Short but oh so, so sweet visit with the Brashers

The first weekend in December we drove down to Lexington, South Carolina (3 hour trip) to visit with Ryan and Melanie Brasher and their three boys and new little baby girl. They were back in the US from south Asia just for the semester - for the baby's birth - and were able to stay during that time in Ryan's parents' house (while they were overseas). Ryan also taught several classes at a nearby college.

In some ways it felt like no time had passed since we said good-bye to them and moved from Bloomington (in January 2013), and yet there has been a lot of life that has happened in the meantime. Neither of us is still engrossed in the grad student life and lifestyle anymore, thankfully!! It was wonderful to hear about their life and community at the Christian college where Ryan is now teaching. And it was really, really good to talk about Gemma with them, since we had shared so much life together during those years of her young life.

Also, I cannot neglect to mention that Melanie made a huge, delicious Indian meal for us on Friday night! Highlight of the month! Now we get a glimpse of how much boys can eat as they get older... Their boys are Thomas (age 8), Elijah (age 6, and born a few weeks within Gemma), and Jesse (age 4, a few weeks within Timo).

Breakfast - and Ryan with a goofy face and coolest IU shirt

Baby Lucy (4 weeks old) was quiet and sleepy during most of our visit, but I did squeeze in time to hold her! Oh, this is what a newborn feels like...

The boys all had a great time playing together, especially Timo as he followed around the three Brasher boys and got to play swords and Legos and Playmobil pirates.

Jesse and Elijah took turns pushing Mattias around in the various trucks/cars

One more tackle before we say good-bye

We love you, Brashers! Have a safe journey back home in January!