Delta church & a BBQ

June 26 ... Sunday was a full, fun day, as it normally is when we're in Vancouver! We hadn't been back to Vancouver since Christmas 2008 (about 18 months ago) when I was pregnant with Kendall. This is the church that Ashley's family began when he was 5 years old ... that he grew up in ... that his dad "GranGran" was the preacher ... so it's always good to get to go home (as he would say)! This Sunday was even more special to us this time ... it was Kendall's 1st time to Delta church of Christ. We were introducing Kendall to many people who had/have been praying for her & us over this past year with the rough start we had ... and everyone was sooooo excited to meet her & see us again ... and we were so happy to be able to all be there ... I think there might have been a few tears even shed ... tears of happiness!

GranGran asked Ashley & Rhett to lead singing and GranGran spoke about their work in the Ukraine and Jesus' call to Come & Follow Him ... it was a lot more difficult to stay focused & listen with 6 young grandchildren sitting with us (and trying to keep them quiet) ... we are spoiled to have a nursery to take Kendall to each Sunday at our church ... when we are without it, we appreciate it & the sweet teachers in there even more!

After visiting with everyone after church, we went out for "fish & chips" at Sharkey's (which is right on the water) with the Hoff siblings ... the Hoff fam has been close family friends with the Rogers since they moved to Vancouver ... while the kids were growing up, they vacationed together ... had Christmas together for many years ... Lara babysat for the Rogers. We enjoy getting to spend time with them when we come up for a visit. Chad & Lara (Hoff) Mansfield and their daughter (nearly 3 years old) Larissa live in Portland ... and Jeremy Hoff just moved back to Portland ... all drove up to Vancouver for the weekend to see us ... and we were soooo glad that they did! While I was pregnant in the hospital, after Kendall was born & the months that followed, Lara was so sweet in checking in on us & emailing me and praying for us, having their home group pray for us, and Larissa asking about & praying for "baby Kendall" each night ... and we've appreciated it so much! (We only took a couple of pictures at lunch, since we knew we'd all be together again in a few hours at the BBQ!)

Lara with her (nearly) 3 year old cutie-patootie daughter,
Larissa, who desperately wanted to hold Kendall ... so sweet!

Larissa playing peek-a-boo with Kendall ...

and Kendall loved it!

After lunch, we got back to Brandon & Mary's just in time to get ready for the party ... 40 friends & family came over for a fun afternoon/evening together ... to hang out, eat, play and catch-up. We had a great time seeing everyone (many from church) & playing with all the kids ... LOTS of pictures of the party guests to follow!

Alice & John Close ... John was Ashley's youth minister &
we love getting to see them each time we visit! 

Jude

Jason Hoff   and   Ian Close

Larry Wadell   and   Nathan Hoff

Ian with sweet Cassie (nearly 2 years old)

Leah & Keith Savage ... Leah's an old church youthgroup
friend and Leah & Mary have been best friends for years!

Brandon & Hannah

Sadie & Ella Savage

Leah Savage & our sister-in-law Mary

Lara & Chad Mansfield

cutie-patootie Connor (4) with his dad, Keith

us with the Mansfield fam

Kylie

Gabe

Brandon "Uncle B"

Jeremy Hoff

Rose Wadell

Tyler

3 sweet girls (all 1 year apart) ... Cassie Close (nearly 2) ,
Kendall (1) & Larissa (nearly 3) ... actually, Cassie &
Larissa have the same birthday, just a year apart! 

sweet little friends

Jen & Cassie Close

Kendall's turn riding in the car ... with
help from Larissa & Hannah

Larissa taking her turn at bat ... with Coach Daddy lining her
up!  We had a little baseball game going nearly the entire
afternoon ... thanks to Keith, the fabulous pitcher!

Delta youth group ... reunited ... Amber, Lara, Leah, Mary,
Jeremy, Ash, Jason, Ian, Brandon, Rhett and Nathan

the kids of the old youth group members ... this was a crazy
attempt to capture all the kids together, in one spot ... and
it turned out better than I was expecting!  

We had a great time with everyone and enjoyed having the evening to visit with everyone ... it was a big undertaking on Mary's part to put it all together at their house, but we loved it!  Thank you, Mary!