day 8 - indiana to illinois

after nashville i made my way back up 65, through kentucky and back into indiana. it looked basically the same - just the other side of the road. :) it did rain for about 5 minutes. so that was different. i am very grateful for the amazing driving weather i have had. only about 10 minutes of rain total in over 2000 miles!

i stopped by taylor again to drop something off for jordy. it isn't everyday (or ever) that you are passing by taylor - so that was cool. i found out that my friends that i would be staying with were actually in marion and not fort wayne - so they were supes close to taylor and i didn't even know it! shows you my incredible skills at keeping up with people. i ask them if i can stay with them and don't actually know where they live. huh.

i stole this off fb - they are so cute!

john and abi are friends from college. they are rock stars! john is a Bible professor and abs is a resident director. they have three beautiful children (which i completely forgot to photograph!). it was so great to be in their home, watching them live their busy lives and do it with a lot of grace. i am grateful they allowed me to enter into their lives with them. i got to take their youngest on a walk - we looked at flowers, waved at the construction guys, said hi to everyone on campus and looked at the water fountain. i was climbed on by their middle climber child. :) and i was able to "help" their oldest with her homework. grammar. yeah. i hope i didn't just make up what i think a compound sentence is. :) thank you both for allowing me to just be in the midst of your lives. thank you for opening your home. let me know anytime you need motivation to clean! :)

next stop - illinois. i blocked out how much i hate driving thru chicago. ahhh! two cars almost clipped the front of charlie as they were speeding by and changing lanes. a semi (which was from satan) swerved into my lane. there was a sign that said, "obey speed limits in work zones." implying no one obeys speed limits outside zones? true.


so this super cute family are the becks. heather and i have been friends since we were 5 yrs old. went to the same high school and college. her husband cory is fantastic! i have always appreciated his humor - he makes everyone laugh. i think we figured out the last time we saw each other was 8 years ago. which is sad. i got to enter into their world for a little bit today. their son tried to show me a video game he was playing - i just sat there with a glazed look not understanding anything! :) it was their middle's 10th birthday. today is the 10th - therefore it is her golden birthday. so fun! she got lots of presents and a cool cake (i had a pic - but i am having tech difficulties). she got an assortment of decorative tape - called tapefeti or tapefiti?? something like that. why didn't they have cool stuff like that when we were 10! i think i am going to get some. :)

heather and i spent a few hours chatting tonight. she made a comment about how it is so different catching up with someone you have known for so long. its true. there is so much you don't have to cover. they know where you came from and a lot of what shaped who you are. we may not see each other that often, but it is easy to just jump in. there is a level of trust there b/c they were there from the beginning. i don't have many of these friendships left, but i am so grateful for the few i do have. absolute gifts.

well - it is after midnight. i should probably get some sleep. i am not getting any younger. :) tomorrow it is off to wisconsin and then thurs to minnesota! guess what happens a week from today??

EUROPE!!!