Summer Rewind ~ Catching Up With Friends

A highlight of our summer was catching up with three sets of friends, two from college and one that recently moved. Our college friends live in different corners of Washington and all of our families have expanded since we all last got together.

I was excited to get a message from our friends, Curt and Rachelle who live in Spokane, explaining that their family was going to be in the area and they wanted to stop by for a few hours to visit. Aaron and Curt played football at PLU together, while Rachelle and I took many education classes together. We ended up student teaching at the same school so we commuted each day for a semester together.

Curt and Rachelle's oldest son, is only one day older than Ellie! The last time we saw Curt and Rachelle, Jordan and Ellie were just 2 months old. Since then, they have added twin boys to their family, Bradley and Benjamin and we have added Easton. During our visit the kids played in the backyard and we all ate dinner together, catching up on life and enjoying adult conversation. Rachelle teaches kindergarten so we had a lot to talk about. It was a fun visit and we were so happy the Mulders took time see us during their trip.

Another set of friends we were able to see over the summer were our friends Andrea and Taj, also from our PLU days. Aaron and I could credit our friend Andrea for introducing us. Although Andrea and I were friends from che,erleading together, Andrea (our friend) and Aaron lived in same dorm. At a social function Aaron hitched a ride with Andrea and some friends and I joined in. That's where we met!

Andrea and Taj were the first of our friends to get married. They were also the first of our friends, to have a baby; Caleb. We spent a lot of time in college playing cards and hanging out together.

The Giesbrechts also have Molly, Lily and Gavin. Lily and Ellie were born on the same day. Andrea and I were in the hospital at the same time, although miles apart.

Andrea, Taj and family were down for a soccer tournament for Caleb. They came for dinner, conversation and play time for the kids. Time flew and we had so much fun catching up. Thanks Giesbrechts for coming! We loved our time together.

 

A final set of friends we were able to see during summer were the Finnemans. Lonnye and Rachel have been our friends almost the whole time we have lived in Vancouver. We attended a young marrieds group together before having kids. Then kids came and we enjoyed a new chapter of friendship with our kids and famillies spending time together. Finnemans moved to Montana last year and we have missed their friendship and family time. They made the trip back to Vancouver and we were able to sneak some time with them.

Catching up with our friends was definately a highlight of our summer. We enjoyed hearing how children have grown and how our friends' families are changing. We are thankful that we are able to pick right up where we left off with our friends and enjoy spending time together.