Tallahassee Trip, 2015

In August, we had planned a trip down to south Florida to visit Jeremy's family. Since we travel at the speed of a turtle, we decided to break the trip up with an overnight and morning spent in Tallahassee. Jeremy and I both went to FSU, both lived and worked at the Wesley Foundation, and we wanted to introduce the kids to that part of our lives.

Plus, the CUR (the beloved Chapel of the Upper Room) is scheduled for demolition this fall, and we just had to smell it--that is, see it, one last time.

Wesley is such a special place to us. We spent so many hours there in worship, prayer, Bible study, family groups. We cooked meals in the kitchen to serve on Wednesday afternoons and Thursday nights. We played four square in the fellowship hall. I remember on September 11 going into the TV room at Wesley to find it already full of people watching the news and praying for the country. 

When we were courting, I lived in Apartment A, and Jeremy would come see me after classes. We'd sit on the front porch steps and talk. Later, that's where he proposed. He played drums on the worship team and I ran the projector. We participated in Rez Week where we took early morning prayer shifts. There was the amazingly beautiful Maundy Thursday service that the CUR was designed for specifically. I could go on and on about the memories wrapped up in this special place.

(The Wesely Foundation of FSU)

(Cory on the back deck behind the fellowship hall)

(our beloved CUR)

(the kids in the CUR. It smells comfortingly the same.)

(this one was when Iain was a baby)

(Times sure have changed!)

(Jeremy explaining the Maundy Thursday service)

After we saw the fellowship hall, the CUR, and the small chapel, we headed to "our" steps. We had told the kids the story of Jeremy proposing here, and they referred to them from then on as the Steps of Romance. 

We have a pretty cool timeline of pictures on these steps!

(a few days after we got engaged)

(one of our engagement pictures)

(with Baby Iain. Somewhere there's one of us with the two boys, but I can't find it.)

(And present day. The boys' reaction cracks me up. This may be one of my favorite pictures ever!)

After our tour around Wesley, we walked around the campus for a while. We took the kids past my old dorm, to Landis Green, past Strozier, to the music building, to Williams and Diffenbaugh, and then to watch the demolition of an old dorm. They liked that part best.

Then we headed to Chick-Fil-A to meet up with some dear friends. Christina (who took us around Wesley and took the awesome picture above), Julie May (who also lives in Tallahassee and was due to have her baby--and has had him since), and Sidonie (who lives in Germany but was in Tallahassee when we passed through). It was so, so good to see them. What a fun day!

We left Tallahassee and headed south and--glory be!--we made excellent time. More on that part of the trip next time.