Row15

We didn’t make a whole lot of sense. Usually when you witness a group of friends you find a likeness among them. For instance, the group might dress similarly and like the same music or books or movies, and the group will have similar hobbies or enjoy going to the same types of places. But not really with us. Not really at all. We were all so very different. And yet we did have a common thread. We all were young and trying to figure out how to live our lives as an offering to God. Something we all took very seriously. There isn’t a doubt in my mind that we were meant to be. God knew that we needed each other for a season and so it was, whether we made sense or not. 

Beth and I ventured into a new college ministry one Wednesday night back in the Fall of 2002. I am pretty sure that very first night at Breaking Bread someone invited us to be a part of a Discipleship group. {Jenny, was that you? Or Kate maybe?} Beth and I went to the first meeting and we were instantly hooked! We loved the people there. {Side note: We met this guy who walked us to our car. He kept talking about politics! We laughed and rolled our eyes. And now 9 years later Beth has had two babies with him. :) Funny how things turn out.}

If you flip through my journals from that time period in my life you will find all of their names in the pages. Each one of them taught me something about myself, about God, and/or about friendship. That group is very special to me. It was about 12 guys and gals altogether. There were some who trickled in and out, but there was a core group of us who really stuck it out together. We met together weekly in the home of a young couple who set out to mentor and disciple us. I am pretty sure we grew them as much as they helped in growing us. Every week we got together to pray, to read the Word,  to discuss, to dump out our emotional and mental and spiritual baggage, and to wade through the mess together. There were a lot of tears, a lot of laughs, and a lot of memories made. It was amazing while it lasted. As the group dispersed, it was clear that we all were headed in new directions and that our group, while it was meant to be, had served its purpose.  It was time for all of us to move on.  There was no big drama or misunderstanding…it was just time for it to end and so it did. But those friendships and lessons will live on in our own personal history books.

Last weekend the girls of the group had a reunion. At first all 6 of us were going to meet up, but Kate got a job in NY she couldn’t refuse and Abbie kept getting bumped from her flight until there were no more flights to get on! They were both missed tremendously! Beth and I drove to Georgia where we met up with Jenny and Shell drove in from Nashville and met up with us. The weekend was wonderful. All we did was sit in the hotel room, a Starbucks, Jenny’s house, or a restaurant, but it was perfect for catching up on the last 6 years. You can imagine we had a lot of talking to do! These girls were my biggest encouragers in the faith in that ever so formative year in my life. They spurred me on and loved me through quite a bit of junk. It was so awesome to feel like no time had passed. We just fell right back into place. We had new things to discuss and new challenges; we had husbands now and some kids, new jobs, and new cities. But we still wanted what we wanted back then…to live our lives for the Lord and to love others as He called us to. The weekend was like water for my soul. In all honesty, I have trouble finding the right words because these gals mean so much to me and they do so much for my heart. 

Jenny, your sensitivity to the Spirit and the way you communicate what He is teaching you is unique, a Jenny trademark that I admire and love so much about you! Shell, your unapologetic this-is-who-I-am attitude, overflowing joy, honesty, and desire to know and love the Lord is such an encouragement to me and what I love so much about you! Beth, your friendship to me, your honesty, encouragement, love, and willingness to hear me ramble and process through anything and everything while giving me godly council is what I love so much about you! I can’t wait for our next reunion! It will be much sooner than 6 years from now! I don’t know how on earth we survived so long without being together! ;) 

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. - Romans 15:13

felicity

Dear Netflix, thank you thank you thank you THANK YOU for having the show, Felicity, in its entirety available for instant streaming. I love you. Dear Ian Gomez, thank you for accepting the part of Javier Clemente Quintata. You are one of my favorite tv characters of. all. time. Dear Season 2 Episode 9, you did not elude me. I am determined. I found you on YouTube. Dear Self-Control, pull yourself together. Just because all 84 episodes are available now does not mean that they all have to be viewed in one week’s time. Dear Netflix, you do remember what aired with Felicity, right? I don’t want to sound unappreciative because believe me, I am! But I’m not going to lie, you’ve got me hoping and praying that this means I will soon get to relive the angst that is Joey Potter’s life. Just sayin’.

my favorite birthday

**Disclaimer: I had been working on this post for two weeks leading up to his actual birthday. I had written it, erased it, written it, edited it, etc. To complicate matters, the last couple of months we have been dealing with a lap top on the fritz and unreliable Internet connection. I couldn’t and still can’t seem to do him justice. I feel really bad that his post of all posts is the one I post so ridiculously late, but I tried to post it on time. I promise. I doubt my words will convey how great he is, but I will try.

