Tuesday, July 27, 2010

A Visit with the Ericksons

One of my good friends from high school came with her family to see us. :) This is Annie and her family who are missionaries in Peru and had only been back in the states on furlough for a few days when they drove up to spend a couple of days with us on their way across the U.S.

Annie and I only lived a couple of hours apart when we had our first two kids. They used to play together when they were very small. None of them remember, but here they are, reunited after about 8 years.

This is little Oliver with Calvin.

Miss Cecily thinks having 4 extra kids around night and day is pretty great.

Benjamin and Kelly.

Everybody.

The second night they were with us, we headed out to Chestnut Ridge park to swim and fish and grill hot dogs. Maybe you can guess what happened? It rained...oops...I mean poured as soon as we got there. The park ranger said that an extensive storm was headed directly for the park. We looked at our friends and they said, "Yipee!! We LOVE the rain! Let's stay!" Honestly, their kids were thrilled. I think it might be a bit of a cultural difference between here and Peru. :) The Joneses don't mind the rain, but you rarely meet someone who's *thrilled* with it. So, we stayed. Some of the boys did fish a little bit. We found a picnic shelter to have as a dry base. The little girls got a little cold.

Dads holding daughters.

The men even rigged up a shelter for the grill and they *grilled* hot dogs, no kidding, when it was pouring, NOT drizzling.
Then we came home and roasted the marshmallows over the charcoals in our grill under the covered porch.

Though this looks toasty, it wasn't a particularly toasty evening. :) But very adventurous and cheerfully adjusting to God's plan.
We were grateful for the time with them. We don't know how many years it will be before we will see them again. It was so fun and interesting to hear about their life and ministry in Peru. My kids loved asking their kids questions because they have such a different life, speaking Spanish and living in such a different place and culture.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It is so nice when the Lord arranges a reunion like this. And what an adventure in the rain. Don't ya just love a good challenge once in a while?

Very fun post to read on a very cloudy, rainy, expecting thunder and hail day,

Kathy