New friends!

So this winter we were given the pleasure of meeting a wonderful family from a rather unexpected location:

 

 No, seriously!  I am not making this up.  A family that homeschools made an extended visit to the exotic destination of central Minnesota.  Yes, they came because it was winter and they wanted their children to experience winter and Christmas in Minnesota.  Really!

Thanks to our local homeschool network, I got in touch with the wonderful Ruth right away and we decided on a time for her and her four children to come and visit.  What I wasn't expecting was to run into her at the library the day before they came over.

A tall, smiling woman approached me in the children's section and said in this over-the-top-amazing accent, "Are you Marlene Weeks?  I believe I recognize you and your lovely children from your blog!"

That's right.  Apparently I'm quite famous.  And my children are lovely.

 Ruth and her kids came over and for all of our children it was friends-at-first-sight.  Her children were also very lovely!  We were both a little worried about all the kids understanding each other's accents but there wasn't too much to worry about there. They were too busy playing to bother with differences in speech.

I loved Ruth because she accidentally left stuff at our house.  I do that all the time to other people (and places) - I can't seem to go anywhere without leaving behind mittens, stuffed animals, special blankies, wallets, etc (I promise I'm trying to get better at this.)  So right away I just knew that Ruth was a kindred spirit.

I got used to her being around, and then all of the sudden . . .

 . . . they left and went back to New Zealand.  Somehow my brain wasn't really computing that Ruth and her family would . . . leave. 

Do you know how interesting it is to see America through a New Zealander's eyes?  So fascinating.  And I was blown away by how the whole family embraced the bitter cold (they willingly left New Zealand in the summer!  Southern hemisphere, you know - opposite seasons down there) and literally did more sightseeing in Minnesota than we have ever bothered with.  But more than just enjoying Ruth's perspective, I immediately appreciated her sunny spirit and sweet kids! 

Now, we have friends on the other side of the world, which is such a treat.  It's a tiny bit sad that it's about 24 hours of air travel to get there, but I am so grateful we had the opportunity to meet! 

You and your family are a real blessing, Ruth!