Bethany: An amazing sister-in-Christ

It is an awesome feeling to know that you have a sister-in-Christ who lives over a thousand miles away!

Bethany has been my pen-pal for over three years. Paired up in American Heritage Girls by their amazing pen-pal program, we already had some things in common. But after a few letters, we realized that we were more alike then we had hoped! Both of us were homeschooled, played basketball, loved theatre, had other sibling (she has a brother Daniel too!) and much more. But most importantly we are both Christians. No matter what else, we always had that in common.

This year we had an amazing opportunity to meet in person for the first time. I can't even begin to explain the feeling of seeing her in person for the first time. I don't think i have ever smiled that hard in a long, long time!

We hugged for a whole minute ;-)

That day we had a ton of fun taking her out to eat, going to a pool place (where we had a great adventure with a giant duck...but that is another story for another time :-) ) and showing her our Owatonna home.

The next day (Tuesday) I had a ton of friends over so she could meet some of the crazy people I talk about in my letters. We swam, did archery and laughed A LOT! She also showed us some dances that she does at home. I had a ton of fun learning but let's just say that I can't dance to save my life  ;-) But it also made me want to learn...so who knows, there may some dance classes in my future! There were also many games of Signs, Ninja and Lier involved that day.

That day we also made some treats for the next day. Coffee cookies and Puppy Chow were the two things that we made, but we hid the Puppy Chow so we could eat it all later.  

Coffee cookies <3

Wednesday was really fun because we had a family reunion! So Bethany got to meet tons of my family. It was a great day of just hanging out. Our family loves to hang out, talk and swim...and that's what we did! There were some serious games of pool volleyball (which I have gotten pretty good at!) and there was also a serious dispute of what real salsa should be. Apparently chopped tomatoes, onions and cilantro is not salsa, at least it's not according to Bethany. But she lives in New Mexico so I guess she would know ;-)

Our beautiful chalked hair :-)

Also, since in was the Fourth of July, we shot off a few fireworks in the cul-de-sac and then we went to watch the big fireworks. We also took chalk and colored our hair...why?....why not!!!

Probably the best day of that week was Thursday. Bethany had never been to (nor heard of!) the Mall of America, so we had the great opportunity to take her! The first five minutes of her being in there were really funny, cause she was gasping at everything, pointing and taking pictures ;-)

We then went out to eat at my favorite restaurant: The Rainforest cafe. Bethany's favorite animal is a green tree frog, so you can imagine her excitement when she found all the stuff at the Rainforest with frogs on it!

What do you get when you give two girls three hours in the Mall of America??? Tons of pictures, laughs and memories ;-) We went to the bead store, where Bethany was having a blast digging through tons of beads while I was taking pictures. The Lego store was also fun, because we got to see the new LOTR legos! The Disney store was also great, because we got pictures of Pascal (my favorite character in Tangled) and also pictures of the Avengers. Whenever you get the chance you need to go to the Peep store. Not only is the store fun to go into because it's a store centered around sweets, but it also is so colorful and they have a ton of cute stuff in there. And of course we were drawn into a great basketball store, so we got pictures of tons on shoes ;-) Whenever you go to the Mall of America you have to go to at least one Claire's! I know we have one close, but it is such a fun store you just have to go in!!! And yes, we did buy stuff from there :-) There were so many other stores we went into I'll spare you a play-by-play but just know that we had a blast!

The next day was the last day Bethany would be in MN for her flight was that night. So we decided to give her a tour of humble little Owatonna and show her all the best spots. So we went to the best place to eat, Jimmy Johns, and the best place to get dessert, the Blast. After the tour of the best places to stuff your face, I took her to Grace/Owatonna Christian School, where we shot a few hoops, took a tour and where I reminisced about the play ;-) A quick stop at the lake completed our tour.

Thus completed our amazing week. Bethany, it was awesome having you. I will cherish these memories we have made for many, many years to come. And may we ever grow closer together as friends and as sisters-in-Christ. <3