Friends from afar

Martha Smith was one of my suite mates from Harding, back in the days. She has remained a very dear friend, despite the distance separating us on the globe. Indeed, she lives almost as far on the other side of the world as you can go from here--Mozambique, Africa. She is amazing, and an inspiration to me in a lot of ways. An e-mail from her can give me some much needed perspective. In fact, there was one particular e-mail that I received about 4 or 5 years ago that prompted some pretty critical discussion between Don and me during the time that we began thinking about moving to Colorado. Anyway, she is a treasure, along with my other dearly loved suite mate--Tia, and roomy-- Jana!! Love those gals.

Ok, so enough with the sap, well, not yet: Somehow, Don and I, in humble Wilmore, KY, appeared on their furlough itinerary! And you should see their itinerary! I was truly touched when I realized that they were coming to see us!! Lil' ol' us! You know!? It turns out that they had some other friends close by in Tennessee to see as well, so it worked out great!
And I learned that my house can indeed contain a family of six--four boys might I add: ages 7,5,2, and infant--besides us 5!! It's amazing what you can do when you have to. Do I say that a lot?
Anyway, I'm getting a lump in my throat posting this. I love you guys!!! Thanks a million for coming!!

In case you were wondering, even missionary kids like to play wii. Some things just cross cultural boundary lines, I guess.

Fun at Centennial park:



Slightly off topic, and cheese warning: As I post this last pic, I feel my blog theme coming back... "on the road again". Have a great trip home, Smith fam!