Our Inspired Journey

They arrived on Friday night after getting to spend a chilly night in Chicago, just left this morning and boy did they get a dose of true Illinois winter weather! The high on Sunday was 13 degrees and the low was -1 to give you and idea of what our California friends endured with us!!!

On Saturday we went for a driving tour of U of I, until Ryder insisted that we get out an walk around a bit in the 15 degree weather. We thought we'd just make one little loop and then get back in the car really quickly! While making our loop, Ryder, with his hands in his pockets, fell flat on his face onto the ice covered snow...needless to say, he was very upset but we pressed on! A few minutes later, Matt who was holding Cole slipped on a patch on black ice and landed flat on his back. He protected Cole beautifully who landed on top of him unharmed, but because he was unable to break his fall in anyway, he knocked the wind out of himself for a while even causing his face to turn blue! John and Jenny, being the most calm, cool and collected people I've ever known, calmly went over to Matt who managed to whisper, "Is he okay?" (referring to Cole). I said, "He's totally fine," not wanting him to worry about Cole when he couldn't breathe! John then helped Matt crunch his legs up to his chest until he slowly regained the color in his face and after a minute or so was able to breathe again. During this whole episode, Cole was crying since he got scared from the fall making it seem a little chaotic. Matt ended up walking just fine back to the car but after a very sore next couple of days, we're hoping his back will heal quickly and that nothing serious was injured during this treacherous walk through campus!

That night we ordered a pizza from our favorite pizza place in town and after John and Matt waited a hour and a half for it to be ready, we found out they had lost our order. Matt, using his negotiation skills ended up getting us our pizza for free since we ended up getting it 3 hours after it was ordered! It was worth the wait though as he said it was better than the one he had eaten in Chicago days before!

Sunday morning, John and I sang (yes, John sang too!) in church for both services, so our wonderful friends also came to both services with us and even helped watch our boys during sound check before service started. We went to the mall that night in the 4 degree weather, wanting to walk around a bit and get out of the house :) Just walking from the car to the doors of the mall (a total of one minute), we felt like our faces were going to fall off as the wind chapped our skin and tried to tear through our warm coats. Once inside, we had a great time window shopping and sipping on Starbucks lattes courtesy of Matt and Jenny! A couple of hours later we came home to yummy tortilla soup simmering in the crock pot that Jenny and I had placed in there hours before...the perfect dinner on such a chilly night!

The boys had a blast playing with the wooden trucks and books Matt and Jenny had brought for them from California, and visiting with friends we love. Jenny read to Ryder on the couch while Cole immediately took to Matt, bringing him his shoes every time he wanted to go on a trip! They had a bond from the whole "falling on the ice" incident!

We ended our time together on Sunday night watching the video of our wedding. It was fun to reminisce on how God brought us to our spouses and how much we had changed and grown since getting married. Our 7 year anniversary is coming up on January 5th and since Matt and Jenny weren't dating yet when we were married, he wasn't at our wedding...it was a neat time of recounting where God had taken us and how we'd been transformed since that time.

Not being with family for Christmas this year will be different for us, but Jenny and Matt's visit felt like God's way of bringing family to us. We sipped tea, ate apple crisp, endured the cold weather and all with friends we love! What a gift. We love you Matt and Jenny and are SO thankful for the gift of your presence these past few days in our home! The house was cleaner and out hearts warmer with you here! You're welcome back anytime!!!