Bringing up the rear...

Following our special time at The Family Church's Global Impact Celebration, we put the Winnie on I-75 and headed south to Ft. Myers!  After years of invites, we were finally going to be able to see some special folks down in southwest Florida!  First up was breakfast with Leann.  We have joked that she's our cousin, kind of.  That is, Nathan and Leann have mutual cousins, but they are not cousins.  Anyone confused yet?  She treated us to a delicious breakfast and we caught up on her life, chiefly that she's getting married in June - -something very, very exciting!  Leann was VP of the student center student cabinet when we came to WGM way back in 1999.  It's been a joy to stay in touch over the years and now see where she grew up and has made her permanent home!

Our next visit was with Cydil's Aunt Marcia, who now winters in Ft. Myers.  We got to see her Florida home as well as visit an animal rescue/rehab center (with native Florida wildlife) and then sample some fantastic citrus products for which Florida is well known!

Monday evening Nathan's Aunt Elaine and Uncle Ken (who were hosting us for the nights we were in Ft. Myers) invited some friends over to meet us and hear a little bit about what we'll be doing in Albania.  It was a special treat that Nathan's former childhood pastor and his wife just happened to be in town and were able to be a part of the evening gathering!  They are featured below!

Our time in Ft. Myers flew by and before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye and get on the road again. The days with Aunt Elaine and Uncle Ken were so encouraging! As we have looked back at this road trip, one of our regrets was not having more time to be with them in Ft. Meyers.

Uncle Ken and Aunt Elaine

Just 90 minutes north of Ft. Myers found us in Sarasota where we met my mom's cousin, Connie, and her husband, Randy, for lunch at Der Dutchman. In spite of living 'way down in Florida', Connie and Randy are always good to attend our family's reunion every year, so we appreciate that we know them better than some might know extended family members.  They are outstanding champions of the ministry in Albania and we're hopeful that Randy might get to finally visit in person later this year!  (As county manager, his schedule's pretty demanding, as you can probably imagine).

Wednesday evening we were happy to reunite with our college friend, Brian Hurley, and meet his new wife, Kelley.  They attend First United Methodist Church in Lakeland and invited us to share with their small group.  It was a blessing to meet their community of friends and they made us feel very at home and welcome!

The church is situated across the street from a little lake chock full of ducks and swans.  We had a lot of fun feeding them before small group began!  

with Kelley and Brian

In 2002, Nathan and I took our student cabinet down over spring break to Mt. Dora, Florida, to minister together with some dear WGM missionaries (the Madsens and Aunt Sue Martin) engaged in work with Haitian immigrants.  We worked at this church and when we were invited to join some of those missionaries for a lunch visit whenever we were to come to Florida, we enjoyed a walk down memory lane, surprised to see that some of our projects were still   standing!

When we crossed paths with the Madsens last summer at WGM, they were eager for us to meet their daughter, Pam, and her family, if possible.  Pam's family had served as missionaries with the Nazarene's, and while ministering on the border, had adopted a little girl with a limb difference. I got a little bit of insight as to how other children might feel upon hearing of Reni before meeting him in person.  After telling them about the home were going to visit next, Ellie and Reni both indicated a little bit of fear about meeting someone made a little different than themselves.  Of course, within minutes of being together, differences were completely forgotten and they had a fantastic time!

From Mt. Dora, we drove up to the panhandle to spend our final day of visiting with our Asbury friends, Bryan and Tammy.  We reconnected when they returned to Wilmore a couple of years ago and joined our adoptive families group after bringing home their daughter, B.  Then we shared even more in common when they decided to pursue the adoption of their youngest who has a limb difference.  We remarked how unusual some of our conversations must sound to others, after discussing things like sockets, stubs, and therapy, etc. ;-)

With several year's of overseas living experience, we picked their brains for advice and suggestions in all sorts of matters.  Their family relocated to Florida from Wilmore shortly after we left Kentucky so Bryan could become pastor over missions and small groups at a church in his hometown. We discussed the possibility of future partnerships with their congregation and ways in which short and long term missionaries work best together. It really was a perfect way to cap off our trip to the south!

I included this photo because while it looks like we're laughing, Tammy and I were both trying to direct B's angle of her lens to be sure we got in the picture!

Sunday we were blessed with gorgeous weather while we headed north.  Thankfully our route took us right through the town my cousin Luke now calls home.  He treated us to some delicious 'Bama bbq!  We're so thankful for the gift of family and cousins scattered near and far that we can always visit!

Whew!  There were more photos but alas no more time to get them up.  This concludes our travelogue of photos from our trip south!  We are so blessed with all of the friends and family God has given us over the course of our lives.  We really felt "refueled" by our time with them!

Editor's note:  Today is a double-poster day!  Please scroll down to read another post from the Airport Sheraton!