Sweet Sorrow (a backtrack post)

This is a post Mommy drafted back in April.  She was wanting to get a few more pictures before posting, but that never happened.  So this info is a little (or a lot) outdated, but I wanted to share it now because it will give clarity to a post I'm planning for later in the week.

We have been dealing with a lot of parting-is-such-sweet sorrow in our home over the last month or so.  That's because our best friends, the Ortiz clan, are moving to Oklahoma. 

"Uncle" Oscar took a position as a full time worship pastor there.  It's exactly the job he was created to do: lots of song writing, training multiple worship teams, recording worship albums...so from that perspective we are super over-the-top excited for the whole family.

On the other hand, we are going to miss our friends so much.  Truely, everyone in our family is "losing" a best friend.  We sure are comforted by the fact that they aren't going too terribly far!

We got to celebrate Ian and Preston's birthdays with them last month (as in March), which was a ton of fun.  The boys just went crazy for the Cowboys helmets and jerseys they got. 

See?  They're even wearing them during the pinata fun.  I think they both went to bed with them that night, and I know at least one of them wore the helmet on the car ride to church the next morning.

A week or so later, we had a formal farewell service for them at church.  We ate lots of great food, heard funny/silly/sweet/encouraging words about Oscar's 18 and Tara's 14 years at our church, and spent some time praying for them as they embark on this new chapter in their lives.

We also had a more personal get together with their family at Mimi and Poppy's house one night. 

Ortiz Fam- You will forever be part of our family.  Mommy likes the way another member of our church worded this transition: You're not leaving...you're just moving further up the street than we would like.