Saying good-bye to Minnesotans

When I had planned on having this blog, I planned on starting about a month ago. So I figure no harm in sort of going back and catching up from there, right?

We spent a good part of July saying good-bye: to our house, to our favorite librarian, to our church, to the Metrodome, to Target. Most of all, we had to say good-bye to a lot of people we love. We miss them terribly, especially the ones we are used to seeing on a near daily basis (hi, old neighbors! sniff sniff). We didn't get to see everyone we had wanted to and didn't get to spend nearly enough time with those that we did.

So to cheer myself up today I was looking through the photos we took during our last weeks in MN. My favorites are the ones that include the people we miss. It's comforting to know that no matter what, many of you we will see later, whether here on earth or when Christ comes to bring the new heaven and new earth. Still, while it apparently will be awhile until we can see each other again, know that we are thinking about all of you and praying for you, and we hope you are doing the same.

And here's some of the photos I was perusing today...


Mari and her cousin Isaiah-they were just getting to be buddies when we had to leave.


Mari drumming with Mirranda, a friend and neighbor.



Joshua with one of his best friends and neighbors Kiernan. Incidentally, Mari has been pretending to call Mirranda, Meredith, and Kiernan on her calculator/cell phone a lot lately. Whenever Joshua finds something special, like an exoskeleton of a huge bug, he wants to save it to show Kiernan (but we're not).






This is one of MY best friends and neighbors Jan, and a dear woman I miss tremendously. I can not count how many times I called Jan or showed up at her door in a "crisis". Whenever the children and I were having a slow day at home, we would just walk over to their house and hope someone from their family would come out and play. They usually did.








We had a going away get-together with our Bible Study that has been meeting for over 5 years. Now, with ten children added to the group and two more on the way, we have trouble getting together but are still committed to meeting as families for food, fellowship, and worship. It was a sweet night at one of my favorite homes in the cities. Mari and Joshua are still asking when we get to go back to Owen's and Leah's house. The photos are of Mari and Owen, who had a wonderful time playing "chase" through the tunnel that runs around the upstairs, and Mari cuddling with her Aunt Michele and friend Nathan .

















More photos to come...