So Good!

Our Phila adventures have been both exciting, rewarding, and disappointing this week. After a week spent in Philly with much time spent relaxing and not doing much, my other great old friend, Alecia, joined Shoffner and I. She flew in on Monday and shall be making the long road trip back to Kansas with me tomorrow. We decided to wait and do some great things while she was here with us. We had many adventures together as roommates in Manhattan and decided to add to our adventure memories in Philly.

Alecia and I visited the FDR Park on our drive home from the airport Monday. It was such a beautiful day to get outside and enjoy some fresh air. Apparantely the fresh air was much needed after Shoff and I enjoyed a giant clove of garlic in our lunch soup leaving it's lingering aroma on our breath and overall surroundings. Shoff believes that raw garlic assists in the boosting of the immune system, something we both need after spending the weekend feeling very much under the nasty common cold. No worries, we are both better, but oddly enough certain rooms in this house now have a not-so-lovely garlic smell. The funny thing is we can't smell it due to clogged noses, but poor Alecia has to suffer. It's really quite amusing if you think about it. Nothing better than fresh off the farm, organic garlic to cure sickness.....at least we hope so.

Tuesday we ventured to the Bartrams Gardens in Southwest Philly. This is one of the oldest botanical gardens in the US I believe. It also had the oldest barn in Philadelphia. We even got a personal tour of the original house built in 1728 by a really great man we met the day before at the food bank. There was an amazing ancient cider press on the property carved out of stone on the bank of the river. We spent a little while trying to figure out how it would have worked. After our gardens visit we made our way to a really great India restaurant that we had been preparing ourselves for all day. Much to our dismay however, it was closed. We cried and after wiping away our tears with each other's jackets we ate some pretty good Thai food. After dinner Alecia and I were allowed another close look into the life of Jessica Shoffner when we attended her cell group (small group from church). We watched a documentary on homosexuality called something like The Bible Says So. It definitely left many thoughts in our minds.

Wednesday brought us another disappointment in our food adventures. We got up early to eat breakfast at a really great Honey's Restaurant. It was not open as well, spam, and we had to find breakfast elsewhere. Yesterday was thrift day. After visiting 4 different thrift stores including Shoff's Circle Thrift, I now have a nearly brand new pair of running shoes, a pair of well-used cowboy boots, Gap jeans, and several odds and ends for Christmas presents. Shoff and Alecia are thrift store junkies and I think they could look at thrift jewels daily.

I am super thankful for such great friends. Even though we live long distances from each other, every time we get together it always feels so natural. It seems just like yesterday that we lived in the same tiny room in Smurthwaite. We can be without contact for some time and a meeting always feels normal. We enjoyed a really great chick-flick movie last night and shared remember when stories. Although we yell occasionally and definitely do not agree on everything, the time spent together is always wonderful.

Tomorrow Alecia and I shall make the trip back to Kansas. It's been a great excursion and exploration of life the past two months, but I am definitely ready to sleep in my own bed again, cook in the home kitchen, and mooch off my parents for a while. Peace!