The Tale of Two Friends

The day we found out the baby had died I sent emails or text messages to our closest friends asking for prayer. That night as our dear friends John and Tracy were praying together the Lord placed on Tracy's heart a need to come out here. Her loving husband agreed and called us the next day to ask if that would be okay and a blessing for us. I started crying when I found this out. What an answered prayer! Just the night before I had been crying (as only a hormonal woman can do) because I only have a couple friends out here... and missing all our good friends back in Virginia.

So Tracy and Baby John flew out here last week for a 4 day visit. The Lord blessed our visit with nice weather and precious conversations. Tracy was such an encouragement and I miss them already. Here are pictures from our visit...

The first day we kind of laid low while Tracy and Baby John transitioned to the new time zone (they didn't get to our house until after 1am). We went to the commissary... and let me just say, if anyone wants to feel like they've stepped back in the 1970's... visit our commissary! Ha ha. Yup, it's that bad. Tracy's reaction was priceless... "Oh. Wow. Okay." I'm grateful to have it and have learned to lower my standards... but I also can't wait to move back to an area with a major military concentration and a giant commissary (or 2).

Day #2 we went to Chateau Julien, a vineyard and winery in Carmel Valley, for a tour and wine tasting. The weather was gorgeous (although Baby John thought it was a little warm)... and the wine was lovely. They haven't harvested this vineyard yet so the grapes were all still on the vine and they tasted yummy! Yes, we tried the grapes :)

Day #3 we drove out quite a distance to Hollister to see Swank Farms and the pumpkin patch. I had no clue that pumpkins are covered with little stickers in the patch. What a surprise we got when we grabbed the first pumpkin! :) We enjoyed watching the pumpkin sling shot and wandering the pumpkin patch but decided against the giant corn maze since the sun was beating down and we didn't want the baby to sunburn. I can't wait to have kids that we can do all these fun fall activities with!

Day #4... Sunday. Church was a very encouraging and motivating time. We heard a missionary talk about Madagascar... what a great way to conclude Mission's Month at the church! Afterwards we were happy to see the fog burning off so we went down to Cannery Row for lunch and then took a short drive down Highway 1 to show Tracy the California Coast (so different from the East Coast!). The wind was blowing very hard... but that didn't stop us from taking a few pictures :) I love the blue water of the ocean!

I was sad to see them leave but my spirit was so encouraged. I can't wait to go back to the East Coast to visit with them again!