There and back: Part 4!

In order not to drag this on until September, I am hoping to wrap up our Virginia trip in the next two posts.

On Friday and Saturday, we were able to meet up with the couples with whom we were in a Newly Married Couples Bible Study WAY back in the day.  The little reunion was a sweet time for Dan and I.  We were able to laugh, cry and be real with couples we hadn't seen, and some we haven't even talked to, in 7 years.  It was such a wonderful time of fellowship.  We were reminded that it takes work to make our marriages work.  But even through the tough times, if we center our marriages on Christ, we can go through anything and come out stronger in the end.  We encouraged one another and lifted each other up.  I am already looking forward to the next reunion!!

When the group "disbanded" there were only 4 kids...and now, we have added just a few more (30 total!!) to our group.

I can't talk about our trip without a mention of our fun Sunday afternoon.  We were able to worship with Grace Bible Church in Lorton.  We fell in love with this little church while we were in Virginia.  We had gone to a bigger church but through God's leading we joined this small congregation just north of us.  What a blessing those fellow brothers and sisters in Christ were to us!  It was wonderful to be able to go back and feel as though we never left.

Sunday after church we were able to spend some quality time with our friends the Yohos.  I remember meeting Lacey for the first time when she was pregnant with her second (Bits) and Annika was just 6 weeks old.  Little did Lacey know that she wouldn't be able to get rid of me!  We both added kiddos and their family is just like ours...2 girls and 2 boys.  Since Lacey and I both had girls first, our playdates were quiet little affairs with story time and craft time.  The girls would dress up as princesses and they would play nicely together with their baby dolls.  Our biggest problem would be glitter and glue.  This visit was a bit different...boys have entered the mix.  Lacey handled it better than I (she's got a few more years of boyhood on me), but let's just say there was mud...a lot of mud. Enough mud to warrant showers.  Regardless, it was a super time with the kids getting reacquainted and there were some Broadway worthy shows.  I could tell my girls were tired as Annika was the "sound technician" for the shows which consisted of her pressing "play" on the iPod. :) We also got to see our friends Walter and Sarah and their girls which was also fun!  All these littles aren't so little any more! :(

Silas, James and Landon showing off their muscles. :)

As we were pulling out of the Yoho's driveway, Dan commented, "I wonder how many times this van has pulled in and out of this driveway."  I think there was a point in time when we lived in Virginia where if you would have put the van on auto pilot, it would have driven right to their house.  Thanks Yoho's for a lovely afternoon!! Our door is always open for whenever you take that road trip! ;)

Next up: a trip down memory lane...