Muscatine, Iowa: Meeting Miss Emelia.

It’s hard to stay away from a place like Muscatine, Iowa.

Especially when your new-born niece lives there, and she is as sweet as Miss Emelia.

Meet Emelia Grace Goodall, everyone.  

This beauty was born to my brother Jeremy and his wife Sarah on May 17, 2014.

Emelia was starting to smile lots while we were there.

It was super special to take in these moments, and spend some time getting to know our darling niece.

 

Congrats, Jer & Sarah.  You guys are fantastic parents to Emelia already.

It’s beautiful to see your support for one another and the way you two embrace this new stage of life with such flexibility and joy.

Thanks for the awesome times in Muscatine!

Kansas City.

Kansas City held a heartwarming reunion with our dear friends, the Keels.

We arrived in New Zealand the very same week as this amazing family, and shared in the joys, wonders, and bewilderment of moving to a new country and continent together.  It felt so good to be in their presence again, share stories of adjustment, and validate that the experience of going to New Zealand was indeed real.

It was very special to share some wonderful times with our friends Tim, Mimi, Mabry, Annie & Blaise in their very cool hometown of Kansas City.  Some of the highlights included:

Kansas City Barbecue.

I didn’t know it was a thing.  But it is.  It is QUITE a thing.  Kansas City BBQ is a culture unto itself that must be experienced to be understood.  Tim & Mimi took us to some of their favourite BBQ joints.  Our first Kansas City BBQ experience was takeout from Oklahoma Joe’s, a BBQ place run out of what looks like a gas station.

Make no mistake- Oklahoma Joe’s is serious BBQ business.

Brendon savoured his Z-man sandwich, while I thoroughly enjoyed my beef brisket (sans the bun.)  I appreciated the thin slices, minimal fat, and thorough application of bbq sauce.

Then we encountered L.C.’s.  L.C.’s has been known to have the “slickest floors in Kansas City.”  We’re talking smoky, messy, rustic style Kansas City BBQ here.  The kind of bbq where the air is a thick, translucent haze, rolls of paper towel sit on the tables and slices of white bread are used to sop up the glorious mess on your place.  It was epic.

Mel’s first major league baseball game.  

Mimi’s dad generously got us tickets to see the Kansas City Royals play the Detroit Tigers from the 4th row … pretty amazing viewing the game from there!

Visiting Jacob’s Well.

Tim started Jacob’s Well Church years before moving to NZ, then returned as Senior Pastor.  Mimi is also the Director of Children’s Ministry.  An inspiring place to visit.  One afternoon, Brendon had the chance to share his thesis work with some of the pastoral team there, which was an encouraging and affirming experience for him.

Kansas City Coffee.

The coffee scene in Kansas City was awesome.  None of our cafe experiences disappointed in the least; mind you, Tim had hand-selected them all for us, so we knew they would be good.  Coffee highlights of the city included:

Quay Coffee- A really nice geisha full of florals and gentleness.

Second Best- Some nice espresso, a Kenyan pour over, and a crunch peanut butter affagato.

Oddly Correct- An enjoyable cappuccino and an exceptional old fashioned sour cream glazed donut.

PT’s Coffee- A Colombian (single origin) espresso, Kenyan pour over, and iced almond chai.

Meeting Jeremy Collins.

We were on our way to the cafe Oddly Correct when Tim mentioned we should stop in and visit his friend Jeremy who works in an artists space next door.

Jeremy kindly took the time to share some of his work with us, including some sketchbooks from a recent trip to Venezuela, and the trailer to his upcoming film, Drawn.  It’s hard to explain what our brief visit with Jeremy did… invigorated/stirred our souls a bit maybe, or gave us a hope that people really can find ways to incorporate their passions and live out their convictions in ways that are possible and meaningful.  Jeremy’s film, Drawn, is being featured as part of the Banff Film Festival, and premiers in Banff this fall.  We are going to try to be there for it.  You can watch the trailer here.

Miscelaneous gems.

Kansas City far to cool to be thoroughly explored in 3 days.   We probably just touched the tip of the ice berg really, but here are a few other places that stood out as being exceptionally awesome:

Little Freshie has amazing gourmet snow cones.  Blackberry lavender, anyone?  Or green tea pear?

Utilitarian Workshop is a super cool design store full of local handmade jewellery and other beautiful objects.

Our time in Kansas City was overall rejuvenating and inspiring.  The Keels spoiled our socks off and we are so thankful for the time that we could spend with them.  Thanks so much, Tim, Mimi, Mabry, Annie, & Blaise for making our time in Kansas City so epic!  Until next time, friends! x

Next stop: Muscatine, Iowa.

Cross-continentals.

New Zealand, being relatively small in size (comparative to Alberta), was pretty easy to get to know over the course of our time there.  Canada on the other hand, is a much different story.

Upon our return, we realized we hardly knew our home country and continent in comparison to the way we had come to know and appreciate New Zealand.  To remedy this, summer of 2014 would hold a cross-continental road trip for us, with a final destination of West Quaco, New Brunswick.

After spending a few days in Edmonton celebrating Canada Day and catching up with friends, we packed up our 2000 Toyota Corolla (crossing our fingers and hoping she lives up to her longevous Toyota reputation) and hit the road.

First stop: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, the place of Mel’s birth.

We had a nice visit with Nana and Auntie Judy, and shared a coffee with a high school friend of Brendon’s, Jordan, and his wife, Lauren.

From here, we began our venture south to the destination of Rapid City, South Dakota.

We met up with our friend Josh and the Corys (B’s friend Cory and his wife, also named Cory) who are due with their baby any day now.  Cory and I even fit an impromptu maternity shoot.

The Corys were gracious hosts and awesome tour guides around their quaint city, which features statues of all the former US presidents on the street corners.

We posed for a photo with John Adams.

The scenery through South Dakota was actually quite striking at times.  They had a neat badlands region just outside of Rapid City, and some stunning rock formations which jetted starkly out of the flat surrounds.

From there, we were on to Kansas City.  More on this in the next post.