Maxfield

July will be remembered as a Very Busy Month. But amidst mission trips, birthdays (2), VBS, and a surprise road trip (still to come) what will be remembered loud and clear was the times we spent with our friends the Maxfields.

Original summer 2017 plans included a road trip to Wyoming where we would spend a week with our friends the Maxfields and the Steins. Well, the Steins moved to the U.K., and the Maxfields decided to head back to Rochester for 4 weeks to see family and celebrate Lauren’s graduation. These changes moved the west trip off the calendar and instead we spent most of July waiting daily to see if we’d be able to hang out with our friends that day, or not. The joy-meter ran high on the days we knew we’d get some hours (or overnights) with our dear friends.

During our last dinner together we decided to recreate this image from October 2013.
They’ve all grown so very much.

All three kids slept over here the last night, with Lauren sneaking in to Johanna and Katriel’s room to bless them with a surprise in the morning. When the time came for them to pile into their van to head home I won’t pretend it was easy for any of us. It’s always hard when you don’t know when “next time” is going to come. Next month? Probably not. Next year? Mmmmm – maybe?

In October 2013 we said goodbye to our friends as they moved to Oregon for a “temporary” two-year assignment. We saw them in 2014 when they were home for a visit, and in 2015 we went to see them on our Road Trip.

We did not have any visits in 2016, and that makes this current reunion all the sweeter.

Their trip “home” is not over, and we hope to have more time with them. I feel like a sponge when we are together, as I try to “soak up” as much of them as I can. I keenly remember Jenn’s phone call in 2013, and the secret I kept for most of that day as we waited to hear if it was really happening. And I will likely never forget having to tell the kids the next morning and their subsequent reactions.

Saying goodbye is still in front of us. I’m not looking forward to that. And as we are approaching the four year mark of a two-year assignment, we are learning to count time together differently.

Acts 1:7 – He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.