the reasons i left part 2

what does orlando have that phoenix (mesa/gilbert) does not?

1. a chance to eat beautiful dessert with my girlfriend kendra. no kids. no hubbies. just kendra, me, and an absurd amount of chocolate cake. (there was also an incredible strawberry shortcake that is not pictured.) the child in my womb kinda ruined the experience. i actually tried to throw up in the restroom at the restaurant. then i almost threw up just thinking about throwing up in a public restroom. but the experience all in all was still wonderful :)


2. they are over-ruled by disney. we went to 'downtown disney' which is near disneyworld, but not quite. we walked around and posed for pics. like this one in front of the Lego store where they had the most incredible pieces of art- all made of legos. i felt like i was cheating on my kids by being there without them. bad mom! thus ezra is trying to poke my eye out...


3. florida has alligators! and i don't think i've ever seen one before. we went for a walk around a little lake and kendra said that we probably wouldn't see one cause it was starting to get too hot (i didn't leave to get away from the arizona sun. the florida sun was just as aggressive!) but Jesus had a different plan for me. near the end of our walk we saw something in the water that looked like a log. but it was moving. and it was a tiny little toddler-sized alligator.


4. kelly lives in florida too! kelly is the blond in the pic. she and i worked in korea together for 1 year, as did kendra and i. thoguh kendra and kelly's years did not overlap, they met at my wedding and both ended up in florida VERY RANDOMLY (beither they, nor their husbands are from florida, yet they all live there). so they have become friends, and i have managed to stay friends with them both (even though sometimes i REALLY SUCK at being a long-distance friend). we met for lunch and had a rockin great time. kelly came with her two boys- silas and james (silas is pictured in the second picture below, james is the little guy on my lap in the third pic) and kendra and i came with the ezster. it was lovely to be surrounded by my friends and their kids, and to see how much God has done in our lives since we were all single girls living in korea 8 years ago.




5. kendra is married to this lovely guy named jon. jon actually lived in korea for a year too (korea is kind of a post-college hot spot!!) though he actually was friends with kendra in college. they got married and i met jon at their wedding in michigan 4 years ago, but that's it. i never got a chance to know him. until this week! what a guy! great dad! as soon as he got hom from work, ezra did not leave his side. i love this pic, though i don't know if you can see how engaged ezra is in the book his dada is reading to him. so precious. jon is great at his job, he loves Jesus, his wife, and his son. what more can you ask for?


6. and last but not least, i went to hang out with kendra. friend of my heart. the year i spent with her in korea was amazing. she was kind of my first ever accountability-type partner. we would go out after work on mondays for 'magical mondays' where we would just talk about Jesus and life over some wickedgood coffee. she got me through lots (chris breaking up with me! chris trying to get back together with me...) and really helped me to grow as a Christian. i haven't seen her since she came out to phoenix 3 years ago when topher was born. she came out to meet my new boy, it was only fair for me to go out and meet hers. and oh what a boy!