We met in 7th grade. I tell people who ask how we met that his first act of chivalry was dissecting the frog alone in 7th grade science. We were lab partners. We were friends back then. I was the girl dating all the stupid jocks. He was the guy who got to hear me complain about them. In the 8th grade, we had a group project to do and the group met at his house. I wasn’t feeling well that day and he was really sweet to me. When my mom came to pick me up, I got in the car and said, “I may be dating That Guy Who’s Totally in Love with Himself, but I will marry Andrew Thompson some day.” No joke. Here is where you ask me why I continued to bother with the jerks jocks if I said that and here is where I would tell you that that is a great question to which I don’t have the answer. Then 9th grade rolled around and he continued to be all chivalrous and got me through algebra. I would not have made it through without him. He sat right in front of me and this non-rule breaker turned around in his seat to help me many a time when he probably wasn’t supposed to.

That year we went to Orlando for a choir trip. We sat together on the bus and he endured girl talk and Seventeen Magazine with me. During that trip, we went to Church Street, which was an Orlando attraction because of it’s shops, restaurants, and mostly for it’s ridiculously freaky haunted house. As part of the “allure” for the haunted house, creatures roamed the street scaring people, even if you weren’t anywhere near the building. That night he sat in Brookstone with me for hours because I wouldn’t go outside onto the street. I didn’t want to be near anything that scary. I don’t do scary. I like to hear him tell the story because he talks about the moment I grabbed his hand to cross the street and run into Brookstone because some kind of werewolf or zombie was coming towards us. I love that he remembers that and that he will say it was the first night we held hands.

Then I transferred and went to a new high school. We kept in touch, but didn’t see each other much for years. Freshman year of college we IMed {if you have to ask me what that means then you are really young and I am getting old} quite a bit and he will tell you that I am the one who encouraged him to go out for men’s glee club. Then one summer we were both home from college and started hanging out. All the time. And the rest is history. 

He is still my knight in shining armor. We went through another algebra class together. This time he volunteered to take the class with me after clearing it with my professor. He sat in and took the notes so I could pay my full attention to the professor. Then he took me home and sat me down to do the homework and tutor me. {Which was no easy task. I was a hostile and resentful learner.}  I went to the first week of that class without him and failed the first exam. After he started going with me, I aced every single exam and quiz I took. Did I mention it was a 7am class? The man is my hero.

I think I could write enough to fill books with the ways he has shown me how he loves me, and the reasons why I think he is the greatest thing God ever came up with. Two reasons why this post was difficult to write; how do you condense all of that and still portray significant meaning? 

He loves the Lord and it was that quality that made me first believe that I could trust him. He is the greatest friend a girl could ask for and I am so blessed to share life with him. We have been through a lot together. He has loved me at my worst. He has the patience and gentleness of a saint. A SAINT, I tell you! He is good to me. He works hard and he is an amazing husband. I can’t wait to see him with our kids one day. He’s pretty funny too. He can make me laugh and smile in those moments when I don’t even want to. I love him dearly. I don’t tell him or show him that enough. He is my favorite person and my very best friend. His birthday is my favorite of all birthdays.

Babe, I am sorry this came so late. I love you so much! I hope you had a very happy birthday and that this is one of your very best years yet.

so…what’s up with that?

via

So someone said to me recently that my blog had become the birthday post blog. I realize this is true. The reason for that is 1. pretty much half of everyone I know was born in July-September and 2. I have not been feeling like much of a blogger because I've been in a funk. And who wants to read sad, sappy, funky stuff all the time? So most of my bloggity blogging has been birthday celebrating instead of woe is me saga writing. I think I'm back though so stay tuned. Oh, and my next post is going to be Andrew's birthday post. Yeah, I know he was born August 14th. It's been written for awhile now, but since he's my favorite person I had the hardest time writing and perfecting his post. Aaaaaand he is my photo scanner and I was trying to figure out how to scan pics without him so his birthday blog post would be full of surprising, sweet, sentimental snapshots, but alas, he's going to have to scan those puppies tonight because I just can't do it!

1000

This last week I got to my One Thousandth Gift in my gratitude journal. I remember thinking all along as I got closer and closer to #1,000 that I hoped it would be cool, because some days I can write down fifteen things I am thankful for and on others I struggle to write one. So, I thought...what if my one thousandth gift comes on one of those days? And it sort of did.

I've been going through something. It's been in the works for a long time now. And these last few weeks have been hard because I've begun to really deal with that. I think I have been running after and away from the wrong things. For a long time now. And I have started to put those things in their proper places. Slowly. Because old, bad habits die hard, painful deaths.

I have begun to tip-toe away from perfectionism and ideals and it-ought-to-be-this-ways. It's hard to do that. I mean, I put so much pressure on myself and others and it's hard not to because that self-imposed pressure, in all of it's unhealthy glory, gives me a sense of control. So when I am tempted to turn around and pick up one of those idealistic perfectionisms and hold them close to my heart I have to retrain my focus and remind myself what it's all about. Not me. It is not about me. It is about Him. Pursue Him. His Word. His Presence. His Spirit. Him. It is about Him.

My life is not my own. It was a gift. And not only did He give me that, but He did something even wilder. He died to bring me life, abundant and full. And He gave me His Word and the Holy Spirit that I might know Him and know that He is with me.  And when I am running after His heart and His Word, I am pursuing knowledge, wisdom, peace, joy, etc. in the only How-To Manual that I can rely on. The one I have been authoring is quite useless; I can assure you because it is full of impossible expectations and is riddled with formula after formula for failure.

