Memories and Friendship

I said goodbye to a dear friend today. Rachel and her family are officially on their way to Botswana even as I write. They are being sent out as missionaries from our church. Pastor Hammett has been my pastor for almost 23 years, which means that Rachel and I have been friends since...well...forever! I don't remember a "beginning" to our friendship. I am guessing we met in 2's and 3's junior church, and of course, those beginning years are quite the blur!

As I have slooooowly gotten used to the fact of the Hammetts leaving, my mind has literally been swirling with all the memories I have shared with Rachel over the years. We've been through every stage of life together (minus the infant stage!) so as you can imagine, my "memory drive" is on overload!

It's unfortunate sometimes that it takes a big change like this to make you realize how much you love and appreciate someone! It's been easy for me to take our friendship for granted at times...just being used to the fact that Rachel has always been there.

Now, as we like to say at our church, today was not "Goodbye forever!" to the Hammett family, but "See ya later!" Even if, for some reason, we never meet here on earth again, we have the reassurance - as Christians - that we will be together one day in Heaven. However, we are still looking forward to future visits here on earth! :-)

Pictures are worth 1,000 words, so although I could write a LONG, LONG post about every memory I have shared with Rachel, I'll just post 5,000 words of pictures. :-)

(Even the lyrics to the song below bring back memories - who knows how many times our girl's group sang this song together!?)

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God gives us special friends,
forever friends,


(I had to find at least one picture of us when we were in our "glasses stage"!)

Who know just what to say

(I think this was taken a Winter camp judging by the chairs in the background!)

God gives us special friends to walk with us along life's way.

(At a baseball game, listening to the guys sing the National Anthem)

And oh, how great to know, as on we go,

(Enjoying Starbucks in NYC)

There's someone there to share,

someone who cares.

(All dressed up in NYC, eating at a Mexican place before going to see "The Miracle Worker")

God gives us special friends,

Who always will be there.

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I have been blessed in life to have some really special friends. As we all get older, and life is constantly changing, we don't always get to spend a lot of time together. I found this quote the other day, which reminded me of the friendship I share with Rachel, but it is also true for all of the rest of you who I can claim as special friends!

~True friendship is not being inseparable; It's being separated and nothing changes.~

10/10/10

I simply HAD to post something on 10/10/10 - the absolutely perfect even-number day! :-)

Yesterday, at our Pastor's Appreciation Banquet, we got to view a new video that was put together for our church website. A lot of our church members had a part in it, so that makes it really special and unique. Enjoy!

Who Are We? - Lehigh Valley Baptist Church from LVBaptist on Vimeo.

Fun in the Classroom

The Kindergarten class has been busy getting the room decorated for the fall season. Last week they painted fall leaves which are now all around the walls of the classroom. On Monday they painted trees, and then added red, yellow and orange paint dots ("Do-A-Dot" paint) to the tree to make it look like a fall tree.

Today, during free play, they had fun designing their own "castle" complete with animals and gingerbread people. Of course, they had to clean up everything before they could have snack time. They did a great job working together to get everything back in its proper container!!

This afternoon after rest time, they decided to create their own fort. At first, they got out scissors, construction paper, and markers so they could decorate their fort.

Then they figured out how to move a blanket over some chairs to make a fort (with some assistance from Miss Follett and her packing tape!).

Don't you just love the "entrance" to their fort??! Gotta love the "static hair" of the girls inside the fort after making their "slide entrance"!

It will be interesting to see how this fort idea continues to develop over the next few weeks!

We Know Our Vowels!

Home Videos

Andy has been busy these past few weeks converting our home videos to DVDs. As videos are quickly becoming "extinct," my Mom wanted to make sure our family memories were secure. As Andy has been converting the videos, we have been able to watch glimpses of the home movies throughout the day. Oh there has been lots of groans, moans, laughter and eye rolling as we have observed how we acted as youngsters!

~ I have watched as my Grandma, Dad, and I painted my parents' room as we made preparation for the new baby (Andy) to arrive.

~ I have watched as I jumped in the waves at the beach with my cousin, played miniature golf, and rode my bike along the boardwalk during our summer vacation at Ocean City, NJ. (We went there every summer with my grandparents for the longest time - so many fun memories!)

~ I have watched as I rode the train ride at the amusement park with my Grandma.

~ I have watched as Andy and I played in the huge mounds of snow during the blizzard of 96'.

~ I have watched as Alayna took her first faltering steps down our hallway.

~ Tonight I was watching clips of our favorite family vacation - Prince Edward Island! (I want to go back!!)

However, I think the one that stands out the most to me was watching Alayna's 3rd birthday party. We were sitting out on our back porch getting ready to sing "Happy Birthday", and there was my Pop-Pop sitting next to Alayna. When I heard his voice, tears immediately welled up in my eyes. It was my first time hearing his voice since he passed away, and I wasn't prepared for how it would make me feel. I have seen lots of pictures of him since he died, but his voice - how I have missed it!! His voice was the one I heard (quite often!!) during all my years growing up. He was always talking - telling stories, sharing memories - that was my Pop-Pop! Pictures are nice because they do capture moments, but home videos capture more than just moments. They capture the movements and sounds of the people you love. Now more than ever, I am SO thankful for all the home videos we have!

(Although I must say, I wish I go back in time and change some "unique" clothing styles and weird behavior on my part...but other than that.... ;-))