Adopted for Life: It's Raining, It's Pouring

While it's not raining or pouring droplets of water from dark, gray clouds, gifts are showering down upon Austin and Meagan from friends and relatives all around. After returning from our mini-vacation/celebration in Santa Cruz on Tuesday night, we spent a good part of our time from Wednesday through Friday preparing for Meagan's wedding shower at our home. With each passing day drawing us closer to the big event on Saturday, we could see that the weather was becoming more and more "Spring-like", and it certainly did not disappoint. With temperatures in the high 70's, without a cloud in the sky, about 30 ladies descended upon our doorstep around noonish to celebrate with Meagan the joy of preparing for a future with Austin.

The boys (Austin, Barret, Eric - Meagan's Dad, and I) all managed our tasks in the morning by cleaning up the yard, setting out tables, planting some fresh flowers, etc... and then we stormed out of there right before everyone arrived to head up to Napa and play some disc golf. We had a wonderful time in equally perfect weather and scenery, but poor Barret wasn't feeling well from a flu bug he caught the night before. He thought he could power through it but ended up heading back to the car after the third "hole" (chain-link stanchion) while we played through the rolling, oak-tree spotted hillsides of the golden California terrain. By the time we got back to the house a little after 5:00 p.m., everyone was rather pooped out and we just sat around and reminiscenced about the day. The girls were excited to show the boys the "loot", especially Meagan who couldn't wait to share the exuberance of her day with Austin. They were so cute together as Meagan meticulously handled every gift with loving care and explained to Austin who it was from and how useful it might be in their new home. Later on that night we all sat around a little fire in our back-yard, under perfectly clear stars, and enjoyed a glass of wine with the Kirkpatrick's. It was an absolutely stupendous day.

On Sunday after church, we helped Austin and Meagan pack all of their gifts, together with a thrift store dining room set they found in Santa Cruz, into the bed and cabin of Austin's truck before they headed back to San Luis Obispo. We laughed after we finished loading everything up as it sort of looked like a scene from the Beverly Hill Billies. Somehow they managed to get it all in there and safely arrived down south without losing one item on the long trek back. Victoria and Meagan briefly chatted on the telephone while they were driving south and both agreed that it was a bit depressing to see the glory of the week come to an end. Even Poppy said it was sad to see all of our company leave. We feel honored that our home and family are bonds that are difficult to separate by physical distance.

We're now back to our smaller gathering of five in the Kruggel household, ready for the next wave of revolving door changes the Lord brings into our paths. As tiring as it all is, I don't think we'd want it any other way.

Showered Upon with Grace,