Recap of our Dallas Trip

We have two sets of friends who live in the Dallas area. Jon and April are friends from our time in Charlottesville. Jon was a couple of years behind John David in law school, and they went to church with us. Their oldest daughter was born 8 months after Madelyn, so we didn't live close to each other for long once we had our kids. We spent Thursday through Saturday with them, and we got to enjoy their middle child's birthday party at Pump It Up. That was so much fun! We also went to the beautiful Dallas Arboretum and enjoyed a morning stroll before it got too hot. The kids had a great time getting to know each other, and we loved catching up with Jon and April. Both of my camera batteries died, so I had to bug April for some of her pictures. Here are some pictures of the kids hanging together:

Lunch time:

Fun at the Arboretum:

For the first part of our week, we visited with Adam and Shannon and their kids. Their oldest child and Madelyn were in the same pre-school class and became fast friends. Shannon and I would chat most days at drop-off and pick-up, and I thought that she always seemed so nice. I invited her over during the summer for a play date and invited her to a mom's Bible study that I was in. We became fast friends, too, and we realized we had so much in common. Unfortunately, they were only in the area for two years while Adam participated in a fellowship program with the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commision, not the sports conference). They moved back to Dallas to be close to family, and I can't fault them for that, but we sure do miss them. John David commented that Shannon and I were basically the same person. He mentioned that our accents were so similar, which is interesting, but I had thought that in the past as well. Who knew that I could pass for Texas gal? Or that Shannon could pass for a SW VA gal? Here is another slideshow with a few more pictures from our visit with them:

When we left Charlottesville, I knew we were leaving some good friends, and I'm so thankful that we've kept in touch with some of them. When we moved to this area, I quickly realized that people came and went pretty often, and we weren't sure how long we'd be here either. We're still having a hard time calling this our "permanent" location, and we've been here five years. At first, I decided I would protect myself and not become friends with people who knew they were leaving soon. Then, I realized that people might be treating me the same way. Ummm...no fun! I'm so glad I got over that attitude because I would have missed out on a great friendship with Shannon. Long distance friendships are hard but so worth it!

Thanks for the hospitality Jon, April, Adam, and Shannon! We loved seeing you all!