Until We meet Again

We went back to Dallas to visit for the weekend and to get a few errand taken care of. We had planned to leave mid-afternoon on Friday and have the kids nap on the way there, but that did not work out at all. Instead we ended up feeding the kids dinner and putting their PJs on before we left at 7pm.

It turned out to be a good thing that we left later than planned because our host for the weekend had forgotten to tell her husband that we were coming...and then she forgot about it herself. I called as we were leaving to tell her that we were on our way, and left a message when I didn't get an answer. I called again a little after 8. There was no answer on the house phone. There was no answer on her cell phone. So I called her husband's cell phone and he said that they were on their way home from dinner and he would have Lezley call me when they got home in a few minutes. That was when Lezley remembered that we were coming for the weekend and told Nathan that we were. The great thing about my wonderful friends was that this did not put either of them out in the least. They worked to get the guestroom ready for a baby, an almost 3 year old and their parents to be there for the weekend and were all smiles when we arrived. Ava and Samantha had a great time playing together...Samantha was excited to have a friend to play with, and I think Ava was very happy to not be the youngest :0


We had a great time visiting with them, and found out that the Breakfast with Santa at Prestoncrest was on Saturday morning, so we decided to all go together. We had a great time. Samantha's favorite part was the music corner where she was able to play a piano by walking on it, play handbells, a xylophone, maracas and a drum. She hardly wanted to leave that corner. In fact, she refused to even go listen to Mrs. Claus read stories because she didn't want to leave the music corner. There were a couple of craft stations, one of which was making a jingle bell ornament. Samantha chose the buttons to go on it, and I did the assembly for hers as well as Jacob's.







Sunday morning was a wonderful time of surprising all our friends with the fact that we were there (we had neglected to tell anyone other than Lezley and Susan that we were coming.) We got many hugs and did a little catching up with quite a few people. The worship service was wonderful and I particularly enjoyed listening to a large auditorium full of people singing joyful Christmas songs.

After church, we had lunch with the Dillamans, the Galdianos and Lezley and Nathan, and stayed talking for a long time. I was so happy to be able to hug Angela and Brian. Brian was diagnosed with cancer after we left Dallas, and has been undergoing very strong and yucky chemo treatments. We missed seeing and hugging Ann, who was also diagnosed with cancer after we left.

After hearing of our friends diagnosis and being so far away, I was reminded of how unsure life is. I had previously been thinking that when we do visit, it will be strange to just say until next time when we say goodbye rather than saying see you tomorrow or see you next week. But now I really realize that it is even more than that. So much can happen in 4 months...or six months. Maybe our goodbyes won't even be correct in saying until next time...they could be until we meet in heaven.

Previously, I saw someone else make a dedication to her family who are far, far away, and I thought that the song is completely appropriate to dedicate to our friends who are far away and who we don't get to see as often as we would like, so here it is.