You've Got a Friend in Me

We pulled into Turlock around 4:30 on Wednesday afternoon. We went straight to the house of Mark and Deb Stevens, where Peter was living. After bringing in our things, Peter took us to a Turlock specialty for dinner...taco truck #11! All of us got burritos and they were delicious! We brought them to youth group that night and ate them as the middle school and high school students arrived. It was fun to be a part of the night and see Peter in action at his new job! We played some games, and then Peter began to talk about what it means to have your identity in Christ. He told a story about a time in his life when his identity was found in his family, girlfriend, and friends. God removed all of those things in a matter of months. His girlfriend broke up with him, then his family moved to Rhode Island, and five months later his best friend started dating his ex-girlfriend! Looks of disapproval, like only teenage girls can give, and gasps were found all over the room! One girl said, "thats breaking the bro-code"! After some laughs, Peter revealed that Lauren was his ex-girlfriend and Chris was his best friend. Everyone looked at us in shock and the girl who made the comment looked so embarrassed. As he recounted the rest of the story, he explained how when those things were taken away from him he had to find his identity in Christ, and that as time went on, that identity allowed the wounds to heal between first Chris and Peter and then Lauren.

After youth group we went to Greg O's house who was  our youth group leader back in high school and is now the senior pastor of Peter's church! We talked about his recent trip to Israel and life for a couple hours and when it got late we all left to go back to the Steven's house to sleep. We slept like logs, and didn't wake up until after 11. Thursday was a low key day. Peter and Chris walked the Steven's dog Stella and then we all headed over to the church to help set up for a funeral service on Saturday for one of the elders who had passed away. After that we went back to the house and spent some time with Mark and Deb and had dinner with them. Friday we woke up at a much better time and made breakfast with Peter and then we all face timed with Michelle and Trent Butler and their new baby! We played with Stella in the backyard. She is terrified of the pool but is constantly dropping her tennis balls in it and then barks hysterically until someone comes to fish it out.

Peter and Chris decided to see if they could get Stella in the water and spent 30 minutes coaxing her as close to the pool edge as they could until Chris got behind her and heaved her into the water. It seemed like it would be a fun thing to do, but once we saw the panic on her face it didn't seem as fun. It took her a minute to find the stairs and as soon as she was out of the water she was back at the same game with the tennis balls. In the afternoon we attended a high school production of James and the Giant Peach that several of the youth group students had participated in. The first half was very funny and entertaining, and the second half was not nearly as well put together. After the play we went to get smoothies at Jamba Juice and hang out for an hour. We all returned to the Stevens house for the dinner they had prepared for us. It was a delicious meal of tri-tip steak, roasted vegetables, fresh salad, and garlic bread! Lauren had one request for food and it was a sweet potato, so Deb kindly made her a roasted sweet potato which Lauren devoured! After dinner, Mark blasted some hip-hop from the 90's and a various assortment of 80's music! Deb shook her head in mock disapproval until some of the 60's music came on and she began dancing and singing along with Lauren. Eventually Mark, Peter, and Chris went out to use the sauna in the back yard. After a few minutes in the 165 degree air, jumping in the cold pool felt very refreshing. Peter and Chris spent another hour talking outside while Lauren and Deb were talking inside. In the morning Mark, Deb,  and Peter went to the funeral service and Lauren and I spent a relaxing morning in the backyard at the house. We read, blogged, and made breakfast. When they got home in the afternoon we said goodbye to the Stevens as they were heading to their cabin in Santa Cruz and drove with Peter around Turlock to see the town.

Later Peter was getting dinner with Greg and his wife Amanda and another couple, and we were going to watch Greg's four kids plus two others. We played a lot of hide-and-seek, ran around on the playground outside, played red light green light, and tag. We ate pizza for dinner and then we all helped clean up the play room before the parents arrived. It was a fun night! Six kids would have been a lot to handle, but between the two of us we managed to do alright. Lauren is a champ with children so that certainly helped a lot! Once the dinner was over and the parents came to pick up the kids, Peter took us to Dustbowl. It is a brewery/restaurant in downtown Turlock. We all had a beer and some fries and spent the evening talking until we went back to the Stevens house for bed. Sunday morning we got up for church and as we were making breakfast we realized that Peter was still at the house. He was supposed to be at church already but he had gotten sick during the night and was resting at home. None of us went and instead we had a slow morning and early afternoon to see if he was going to feel well enough to make a trip to Yosemite. He decided that he would be able to do that and so after we packed up we left around 2:30 for the national park.