Celebration of Friends - Italian Style

These are my best friends - Becky and Sally. We have been a trio for years and without the faithful friendships of these two beautiful, loving, fun, godly women, I don't know where I would be. God knew I needed them in my life. They are never hesitant to pray, to be supportive, to share a laugh, to go out (or stay in) and have a great time, to encourage me in my faith in God and to be lovingly but brutally honest if I need it. They just came back from the trip of a lifetime! They flew to Venice where they toured Italy for 2 weeks and then to Greece where they toured Crete, Santorini, Mykonos and Athens for another 2 weeks. For them it was a life changing trip. For me, it was hard to know they were experiencing it all without me but I could hardly wait for them to get back to hear their stories, see pictures and share their enthusiasm!

Last Sunday evening, Stephen and I were invited by Becky and Sally to make reservations at "Cafe Italia" at Sally's house. Becky's parents, whose home we are invited to every Sunday after church for brunch, were also invited. When we arrived for our 7:00 reservation, we were greeted with candlelight, Italian music, and tantalizing smells from the kitchen. The house was decorated in the red, white and green colors of Italy. We were first seated on the soft couches in the living room turned "lounge" with a small glass of summer wine to start. After some pre-dinner conversation and laughter, we were directed to the table for a 4-course authentic Italian meal including Chianti wine and an after-dinner liqueur transported straight from Italy (in their luggage). The menu for our meal is attached below - click on the pictures to look at the time and effort that went into this feast. It was absolutely a fabulous experience with amazing food and as they talked about and mimicked how they were served in local restaurants in Italy, we could almost imagine ourselves there.

We were then shown pictures of the trip and they brought out the gifts they had bought for us (as though that meal in itself was not enough!!). For me they brought back this beautiful, funky pottery bowl from Greece. (By the way, they say the island of Santorini in Greece is heaven on earth and everyone should try to experience it at least once in their life. If you don't know which one is Santorini, think white washed buildings with arched doorways adorned with brilliant blue domed roofs perched on the side of the cliffs overlooking the ocean). The blue on the bottom of this bowl is dyed glass baked into the bottom of the bowl. It's absolutely gorgeous. It looks like they brought back some of the clear blue water from Greece in the bowl. (Click on the picture and you should see a larger picture with more detail.)

Anyway, I am thankful for my friends and I am very happy that they had such a fabulous time and I am very glad for me that they are back. And what a way to let us experience what they experienced!

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We'll be celebrating Canada Day ... in the USA

I have a wonderful husband!

I was feeling disappointed last week. Kirsten had called to let me know that her and Jeff and the kids would be in Colorado visiting my parents for a few weeks at the end of June and beginning of July. She wanted to know if we could make it since the rest of the family would all be there at that time. That's a very busy time at my work with all the head shaves as the Canadian school year ends, finishing the Relay For Life events we are putting on all around Alberta and all the Stampede events and there was only about a short time that I might be able to get away over the Canada Day long weekend. Also, I wouldn't want to go without Stephen and we'd have to find some plane tickets at really good prices. I talked to him about it and he really thought it would be great to be able to be there with everybody else in my family in the summertime. But, his work is extremely busy at the time as well. After weighing the emotional pros and logical cons, we decided that maybe next year it would work out. Little did I know that the whole time he was pushing the frustratingly practical side of the discussion, he was thinking something entirely different!

The next day at work, with a couple of my coworkers in my office, I opened a curious e-mail from Stephen. It was a confirmation of the plane tickets he had just purchased for us to fly to Colorado to be with my family for 5 days over the long weekend! We get to celebrate Canada Day with all of them! My coworkers were taken aback and quickly rushed to see if I was okay as the shocked look on my face quickly crumpled into tears. It took a bit to get an explanation out. Good thing they were women and my friends, they understood my emotional outburst.

As my sister Kirsten said when I told her, "What a guy, that Stephen!" We get to celebrate Canada Day with our family. Even though it's in the USA it couldn't be any better!