FRIENDS

 The Whitehouse and Marchessault Families at Lake Arrowhead

Jessica is going to be mad that I posted this one, but other than catching her at an odd moment, it 's a good picture! lol

Shopping center at Lake Arrowhead

Branson and Preston Marchessault

Preston

William and his new best friend

 Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts. And we are never, ever the same.-- Anonymous                                                                                                                  

     On Saturday we went up to Lake Arrowhead with the Marchessaults. Lake Arrowhead is up in the mountains, so there was snow on the ground and the air was quite brisk. We had only been up there during the warmer months and did not realize how many other people were going to do sight seeing and shopping also! We had to drive around for a while looking for parking and fight for seats at McDonalds; never the less, we just enjoyed being with our friends. Lake Arrowhead does have some very nice outlet stores that actually do have some good prices, but all we purchased was a little booklet at a Christian bookstore. Oh well, it was fun looking!

     I used up the last of the turkey and made some soup--I just threw the turkey, some veggies, and egg noodles into the crockpot and let it cook all day. When we got back from Lake Arrowhead, I heated up some Thanksgiving leftovers, and we also had the soup. Brother Marcus found some Tillamook pepper jack cheese which is made near their home in Oregon, and we all enjoyed some slices of it with our meal. After we cleaned up, we gathered around the table and played dominoes--Mexican Train. When we lived near each other in Indiana, we used to play Mexican Train for hours on end! Who won is not really that important (you can obviously tell it wasn't me:), but we all laughed and laughed and had a great time. William won--I came in dead last.  

     The Marchessaults left this afternoon, and I only cried on and off for a couple of hours-lol. We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends. We had not seen each other for 5 years, but once we were all back together, it felt like we had never been apart.  I love how the Bible likens our relationships with those who are saved in familial terms-brother and sister-because that's really what we are. We are God's children, and He wants us to love one another like we are brothers and sisters in Christ. God's family is a good family. I'm so glad to have "family" relationships with so many wonderful folks we have come to know. Thanks, Marcus and Lynette, for being our friends!