seminary friends!

We were incredibly blessed to have two sweet visits with dear seminary friends at the end of  January.  

First, we drove to Pittsburgh  to suprise our dear friends (and neighbors), the Scott's,  who are church planting in New Zealand and back in the states for a visit.  There were staying with the Prices's, and preaching (Travis, that is) at their PCA church that Sunday, so we pulled up late Friday afternoon for a quick overnight stay. Tears of joy, hugs, and the excitement of all of our wee ones abounded - such a beautiful time.

9 kids and 6 adults in one house - full and wonderful. 

We had never met any of the Scott kids.  It was such a joy to see all of our kids together.

 Will was really excited to hold a baby...who wasn't much smaller than him! :)

 Andrew enjoyed some Jerram time too.

 The best part of driving through a snow storm to get there was playing in it after we arrived. 

We got our winter sledding fix!

 They also had a zip line in their backyard!  Serious fun.

 Getting ready.

 The older OC and Price kids (younger ones were napping).

Love these ladies - savoured every second.

Group pic by Andrew.

Andrew and Ella.  I have a really cute picture of them reading on Andrew's bed when they were 3!

The 5 year olds!

The older siblings (the three youngest were sleeping).  We woke Will from his nap and got right on the road.

Driving home - there were candy faires that left bags of hershey kisses on their seats!  Very exciting.

And then a few days later, the Richter's (our other seminary neighbors) arrived!  Seriously, how giddy were we?  They stopped in DC for a few nights on their way to Boston, where they are starting (planting) a new church.

Yucky astornaut ice cream at the Air and Space museum.

Taking in Ai Weiwei's cube light at the Hirshorn.

Andrew couldn't believe the pearls were real - actual TREASURE!  A fun, full day downtown.

That night we got to sneak away (thanks Erica!) for drinks/dessert.  Love these friends so much.  And so excited about what's ahead for them!

Our boys love Sam.  They've talked about him ever since our VA beach reunion a year 1/2 ago.  When I told Andrew he was coming his mouth dropped open, and he said "What!!  I didn't think we'd see him until we died, or something!"  This was one last pic taken before our boys headed out for school.  They had a LOT of fun together :).

We are so thankful for the blessing of these sweet friends!  Sharing hearts and hearing their stories - such an encouraging time.