A and G

I realized I was totally wrong in my previous post when I said nothing blog-inspiring happened last week. One evening last week we went over to Andrew and Gretchen King's apartment for dinner, and it was really great. Our conversation was very interesting and helpful to me. And the enchiladas were delicious!

Andrew and Gretchen have been our friends for four years now. Bryce, Andrew, and I all started going to Multnomah the same semester. Bryce and Andrew lived next to each other in the dorms. They became friends really quickly. I met Andrew at Multnomah's yearly retreat to Wild Horse Canyon. All three of us hit it off really well.

Bryce, Andrew, Kelsey Quinn and I at Wild Horse Canyon, Fall 2006

Gretchen and Andrew were dating at the time, but Gretchen was living in Seattle because she was a student at SPU. Occasionally she would come down to visit Andrew and we would hang out. But it wasn't until Summer of 2007 that we started spending time together as two couples.

Ever since then we have been close. We've shared some pretty crazy life changes together. In a span of less than two years, all of us went from dating, to engaged, to married. It was so great to share the ups and downs of each of those phases with Andrew and Gretch.

Andrew is always up for something crazy. We have so many hilarious memories with him including founding the Multnomah Mythical Creatures Club and theorizing about "Shadows." Andrew is smart, passionate, and caring. He loves people and loves the gospel. He is always thinking about some new concepts and comes up with good topics of conversation. He is really funny and has good taste in music.

Andrew and Bryce, Spring 2007

The word to describe Gretchen is sincere. She sincerely loves Jesus, people, and art. She is creative and loves to express herself through amazing poetry, painting, and dance. She has a great laugh. She is bold and spirited in the best ways. She is a visionary, a romantic, and a dreamer. And she enjoys the same stupid chick flicks that I do.

Gretchen and Emily - Chevy's, Summer 2007

What we really love about the Kings is that they are very transparent, genuine people. Our friendship is awesome because we can all be honest about who we really are, warts and all. There is no pressure to act a certain way or anything. We can be real with each other, and because of that there is depth to our relationship. We also love Andrew and Gretchen's understanding of the gospel because that is what enables them to see us for who we really are and love us anyway.

Andrew and Gretchen were in our wedding party, Winter 2007

Andrew and Gretchen just got back from a long trip to Europe a few weeks ago. Ever since they have been back, we've been spending a lot of time together. It has been really awesome. I feel like I always come away from our conversations happy and encouraged. We love you A&G and we really value your friendship!