A Day With Friends

When I originally scheduled our vacation, I knew we were flying through San Juan. It wasn't until afterwards that the light bulb went off and I added Puerto Rico behind San Juan. I have a friend who moved to Puerto Rico last year whom I would love to see. I checked with Michele and then called the airline and changed our return flight so that we would have a 10 hour lay over in Puerto Rico. I've been really excited about our trip and half of it was because of our day with Michele and her family.

I first "met" Michele through the Internet in 2003. She had been pregnant with twins, Gideon and Grace, who were born much too early. I watched her journey as she and her husband grieved the loss of their beautiful children. I don't think I know another single person that has the strength, faith, convictions or love for the Lord that I have seen in Scott and Michele. I was so blessed to be able to meet Michele in person in September 2003 at a Hannah's Prayer retreat. Since that time, we've both grown our families. In 2004, God blessed Scott and Michele in a miraculous way. Identical twins, Clara and Libby, were born in October just a few short months before Caden was born. Michele was my role model. I watched everything she did with the girls to know what to do with Caden. I was okay once Caden was 8 months old (the age we brought Allie home), but I was totally at a loss before then. Michele was even a single parent while Scott went through a school when we were in Germany and I watched and learned in preparation for Dan's deployment.



So anyway, we flew to San Juan on Saturday and Scott, Michele and the girls picked us up at the airport. Michele, I already knew, is awesome in real life (don't laugh at me for all of my internet friends, Angie), and her husband Scott is just as great. I needed one more day to get Clara and Libby to warm up to me. 8 hours just wasn't enough. They weren't quite sure about us. We got a tour of old San Juan and had lunch at a restaurant that's been there since the 1800's. After that, we went back to paradise, I mean their house. Seriously, if I were Michele, I would think I was on vacation for the next 5 years. I would live on their patio and in their pool and never clean my house. It's a good thing I live in Maryland. Dan got to catch up on sleep in a recliner while Michele and I chatted in the pool.


For dinner, Michele made us chicken caeser salads very reminiscent of the days when Mom and Dad tore out their kitchen. She thawed the chicken out in the bathroom sink and served us dinner on paper plates. It was perfect. (I should probably add that Michele is getting a new kitchen - she doesn't normally thaw out chicken in the bathroom. At least I don't think she does.)


Thank you so much for welcoming us into your home and showing us around. It was so nice to see you again and I hope we can do it again soon, only with my kiddos as well!