Cheryl's Snippets: Feeling Blessed and Refreshed

The last three weeks have flown by and I have been negligent in blogging. I won't even try to capture all the wonderful reunions and experiences of these past days. There have been too many lovely and refreshing moments. They say a picture tells a thousand words so we will let the photos do most of the talking this time!

We had a fabulous time reconnecting with old friends that are still in Prague. Katka and Norbert, Keith and Denise, Bill and Nancy, Parush were all available for a visit the week we were there. Greg and Debby, as well as Nic and Selina, graciously hosted us for the week and we loved all the time we spent visiting with them. We also connected with Matthew and Olivia and their boys, Aidan and Franta. Brendan and Jason picked right up with these old friends.

Debby, Selina, Nic and Greg

Matthew and Olivia

Aidan, Jason, Franta, and Brendan

In between catching up with friends we relished our time back in Prague. The boys explored IBTS, our old stomping grounds. We walked all around the city, visited the zoo, climbed Petrin Tower, and took a bike ride in Sarka Valley. Peter picked up his doctoral robes and posed with the rector of IBTS, Keith Jones.

From Prague, we journeyed on to Spokane, Washington to spend time with Peter's family. What a joyful reunion. We were able to spend time with Peter's parents and most of his siblings and their families. Brendan and Jason were spoiled rotten by their grandparents, as were we. Mom and Kaelin (our sister-in-law) were able to find amazing furniture deals on 'craigslist' and now we will have more than a single couch in our new home. We have been blessed abundantly by our family and are overwhelmed by their generosity to us.

Dave and Chapel take on Peter and Brendan in the pool

We were delighted to spend a day with our dear friend Carmen, from our first year in Zambia, who drove over from Seattle with her delightful beau, Clark.

Mom and Dad took us to a place where we could mine for star garnets, one of only two places in the world. It was hard, dirty work, but a fun experience!

The big event of our time here in Spokane was Hoopfest. This is a huge 3-on-3 basketball tournament that takes place over two days in downtown Spokane. The streets are closed and basketball courts are set up in all the parking lots and streets. This year there were 7100 teams and over 250,000 spectators! Our family joined the throng of fans to support several members of our family who were participating. Three nephews and a niece were all on different teams and the brothers of the family joined up to form a team of their own. Dave, Luke and Peter teamed up with brother-in-law Steve to form the team named "2 Old, 2 Slow." There was debate as to which name applied to whom. We raced from game to game to make sure we could cheer at as many games as possible. It was crazy and fun! No championships in our family but there were 12 wins and great sportsmanship. They did us proud!