Sadly, I have no pictures to post with this blog entry. Just tales of a great night with even better friends. I have to say that in the friendship department, Kyle and I are so so so richly blessed. I am reminded of that fact every time we spend evenings, dinners, afternoons, or even just moments with any of these friends of ours.

I am also convicted that as easy as it is to get wrapped up in enjoying life on your own and no matter how ok that IS, there are times when it is just really good to bask in the warm glow of sweet fellowship with people you just plain love.

Last night, Kyle and I shared dinner with one of those special families to us - Geo and Alana and their sweet kids, Elijah and Ethan. We tackled the meal jointly - Geo prepared his Guatemalan black beans and rice (to die for!) and some authentic tamales (none of those greasy, tasteless, pureed meat fabrications that masquerade as tamales), while I prepared the appetizer of potato skins (thanks, Pioneer Woman!) and dessert - a tres leches cake (also a PW find). The whole meal was something dreams are made of. Delicious, sublime, scrumptious...wishing I had more room to pack that food! My kids kept begging Alana to go back and refill their bowls over and over again. Good stuff!

The kids played beautifully with only minor squabbles over who got to ride the little car, and Kyle and I simply enjoyed talking with our sweet friends. It was one of those evenings where time just gets away from you. One moment it's 6:30, the next it's 11!

And this is how you know your friends are true. When you sit in their driveway at 11:30 trying to figure out why the remote start button of your new car actually shut the whole system DOWN and why the car won't start in the 34 degree weather....and your sweet friends usher your kids back into their warm house, back their car out, jump start your car and don't even seem to mind. And then text to make sure you got home safely. I love these people.

I feel very blessed these days to just soak in such moments. I know life has horrible, awful heart-breaking moments, too. I've been faced with several of them this past week alone. And it is a sweet blessing from the Lord to enjoy some moments of pure happiness in the midst of this world that can so often take our breath away with its evils, life circumstances and unexpected events. And to be able to remember that God is good is never a bad thing.