A Little More Indiana(polis)

Am I the only one who has noticed that I've made posting about Spring Break about 10 times as long as Spring Break actually was?

When we last left off on this marathon of a road trip, we were in Indianapolis, hanging out with Kelsey's sister, Tracy. Did I mention that I love Indy? Because I do. In fact, I loved it so much that I'm going to write about it again... sort of.

After spending the night with Tracy, we got up the next morning, packed up once more (we were professionals by this point), and headed to our next destination: the Fowlers! The Fowlers live in a town just outside of Indianapolis, so we only sort of left the city, which was fine by me. Somehow, though, I think I still managed to sleep part of the way there. Maybe I should get that checked out...

We arrived safely to the Fowlers house and were welcomed in with open arms and a lot of love. We had never met the Fowlers before, but we did take care of their son, Jackson, this past summer. Because of Facebook, we were pretty familiar with Jackson's mom, though, so it felt like we were reuniting with a long lost friend!

When we got there, Jackson was sound asleep, so we relaxed and talked with Wendy for a while about our trip and a lot of other random things. Eventually, the man of the hour woke up, and we were as giddy as ever to get to play with him. 

I took this during one of our games of "Chase Me!" Jackson definitely has better lungs than me.

Here's the thing about Jackson: that cheesy grin is permanently glued to his face. No joke! He's been smiling since the day we met him! It seems like God found the perfect family for him, too, because they're just as upbeat, fun, and enjoyable as he is.

After playing for a little while (yes, we traveled 2000 miles to play with a few kids - don't judge us!), Jackson started to let us know that it was dinner time. Wendy then informed us that we were going to a pizza place called Bazbeux's (I think that's how it's spelled?), so we packed up and headed out!

As a side note: If you've ever read this blog, you know I love steak. This is me telling you that I also love, love, love pizza. Love. That is all.

After a great car ride that involved a lot more playtime, we arrived and enjoyed some fabulous food. We also finally got to meet Jackson's wonderful dad, Mike! Shortly after we got there, we received menus and I proceeded to gawk at the selection of pizzas that this place had to order. The Fowlers decided to get a Greek pizza with artichoke-something-or-other on it. I voted for the Colossus, mainly because it was the manliest sounding thing I could find - always a good method of evaluation when picking your food.

Dinner was fabulous, and I gorged myself on pizza while we talked and got to know each other even more. I actually did try the Greek pizza, which sounded pretty sketchy to me at first, and I actually loved it. It was amazing! Even with the mysterious artichoke-part on top of the pizza!

After I was finished consuming more pizza than any 115 lb. man should eat (yes, they waited for me, the slowest eater alive), we made our way out and headed back to the Fowler's home. We relaxed, talked, played, and had a great time as we continued to get to know each other and enjoy our time with Jackson. 

It was amazing to me to see how easy it was for us to connect with the Fowlers, despite never having met them. I guess it just goes to show how deep the THOGL connection goes because of the love of God that unites us all through that ministry. Amazing stuff. Seriously.

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Have you ever had an "instant" connection while meeting someone for the first time? What connected you? Let me know about it in a comment, and don't forget to Share this post and Subscribe!