The wealth of friends

Our wedding over the weekend was a delightful effort brought off in large part by our dear friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, who not only came from long distances, but put forth extraordinary effort. I can't possibly name them all here, but here are a few who made the weekend wonderful that I happen to have photos of.

Randy is an old friend (and if you want to see just how old, see here.) He and his wife Barb and son Colin drove all the way from Florida so Randy, pastor of Hope Presbyterian Church in Bradenton, could officiate at the wedding. I even got to tease him about being "somber and dull". What a special blessing the Greenwalds (along with their daughter-in-law, Alissa) were to us!

Our friends Bob and Rachel and Lauri are all past Los Alamos connections. Bob and Rachel are from Valparaiso, IN, but spent about 15 summers in Los Alamos, so they qualify as old friends as well. Lauri and her husband, Greg (my famous, world-class radiologist friend whom you will know from my cancer posts) lived for several years in Los Alamos, but are now in Hershey, PA. They swooped in, took over many jobs for me, ran errands, and served us in many gracious ways. Thanks, guys!

These are our dear friends, the Lawrences. They moved to Maryland after 12 years in Los Alamos, and headed to MI after being in their new home less than two weeks. We knew David and Amy as newlyweds, who thought we were crazy for homeschooling our children. We had the pleasure over 12 years of watching Noah and Molly and Benjamin and Lillie come along and thrive in the Lawrence's homeschool. Now Baby #5 is on the way, and will grow up in MD without us, which makes us sad. But what a blessing they were to us in MI: helping, encouraging, enjoying, crying, running errands...We love you!

These were my girls: my daughter-in-law Elsa, Rachel Baer from Los Alamos, and Emily Thomson from Los ALamos via Patrick Henry College in Virginia. They helped, encouraged, hugged, and made the weekend a joy. Thank you, ladies!

And these are my other sons. Joey and Josh grew up with Ben and Tim, and spent many hours at our house, at debate tournaments, at cross country races, and followed us to MI for the big event. Thank you, fellas, for your friendship, love and support.

One friend that I do not have a picture of is Natasha. When she was a fresh Calvin College graduate, Natasha spent a year teaching here in Los ALamos at our church's Christian School, and then moved on to other things, including marriage to Mark in Grand Rapids and a beautiful daughter named Zoe. Natasha is a breast cancer survivor, and is currently fighting a young woman's battle with metastatic disease. She is attempting her fourth chemotherapy regimen. She writes beautifully of her difficult journey, and even before my diagnosis, I was inspired and encouraged by her words. She surprised me with a Saturday visit just before the wedding, and it was such a treat to hug her and catch up for just a few moments.

So, we are rich in friends. God showered us with blessing after blessing this past weekend, and we are grateful.