Pear, Plum & Apple Pickin'

Today was a beautiful day to drive up to Hood River to load up with some fruit! My friend Megan's family have orchards up there so we had the privilege to visit them and pick what we wanted! Their season ended officially last night, so whatever was left was free for the taking! It was so fun!!

They live in Parkdale, which is south of Hood River and almost at the base of Mount Hood! It was just gorgeous and fun to see the north side of the mountain since we're located on the west side and usually drive over and around the south side! It's just a beautiful mountain no matter which side you're on!

The kids all had fun taking turns climbing the ladder to get the fruit! It was interesting to learn about the picking process and how they grow the trees. I didn't know that a good way to get good fruit all over the tree is to cut out the center of the tree when it is young and allow the outside branches to grow up. It allows sunlight into the whole tree when you do that! That's a good tidbit to know! ;)

They also have a HUGE trained bush of THORNLESS blackberries that grow ginormous! The kids had so much fun picking and eating those as well! Caleb wore his evidence well! ;)

 

So my friend Megan and I have similar aged kiddos and silly sons! It's really fun to see them play together! Megan has a 10 year old son named, Isaac. He was off hunting with his Dad right now, but I first met Isaac when he was just a few months old. We had just lost our Isaac that September and theirs had been born a short time before that. It was a joyously-heartwrenching visit with her that November.

I hadn't seen Megan or him since that first meeting until early September when Joel and I took the kids to visit Megan and her kids at Randall Children's Hospital. Abby was there due to an infection (again) and I'd been wanting to go and visit her when she'd been there before. It was the Lord's timing for our reconnection though because about a month later, I was on my way there with Hannah and we were familiar with it from having visiting Megan.

That day at the hospital it was a tearful reunion for both Megan and I. Her Isaac, a physical representation of who we'd lost so many years ago and our Abigail, a representation of who her Abby could've been had the Lord had different plans for her. It was just sweet to share those heartaches with a dear friend. The kids had a lot of fun playing together at the hospital that day and that was just a joy to watch! (Her Isaac is in the green sweatshirt above Hannah.)

The next time we were both pregnant again, we realized that we had the exact same due date, both were having girls and both would be named Abigail. Ours was born on July 29th, her Abigail was born just a couple of days later. Her daughter has a disorder called, Mitochondrial Disease and has never walked or spoken words. The two Abigails first "met" when they were just three months old and then again that day at the hospital.

Then her third born is 6, like Elijah, only his name is Ezekiel. ;) It's just so funny to me that we named our children such similar names and that they're so close in age. The similarity stops at these two as we have two other children after Elijah and there's a four year difference between her Ezekiel and her youngest boy, Josiah who is younger than Hannah.

It's a special joy to be with her and her kiddos though! Megan and I met at the college group at Good Shepherd and became dear friends. We met for coffee practically every Friday morning for three years, starting at the Coffee's On in Gresham and moving to various ones as one or both of us would move, making it easier to meet at a different one. Really, it was just the Gresham one, the one on Sunnyside Road and the one by Mall 205...oh, and the Troutdale one for a short time.

She was the first of my friends to meet Joel! After I was finished with my mission trip in the Czech Republic where Joel and I met and began dating, she and I had plans to spend about 10 days traveling together in Czech, Germany & France. I think it was quite a shock for her...a happy one...but a shock to fly into Prague and hear that I had met the man I was going to marry! ;) She approved though and it was sweet that she got to meet him and spend some time with him in the most beautiful city in Europe...Prague!

 

 

 

 

It was just nice to relax and enjoy the day! That's her daughter Abby under the blanket, rocking back and forth and just being with her sweet Mom. At one point, she was patting her Grandma on the leg...so sweet to see her connecting however she can.

We had to get a family picture in front of that super cool barn & house! It's actually the first house that Megan's great-grandparents built and lived in after moving there from Kansas many years ago!

 These boys....they have SO MUCH fun together!!

Mount Hood's beauty from the backyard! Love it!!