SOS and WOW

Today Anne and Joel arrived in Kansas City. Joel is a Saba student who is 3 semesters behind Nathan. Joel took over in the church on Saba when Nathan left and Joel and Anne even bought our car when we left Saba. I didn't know Anne much from the island but she's always kept in touch with me since I left. I really admire her ability to keep Saba relationships going and I loved being able to help and give whatever advice I could to the wives in later semesters because I didn't have that, and I firmly believe that the SOS shouldn't end when our time on Saba did. Anne has kept in touch with me and now they're even living in the Roanoke Plaza where we live. Anne is only staying to get Joel settled in, but she'll be back to visit.

Joel had to go to the hospital today to get his orientation material so Anne came over and we visited for a few hours. It's strange because we've never really hung out before but it was so easy. She's really easy to laugh with. After Joel came to pick Anne up, we made a plan to go to church together on Sunday.

After Nathan's final day of Oncology today we went out to Winstead's for dinner. We had cheeseburgers and fries to celebrate. I had a meal planned at home but Nathan had to work until 5:30pm and we had to be at Rich and Anna Tuttle's for 7 so we needed something quick.

Nathan and Rich, who is the worship leader at Wornall, wanted to meet to discuss some new elements that are going into the service in the upcoming months. I tagged along to hang out with Anna. When I first got there I saw that Arwen got a kitchen set for Christmas and we spent about 1/2 and hour playing because I love kitchen sets. After the kids were in bed Anna and I visited. She was laughing because I told her she apologizes too much (what is she... Canadian??) but she said that at her old church she was burned by a few bully girls and she hasn't fully recovered even though it's been years. I told her that I went through something similar in high school and it can be so hard to get over when a friend betrays you. I think that's why I'm so impressed with the women of Wornall. I can honestly say that if I shared something with them and then we were fighting, I'd still trust them to not to share what I told them. I really thankful for the easy friendships I've made, especially with a woman as strong as Anna.