Surprise Visit

One morning in early December 2012, I woke up to find a text from my dear friend Danni saying that she, her husband Eric, and newest addition Adrian (rest of the kiddos were with family) would be in town and could they drop in for a quick stop to meet Kate. There was no question that we'd love to see them, so my answer was a loud YES! Thankfully, I had enough time to shower, pick up the living room and vacuum the floor. Danni and I have been friends for 18 years. We met when our families went to summer camp at Campus by the Sea and when we weren't at camp we were pen pals and would visit each other every so often.

Danni's post on her blog about this visit was eloquently written, so I"m re-posting it for our blog readers.


"I was so excited to meet Kate and see Erica! No matter the time between visits, Erica and I pick up where we left off.  And being able to share our babies with each other was absolutely fantastic.

Erica has had health issues since she was born, and Kate is a total miracle baby. Really, all babies are miracles, but this little girl was born because her strong mother took a huge risk and trusted God with her pregnancy in spite of the obstacles.  I am so amazed by Erica and Jay as they embraced parenthood after over 8 years of marriage!

Meet Miss November and Mr. Out of this World.  And they both happen to be Broncos fans, so it's a match made in heaven, as far as we are concerned.

Kate is not only adorable, but she's friendly!  She was a little leery of the big guy, but eventually she got comfortable enough to hang out with him for a bit.

 

 And of course, Adrian was more than happy to sit with Erica."

This was one of the best surprises I'd had in a long time. We decided to make more of an effort to get together and since this visit we already have. God has blessed our friendship over the years and it's been wonderful to see His hand in each of our lives.

Operation Volunteer

Some of you might notice many "green shoe boxes" at your church or in your community over the holidays that are filled with all kinds of special goodies from toys or craft supplies to toiletries. These boxes are sent to children around the world. Operation Christmas Child is a program through Samaritan's Purse. In 2011 I wasn't able to join my bible study to volunteer after just having Kate. This past December 2012 however, I was able to attend. Our bible study teamed up with many other locals and non locals in our community to help with the "operations" at a local collection warehouse. I can't describe just how awestruck we all were when we walked into the place. It was massive! Apparently bigger than the facility my bible study went to the prior year. Then to think that there are  similar facilities around the nation. The pictures below don't really do justice to accurately represent the warehouse size. Each box was thoroughly checked by our keen eyes to insure all items were shipping and age appropriate. Toy guns and things of that nature were removed and replaced by appropriate items. Then we taped the shoe boxes and loaded those into shipping boxes which were then taped and moved to a conveyor belt to be shipped out. I highly recommend that you, your family, church or bible study partake in this experience.  Check out their volunteer section by clicking here: Operation Christmas Child Volunteer Page.

Here's some of my friends goofing off with the packaging tape.