The Vitafamiliae Visit

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, ..., it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, ..."

Ever read that quote from Charles Dickens in a Tale Of Two Cities? Did Dickens know The Farmer Files personally? A LOT of life has happened over the last six months. A LOT. And blogging took a back seat. A lot of chaos, emotions (HELLO remember I am pregnant?!?), upheaval, and prioritizing my husband and kids absorbed our days. Moving to San Diego has been wonderful and exhausting all at the same time. The construction around our home is finally complete and we are adjusting to a new "normal." We have hosted company for 27 days in the last four months from understanding friends to understanding family.

Our latest and greatest guests came from the house of Vitafam. I have not seen them in four years, since before the twins' first birthday. And their visit was like water for my blogging soul. But before I tell you all about my revelations here is the quick story...if ever such a thing.

We first met LL and Andrew nine years ago in Northern VA at church. I knew I liked them immediately because they wore jeans to church inside the stuffy suit and tie Beltway. See, despite was LL says, they could live in CA. They have since moved back "home" to the South. Andrew scored a work conference in San Fran last week, and LL and three of their five kids boarded the plane with him. Go visit her and read about their adventures in the city. OH MY. Then they jumped on ANOTHER plane one hour south to our house. She tells you all about Legoland, swimming at our house, and playing with our Vitamix here. And it was tons of fun. They even let us sneak out one night for dinner ALONE. Oh, and those kids she blogs about? I have no idea where she left them. The twins she blogs about are not the ones that showed up at my house. They were polite, obedient, cleaned up their plates and toys, every single time without fuss. In her post, she skipped the part about how they spanked us in Euchre after a lot of trash talking. Hmmm I can't decide if she left that part out because of her Southern politeness OR if it is because Hubs swears the game is a game of LUCK and not SKILL. I mean, it's not like Euchre is HEARTS, PINOCHLE, OR TEXAS HOLD 'EM. Not that we are competitive or anything. But seriously, it was awesome to play cards with sweet competitors that understand the beauty of a poker pack. They speak our love language.

But the best part of the visit for me were the long convos. Well, that, and them doting on my pregnant self. What pregnant lady doesn't love folks that don't let her lift a finger?? I was spoiled. When they come back, I think I will just shove a pillow under my shirt and pretend and see if they are just as good to me. HA! But as LL said, there was no "starting from the beginning." I have known them long enough to know them. There was a lot of sharing of our lives and our walks by faith. You know, mushy stuff. And then there were tech moments. The dry stuff that I thoroughly enjoyed talking about with LL. Hubs and Andrew did their tech triage stuff around our house, too, but I totally didn't understand what they were saying in computer-ese. Um, and pretty much it was Andrew doing his thing. Computers, those are his bag, folks. Meantime, LL broke down the whole twittering thing for me and hooked me up on tweetdeck. So follow me, I'm thefarmerfiles.

Talking to LL was like water for my blogging soul. I am encouraged. I am back. And because you have been reading and you know us, we will just take LL's advice and not start over from the beginning, m'kay? Now these photos are on her blog, and I totally don't care if you see them twice, because they make me smile. Marinate on these, people.