Missouri Wasn't Misery

I'm pretty sure a combination of this thunderstorm and my medicine is the reason I'm up at 5 AM on a day we have no school. Not cool, body. Not cool at all.

So here we are. Finally. My last post about Spring Break. Which is fitting, seeing as how I'm enjoying my first spring storm. I know you're sad, and I'm a little teary-eyed too, knowing that this series of posts is just about finished. I promise we can make it through, though. Right? Righty-o.

In my last post, I wrote about visiting the Crowdus family, which was beyond awesome. We were so happy to finally meet them and we really enjoyed their love, hospitality, and wonderful company as we spent time at their house. As always, though, we had to say goodbye. If we have any say in it, though, this won't be the last time we see them!

Our next destination seemed like it should be a lot further away than it was, and the whole geography thing is still throwing me for a loop on this one, but we were meeting up with our friend Natalie, who worked with us at THOGL (and who authors a blog that is much cooler than my own), and currently resides in St. Louis. I've only actually been to St. Louis once, and that was for some missions work a few years ago. Actually, it was only a day. Or rather, a few hours. It was like "missions practice." Whatever that is...

Basically, though, I love St. Louis. Especially the area that we visited to see Natalie. I definitely learned that I love downtown areas on this trip. Indy and St. Louis sold me on that. Will I ever get a chance to live downtown somewhere? Only time (and my beautiful wife) will tell.

Also, I forgot to mention that we were meeting Natalie's boyfriend, Dan, for the first time. Yes, we put him through the ringer. Yes, he survived.

Okay, so I was kidding about the ringer. Interrogation is one of my specialties, but I was too busy enjoying the food and listening to the girls talk away as we ate together.

We met up at a burger joint called Fitz's in an area of town that had just about every ethnicity of food known to man in a square mile. Someday I definitely hope to go back and try the Middle Eastern restaurant. Looked pretty sweet. But Fitz's was definitely good enough for me! Can't go wrong with a good cheeseburger. 

I decided to be a little adventurous, though, and try something new. I ordered a Turkey Burger (having never tried one) and crossed my fingers, hoping for the best. The good news? I survived. The bad news? Fitz's doesn't make me burgers on a regular basis. Fantastic stuff. Check it out if you're ever in the area!

We had an incredible time with Natalie and Dan and I'd say it's safe to say that we didn't realize how much we missed our friend. We shared some hugs as we departed, knowing we'd see each other again very soon. We knew, though, that we had one more stop to make before our trip was over: Columbia, MO.

Our last stop was probably one of our most interesting. First of all, we were meeting parents that we had never met before (except through contact on Facebook, of course). Secondly, we had never met their child. 

Say whaaaaaat?

Yup. You heard me (read me?) right. We were going to visit a child we didn't take care of and parents we had never met. We actually took care of the Earharts first child, but that's a story that gets me all teary-eyed and choked up, and I haven't had enough coffee for that this morning 

I'm actually being serious here. Not about the coffee, though. I mean, I could always use more. But you get the point. 

We arrived to the Earharts after what seemed like the longest drive of the trip (to me), even though it wasn't even close to the longest in time or distance. Thankfully, though, my narcolepsy made the trip a little shorter. 

We arrived to some incredibly open arms and a ridiculous amount of love. It was as if we were their long, lost children. The love we experienced was overwhelming. I guess that's the kind of love Jesus is into, though. So... major props to the Earharts (are props still cool? either way, I just gave some).

We spent the night talking, reminiscing, and getting to know each other. If my memory serves me right - it usually doesn't - Ava was actually asleep when we got there, so it was really cool to spend some one on one time with Chris and Amy, though we couldn't wait to meet their daughter.

Eventually, we all hit the sack, worn out from a long day and excited for what the next day would bring. It would be a shame if I didn't mention the fact that we slept on a bed that felt like a cloud on top of a cloud on top of a cloud. Kalyn loved it. I don't get so excited about stuff like that, but she does. Therefore, I do. Ya know, the whole marriage and being in love thing. 

The next morning, we woke up and enjoyed some delicious breakfast casserole and we finally got to meet the wonderful, beautiful Ava Mei. 

This just makes me smile.

Ava is by far the youngest child we visited, so she wasn't walking or talking or anything "cool" like that, but we really appreciated it because it took us back to our days in Taiwan where we vehemently opposed such things - can you imagine 18 walking, talking infants? Not happening.

After enjoying breakfast, we relaxed with Chris (Amy had to work - so sad!) and talked about anything we could think of. Eventually we realized that it was just about lunchtime, and Chris wanted to take us out to lunch! Again, the hospitality just about made me want to pop (in a good way, of course).

We got ready and made our way to McAlister's Deli, a place we all love and know well. We had a great time, and Ava was like a little movie star there - everyone wanted to see her and wanted to know how she was doing! We had an amazing time hanging out with Chris and Ava (and again, we missed Amy!) and wouldn't have traded it for anything in the world. 

Unfortunately, we did have to say goodbye at some point. And this time, we really had to. A freak snowstorm was barreling down on Columbia, and we bet it would only be getting worse.

By the way, who decided that this Spring Break would be allowed to have sun, rain, hail, and snow? Ridiculous.

We headed back to the Earharts' house, packed up our things, and said our goodbyes, knowing, as with all of the other families, that it wouldn't be the last time we saw them. But we would still miss them like crazy!

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And thus concludes this month-long series of posts about our week-long Spring Break.

Well, sort of. 

I'll be posting very soon (possibly even tomorrow!) about all of the goals I was able to achieve on this trip. 

Check back soon, and in the meantime, leave me a comment (you don't need a "user name," in case you didn't know!), share this post (Facebook and Twitter!), and subscribe away!