James & Beth Goodbye, Numero Uno

Last night we attended the last official meeting of our Journey Group (what our church calls our small groups) before the departure of our dear friends James and Beth. We are so very sad they are leaving us!!! Beth has taken a job at a school in Guatemala City so that they can fulfill their dream of living in a foreign country while they're still young and unencumbered by mortgages and/or children. We're bummed because our Journey Group won't ever be quite the same without them, but we're incredibly thankful that they were able to be a part of it for the last couple of years!

We can't really overstate how much fun and laughter these friends have brought to our group and to our lives. There aren't many couples we know who are collectively more hilarious! James is a very witty and slightly goofy character who is always entertaining with his off-the-wall antics. He's a talented artist who will be doing some freelance graphic design work while they're in Central America, and he also happens to be a big fan of felines and The Simpsons (random bits of knowledge, I know). The most amazing thing about Beth is that she has had more interesting hobbies and jobs in her teenage years and young adult life than most people have had in an entire lifetime! She's been a champion high school debater, an oldies radio station disc jockey (who went by the name of Bobbi Socks, no less), a marathon runner, a stand-up comic, an aspiring motivational speaker, and most recently, an elementary school psychologist. Beth keeps us entertained with great stories (often about her childhood) and much like myself, she certainly has the gift of gab! Her stories and off the cuff comments have brought us to tears on multiple occasions, last night being no exception (although for the life of me I can't remember now what she said to make Chad was laugh so hard he was crying)!

So last night our group got together to enjoy the company of our complete clan one last time before a much bigger James and Beth "Farewell Fiesta" on Saturday evening. We enjoyed loads of food and a variety of drinks at Jake and Amber's always welcoming residence, with a few games of Bocce Ball and some old yearbooks for some stellar entertainment (Jake and Amber just had their 10th HS reunion last weekend, which is what prompted us to break out the yearbooks, in case you were wondering). We had so much fun just hanging out and reminiscing about how each couple was recruited to become part of this particular Journey Group at some point in the last 2-3 years. We are all so thankful to have found each other. Never has any bible study/fellowship group had so much fun!

Since last night was a very special occasion, I of course brought my camera along to capture some going away pictures. Unfortunately, my camera has been freaking out as of late and not consistently letting me take pictures with a flash (as evidenced by the not-so-good cat pictures from the other day). Last night the flash was completely dysfunctional and I got nothing but a bunch of blurry pictures of our friends. :( Thankfully, Beth is also a woman after my own heart when it comes to picture taking, so she definitely picked up the slack and took some great pictures of the evening! Hooray Beth!

Thanks for being so much fun, our wonderful southbound friends! We'll miss you!