Before I blog about our trip to Tempe, I wanted to blog about our friendship with the Phillips. Joy and Travis have walked with us through thick and thin. They have been dear friends these past five years. We got to know them when we started helping out with college ministry in the fall of 2006. Travis was preaching and leading worship at the college worship service, and Joy was running projection. They needed some people to join with them, and we felt like God said that there was a place for us to serve with them. Seth started leading worship, and I started helping with projection.
Our first couple outing was bike riding. Those are the first pictures that you see. It was a great time on some trails on the North Shore of Boston.
Some of my favorite memories come from the college leaders' Christmas party that Joy and Travis hosted at their house each December. We would have a Yankee Swap (or White Elephant) each year. I usually got stuck with something pretty useless. Oh well. I guess that is what those swaps are all about.
I remember when Joy told us that she was expecting with Ellie. She had some friends over to her house for an Easter brunch and shared the news with us. At the same time Travis and Seth were hanging out. Joy told us the news, and I was pretty much in shock. I wasn't ready for them to have a baby (as if I needed to be). As I left their house that day, Joy said, "Now don't write me off just because I'm going to be a mom." She knows me so well because right when she told us the news I was thinking, "Well, I guess that's the end of our friendship." Don't know why I thought our friendship would end because of a baby, but I did. Let me take a moment to say one thing that I really appreciate about Joy as a friend. She really knows me. She doesn't just know me by the things I say but also by the things I don't say. Those types of friends are rare indeed.
Ellie came in November 2007, and it was such a joyous occasion. It was the first of several more visits to see Phillips babies at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Brighton. I was able to hold Ellie the night she was born. Seth and I visited again the next day so that he could see her as well. It was the first time that he had held such a newborn baby. I remember Travis showing us his mad swaddling skills as well. Ellie won our hearts immediately and getting to spend so much time with her was the beginning of our journey to having kids. It took a few years to get to the point where we were actually ready, but being around the Phillips' girls definitely played an important role.
When Ellie was just 3 months old, we got to take a vacation together to Park City, Utah. We had so much fun skiing, snowboarding, playing games, eating, and hanging out. Our friendship was deepened during that trip. One story from that trip is that we were riding in the minivan we had rented, and Ellie was screaming. We couldn't figure out why. When we got to our destination and took her out of her car seat, she was sweating from head to toe. Poor thing was so hot! Lesson learned. I also remember picking them up from the airport and thinking, "Really, they need this much stuff?" Now I know that one little person adds quite a bit of stuff to your life.
One of my favorite pictures is the one of Joy, Ellie, and me right before Gracie was born. Gracie was born while we were in Indonesia, so we didn't get to see her in the hospital. We visited right when we got back to the States. I love the picture of Seth with Ellie and Gracie in his arms.
It has been so much fun being friends and experiencing life together. When Joy and Trav told us that they were going to be leading a team to Tempe, the saddest part for us was that we knew that God wasn't calling us to go with them. Since we had walked so closely for several years, it was difficult to think about living life on opposite sides of the country. Joy and Travis have talked and prayed with us through the most important decisions we've made these past five years. When we were thinking of moving to Nashville after Seth graduated, their advice to us was to go where we were going to get the most of God. After the Lord spoke to me three times that I should do the day school, I told Joy, and she said that we should draft a document and have me sign it so that I wouldn't forget the word of the Lord. :) I remember walking into their house after I miscarried in August 2009 and Travis holding Ellie in his arms and giving me a hug. I spent that day with Joy as she spoke words of life to me. Just as they had grieved with us, they also rejoiced with us last Christmas when we announced that we were expecting.
Although we live far apart now, our lives have been forever marked by this friendship. I am thankful that we still get to walk together even though it isn't in the day to day. I will always cherish the years of walking together so closely in Boston. Joy and Travis, thank you for loving us so well. We are so thankful for your friendship!
Stay tuned for a post about our trip to Tempe.
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