Favorite Godson ....

named Steve ...

can actually cook!  Here, he's helping his cousin make crepes ...

We love when relatives come to visit ....

Hospitality: visits from old friends are the best!

We are so fortunate because we have dear friends who
don't mind driving hours (even in Friday traffic on I-95) to come visit us ...
sleep on our floor ...
hang out drinking good wine and smoking (or just smelling) good cigars ...
playing at the lake twice in one day ...
staying up late reading ...
cooking sausages over a barbeque while pancakes sizzle on the griddle ...
even sharing a good cry or two!

So, from Hilltop Farm,

thank God for old friends and their new babies (two since last we hung out together!) ...

Make new friends, but keep the old

one is silver and the other gold!

Family: what a week!

This has been one of those weeks that will live in infamy! 

• Tuesday -- I spent the day with a physical, lab work and a mammogram (my first, so I have to go back today for a more detailed one, yuck!)
• Tuesday evening -- I found out that one of my brothers had died that morning; I spent much of the week trying to figure out a way to get back to California for the funeral ... but I just couldn't do it financially or emotionally or logistically (with no one to look after the littles anyway). My brother's wake was last night with a burial this morning ... prayers for the repose of his soul and prayers more especially for the family he leaves behind.
• Thursday -- my 18 yod went off for college; we miss her and know she's doing the right thing, but we have lost the benefit of an older child who knows how to cook, clean, cuddle and read the little ones while I'm busy with another.  Kotch although you are directionally challenged (they were heading to the beach yesterday and ended up in the Everglades!) we are very proud of you and love you very much.
• Sunday morning we were so sad to see our dear friends leave ... at 5:16 they pulled out for the next stop on their journey, but we will miss them so much.  Guess we're heading to Colorado next summer to get our friends-n-family "fix" .

It was truly a blessing to have our Colorado friends for a short time.  They rolled in on Thursday and stayed till Sunday o-dark:30.  Just a very relaxing visit with folks who are more family than just friends.  I've known the mom online for years and then when we moved to Colorado back in 2006, the families became very tight ... too many similarities to be ignored, I guess!

Here are some more pix of our frolicking together ....

We love you guys and pray for a safe conclusion to your journey!  Next summer, Casa Colorado?

Family: 4Real IRL!

We have the distinct pleasure of knowing MaryM very well ... so well in fact that when they headed east we got them to commit to a 3-night stay at the "farm".

We love this family ... my boys love Mary's son, my daughter loves Mary's daughter, and dh and I love Mary and her dh ... couldn't ask for better than that. They were dear friends to us in Denver (altho I knew her much longer on 4real, just not-IRL) and are still dear to us.

We all play together so nicely!

Yesterday, we had an added treat of hosting Ruth's family for their first visit out here (they live almost an hour away but had to come in for a doc appointment and took advantage of their proximity to us) and a chance to meet MaryM IRL.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:

Just a wonderful visit with lovely ladies (and other kids that wouldn't let us photograph them!).

Hospitality: visits from long-time friends

One of the great benefits to living in Virginia is our proximity to Washington, D.C. ... and therefore, visits from friends and family!

And we all love to welcome them to our new home, Hilltop Farm!

Yesterday, we had a visit from a friend and her family from Georgia. They'd spent the 4th in Washington and stopped on their way to NC beaches.

I've know this woman for 20+ years ... she was at both of my weddings, is the godmother to my oldest son, I used to feed she and her husband when they were dating and I hosted her wedding shower. I'm godmother to her oldest and we co-chaperoned trips to Walt Disneyworld when our godchildren were each 4 years old. I worried and prayed with her when she delivered her second daughter -- a 2-month early preemie who was so tiny, she was the size of a Hershey bar! I cried and laughed with her as we saw her father, a sufferer of Parkinson's, succumb to the disease.

That was four years ago ... and our paths have not crossed since the funeral. Until yesterday ... when she and her husband, my goddaughter (now 14!), her second daugher (8) and her youngest (5) stopped by for a few hours.

We so enjoyed seeing them again and can't wait for a chance for a longer visit .... after all, there was someone for everyone:

• dh and Vince hid out in the garage and then later at the beach ... talking guy talk
• goddaughter hung out with her "older and wiser cousin" and enjoyed talking with the grownups
• the younger girls -- who are NOT girly-girls -- had a blast running, tumbling, tagging and generally wreaking havoc with our younger three!

A successful visit all round ... come on back now, y'hear!

Welcome to our new home

Our very first visitors: dh's sister, BIL and niece. How we enjoyed the visit ... and hope they did too!

We have started a new month ... and a new chapter to our lives. We are living in a wonderful spot in a rural county in Virginia and we are loving being away from the noise, the traffic and the lights of the big city!

We so want to live a simpler life ... a life of embracing nature ... going on walks ... getting back to the basics ... instilling in our children a sense of wonder at God's creation and the gift of hospitality to all who venture to visit.

Please join us here ... let us know how you live a simpler, more faith-filled life as we share our journey toward a more basic existence while we love and learn and live, seeking God's will in our daily choices and lives.