a friendly visit

A family that I love is coming for a visit today.

Last summer, just when I was perfectly content with the volume of relationships in my life, God sent me to a far-away country for a few weeks. I dragged my heels a bit at the idea, knowing that my summer would be interrupted and my budget would be challenged. (Okay, thoughts of insurrection, disease, and Maoist terrorists also came into play….) After those mental hurdles were conquered, (thanks, Lord.) I went.

This isn’t an entry about my amazing trip to Nepal. See Friend #7’s blog for that. This is the story of what I came home with: new friends that have enriched my life. At the risk of sounding overboard, I don’t know what I’d do without them. The whole lot of ‘em.

So, because we haven’t hung out in a whole week, they are invading my home for the afternoon. A copper-haired boy will swoop in and accost us with hugs, Miss Gumdrop will want to build hay-forts in the barn, Kookalie will read a book or perhaps bake something good, Petey-Boy will rap circles around us, Zekie will win a Baby-Olympic medal for Cuteness, and Friend #21, mother to them all, will grace my kitchen with her sweet smile. Life is good when you have friends.

I guess it was worth flying around the whole world to find them.