Forever Friends

Our lives have been blessed with literally the BEST friends ever.

Fron our time at Uof A, to our days in Provo, and our 1st South Jordan house, 2nd South Jordan house, and now Herriman. We have picked up friends at every stop along the way, and this week we got to visit with several of them! 💓

Lisa and her family, the BEST family, moved to Bailey, Colorado almost 4 years ago. We still chat a lot, and it;s pretty amazing how often we get to see each other (it helps that her parents still live in Utah and our girls play in Colorado at least once a year)

Though we miss seeing each other more often, we are grateful for all the lunches we get to enjoy together, and everytime I see her, I want wear her outfit.

We met Chris and Becky Johnson when we lived in Provo, and Chris was doing his undergrad at BYU and Robert was their home teacher. They had 2 small children-David and Hannah, and their 3rd child Ellie (Elizabeth) was born prematurely with lots of complications shortly after we moved in.  We got to witness first hand the faith and fortitude of these parents and it changed us forever. 

Fast forward 20+ years.  Chris & Becky now have 10 children, as well as several son-in-laws, daughter-in-laws, and 4 grandchildren. With so mnay of their children living in Utah, they decided to have Charity, their youngest daughter, baptized here over Spring Break and invited us to be a part of it.  

The 7 children that were born after our time together in Provo, all came at unexpected times and in unexpected ways. Several were adopted through divine guidance and others were born naturally through very difficult pregnancy's and delivery's. 

Chris and Becky trust in the Lord, rely fully on the Lord, and always believe that God will provide all that is needed for them to raise their family. I've often thought that their life stories should be recorded to strengthen and build up the faith of others. Years later, Becky wrote a manuscript entitled "Fortify Your Fortress" and I was lucky enough to recieve a copy. 

The Johnson are an amazing family and are lives have been very blessed by their friendship and valient examples. 

More friends from the past.

Trenton & Rily Stewart lived in a basement in our 2nd SoJo neighborhood. They only lived there for a short season, but it was the exact time that each of our family's needed each other.  Rily and Trenton moved in shortly before Kayla received her mission call to Cebu - the exact mission Rily has served in under Elder Schmutz, who was now serving as the Area President of the Philippines.  She helped teach Kayla about the people. culture, language, and was such a support to her during those hard 18 months.

Presly was just a baby when they lived there, and we were able to help tend her periodically to help lighten their shcool and work loads. We played games together, ate together, and grew to be great friends. 

They have now added 2 more precious girls to their family - Addy

and sweet Londyn. 

We love that they still come to visit us when they come to Utah.  

So grateful for the many good people that Lord has put in our path along this journey!