Events of Monday, July 19, 2010 

                We are in Greeley, CO visiting our good friends, the Kenigsbergs. Friends since college, we try to get our families together whenever we can. Their 5 kids and our 4 are stair-stepped in age. Cristina and Caitlin, Ryan and Ben, and Matthew and Abby are just months apart. So when the two families get together, we quickly blend into one large happy family.

                How nice it is to sleep in a real bed, have access to nice clean private showers and the opportunity to work my way through a lot of dirty laundry. Today was just a hang out day. While the Kenigsbergs did their morning swim practice, we enjoyed a leisurely morning. Soon after breakfast however, Jim, Ben, Caitlin and Ryan were involved in a nail biting game of Monopoly. Like her mother, Caitlin went immediately for Broadway and Park Place, hoping to cash in big, but to no avail. Ryan was very focused on accruing property and building and it was this shrewdness that proved to be the winning strategy.

                Then the kids went outside and played Ultimate Frisbee. This was very appropriate as Jim, Pam, Katie, and Tom had spent countless hours playing Ultimate Frisbee while students at Stanford University. Ultimate Frisbee, Friday afternoons, at 3pm, on Roble Field, was a standing date all through our time at Stanford.

                Next it was lunch, chores, and catching up on emails and blogs. These soon segued into a “Spit” and “Speed” tournament among the kids with cards flying every which way and lots of laughter and friendly competition. Then Jim invited all to help him wash the RV. With 20 hands working together, they soon made quick work of the dirt and smashed bugs and now Harvey is sparkling clean. However, all were now wet, a welcome relief given Greeley’s recent bout with hot temperatures. The Traveling Taylors seem to have brought Sacramento’s heat with them in their travels.

                So we piled all the wet kids into the RV and headed off to the Hillside Swim Club and joined a party already in progress. There we enjoyed good food and a chance to hang out and talk while the kids played in the pool. A lively, intense, and physical game of “Keep Away” kept them entertained.

                Returning home, the kids cleaned up and the younger Kenigsbergs headed off to bed. That left Jim, Ben and Ryan to take on Cristina, Caitlin and Abby in a game of “Taboo”, which is quickly evolving in to a pre-bedtime game ritual. Katie and I just enjoyed a chance to sit and talk. About our lives, our kids, our hopes and fears for them and our ultimate trust that God will provide for them just as abundantly as He has provided for us. And as I moved yet another load of laundry from the washer to the dryer, I reflected with thankfulness on the gift of good friends, as laughter wafted up from the basement.