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Kati Ray’s cousin Bronson and girlfriend Alexis were in town for a wedding over the weekend, so we met them in person for the first time! Since COVID we’ve been meeting on Zoom for DBS, but they live in Virginia so, even if we wanted to include them in our bubble, it wasn’t possible given their distance.

Sunday morning at the Evanston Vineyard we crept in and sat behind them. It was the first time we’d been in a service in over a year, so it was almost as new for our family to be in the church as it was for them. We headed out at the beginning of the last song to pick up our kids and head for the beach, so we hardly said anything to them yet.

We arrived at Lee St. beach, set up our new umbrella and our lounge chairs, and waited for Kati, Bronson and Alexis to arrive. Kati beat them there and panicked for a brief moment, but Amie walked up with the two of them (she’d stayed at the car while Royal slept).

Royal did his rounds, playing with each person in turn, and Graham was content to play by himself for the morning, so we had ample time to chat with our friends. Both Bronson and Alexis were playful and engaged with our kids and I enjoyed watching Graham and Royal have a wonderful time with them. I was overjoyed to hear that the DBS group they’d started is going well. Both Bronson and Alexis invited friends, many of whom don’t know each other, and they’ve met three times to read passages in the gospel of Mark. Bronson was particularly happy that friends who were skeptical at first were feeling more comfortable and getting a lot out of the group.

We headed home for lunch and naps, then over to Kati’s to hang out on her back porch. Graham loved showing his cars to Bronson and Royal snuggled with everyone. Suzy and Allison dropped in, and we enjoyed a little small talk and a beautiful day outside.

The next day, Amie took Bronson, Alexis, and the boys downtown to visit the Bean. They had scheduled an architectural boat tour, so Amie said goodbye took the kids over to Maggie Daly park after.

So happy we got to hang out with them in person!