deck, chainlink fenced area is garden spot, so excited about that!

And we had so much fun getting together with friends that we have had for almost 20 years. The Smiths' hosted and we appreciated the time to reconnect with these families. Christiansons, Rices, Cobbs, Boockholdts, and Ostyns.

This is only a fraction of the kids, the older group, some of these were in nursery together! Nate, far left, Ellie in front with back to camera, then Jacob with Emily behind him, Brandon, then Nicole, Brandon Cobb and Eric. I had to really peer into some of these faces to find the child that I remembered there to recognize them! One of the things that I have really loved about moving back is seeing Nate get back together with kids that he grew up with. If my count is right there were 19 kids there in all, for our 7 families.

Some of the sweet friends that I got to catch up with; Wendy, Heather, Heidi, Sheri, Stephanie, and Jen. I have some history with these ladies! Wendy and I were in the hospital just doors down from each other, and had our firstborn the same day! Sheri and I went to high school together. Heidi and I have been in small groups together and cooking groups too! Jen and I have served beside each other in Awana and cooked together as well! Stephanie and her husband had one of the first Superbowl parties that I remember going to as a young married couple in the group that found ourselves at TVBC in the mid-late 90's. Heather and all of these dear girls and I have been on women's retreats, Bible studies, baby showers, sat in the cry room next to each other, taught one another's little ones in Sunday school classes, small groups, potlucks, church functions and many other occasions with each other over the past almost 20 years!(Minus the last 5 when our family was absent in MT, of course) That is some precious stuff there and I have come to appreciate it much more deeply since we moved back. The saying that you don' t know what you have until its gone, proved itself to me while we were away.

I am looking forward to what God has in store for us all now, I hope to spend more time with these women. Soon we will start attending graduations and not too long into the future the weddings will start. Oh, my.

(my sister-in-law got us this guy and a lilac plant for house warming gifts and I am keeping my out for his perfect little home in the yard, isn't he so cute!)