friends who are family & family who are friends

This summer has been marked by spending time with family who are friends and friends who are family. It's a beautiful thing I've been learning about and really thankful for as I've seen it manifest itself in several ways.

We haven't spent nearly as much time with the Kozels as I would love to. But the time that we spend together is always good. They were gone for 2 weeks and now we're gone for 2 weeks. Before we take turns leaving and in between, we meet for ice cream (either at the gun shop - I'm not lying - or Dairy Queen). Last ice cream meeting turned into seeing the new house they are building. It's about 12 minutes from us on our side of town. It's beautiful and we are so very thankful that we both live in Morgantown now and these kids get to grow up as cousins together!

These two are family who are friends most of the time. They've found ways to really jab at one another for the summer. But for the most part, they really do love and care for one another.

Bethany, Carissa, Janny & I got together in New Martinsville mid-July. We used to do a girls weekend every year, but the last few years we've been hit or miss. We're already planning for 2015 so we make sure it happens.

And we sure are thankful for technology and the ability to Facetime. These girls are my longest friends.

And some of my other favorite people. These women were my friends in college who I've reconnected with since moving back to Morgantown. Super thankful Carissa came to town to add to the fun. (Abby, Clare, Carissa, Lauren and Laura).

We've spent quite a bit of time with the Underdonk's. This was on a Monday Funday. It was supposed to be a trip to Idlewild but it rained too much so we went to the Pittsburgh Science Center - along with everyone else in Pittsburgh. Love these guys so much and so thankful our kids love each other so much.

We are at Rockbridge for the August assignment. We came a day early to see these (and more not pictured) fine people that were here for the July assignment. So good for my heart to see them. So sad to not have spent the month with them.

 Kristen and Megan may actually be our longest friends. They lived down the street from my Grandma when we were growing up. Still love seeing them at the River.

And we got to see Sara when we were in Pittsburgh. I love spending time with her. I love even more that my kids love spending time with her.

I had lunch with my cousin Brandi one day. I've so enjoyed my time with my cousins at the River. (Pictures escape me for these!) And the list could go on. These are just the moments I've captured on my phone.

In general, I'm super aware that not everyone has friends that are family or family that are friends. And somehow I get to have both!

river reunion 2014

The weekends this summer have been so beautiful. Even if the weeks have been rainy, the weekends have been so nice. Except last weekend for the River Reunion. Every year, we have a reunion for friends and family who love the River. And it's always a great time

A definite highlight is the food. Bob and Chris cook meat on a spit over an open fire all day. The night before they season and prepare the meat.

Saturday morning we woke up to pouring rain. Actually it poured the rain all night. Ben and I were in one tent and the kids were in another tent right beside us. Sophie rolled off her mattress around 5:30 am right into a nice sized puddle. So we were all up bright and early.

But that doesn't stop the boys from rigging up a tent and tarp to protect the fire to be able to cook the meat.

I always help with breakfast.

And the kids put on their swimming suits and played in the rain.

Grandma played badmitten in the rain with Ted.

And the meat cooked and cooked.

Guys spent a lot of time looking at the meat.

Around mid-day we took a little trip to a local winery. (When noting hair, please remember the rain.) We laughed hard and had a great time.

We came back to nearly finished meat.

And a serious food spread.

Sophie snazzed herself up with a new hat.

It's fun to spend time with your family and really connect with them. So thankful for these weekends at the river.

interrupted by jen hatmaker & a give away

So I was chosen as one of 250 bloggers to read and do a book review for Jen Hatmaker's revised and expanded book Interrupted: When Jesus Wrecks Your Comfortable Christianity. It's a book I've wanted to read for awhile so a free copy and a time frame that I have to read it and review it is super helpful to the whole process. (Sometimes books tend to pile up on my nightstand with good intentions but less time that I would like to read them). I started it Monday and have already read a big chunk. My goal is to finish while we're on assignment. 

Until then, you can buy your own copy HERE with a 20% discount if you purchase by July 31st.

I'm also giving away a free copy so someone can read it with me. All you have to do is leave a comment on the blog about why you would like to read this book and your email address. I'm working out the kinks on picking the winner, but I promise it will be fair. (Or maybe only two people will respond and I'll do "eeny meeny miny moe.") Either way, it's all good. Leave a comment by Saturday at noon and I'll announce the winner on Sunday afternoon. 

And as a side note: Jen Hatmaker is one of my new favorites. I read her book 7:An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess which is one of my all time favorites, my Thursday morning Bible study did one of her early studies last Fall and I keep up with her blog. The thing I love about Jen (I feel like I'm on a first name basis with her) is that she's real, open, honest and FUNNY! I like funny. She's not afraid to show her junk. And I always appreciate good junk with a healthy does of funny. 

and i would drive 847 miles

So the kids and I drove 847 miles on the 4th of July weekend. I never know how they get those statistics about how many miles people travel on any given holiday, but I just gave whoever whatever they needed. This was part of the "summer is kicking my butt" tour.

On Friday we went to the River. There were over 10 kids there this weekend, which made for a lot less entertaining on my part. The weather was absolute perfection - 80 and low humidity.

Friday we did some small fireworks. This is a great picture of the kids waiting for one of those parachute men that fell from the fireworks. So fun for them.

They played and played badmitten - although no one was particularly awesome at it.

We have pictures of us (the parents) like this when we were their ages in this exact spot.

And the highlight for all 3 of us was riding Eugene's jet ski. That was so great! I could ride one of those all day. He is so very generous with his boat and jet ski, and so great with the kids.

We (well the kids) did some swimming. The river was fast this weekend so they didn't swim too much. It was high last week and had eaten away at the bank so they added some tires and the kids threw rocks to hold the tires.

They consumed lots of food, wore swimming suits all day and ran around in bare feet. It was a great kid day.

We got a few boat rides in too.

Back in Morgantown, our Young Life camp trip left Saturday morning. There was a Fairmont/Grafton bus, a Clay-Battelle/Hundred bus, and a Morgantown bus. One of committee members posted this picture on social media and it made me cry. THREE bus loads of kids from the Mountaineer Area. It somehow made a hard year completely worth it. Worth dealing with kids and leaders and loss and money and heartache and frustration and demands and banquets and parents and a host of other things.

In kind of an impromptu decision early in the week, the kids and I packed up on Sunday and drove 5 hours west to Lake Champion. We had a couple of adult guests that had ridden up with Ben and I was going to drive them home so Ben could stay the entire week at camp. Him being there as an extra hand and resource turned out to be a really great choice with having so many kids there.

Really the only reason I went was to get to see Adrienne! We stayed the night with her and Brian and got to hang out for a few hours on Sunday evening. Isn't she the cutest? I sure do miss her a lot. She came into our lives shortly after Ted was born and was around for Sophie. I wish I could be with her for her little one.

The standard "watching club from the leaders lounge" picture.

Playing some fooseball before the Dance Party/Rave.

Ted did the climbing wall before we left.

It was Sophie's first trip to Lake Champion. We were on assignment at Lake Champion when I was pregnant with Ted and then again when he was about 18 months old. So this was the first trip that he'll remember. They have done so much work there and it's so beautiful. They also rebuilt the A-Team housing (so long, Petra) so I'm game to go back anytime!

We were there less than 24 hours before we packed up and headed 7 hours south with Whitney and Nolan. The company on the way home was nice. My kids don't really sleep in the car so I allow them to watch dvd's the entire way. There's a small amount of guilt - but not really.

Happy Birthday Weekend, America!