The Blessing of Friendship

 Over the years we have been incredibly blessed by the friendship of special people that God has brought into our lives. This summer in particular, as Dave has been recuperating from his hip replacement surgery, we have had people bring meals, stop in to vacuum the house, bring his favorite Starbucks' drink and just call or drop in to say hello.

 This couple however have played a unique role in our lives the past couple of months.

We first met Steve and Nancy 15 years ago
when we were both celebrating our 25th anniversary on a Panama Canal Cruise.
Since then we have met all over the North American continent as our paths have crossed
and this summer they decided to volunteer at a Camp south of here

so that they could spend some of their weekends with us.

They had no idea at the time they made the decision that the timing would be absolutely perfect 

and would coincide with Dave's first 2 1/2 months of recovery from surgery.

 We have spent many long hours playing our favorite game,

Double Deck Pinochle...

(on this picture we girls were celebrating my '1000 Aces' hand!)

 ... have walked miles together as Dave has slowly extended his daily mileage
slowly at first and not very far...

 ...but eventually including an awesome afternoon stroll along the White Rock waterfront...

 ...and Fish and Chips at our favorite little restaurant.

 They were there for Dave's first excursion to go out for Ice Cream...

 ...and have helped us cheer on Aidan and his baseball team.

And on a particular Saturday afternoon 

they were there to welcome another couple to our home and table,

our mutual friends Tom and Ruth who were also on that original cruise with us,

and together we all celebrated 40 years of marriage!!

We have been so blessed by these our friends!