We’re headed away this weekend with other members of Pavilion (our home church here in Birmingham) for a “Church Weekend Away”. We’re very much looking forward to the time with everyone there. And actually, we don’t know where “there” is. We’re getting a lift from someone and haven’t heard of where it is we’re going. So, there.

When we get back, we’ll be looking forward to sharing some new photos of the relaxing weekend away. See you Sunday.

So we’re finally into a groove again in B’ham and our whole team is getting back into the swing of things. Our trip to the U.S. was relaxing, encouraging, meaningful, helpful, and rewarding and we’ve come back charged and ready to go. Before we get to the ins and outs of it, here are 100+ photos from the trip.

First Things First
It already feels like a kind of distant past when we think back on our trip. So much has happened back in England since we’ve arrived. But let’s get back to the beginning of the trip. When we got into the U.S., what did we head for? Steak. Longhorn to be specific. And it was amazing, not only because it was tasty, but because we got to spend that first night’s dinner with our parents and it was quite a delight to get some face-to-face time with all of them.

Next Things Next
We were still waking up at weird times and getting hungry when we shouldn’t have been, thanks to jet lag. It’s quite an unfortunate phenomenon, more about that later. We had work to do while were were in Ohio. This particular weekend, First Christian Church was featuring their partnership with us in their main weekend services and wanted us to be a part of it. I was helping with the music for the contemporary service and Leah and I were tell our stories all morning. Part of being involved with all of that was rehearsing on the Wednesday night before at 6:30pm. Thanks to jet lag, it really did feel as though I was rehearsing starting at 11:30pm. All told though, the weekend was fantastic as we were able to share stories of our lives and work in England and to be encouraged by the people there who love us and the work of Canvas.

Dentistry
We got a chance to go to the dentist, a friend’s dad named Randy Siber. At the end of the appointment, we walked up to the counter to pay our bill and the receptionist said simply, “You’re all set.” Free dentistry. Priceless. Thank you, Randy, for your incredible kindness to us.

Happy Birthday Leah
On Saturday the 19th, we celebrated Leah’s birthday with her family in Canton (her birthday is actually the 22nd). Leah’s family is great and fun and there’s never a dull moment. Such was our experience at this party. I should mention as well, that through the duration of this trip, we were trying to stock up on things like Excedrin, jeans, shoes, shirts, and external hard drives. Compared to England, it was like a 50% off sale everwhere! Sad but true.

To Carrollton
The next stop was my hometown where it seems that time has stood still. Not much has changed, just the faces one sees around the town. My family is just as exciting as Leah’s; there isn’t ever a lag in happenings or things to find funny or strange or both. We had a great night eating dinner at my kitchen table and playing Monopoly: Birmingham Edition. As I remember it, Gabe (my brother) cleaned the floor with us that night - but we got him back. I had missed my family and it was great to be home again for a short time - as excited as I was to get back to England.

To Greenford
We had Mexican. It was as amazing as we remembered. We can’t get Mexican food here - at least not Mexican that tastes Mexican.

My great-grandpa died a couple of weeks after we first arrived in Birmingham and was buried in a cemetery close to where we were. My sister, Krista, had come into town to see us and the family and she and I (along with a friend of hers and Leah) went to see the grave marker for my great-grandpa. He was a great man and it was really meaningful for me to be able to see that sight. From there we went to my great-grandmother’s house (an old one-room school house) to talk with her, see photos, reminisce about grandpa and let her know that we love her.

Also in Greenford, we had the pleasure of spending some time with Greenford Christian Church, another group of people that’s pretty excited about Canvas. It was so nice to reconnect with them and with our college friend, Audra, a worker there.

Time to Leave Ohio
One part of our trip is over, another is just beginning. It was time to head to Tybee Island, Georgia to meet up with a bunch of other campus ministers from all over the world. It was meant to be a time of encouragement, refreshment, teaching and growing and it was all of those things. We got to hear from the other ministries about what they had tried in the past year, where they had failed, and what helped them succeed. We got to hear of their victories and their defeats. We got teaching that inspired us and we got to spend time with others that we admire and work along with for the sake of the Kingdom.

We also took some time to relax and recreate. Fishing. Fishing has never been a passion of mine, but the rest of the England team was headed out to fish off of a pier in the ocean and it didn’t sound all that bad to me! So, together we rented some poles from Captain Ray (see photos above) and had a great 5 or so hours, catching about 6 fish each, two of which were big enough for us to keep and eat for dinner (which we did).

And then there was the stingray. This guy was caught by a man who wrestled for an hour and a half to get him up onto the pier. Amazing.

Back to England
So yeah, it was an eventful, action-packed trip which kept us busy and filled us up. As soon as we got back to England, we had a party to attend for our exchange student guys. So we slept in the afternoon. Bad idea. We were out of sync for days because of the jet lag and we’re just now getting back to it.

As I’m rereading this, I’m realizing there was a LOT more to this trip but so many of the things were nice to just experience for what they were instead of try to catalogue them in my mind for blogging later. I wanted to just experience them and let these moments fuel me. And that they did.

We’re so grateful to all those who helped make our trip a great one. Now we’re back and ready to go because of all that was our America trip.

Last weekend was a great weekend, full of firsts and new experiences. We were invited to join with the Great Britain Field Team for a retreat to Centre Park - Sherwood Forest, Nottingham.

The first first from the weekend…We were feeling adventurous. We rented a car and took off for a road trip, just the three of us (Nathan, Leah and me). We requested a nice, small Ford Focus and instead got a complimentary car upgrade, a larger Vauxhaul Vectra Elite. Great car. Leather seats, built in Sat nav, power everything. We were only the second people to have ever hired this car. It was brand new and all of these factors led to a slightly stressful start to my driving experience in England. Nevertheless, we made it safely there and back, about a four hour trip total and I now feel much more confident on the left-side of the English roads.

The retreat itself was fun as we were able to get to know many we didn’t have chances with before. We got our bowling in, our movie time in and some team stuff in as well. It was time well spent and we were all so glad that we got to share it together.

Another first from the weekend…If you follow our blog, you know I’ve been striving to get to the 5k running mark. Aaron, who is a part of the Great Britain Field Team is an avid runner and agreed to take a run with me on Saturday morning through Sherwood Forest. Drum roll. We ran 33 minutes together and what’s more, I could have kept going! We chatted the whole time, enjoyed the outdoors and I accomplished my goal! I was thrilled. Thanks, Aaron for your help in getting over that 28 minute barrier! Here’s to strong running and fitness in the future!