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The last few days have been insane and wonderful. I've had such a good time. I'm thoroughly wiped out and will need several days to recover, but it was more than worth it.

On Friday evening altarflame and her family came and spent the night with us. I really enjoyed meeting her (FINALLY!)and seeing her kids in real life. They are some of the most beautiful children I've ever met, and that has as much to do with their personalities as their physical appearances. They are gorgeous, but they are also just so fun and interesting. She and her husband are just as fascinating and amazing as I imagined them to be. It was typically uncomfortable right at first (me and my struggle with "shyness"), but we seemed to click pretty quickly and got to chat late into the night. I can't wait to see them again when they come back through here on their way home. Maybe we can talk them into hanging out with us for a little longer, so I can cuddle the new baby. There is a lot to see here, guys!! Heh.

On Saturday, after Tina's family took off, we headed into DC to meet some friend, a couple that now live in NJ and another couple who live near here that we were very close to back in the "old" days in Louisiana. It was a lovely little reunion. We took the metro for the first time because this weekend was the kite festival and the first weekend of the cherry blossom fesitival, so we knew traffic and crowds would be insane. And Boy Howdy!! I haven't been in crowd like that...well, I don't think ever in my life! But we did manage to find our friends and had a great time for a few hours. Then we all headed back to our house for pizza and several more hours of fun. The adults sat around and caught up on each other's lives and the kids (EIGHT little girls, eight years to four years old!) had a blast together. These couples have been the best couple friends Brad and I have ever had. We've never been able to find friends like these since we all dispersed. They are all practicing, devout Christians (one couple, the Kirks, are Baptists, the other, the Hendersons, are Catholic) that we just have a lot in common with, and it was freakishly weird how we all ended up with families full of girls right about the same ages. I didn't even realize how much I missed them until we were all sitting around talking again. Both the other woman have been playing with the idea of homeschooling for several years and one of them had made the decision to do it next year just a few months ago. The other left here VERY pulled in that direction again and with a husband feeling much less worried about it after listening to us. We talked a lot about that and it was so much fun to discuss that with someone interested in it in REAL LIFE! We all stayed up way too late. I think we finally got the kids in bed around 11pm after the Kirks, who live about 40 minutes away left to go home.

On Sunday morning, the Hendersons, who stayed with us Saturday night, came with us to church. Then we came home, had some lunch, changed clothes and all went to the Kirks house for another afternoon and evening spent together. We stayed way too late again, none of us could pull ourselves away. Another woman, whose family had also been in Louisiana with us, showed up too. Her husband was out of town, but she brought her youngest boy, now nine, who was a toddler the last time I saw him, and their new 16 mos old daughter they adopted from Russia in December. It was so cool catching up with her and meeting her daughter! Annie, the little girl, made me think about Maria and I had to come home and look at our pictures from when we first met her. Got me all misty...

Anyway, when the Hendersons finally left this morning, I felt such a sadness and letdown. I've been looking forward to seeing them again ever since we moved here,and it was so special, I just don't even have words for it. *sigh* I hope we can all get together again someday.


I'm happy, sad, and completely exhausted. Not sure how that is going to work for Holy Week.

YIKES!! It is HOLY WEEK!