travel log : muncie, last day

after a perfectly social + restful visit to muncie, it was time to end our visit & carry on to cornerstone.  but not before a last visit with a friend, a quiet walk through the land, & a farewell dinner...

PART I : MEGAN VISITS

megan is my sweet crafty cohort.  we met while she was an art student at anderson university, and i was a pastor's wife in indianapolis.  but our friendship deepened when josh & i moved out to the lett home in eaton for the year.  she & erin would make the long country drive down i-69 to state road three every thursday for our weekly craft day.  thursdays were replete with sweet friendship, creativity, & yummy food, & these shared days became sacred to all three of us.  we named them "sacred thursdays", & lo & behold, my little blue heron, who was with us in utero for all of these occasions, decided to make her first appearance on one sacred thursday--may 29.  

megan is now making a living selling her handbound leather (+ antique book cover) journals, & it's one of her journals that housed all the lyrics to josh's recent album.  please, peruse her shop this instant!  

PART II : JOSH WALKS THE LAND

josh spent the afternoon mowing the lawn, then taking a quiet walk about the property, stepping into abandoned places.

he has always had an obsession with these silos on bill & robin's land.  he loves to sing in them, to hear the echoes.  if we have silos like this someday, he will build a man cave/fort/studio.

PART III : WE EAT A MEAL WITH FRIENDS

regretably, i took no pictures of this blessed event.  but i can't end this day's post with no mention of the fabulous banquet robin set before us on our final night in muncie.  we ate outside, on the roof of what used to be the general store in town circa 1848, the year their home was built.  there were fireflies & candles, megan joined us, along with pastor guy, & robin served us grilled salmon, strawberry bruschetta, indiana corn, and goat cheese tart.  oh, & root beer floats for dessert!  after putting the kids down for a rest before the long day ahead, we sat out by the fire for another idyllic evening.  

travel log : muncie, day 7

after our morning with the great blue heron, we went over to the hedin home for a fabulous organic feast.  we are always inspired & encouraged by our visits with them, & always look forward to our times with these beautiful people of faith when we return to muncie.

afternoon brought naps & dinner, then the mccrories for chocolate ice cream.  our kids have summertime ice cream mustaches in all of these pictures.  it was that golden time of afternoon, an especially magical one, & how the kids loved frolicking around the letts' land!

travel log : eaton

today we travelled north on state road three, thirty minutes from muncie, to our old eaton home.  this is the cherished country home of bill & robin, where they allowed us to stay for the year while josh created the album "jacaranda".  heron was conceived our first week there, & we stayed through her birth, moving to north carolina when she was six weeks old.  this idyllic estate on the banks of the mississinewa, or "the pig farm" as bill affectionally refers to it, is very special to us, & we wanted to share it with heron in particular.  new residents are just moving in, & to stay out of their way we spent most of our time there outside, in the river, waiting for a glimpse of our beloved great blue heron, the inspiration for our daughter's name.

: josh showed heron where the great blue heron used to land :

: she was happy as a river bird to be in the water :

: sheppy was cautious to get in :

: we played, & waited... :

: soon, she appeared! :

(unprepared, i overexposed the shot)

: heron was in awe :

: we thanked jesus for the beautiful gift of seeing our friend, heron's namesake :

: sheppy was over it, so we left rather quickly :

(but up on the bank we discovered great blue had left one of her feathers behind for little blue)

travel log : muncie, day 6

today was the kind of perfect indiana summer day that made me say to josh, "it wouldn't take much to convince me to move back to the midwest."  portland is probably pretty spectacular right now, too, but still... this was a sweet day for family memories.  all captured via iphone/hipstamatic.

(click on collage to enlarge, then click again)

indy show addendum

this picture i found from josh's indy show is so much cooler than mine...  thanks adam alexander, whoever you are!

travel log : muncie, day 5

 : an afternoon with the mccrories + the joneses + lisa :

travel log : indianapolis

after a splendid church picnic at the lett house, we left the kids in the care of a friend & headed to indianapolis for josh's show.  the show was hosted by the church body josh planted & pastored about eight years ago, now with a building of its own.    

after the show we enjoyed catching up with old friends, many of them friends of ours since the muncie days a decade ago.  

travel log : muncie, day 4

while josh prepared for his saturday night muncie show, heron, shepherd & i helped robin in the garden as she prepared for sunday's church picnic at her house.

: robin took these pictures while we rested on the garden bench :

travel log : cincinnati

friday night josh played a show in perhaps the biggest house i've ever been in.  the hosts were so kind, the atmosphere of friendship so warm.  the crowd was a 50/50 mix of daniel & arian's faith community & other random fans who had heard about the show.  the home had a movie theatre in the basement, so while josh played music & sheppy slept, heron & the other big kids watched veggie tales below.  

josh had so much fun playing this show, & we had a brilliant time connecting with people afterwards.  touring is always such an encouragement to our faith as we are able to see what the spirit of God is up to in the hearts of his people throughout the country.  we glimpse growth, miracles, & a sense of things to come as we discover He's sharing a similar message & vision with many of us.   

special as this concert time was, our favorite part of our cincinnati visit was spending the night at daniel & arian's, staying up late getting to know each other's stories, & sharing breakfast with them the following day.  they have the sweetest boys, hudson & jude, and heron & sheppy loved them.  (arian also has another little one on the way).  they are beautiful, beautiful, talented people, & it was a blessing to get to know them more!

: heron loved drawing with daniel :

: arian :

: the garrels & the armstrongs :

: saturday morning, front porch, as we said goodbye :

travel log : muncie, day 3

: heron's window lunch :

: sheppy's tractor ride :

travel log : muncie, day 2

we're loving the indiana summer with friends!  yesterday jay & kian came for a visit from indianapolis, staying the night.  more frolicking, sparklers & campfires!  

: exploring :

: fence climbing :

: sparklers :

: (i love their faces here) :

: rolling down hills (not many of those around here!) :