1700 Miles in 17 Days, Part 1: 4th of July with the Furnesses

Yep, July was a busy month. I basically went on 4 trips in the first 17 days, traveling roughly 1700 miles, which translates to about 30 hours in the car. This all after my parents came for a weekend at the end of June as well! It was a little crazy, but lots and lots of fun. So I thought I'd use this blog as a little travelogue for my journeys.

The 4th of July Weekend, Matthew and I traveled down to Ozark, Missouri, to visit Natalie and Kevin. It was really fun to get away for an extended weekend, and we (as always) had a blast with the Furnesses. With I-29 partially closed because of flooding, it took us about an hour longer to get down there than normal, but we still enjoyed the trip, listening to the Civil Wars, Josh Garrels, and a lot of podcasts (we love NPR!), and stopping for some yummy Chick fil' A on the way.

Saturday morning we got up bright and early to go to the Springfield Farmer's Market, and then we did some shopping at the mall. It was fun to just wander around and just be together. For lunch, they took us to downtown Springfield for a really yummy meal at the Springfield Brewing Company, and then went back to their place for an afternoon nap.

Kevin and Matthew bought the same sandals at a buy one, get one sale and since both of them had recently broken their old sandals, didn't waste anytime getting the new ones on.

The Springfield Brewing Company.

So cute!

Saturday night was probably my favorite night of the trip- we went to a water park in Branson. If you enter the park after 5, you can get in for a cheaper rate, and even with a mere 4 hours in the park, we got our money's worth. I haven't been to a water park for years, and had a blast. We went down slide after slide. It was great because the lines were short and we were able to go down everything at least twice. Matt and Kevin even conquered the huge slides where you go down face down... Natalie and I weren't as brave. But it was also great because this was the first time I'd been to a water park since I've had contacts, and it was so, so freeing to not have to go down everything blind! It was a little thing, but it made for a much more enjoyable experience. And an added bonus for the night was that while we were waiting to go down one of the slides, we saw fireworks over in Branson. We all really had a great time, and finished the night at a nearby Steak 'n Shake.

On Sunday we went to a church that a friend of mine from high school works at, and then Kevin roasted some prawns on the grill and we played some Killer Bunnies (a card game that Natalie really likes). We enjoyed a very nice, lazy afternoon. It was uber-relaxing- we just hung out, no agenda. I enjoyed that! For dinner that night we went to Springfield for some good sushi (it's amazing how much sushi has grown on me. I used to hate it, but Matt's helped me develop a liking for it. And since the Furnesses LOVE sushi, the four of us can't get together without having it at least once!).

My wonderful sister and me.

On Monday, we worked on food for the neighborhood party we went to that night, and watched some Food Network and some movies. Again, very low-key and relaxing. Natalie and I made these German strawberry cakes (they're German in that it's Kevin's mom's recipe, and she grew up in Germany) while Kevin and Matthew worked on the jalapeno poppers. The neighborhood party was pretty fun- they did a fish fry (fresh fish someone caught earlier that weekend... I ate a lot of seafood that weekend, now that I think about it!), and we swam in the backyard pool for awhile, and the boys blew up gobs and gobs of fireworks.

I love this picture of Natalie with her big brother (in-law)! :-)

All in all, it was a great little mini-vacation!

"Farther Along" - Josh Garrels

I promise I'll return to my regularly-scheduled programming soon, but in the meantime, I wanted to share this song.

Last night I had a really hard time sleeping. I couldn't turn my brain off for some reason. So I pulled this video up and just sobbed. The truth of the lyrics of this song really resonates with me, encourages me, empowers me... And then watching the video for the first time, I could see in his demeanor that he's a man blessed by the burden of truth and I in turn felt both joyful and sorrowful at the same time.

I can't really explain it, but I went to sleep last night feeling closer to Jesus than I'd felt in awhile. The reminder of the bittersweetness of life, and the promise that this is nothing compared to what's ahead led to me wake up this morning feeling joyful and alive.

P.S. You can get Josh Garrel's new album, Love and War and the Sea in Between, for completely free at his website, http://www.joshgarrels.com/.