Final Goodbye

We had been acquaintances with the Allens for about 6 months before we really became friends with them. In fact, thanks to Matt's healthy addiction to coffee, and Luke being a barista at Starbucks, we had been getting to know Luke 1 short Kenyan at a time. This summer while Matt and I were living in NYC, Luke and Stacey took over our lease for us - we had no idea how this would play out when we came back. Not that we were worried, we just well, didn't really know them, and had barely hung out with them!


Things went great, and they ended up living in our place for another month after we were back. We became so close with these two! As the date drew nearer for them to leave for Australia, we found ourselves getting more sad we didn't have more time with them and worried we'd be so lonely without them! We are in the same small group through church together, we studied through a bit of Galatians together, had dessert bake-offs -really we just ate desserts- (they have quite the sweet tooth!) stayed up way too late for our schedules, and hung out just about every weekend. This includes trips in their minivan, yes, they are that cool couple that can make driving a minivan hip. And those seats are so cushy!


This past week, our small group got together and we had a farewell party. Lots of hugs, desserts, (appropriate) games and laughs. I think some slightly incriminating video footage made it to facebook as well, and I won't be sharing that, but Guesstures can be awfully embarrassing! Anyway, here are some pics of our sweet friends as we bid them farewell!

some boyz

some girlz

 games and coffee!

 a whole new meaning to "staceface"

 sweet girls i'm so thankful for

 the guy on the left has been in Afghanistan since we started small group, but he has been skyping in, so it was really cool luke and stacey got to meet him right before they left!

love these 2 couples :)

 this dog has nothing to do with luke or stacey but it was sooo cute i had to take a pic!

dark chocolate w/ peanut-butter-frosting-face-cupcakes. yum

Luke and Stacey, you guys are so awesome! So so excited about all that God has for you in Australia, and jealous of all the Aussies who get to have you around. I will miss our heartfelt conversations, meaningful talks, surprise parties, and all the laughs and frustrations we shared. We really love you guys!!! We'll be waiting for you :)