Wonderful Times Turning Acquaintances into Friends

About three years ago we met a family from Scottville when we were trying out having a booth at the Farmers' Market. We enjoyed visiting with them, and have sort of kept in touch, but nothing much beyond that.

However, this fall we've gotten to know them much better, and the past two days have been a lot of fun. They came to our place on Thursday for lunch. This was no minor accomplishment! They have 9 kids and one grandma who lives with them too. But we had a great time- everyone got enough to eat, and almost everyone got to sit on a chair that isn't broken. Afterwards the youngest three (ages 6-9) played with the train around the tree. It was really nice to see kids having fun with the trains! They explored the ornaments on the tree too. Everyone else split up into smaller groups. Omer and Pat (the dad) of course went off to talk about serious topics. Our Josh visited with the oldest son (Shawn, age 21). Some of us stayed in the living room and visited.

The 16-year-old, Jason, plays violin and he invited us to an orchestra concert at West Shore Community College that was last night. The price was right- free- so we went. Turns out that it was the premiere performance of the West Shore Symphony Orchestra. Now, this is not Grand Rapids, of course, but it was pretty cool to be at the first concert of a local live orchestra! They played an ambitious program that included several of my favorite pieces, so that was fun.

Afterwards, we went to their house for a while. Shawn plays bagpipes and penny whistles. So he and Jason played some more music for everyone (although the bagpipes inside are WOW, it's neat to see them played in real life). We all just had such a good time that I'm sure we'll be getting together again.