Well, the surprise was supposed to be for Nicole but I am the one who walked away feeling like I received the biggest surprise!
This past weekend I went out to Minnesota to surprise my girlfriend, which her family helped me pull off to perfection, it was so great :) Her first question to me after the surprise was, "So, do you have to leave tomorrow?" It was asked with such pure innocence that my heart melted. My last visit could only be for 36 hrs over Mother's Day weekend so getting to spend 10 full days was quite a treat!
On the plane ride home I was left in awe looking back over the week. GOD blew me away, it is clear He had a bigger surprise planned the whole time. Of course I knew Nicole was amazing, I'm dating her after all, but GOD was about to show me just how incredibly special He made her just for me!
There were no plans made, no agendas to follow, I was just looking forward to doing life together and enjoy whatever it brought our way. That is exactly what happened and so much more!
Nicole works at the Great Harvest Bread Company and had to work most of the mornings but was off by 1pm so I was able to spend time with her mom (who works the night shift at the Mayo Clinic Emergency Room) in the mornings which was so rewarding. Monday afternoon brought a blend of our kitchen talents as we created a delicious gluten free pizza and baked the famous Coley's cookies!
Unfortunately, the camera did not make it out of my bag for the rest of the trip, so rather than pictures being worth 1000 words you will have to read my thousands of words of description :)
Tuesday afternoon we made our way to a State park that surrounded a huge lake (it's true by the way, there are 10,000 lakes in MN, this was Lake #327...later in the week we would visit Lake #4040) and laid out on one of the docks in the sun for hours. We had great conversation and relaxed, enjoying the immense beauty free from watches and phones.
Wednesday afternoon was family time and, of all the days, the one I wish I had remembered the camera for the most! We drove to Northeast Iowa where Nicole's two sister's live. Kristen is the youngest and is married to Elijah and has a son Landen (pictures borrowed from facebook :)
Landen
Kristen, Elijah and Landen
Kristen and Landen
Vicki is the oldest and is married to Matt and has two daughters Maya and Maize and is a few months pregnant with their third child.
Vicki
Matt is in the blue shirt
Maya
Maize
We bbq'd and had a great time on the farm...I even learned how to drive the tractor and was trusted enough to give the youngens a ride :) Just give me a cowboy hat and watch out!
The farm in IA
After a late night on Wed, Thursday was a welcome chill day of relaxing again. We went for a walk in the neighborhood and ended up in a beautiful park where we threw out a blanket and took a nap under a perfectly blue sky. Did I mention the weather was perfect nearly the whole trip! A cool breeze, no humidity, blue skies, warm sun...amazing :) Compliments of my brother, we spent the evening watching Bandits and rolling in laughter.
Friday we took our first official road trip and found out that driving to a place you've never been before that is "out in the middle of nowhere" at night is not really the best plan but we certainly had a blast with the journey :)
Wilderness North
Saturday and Sunday were spent staying at a place called Wilderness North that hosts retreats and is simply serene! Kari and Jeremy (amazing friends of Nicole who were instrumental in pulling off the surprise) met two years ago at a retreat there and made friends with the owners so we all got to spend the weekend there and meet some other couples as well. We went canoeing, hiking, helped with projects around the place, cooked, killed an army of mosquitoes and had a great, relaxing time.
We went to a small town called Two Harbors on Lake Superior for the 4th of July. We shared a salmon dinner from Black Wood's Bar & Grill served on a cedar plank that was simply delectable. Then I was able to introduce Nicole to the joys of Magic Shell over vanilla ice cream! It was quite a treat. We'll have to visit that town again in the future...
Monday we took our time driving back to Minneapolis to catch my flight and spent some time exploring Dulth, MN. That is a beautiful city with incredible views of Lake Superior, it is also home to the Superior Hiking Trail in case you wondered where the best trail was ;)
GOD showed both of us some incredible things throughout the week and the timing of the trip could not have been more perfect (His deal completely!). One of the things that stood out the most to me over the week was how incredibly natural and relaxing the time was. Nicole had no clue I was coming out and all of a sudden there I am in her life for 10 days. She didn't miss a beat, she just let me enter into her life seamlessly. I also found out that by her very nature she encourages me to be true to who I am. Throughout life I've always tried to model myself after other people in my life that I respect and look up to. Just recently I have realized this and started to search out who I am at my core and have been learning to be true to who that person is. Well, come to find out Nicole loves that person dearly and by her just being who she is naturally helps me continue being true to who I am rather than trying to change to impress her or earn her love. It is amazing and so exciting and freeing!!
There are many more stories that will be told over the coming months I'm sure. This has just been a preview of the incredible things GOD is doing and the amazing week I enjoyed :) Love you all!
A special thanks to those that made all this possible:
Kari and Jeremy Erdman
Momma Wendl
Kristen and Elijah
Matt and Vicki
Maya!
