Saturday! Friends!

The Morning Offering for September 13th:

"A friend is more to be longed for than the light; I speak of a genuine one. And wonder not: for it were better for us that the sun should be extinguished, than that we should be deprived of friends; better to live in darkness, than to be without friends."
— St. John Chrysostom

I can't imagine a better sentiment than this one. Perfect for the end of our long journey. Excellent reminder of where we are headed. The travel was made more easy through the knowledge that we would soon be with friends. Not just any "friends" either. Society views friendship and love as things that are achieved with ease...and little commitment or work. I suppose it's always been that way if St. John Chrysostom had to mention the designation of "genuine"...well, as long as we all know what we're talking about ;0) Genuine friends. These surely fit that description.

The gift of these friends seems to have happened "along the way". As we walked through early motherhood and progressive babies, I seemed always to have a few faith-filled friends walking along with me. How blessed we are as a family to now be bonded forever in this life to this family. How honored we are to know a couple who are so young but still "get it". Wow. How blessed we are.

On the ride home, I asked DH what was his favorite part of the trip. He immediately responded, "watching the kids all play together." I would imagine, coming from only two siblings, this sort of group is almost hard to imagine...it's probably almost the number of kids that played together on his entire block! How blessed are we to have cooperated with the Creator to bring about this lovely crew. How good it is that His plan would bring us together with such a similar family. How loved we are.