Good Friends

Liz and Katie have been friends now for about 8 years. Katie travels all over the world with her family's ministry. (www.champions-forever.com) She's a very busy young woman. Liz has school and work and is busy as well. 

Greg and I are also friends with the family. With our busy lives, it's a rare occasion when we can get our schedules to sync but we had the chance to spend a week together recently at a retreat "up north". We all had a wonderful time. It had been far too long since we'd all gotten together with Katie and her family. Even though it had been a few years, it seemed like only yesterday since we'd last spent time together. Well, except for the fact that Bruce and Diane... (mom and dad) have added twins, Tori and Tessa into the mix!

That's the thing about good friends, it doesn't really matter how much time passes between visits. The friendship just picks up right where it left off. That's exactly how it goes each time we get together with Katie and her family. 

I expect Katie and Liz will share that special bond through out their lives and I'm so thankful. A special friendship like theirs is truly a gift.

I did take more than one picture all weekend.. but here is one of my favorites. 

Spring on the Gulf Coast

Just a few months after hurricane Katrina, Greg and I were fortunate enough to be part of a group of people called to some mission work in a little town called Laurel, Mississippi. Four years and seven trips later, we find ourselves in love with Laurel and it's people.

The devastation after Katrina would have been enough cause for me to throw in the towel... but not so for the residents of Laurel. Their undying spirit and strong faith continues to amaze me. They have come through so much in four years. Along the way, they never stopped smiling or believing that their homes and community would be restored. Much of the transformation after the storm was coordinated locally by Pastor Joe. He and the people of his church happily fed and housed over 100 volunteers from all parts of the country during the years of rebuilding efforts. I know I don't just speak for myself when I say that their kindness and generosity were such a blessing to those of us who came to help. (I might also add that Pastor Joe's wife, Miss Mattie, is quite possibly the best cook in all the south. One has not lived until sampling Miss Mattie's fried catfish!)

 

As if you can't tell, Joe and Mattie have become like family to us. On our most recent trip, this past May, Greg and I took our daughter, Elizabeth, down to Laurel for the first time. This trip was strictly a vacation. Of course, we stayed with Joe and Mattie... they wouldn't have it any other way.  It was a great week filled with trips to Hattiesburg, Vicksburg, Gulfport and also a little jaunt over the Pensacola Beach, FL. It was a wonderfully relaxing trip. Elizabeth loved everything about the south too... well except for the big bugs! She saw her first cockroach and was not impressed. Neither of us like bugs, especially spiders, just ask Greg. Seeing black widow spiders, grasshoppers and cockroaches the size of silver dollars was a big adjustment for me. I must admit, that is not my favorite part of Mississippi either, but I have come to expect that big bugs are just a part of the experience!

~Nancy