July 8th

On Sunday morning we all met for breakfast at the Corner Bakery for a final bit of time together. Steph came to pick us up right after breakfast, and by the time we parted ways with the gang, I was full of gratitude. The whole weekend had been wonderful-- so fun to be around friends with a healthy marriage and incredible kids, so fun to get my fill of the city, so fun to get away from everything and just get immersed in something other than Florida. I think I said more than once that Brandon and Lori's kids are the kind of kids that make me want to have kids. They were terribly patient and had amazing manners and dispositions. They were just super fun! And on top of that, I found out at the very end that the middle girl was missing her entire bag of doll clothes, which would have made me a wreck at her age! The bag was found in the trunk of the car, thankfully, and I was just amazed at how fun the kids were. Oh, and Brandon and Lori were fun too. :) But seriously, it was a gift to us to have that time with them. I want to do it again soon!


We said our good-byes and then went up to church. We got to see all sorts of fun people and get a little bit caught up. We even got to meet baby Owen of Seaver Living fame!


We were treated to a rarity-- worship time led by John Willison, our former worship pastor who is now a pastor in Uganda! The Willison family is in town for a short time and we got to see them for a bit. I taught the oldest son, Wesley, when I was at CHA and he was in 8th grade. He's now going to be a senior in high school.


After church we picked up lunch-- Pita Inn for me and Steph, Little Caesars for Brad-- and went to the Robles' home to visit with friends. We got to meet Mari for the first time (now more than a year old!) and see how Calli, Koji, and Izumi had grown. Thankfully their parents all blog, so I feel like I get to catch up on them occasionally.





Then we were off to the airport to come home. I have to say that I like the Fort Myers airport better than the international terminal at O'Hare, for the lines' sake. We made it in plenty of time. It was really hard for me to come home, and I shed a few tears as we were landing. Sometimes I get an acute sense of how much I feel like a fish out of water here, and I ache for the midwest.