So I am really grateful for change. Though it hurts and it's hard. I am grateful for admitting how flawed I am and how prideful I have been because it takes the pressure off...in a weird way. I am grateful that God loves me and that He is patient and faithful and would never chide me for my foolishness, that He accepts me and loves me as I am. A total mess. And that He calls me out in love through His Word, but doesn't expect me to fix myself on my own because He reassures me that messes are His specialty and if I let Him, He will do the fixing.

And I am grateful that He gave me a wonderful husband because in this world we live in wonderful husbands and good men are rare. But God gave me this amazing man who can handle this mess. Without judgement. Without anger. Without resentment. Without fill-in-the-blank with a sentiment that would be perfectly acceptable and deserved. And he loves me where I am at too. A mess. And he helps me see that this mess, me, I am beautiful because I am a work in progress, not an ideal of beauty to be attained eventually through my self-imposed pressures and perfectionisms.

there’s something about friendship built during the college days

She and I became great friends in college. I can’t remember exactly how we met (Julia, can you? Was it that Speech class?), but I am pretty certain one of the first getting-to-know-you conversations took place in her car. I remember that I just really liked her from the very get go. She is super sweet, but the girl can pack a punch (figuratively speaking). She’s got some spunk in her! I could always count on her to get “worked up” whenever I told her how someone had done me wrong. She may have even uttered the words, “Girl will make me lose my witness” when faced with an encounter of someone who had hurt my feelings. It’s a good feeling to know you’ve got friends like her in your corner.

Maybe we both have some spunk in us…

 

She went with me to adopt Trinity. She actually encouraged me to do it. I am really grateful to her for pushing me because I can’t imagine not having my little Trin. A year later when Julia and I moved in together she and Trinity formed a special bond though Trinity would never admit it. Trinity would curl up in Julia’s lap and pass out, but the second I turned my key in the front door she would spring up and act as if she had been waiting by the door for hours. Julia and I used to joke about it. 

Julia, Beth, and I lived together for two years and it was fantastic! It was so wonderful to come HOME to friends who felt more like family. Julia was a wonderful roomie. She was patient, honest, kind. She cared for me when I was sick and kept me company when I was lonely. We had so much fun together and I will always look fondly on that and part of me will always miss that time in our lives.

Julia brought the party to my bachelorette weekend. Allow these pictures to do the talking...

She and her mother came to the bridal shower I had in Tampa. I had no idea they were coming and I cried when they walked through the door.

 We each were bridesmaids for the other. 

One thing I will never forget about Julia is that she was always Andrew’s biggest fan from the very beginning. Not that my other great friends weren’t, but they were a bit more careful in giving their all out approval in light of the things I had been through. But Julia loved him for me right away.

Julia and I only get to see each other about once a year. I am hoping that will get to change soon as we will be moving closer. I know that I don’t tell her enough how much I miss her and how much I value her friendship!

This week was Julia’s birthday week. I hope you felt very loved and celebrated dear friend! I love you. Happy Birthday!

happy birthday, friend!

I met Rachel through Andrew. Her husband, Brian, and Andrew went to law school together. She and Brian were an answer to prayer! I had been praying Andrew would find good friends while he was in law school because, hey, law school is rough! Andrew being a One L was tough enough, but I ended up in the hospital during his first semester. I was 4 hours away and Andrew had a hard time because he couldn’t be with me. Rachel and Brian invited him into their home on a regular basis and introduced him to one of the dearest church families EVER! They all really helped him through and made what could have been a really difficult time a pleasant one. 

I remember the very first time I met Rachel. It was actually over the phone. I was laying in a hospital bed. Andrew called me while he was at their house and I ended up talking to her, too. I instantly liked her. I thanked her for feeding him dinner every now and then, and I let her know how much she and Brian meant to me though we’d never met. 

The first time we met face to face we abandoned the boys and were in the car on the way to the mall within the first 10 minutes. I knew we’d be good friends. 

She is a wonderful friend. She threw me an amazing bachelorette weekend and bridal shower. She and Brian were both in our wedding. Every year for the last 4 years they have hosted us for an entire week while Andrew goes to a conference in the city they live in, which is always so much fun and so very generous and hospitable of them! They have 2 little boys who are ADORABLE and we have grown to love them quite a bit and enjoy spending time with them just as much as their parents. 

Rachel is the type of gal who has never met a stranger. She instantly makes you feel at ease and welcome. She is the most positive person I know. I honestly have a hard time recalling her complain about anything. I have a lot to learn from her in the attitude and use of speech department. She is stylish and classy. She can do it all -- amazing mama, great wife, good friend, successful business woman, decorator extraordinaire, and she can cook and sew to boot! I love spending time with her and I am so glad God blessed me with her for a friend.

 Happy Birthday, sweet friend! Love you!