Roadtrip and Goodbyes

Frirday morning at 3:30a.m.... yes AM people... daniel, myself and the big Jerkins headed to Defiance, Ohio. D was in a wedding on Saturday there. The big Jerkins (this has nothing to do with size) were gracious enough to go with us- one because they love us, two because they like the Pinkstons', whose son was getting married, and three because they felt sorry for us that we were going to have to drive through the night to make it back to church Sunday morning. So we were very thankful that they sacrificially gave up their possibly relaxing weekend to drive over 20+ hours there and back with us.

We ended up making the drive in 9 1/2 hours and thankfully it went by fast. Defiance, Ohio ended up being much more north than we realized... we're talking almost to Michigan. Had we had the time I would have tried to convince D to let us drive the extra miles just so we can say we've been to Michigan, but there was no time for extra stuff this trip.

We arrived at the hotel around 3:00p.m. We had time for a quick shower then we had to hurry off to the rehearsal which was at 4:30. It took 30 minutes to get to the church from the hotel. The church was in a Mennonite community.





I had lots of ideas of how I thought it would look... none of which were accurate. I expected a wooden, one, room, old church. Instead it was a beautiful new 300 or more seated sanctuary with many other rooms and floors. In fact, the guys got ready in the youth area which consisted of air hockey, pool table, and a big screen TV.

2 hours later the dinner began. :) It was a great home cooked meal by some local ladies. We're talking baked chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, roles, salad and homemade pies. It was wonderful. Then of course they had a blessing time and video of pictures. Then as the dinner concluded everyone was invited over to a bonfire at one of the bridesmaids homes. It was a great night for one too. So after 4 roasted marshmallows... d made me stop. (not really but I was afraid he'd think his wife was a fat cow so I did) I had one smore but some how the marshmallow kept disappearing and not to mention that's the BEST part of a smore. Its not my fault that d cooks them perfectly. I agree 5 might have been excessive though. We sat around the fire talking and sharing old stories. It was a sweet night of celebrating Crystal and Michael.

This is what happens when I ask him to smile for a picture with me.


Thankfully we were able to sleep late Saturday morning... although to make it in time for our free hotel breakfast we were up and out by 9:00am. We came back in time to shower quickly, get dressed and check out of the hotel. D had to be at the church pretty early since it was an afternoon wedding so we dropped him off at the church and went exploring. The church is actually in Archbold, Ohio which is small town America for
sure.




We went into a few shops and toured this nice, big inn they had. Then we found Mom's Diner. It was awesome. From the onion rings to dessert- it did not disappoint. So if you're ever in Archbold, Ohio... which I'm not sure many have reason to unless you have family there... go check out Mom's Diner.







After stuffing ourselves with delicious food, it was time for a wedding! D looked so handsome. Unfortunately he informed me that for the first 30 minutes of picture taking his pants were unzipped. Fabulous. And also his pants were so big he reminded me of MC Hammer. Thankfully the coat helped mask it. And more importantly they stayed up on his hips.





The wedding was sweet and the blessing D gave was so encouraging.





Before we knew it it was after 7 and we were on the road again. Thankfully we were able to split our trip up a little and visit with our friend, Frank that lives in Indiana. This is the same Frank that works for SMI Haiti. It was so great to catch up with him and hear what amazing things God is continuing to do down there.

I slept most of the way back and D along with Papa John and a 5 hour energy... drove the whole way home. We got in bed at 5:00am. Then woke up at 8:00 so we could get to church. We knew this would be a hard day, but thankfully it was a little easier because of our announcement Wednesday. This was the day we made our announcement to the whole church. It was hard and there were still a lot of tears, but we made it through. The hardest part was the greeting line that Bro. Eddie insisted we have. I was pretty ok until then. We got nothing but love, support, and encouragement... which just made it sweet, but not easy. We are so thankful to have been apart of such a loving church for 3 1/2 years, but it def makes saying goodbye so much harder.

So this weekend was full of emotion. As soon as church was over yesterday morning we went straight home, ate lunch, and slept all afternoon before we had to be back at church to teach our classes. Needless to say we are both physically and emotionally drained, but thankful for a great weekend... even if it was a bit crazy.