Surprises surprises!!!

So my friend Jean's hubby gets a nomination from me (and I'm sure from Jean!) for the husband of the year award for. sure.

In mid-August, Ed and Jean moved from (more or less) their home town in Grand Rapids to Seattle so Ed could go to grad school. I can only imagine how hard it must be to be away from friends and family, and how much they must be missing them.

So Ed decided, as a surprise for Jean, to fly out one of Jean's best friends, Anne, and her daughter for a surprise visit for nearly a week! He orchestrated it perfectly, and Jean was SHOCKED when Ed came home from school last Wednesday with two extra people in the van!

Ed graciously invited me to come down and join them yesterday, so of course I jumped at the chance! I headed down to Seattle early Saturday morning and got to spend the day with Jean, Anne, Sam, Alina, and Randi! In the evening, Ed came home from working on his paper and two of Anne's friends who live in Seattle came over, too, and we all had Thanksgiving dinner together! (I had invited Ed and Jean up for Canadian Thanksgiving, but it just didn't work out, and they have spent the last few - many? - American Thanksgivings with Anne and Andy, so we did it in the middle and they got to do both! ... well, minus Andy, who was holding down the fort in Grand Rapids! :) )

These two women (and Sarah, too! I'm not forgetting about you, just because you couldn't be there!) are such a blessing to me! Their friendship goes far beyond our blogs, where we first met, to the (way better!) realm of real life, where we keep in touch, pray for each other, and enjoy spending time together when time and travel allow. It's for days like yesterday that I'm so thankful for the creative ways (like the internet!) that God brings beauty and friendship into our lives!

Thanks, ladies! I'm so glad you're my friends! :)

Don't mind the weird blue colour... my camera was doing funny things. And also, what you don't see are the oodles of candy wrappers from our late night Brian Regan watching Halloween candy feed! Ah, good times! :)