Great Wagon Race of 2010: Time with Friends

One of Noah's most devoted fans lives a little ways from Noah's house... So far that Google Maps says "We could not calculate directions." It's about 7,500 miles, give or take, actually. That's too far to walk, and Noah's pretty good at walking. That's too far to ride in a bike trailer, which Noah enjoys quite thoroughly. And it's even too far to ride in Mama's car, Dada's car, or Noah's car (which tends to be whichever one he's riding in at the time).

Eva had never met Noah - not in real life, anyway. But we'd been told that she is a fan, particularly of the videos. Noah's parents got to meet Eva when she was really young, but Noah was still hanging out in that cozy womb at the time. Then Eva went back to Bahrain, where her parents happily reside. And while she was back there, she got a baby brother, Gabe, whom neither Noah nor his parents had met before.

When Eva's family decided to visit the US, it was hard to tell who was most excited about the visit... Noah hadn't developed quite the same attachment to Eva, but then again, he can't look at a computer for more than 3 seconds without trying to push buttons and touch the screen. No real concept of "watching" something on the computer aside from occasional Skype sessions with Grandma and Grandpa. But really, Noah loves every opportunity to play with new kids, and he's heard about his biggest fan, so he was excited. And of course, all the parents involved were pretty psyched, as well.

Could it get any better? Why yes, yes it could. Not only were these special guests coming to visit from out of town, but our good friends, Kristina and Jake, offered to host the Egles AND Eva's family all under one roof. Noah got to hang out with Kristina and Jake and their kids a few months ago at the beach at a Metro Park. He liked playing with their daughter, Hayven, and I think he liked being the "older buddy" for their little Isaiah.

That's right, if you were counting right, 5 children all in one house, all within a couple years of age, all weekend long. Fun times, fun times.

Wait a second... should we throw a few more children into the mix? Why not? Let's add our friends, the Grabowski's, of Malawi fame (http://eglesinafrica.blogspot.com/2009/04/welcome-to-malawi.html). That brings kid count up to 7 and a half.

Gabe was missing, but otherwise pretty impressive to get everyone together

I could try to tell the story of the weekend, but I think it would only detract from its wonderfulness. It was good to have all the kids together. It was good to see so many friends that we see so seldomly. It was good to have such amazingly gracious hosts open up their home to us. It was very good to have so many people coming together, all like-minded with a similar goal in life. God is good.