Meeting Halfway…

…or Over and Back Again.

Our young marrieds planned a weekend trip meeting halfway with our DIL’s family and our family. At the end of this month they will have been married 1 year!

We all gathered in Leavenworth, Washington. Everyone else arrived on Friday and stayed till Sunday. Dear and I traveled over on Saturday morning and came back home Saturday evening.

Our family above and the whole crew below.

13418866_1217958848223183_5284038141430679873_n

One of the main events that was planned for the weekend was a river rafting trip for the brave amongst us.

Here’s the crew ready to go!

Our three sons pulling together!

While this crew were river rafting, Dear, Laura and I shopped about the town of Leavenworth dodging the crowds that flock to this picturesque Bavarian like town with the Cascade Mountains as it’s backdrop. I bought a few little treasures from the Russian shop, a free trade shop and a kitchen shop. We survived the Kris Kringle shop, too. If you love all things Christmas, this is the shop for you!

Dear, Laura and I enjoyed lunch at the Icicle Brewing Company while the rest of the crew enjoyed a barbecue spread after their river rafting experience.

We had beautiful weather on the eastern slopes of the Cascades while there was a lot of rain on our western side of the Cascades!

We all got together and enjoyed a potluck taco meal on Saturday evening and on Sunday morning the crew enjoyed a potluck breakfast together.

On the final morning of the weekend our guys got together for some miniature golf fun. Not sure what the girls were doing but I’m guessing they did some shopping.

So thankful to God for all these dear people that we get to enjoy life with. That includes all of life, the good, the bad, the ugly and the beautiful. Joy and sorrow with the comfort of the God who created us and loves us more than we can comprehend. Love one another, forgive one another, keep moving forward together with the hope of a glorious reunion with our Lord and Savior. Yes, and Amen!

HT: Rafting photos courtesy of Osprey Rafting Company.

A Thankful Rebel

It’s been ages since I joined in with Susanne’s Friday’s Fave Five but this morning I’m going to post some favorites from my time with family last Thursday thru Saturday in Southern California. And because I’m overwhelmingly blessed with a wonderful family there will be more than Five photos! I’m a rebel that way…

The reason for my trip down was to meet my new little nephew Andrew (he’s 5). My brother’s family lives in Texas and they were flying to California for Miss Hope’s 7th birthday and a trip to Disneyland and my extended family filled in all the edges of their trip with parties and fun. Andrew became a part of their forever family last August and is already a U.S. Citizen. He was adopted from the Ukraine. He now sings God bless America! So cute. I’ll share more photos from Miss Hope’s birthday party later.

Fresh off the plane last week I met up with Dear’s SIL, Christina, and my best friend from college days Heidi. Heidi, Christina, Dear, Dear’s brother and I were all in a Christian Rock Band in the seventies. Heidi and I attended the same Russian Baptist Church in Los Angeles and had lots of adventures together! We caught up as much as we could in our couple hours together.

What a blessing to spend some time with my soon to be 92 year old pop. He’s a sad guy without my mom by his side.

He was surrounded by some of his grandchildren at Hope’s birthday party.

Josh and Laura took the long way home to Seattle from their trip to Kaui through Southern California so they could meet Andrew, too, and visit with my pop and their cousins.

All my pop’s kids except for one were together in one spot so we took some photos.

Our youngest siblings, the twins, are flanking my father on the couch.

I love this photo of my older sisters and I love them, too.

Andrew is fitting right in and it’s so much fun to listen to his half Ukrainian and half English sentences!

When we all got together this time my Father prayed a blessing over his new grandson Andrew and over his great grandson Thomas. My brother thanked all his friends and family for praying them through the adoption process and helping financially to bring Andrew to the U.S.A. We all sang Great is Thy Faithfulness and another of our Russian favorites together acknowledging the fact that God is the faithful one in our lives. Of course we had lots of good food and good conversation and laughter.

So I’m thankful for my Faithful God, my faithful pop, my family, my friends, and all our fun times together! We’re not perfect, mind you, but we have practiced forgiving each other and keeping our relationships going. We try not to neglect each other. What are you thankful for?