beam team inc.: i promise...

...this is my last post from the summer in October!

I really do have many other things I want to post about, but every time I go into my photos to choose them I keep stumbling upon some that I missed that I so want on this little Beam Team blog, so here goes...

We had the immense pleasure of visiting old friends on our way home from our Michigan/Minnesota trip. They're friends we met in Richmond who moved to Ohio over seven years ago and they're 'those kinds of friends.' You know the kind -- the ones who you can not talk to for months and not see for years, but when you get together it's like no time has passed. That's a gift!

They're just super fun. And our kids kinda match up age-wise. And it's a really cool story of how we met.

One evening, probably pushing ten years ago, I went to participate in a focus group. If you don't know what that is, look it up. They're pretty cool. This particular focus group was on...wait for it...disposable underwear. Oh yes it was. The ten or twelve women in the room had to discuss their 'undergarment habits' and if they could see the need for disposable underwear (think throwing a pair of panties away after a workout). Yes, this is really what this evening was about.

One woman in the group and I seemed to align on many things. We couldn't get into the panties with pictures on the front, neon colors, etc. We were poppin' out kids and weren't really feeling very, a-hem, adventurous so a lot of the scenarios presented made little sense to us. We shared glances across the room and shared a chuckle or two a few times and then it was over and we walked out with our 75 bucks and waved good-bye with mutual nice-to-meet-you's!

Then I walked into church a few days later and there she was! I said, 'Hey, weren't you at that focus group this week?'

And, as they say, the rest is history. For years, we got together at least once a week with our toddlers and babies for play dates, we threw baby showers for each other, our husbands hit it off, we did family gatherings, dinners together, cook outs, and...we share a special commonality...we both had two toddlers and then twins. That's one unusual club, so this sweet friend of mine and I became kindred spirits.

Then the news came that her husband had a great opportunity in Ohio, their home state. They had to take it. I was pregnant with our boys and, man, I was sad to see her go, but very happy for them to be headed home.

We've seen each other a couple of times over the last seven years and it's always wonderful!

It was a great couple days together this August. And, although, it'd been four years since we last saw each other, our kids hit it off!

And it didn't hurt that they'd just installed a pool. :)

Their oldest (sitting next to James) was so sweet with him. They all were, but there always seems to be a child in the group that takes a special liking to him. So sweet.