visit with rick and fran meigs

a couple weeks ago my wife and i spent about 10 days in oregon visiting friends in portland, salem, and the coast. it was an incredible time to be with my beautiful wife (pregnant:) and to breathe God in deeply.

i will post about the city of portland which we absolutely fell in love with, particularly the old mississippi street neighborhood.

one of the highlights for us was visiting with rick (blindbeggar) and fran meigs. i met rick via the blogosphere about the time that i came across friends of missional. i've found rick to be one of the most encouraging friends online and was very much looking forward to sharing a cup of coffee with him. however, we were honored to receive an invitation into his home to barbecue with he and his wife fran (and this is a real barbecue drum, not one of those measly webber grills) while we were out there.

to meet at a third place would have been adequate. but it was a thrill to be in their home and garden. i'm not sure how many of us have ever quite picked up from rick's posts that he is an incredible botanist. i have never been in a personal garden that was as rich in color, texture, and fragrance as rick's. the spacial layout was impressive. i was literally speechless (which rarely happens) as we walked through the garden together and rick explained his love for gardening and cultivating the area. as well, we (dani and i) learned quite a bit about gardening.

the meal was fantastic. but the conversation was even better. it was great to listen to rick and fran share some of their story and to be able to share ours as well. also, hearing rick's heart as we asked some very pointed and general questions about all things missional. it was a wonderful afternoon and one that we will not forget.

thanks to rick and fran for having us in and feeding us so well:)

(this post will include MANY pics of their garden as i thought everyone should see what we did. also apologize for the pics i couldn't get to rotate. be sure to click on each to see them in full size)