Visiting The G Fam

We just got back from our annual Cuzn's Camp, and we've got family in town for the week, so I'll have lots to report and oodles of pics to share, but I want to rewind first and share about our visit to the G Family's home at the end of July. In short, it was magnificent. I don't believe in magic, or I'd call it magical. It felt like we stepped into a warm, wonderful, make-believe land for a week, and I did not want to go home. Peter, Amber, Joanna, and Henry live in a very special place, and they are very, very special people. You might look at Amber's blog and think it's too good to be true, but it's the real deal. In fact, it's even better than it looks. It's like Martha Stewart meets Little House on the Prairie. It's like stepping into the pages of a Janette Oke (author of the "Love Comes Softly" series) novel. But there's a laptop on the dining room table. ;0)

Young men still court young women in traditional fashion, meals come straight out of the garden that's framed with the hand-made arbor one family member or another got married under, and you actually have to push the door open at the grocery store--which doesn't use bar codes. (Actually, their grocery store looks and feels exactly like the one Peter, Amber, Corey, and I went to when we were in Liberia together!?) I got to soak in a claw foot tub for the first time, and I got to soak in the graciousness of not just how Peter and Amber live, but who they are. They seek and serve God in a beautiful, gracious fashion. Rather than challenging me to get it right, they inspire me to get it right. I could go on and on and on about the G Fam. I am deeply grateful to have them in our lives.

Okay, on to the pics:

We stayed across the road from Peter and Amber's, at her parent's vacant home. They built it themselves, and it is unlike anything I've ever set foot in. Grand, warm, intriguing... absolutely INCREDIBLE! Pictures truly, truly don't do it justice.

We walked in the woods bordering P & A's home. Henry kissed on his Mama every chance he got, the men talked theology and such, and I got a really profuse rash on my shins from the wild grasses brushing my legs. That part was not so "magical". ;0)

Amber and I picked raspberries during the kids' nap time one day, and she made a raspberry crisp with them. OH. MY. GOODNESS. Quite possibly the best thing I've ever eaten in my life!

Amber's best friend, Sarah, and her family came over for dinner one night. This picture is really grainy, because it was so dark when I took it, but I just love it!

After dinner, there was a croquet match. Peter is out of control with his self-designed extreme courses, and self-designed, changing as you go, rules... just kidding, Peter! ;0) That's how we do it in the Z Family, too!

The girls (Joanna, Kendra, and Zoe) couldn't get enough of the baby in Sarah's tummy!

Searching for more babies... ;0)

Peter made tea for the girls while us Moms were entrenched in a fast and furious game of Nerts. I don't know what all he put in there, but that tea was YUMMY!

Jo and Henry's Grandma gave all the kids rides on her pony. Kendra says that was her favorite part of our trip!

If you ever need to know of a good park between our place and Peter and Amber's, just holler! I'm pretty sure we stopped at every last one of them! ;0) ...but it made for a really pleasant road trip, and for that, I'm very, very thankful.

I wish I had pictures that could share the enormity of the cup-filling experience I had. One of the highlights for me was a several hour breakfast with Amber in Canada (they live right near the border) at a fun little cafe. We talked of everything from our faith to being a mixed race family to ...well, you know! ;0) Everything! Amber sent me home with a copy of Pride and Prejudice, which I somehow missed in all of my lit classes. Unimaginable, I know! Anyway, I found the perfect description of her in it: When Elizabeth visits Pemberley for the first time, Austen writes, "She had never seen a place for which nature had done more, or where natural beauty had been so little counteracted by an awkward taste."

Thank you, Amber, for inspiring me in so, so many ways. I've got fresh flowers throughout the house, I'm headed to the Farmer's Market tomorrow to get supplies for my 2nd batch of raspberry crisp, and I'm visualizing you as I meditate on Philippians 4:5: "Let your gentleness be evident to all..." I love you, and your whole sweet family, a GINORMOUS amount! Thank you for allowing us the privilege of a glimpse into your beautiful world.