tour de south.

last weekend chris and i went on a little adventure. my best friend had a baby two weeks ago, so the original plan was to venture down to birmingham, meet the little cutie, love on the new parents, and make our way back to norman. then, kinda at the last minute, this quick little road trip turned into a whirlwind tour of the southeast. i mean, if you're gonna drive that far, you might as well maximize your time, right? well, maximize we did. 5 days, 8 states, 2000 miles, and 20 friends later, we're exhausted in the best way possible.

in summary, our #tourdesouth:

longview: on thursday, we kicked off the tour by driving down to longview (5 hours) to see my mom's new digs... which, of course, also meant enjoying some yummy pizza king (hometown favorite) and some time with our little nephew (oh yeah... and mom and luke and teri).

atlanta: on friday, we woke up at the crack and drove alllllll the way to atlanta (our longest drive of the tour -- 11 hours). all of my friends there live in midtown, which means they all live in these really cool, old, southern house/apartments, surrounded by pretty trees, right in the heart of the city, and all within walking distance of each other. incredible. we were welcomed with a fun dinner out, a relaxing night of desserts in, then brunch on saturday morning at one of their favorites. it was perfect. 

surprise #1: one of my good friends (chase -- in the blue) who has been in china for a year just happened to be driving thru atlanta with his fiance and stopped by to see us. i freaked.

birmingham: after brunch in atlanta, we hit the road to birmingham (only 2ish hours!). we were SO excited to meet mr. john michael hefner. y'all. look at this baby:

so handsome. that hair is just too good. i loved getting to see sarah and justin be parents. clearly they're brand new at this and still trying to figure it all out, but let's be honest, they're already champs. chris and i took turns holding the little guy... and by "took turns" i mean, selfishly fought over him. can you even handle him all curled up on chris?!

surprise #2: my friends who just adopted a little boy from ethiopia (read their story here) just happened to be in birmingham for a wedding shower, so we met up with them for coffee and got to meet little israel and talk church-planting and adoption (two of our favorite things). 

surprise #3: one of chris's best friends and his wife just happened to be in birmingham for a wedding, so we got to enjoy a long breakfast with them on sunday morning (which included blue corn grits -- hello, south -- and, of course, more church-planting talk). 

fayetteville: on sunday afternoon, we took off for fayetteville (our second-longest leg of the journey -- 9 hours). on our way (surprise #4!), we made a quick stop in north little rock to see one of my girls from KAA. i haven't seen this girl in 3 years!!

one of my roommates from waco now lives and works at a church in fayetteville, and another friend works at a different church in fayetteville and is married to one of my friends from auburn. the world is tiny. we loved getting to crash at their new house, tour around the university of arkansas, and enjoy one of their favorite lunch spots (and, wait for it, more church/ministry talk). then, we wrapped it up with a little 4-hour drive back to home sweet 'homa.

welp, there you have it folks... the bristers' whirlwind tour de south. we had such a blast getting away and hanging out with some of our favorite people on the planet. it was so refreshing to remember that we're not alone in the grind of ministry -- so many of those friends are right there with us, just a few hundred miles away. the thing is, we're all working toward the same end. we're all loving and serving the Church by loving and serving our churches -- sounds simple, but it was a much needed reminder. 

thanks to all of you for being such great hosts and for breathing a little life and encouragement into us! we promise we'll return the favor if you come visit us in norman! (HINT, HINT!)