A Day of Visiting and Fun

Years ago we lived in Alaska.  When Victor was about 2, we met Nowell and Amy Grothe.  I knew that we had begun a lifetime friendship.  Nowell and Amy were both officers in the Army and when Jonah was born, I asked if I could keep him while Amy worked.  A lot of the baby joy had been missed when Victor was born because I had ruptured, had emergency surgery (flat-lined during that surgery, too!), and it took me well over a year to recover.  Jonah provided hours a day, week after week of baby enjoyment!  Jonah was Victor's first friend.  I love all those special memories!  Amy became a stay at home mom by Jonah's second birthday, which was followed by the birth of Micah!  Now they have little Joshua, too.

We moved to California when Jonah was 3.  In 2007 the Grothe family came for visits a few times.  They sent cards and letters to each one of the children... always the type of adults you really want in your children's lives!  Not only did they care about each one and stayed in touch, but they took time to point the children to God in sweet little ways.  

This year it was their turn to say good-bye to Alaska and they relocated to the northwest.  We were extremely blessed by their visit with us this week, although it was MUCH too short. 

Now when Jonah was little, he was a handful... I remember all the antics and trouble that one little boy got into.  The aquaphor in his hair.  The broken collar bone (he fell down stairs at his house).  The stitches.  The tummy getting pumped out.  I think that was just the beginning!  Amy and Nowell talked about parenting and handling things.  Sometimes they agreed.  Sometimes they didn't.  But, they stuck together and worked out their parenting.  I cannot begin to tell you how refreshing it was to hang out with them and see what a great job they have done and are doing with these three boys.  These three boys have delightful manners, yet they are still very real boys... They are beautifully innocent.  I could not be more proud to know them and am more than thankful to call them my friends.  Lifetime friends.  Not "one time" friends.  Nowell and Amy took time to connect with the children and it meant so much to all of them.

Sometimes words just don't really get it all across.  You know I am just crazy about my kids.  I'm just crazy about theirs, too. 

We had just one day and two nights with our friends, so we kept it simple.  There were a few errands and Amy joined Shasta and I for one of her end of pregnancy doctor appointments.  And we played at the park.  There was so much laughing and fun.

Next, I took lots and lots of action shots... testing out those types of features on my camera.

These next pictures tell so many stories.  First, what we played and how it works.  It's called something like 500 Dead or Alive.  One person takes the football and heads out a ways.  The others stand back, waiting for the football to be thrown, then rush to catch or obtain it.   The person throwing calls out a number between 1 and 500 (easy numbers, like 50, 100, 300, etc) then calls out "dead" "alive" or "dead or alive".  Dead means you get the points if it hits the ground before you get it.  Alive means you caught the ball before it hit the ground.  Dead or Alive means that the ball can be obtained either way.

If you watch all the photos... great things were happening!  Julie had a blast.  I love the happy looks on her face.  She was also quite lively.  There's one series of shots here where you see everyone run for the ball and pile up and Julie runs away with the ball... Victory!  I hope that I will forever hear her voice in my head whooping!  In other shots you see Victor decide to join in.  He isn't too sure.  He doesn't want to get hurt.  Then you see him running and having a great time.  And I got so excited to see more photos where people were running or jumping and I caught them in the air.  Enjoy!

We had a good time.  There are so many pictures and so little time, so I will just end with my favorite photos of the day: