Visitors

Last week we had two very special days! Some of our friends from CA came to visit us. 4 adults and 4 kids (aged 7 mo. to 7 years, I think) hopped in an RV and drove from LA to GJ. They got here around 4 am and left a little over 48 hours later. It was a wonderful 48 hours!

It was so fun to see them after having moved away from LA a year ago. They are the type of people who welcomed us and were ready to be our friends right away. So seeing them this week was awesome. It never felt like we'd been away for a year. They didn't have any agenda except to see us and spend time with us. We played games, took the kids to the park, went wine tasting at a local winery (don't worry, I skipped that one and hung out with the kidos!), visited the CO National Monument, hung out at the Farmers' Market downtown and laughed A LOT!!! It was so great.

I can't say that enough. We had such a good time. I felt really loved, too, that they drove 24 hours total to be here with us for 48 hours. I think these are rare friends. Lots of people say they'd love to come and visit us, but I don't get my hopes up that they ever will. Hey, if they didn't come when we lived in LA and had every sort of entertainment available to suit anyone's fancy, I'm not going to hope that they would come now. But these friends came simply because we were here and we are their friends. There was no convenient reason or even a subtly selfish motive to come to Western CO to see us. Simply friendship. WOW.

Praise God for friends like them! Of course, I cried after they left. I think I've cried after every visitor has left. But it's always a bittersweet sort of cry. It's a cry that is mixed with emotions. There is sadness and emptiness because they are gone and we won't see them for while. And there is joy that we have such good friends and had such a good time. I don't think I even felt any relief that our house was quiet again. I rather liked it full and noisy and busy. It was one of those times when "shalom" fits to describe the world. It was as if for a few moments in time, everything was as it should be. Everything was right in the world. It was a beautiful time!

Now, let it be known that we LOVE having VISITORS!!! Our home may be humble, but don't let that persuade you against coming. And if pure friendship isn't enough to entice you out here to see us, let us be your tour guides and take you to experience the wonders of the western slope. We'll help you reach your "emotional threshold". (Sorry - inside joke with our CA friends from last week! He he he) Anyway, COME AND VISIT!!!

P.S. I'm very excited because Brad and I will be meeting up with some more friends who live in SoCal (San Diego, this time) in a couple weeks. I think they were officially our first visitors last year in our house. We are going to meet them half way and camp and hike together! So FUN!! I can't wait!