Vance's Best Friend

We recently had a visit from Vance’s best friend in the whole world. Vance and Timmy are two of a kind, but just before we left San Angelo, Timmy’s Family also moved. We came to Germany and they went to Saudi Arabia. That was about 16 months ago.

Vance has been beside himself planning for this visit – extensive notes were made, maps were drawn, adventure plans were planned. I was a bit worried that 16 months in the lives of 8-and-9-year-old boys would make things different. But they fell into step immediately and it was the visit of a lifetime for Vance. I kept him out of school for the week and his teacher graciously just asked him to write a report about the visit. We did all the things he’s wanted to do – hiking with Timmy, the Tripsdrill amusement park (more about the park another day) with Timmy, adventuring in the neighborhood with Timmy, running away from the neighbor girl with Timmy … He’s never had so much fun.

Luckily for us, Timmy also comes with two awesome parents who we all love. Even without Timmy and Vance’s best-friendship, we would still be close friends with them. So we were excited to see our dear friends, Tim and Laurie. We were thrilled to show them lush, green, cool Germany and got to hear some fascinating stories about life in Saudi (I even tried on Laurie’s Abaya, which she has to wear when she goes out – neck to toes and cover her beautiful blonde hair.) Tim has lived in Germany before, so we went to some of his favorite places, showed them some of our favorite places, ate lots of good food and wore ourselves out.

It was a wonderful visit, refreshing for all our spirits, and Vance is already making plans for the next time we see them. Maybe in Bahrain?
Love you all - Val

In Rotenburg. Notice Vance's backpack full of "adventure gear?" You never know when you'll need a flashlight, or compass, or notebook ... And because it's German adventuring, they have their German walking sticks complete with medallions from all the places they visit.

Riding the coasters at Tripsdrill

In front of the giant wooden Mammut roller coaster they rode 8 times (I don't have the nerve to ride it once)

What a team!