They're married! Meet my new brother in law : Chris. I hope you two have the best marriage ever!

They came up to visit this past weekend, which was an eventful one. They were to have a party at my mother's house on Friday night, which we couldn't attend for certain reasons and so we spent Thursday night on the phone with her trying to explain it. It didn't go over well but ended with a date set to have ice cream with her and my half-brother on Tuesday.

Friday, Rachel and Chris arrived from Virginia and we had lunch with them, getting to know him, as we had never met before. I can't remember what we did Friday night, but I think we were playing around with our home theater personal computer because it records television and we were psyched about recording the final World Cup games.

On Saturday we went to the Hacklers and played soccer with them, then we looked at an apartment in East Greenbush, which was nice and new but overpriced. Then we headed out to Nassau to visit my long lost grandmother who, out of the blue, invited us over for dinner. We got there a little early and so went for a drive and found this beautiful house for sale that we're going to look at tomorrow night. It would make an incredible Bed and Breakfast, which we are interested in doing. I think it would be a great business to own: work for yourself, meet new people, invite them to your home, show them hospitality, and maybe even share Christ. We also saw another house in Nassau for sale that is about 150 years old which we are looking into. It needs a lot of work, but has so much charm. You could tell that in it's day it was totally luxurious.

So back to my grandmother's. We had a nice visit, touring the house we lived in for three years, visiting with her and her husband, and more with Rachel and Chris, who also came. On Sunday we had the newly-weds over for lunch and hung out until they had to leave to go back to Virginia. I wish we could have spent more time with them, even tough we saw them everyday they were here.

On Monday, we had the ice cream date, which was incredibly awkward and ended with a public arguement. I don't know how soon we'll see them again but it's not something any of us are looking forward to. It was a discouraging night, especially after our conversation on Thursday, but I'm confident in it because we did what we know is right.

The next day, July 4th, we were invited to Darren and Laura's home in Vermont and spent two hours each way driving through the lushious green mountains. (See the picture above) Once there we fellowshipped over the best hamburgers ever, went for a drive around Brattleboro, then walked around town with iced tea (rooibus chocolate mint!). It was a lovely visit and a lovely drive. On the way home we stopped in Troy for famous I Love New York pizza and ran into Nate. It was a short conversation as it was apparent that he was going to do what he wanted to do. I felt like that just topped off the whole last week, because it seemed like everyone we interacted with, aside from the Harrs, hated us or disagreed with us in someway, making it very tense and discouraging. Maybe this is what it's like everyday for those of us who go out and work, and I've just forgotten since I'm home all day. I take for granted that the people I hang out with are all like-minded. It's very comforting to have brethren around and to be able to encourage each other weekly.

I've got to run to the doctor; Ethan has a cold and now conjunctivitis. His eye was so swollen and crusty this morning that he looked like a pirate! I wish I got a picture! :D