On friendship (and weddings).

sophomore year formal...#typical

In my far-gone college days, I found these three women. There names are Juliann, Emily, and Vanassa. We all found each other in very different ways, on different timelines and as different people, but find each other we did.

Juliann.

Emily.

Vanassa.

Somewhere along the line there was an inside joke and someone made up the word "boodle" and that transitioned into a nickname and now here we are, 7 years later, and we're still the Boodles. These three women have blessed my life in ways I could never put to words. I have been blessed beyond measure by their friendship.

The Boodles.  So much love!

In the past five weeks, two of the boodles have gotten married! On June 9, Emily got married in San Antonio in an incredibly beautiful and joyful ceremony.

 

 

Such a beautiful bride!!

And then, this past weekend Juliann got married in Santa Barbara in another incredibly beautiful and joyful ceremony.

Another beautiful bride!

I can't give words to how grateful and honored I feel to have been a part of these two celebrations. They were vastly different but there was one fundamental similarity - they were ceremonies of praise and promise...praise to the Father who brought these couples together and ordained the institution of marriage in the first place, and promise to love in a way that represents the father who first loved us and who does so perfectly.

 

Bridesmaids :)

It's kind of incredible how four girls who met at 18 can grow up into women, live in four different states, be in four different relationship stages, and have four completely separate lives and yet still be connected in the deepest of ways.  What a gift from our Father!

So blessed.

happy birthday, 'Merica!

I just spent 'Merica's birthday in the mountains with my family...I've been blessed beyond measure.

There's something about riding in the backseat of the car.  Dad driving, mom sleeping in the front seat, dog sleeping in the back and me watching the world go by outside the window....I feel safe.  I feel at home.  I feel like, just for a minute, everything is right in the world.

...I've been blessed beyond measure.

(thank God.)

goodness and freedom.

Oh my goodness.

It's been over a year.  Over a year since I've been here.

Who can say what it is that inspires a person to write?  It's something that gets into your soul.  There are words that rumble around in the depth of you, waiting to be set free.  Sometimes the words catch you by surprise - they set free a truth you didn't even know was buried inside you.  And then...there are times of silence.  There are times when the words abandon you and you learn to find those truths in other ways.  Lately has been a time of silence.

But (without any warning whatsoever) the words are back.

I feel them in my soul, in my heart, itching in the ends of my fingertips.  They beg me to put pen to paper (or fingers to keys) and set them free. There are stories to be told - stories of laughter inspired by the little smiles and inquisitive minds that make up my every day, stories of love and weddings (not my own, but beautiful nonetheless), stories of struggles and triumphs, stories of sorrow and hope.

But most of all, there is the story.  It's the story older than time itself, the one that is told and re-told in my own life daily.  It's the story of Love itself.  Love that overwhelms my soul.

And those stories will be told in good time.  But for today - this quiet, cloudy morning - this is all that needs to be said: God is good.  All the time, God is good.

(He is goodness itself and He has set me free.)

"Truth be known, you’re not alone

Your aching bones will find a home

In the place where God he sets us free"

                                             ~ "Good Friday" by Josh Garrels

favorites and unfavorites on a sunny monday afternoon.

These have been some of my favorite things lately:

- This show-stopping performance by my girl Carrie:

- Eric. He left yesterday to move to Sierra Leone to work for a company called Kiva. It's a really intense job in a really intense place and I am SO PROUD of him. I feel just like a proud little mama :).

(back when I had lots of hair. Eric looks dashing as always.)

- summer sunshine

- That Magnum Bars have made their way to the US. Glorious.

- Gilmore Girls. I just restarted the series (for about the 7th time) and I love it even more every time.

- Summer basketball.

- Flowers and leaves on the trees.

- That this show (and my girl Cat) is coming back SO SOON!

- This song by one of my childhood favorites, Amy Grant, and it's message of God deserving and loving our praise in all of it's forms.

Annnnddd....some of my least favorite things lately:

- Wind. I love gentle wind and soft breezes, but I am not a fan of the gusty, gale-force wind that has been keeping me up at night and making it impossible to spend any extended amount of time outside.

- Having to wait to read Bossypants by Tina Fey. I don't want to shell out the big bucks to buy it, so I put a hold on it at the library, but I am about the 25th person on the list, and at two weeks per person, that could turn into a really long wait.

- Wasps that think in between the screendoor and the main door is a cool place to hang out.

- My own inability to shut up. Seriously. I know I talk a lot, and I try to stop talking so much, and it just never seems to happen. I hate it.

Overall, the favorites are winning. Life is good.

a beautiful, scandalous good friday

I've been thinking about what this day - the day they killed Jesus - must have been like all those many years ago. I can't seem to get past the heartbreak of the faithful who were witnessing all of it. I know the feeling of intense disappointment and disillusionment and just gut-wrenching sorrow. But I am certain that nothing I've ever felt comes even remotely close to what Jesus' followers were feeling that day. Can you imagine it? The man who you believed (with all your heart) was supposed to be your savior...dies. He dies. Can you imagine the heartache? Can you imagine the sorrow? Can you imagine the disbelief?

See...we know the ending. So even when we try really hard to burrow down into the sorrow and to feel the pain of Good Friday, there's still a light at the end of the tunnel. We know the celebration that's coming. We know that in only a few short days, eternal victory will be gained. But on that day, they didn't know the end. They thought it was the end. He was dead. He was gone. And their hearts were broken.

And then...He came back. He won. He finished the battle forever.

I am so thankful that after that intense heartache, there comes the most incredible joy imaginable. I am so thankful for this beautiful, scandalous story that has saved my life.

I can't fully wrap my mind around the sacrifice that was made for me or the countless ways in which I have been saved. I can't comprehend the simultaneous simplicity and complexity of the plan that was executed that has saved me. But I'm unbelievably grateful for it. And I will forever stand in awe (with arms high and heart abandoned) of the One who gave it all.

Go on up to the mountain of mercy
To the crimson perpetual tide
Kneel down on the shore
Be thirsty no more
Go under and be purified
Follow Christ to the holy mountain
Sinner sorry and wrecked by the fall
Cleanse your heart and your soul
In the fountain that flows
For you and for me and for all

At the wonderful, tragic, mysterious tree
On that beautiful, scandalous night you and me
Were atoned by His blood and forever washed white
On that beautiful, scandalous night

On the hillside, you will be delivered
At the foot of the cross justified
And your spirit restored
By the river that pours
From our blessed Savior's side

Amen.

good life.

Here's another song I've been listening to lately. It's pretty much just a constant cycle of this one, the one from yesterday, and the one I'll post tomorrow. They're all just so good.

The sky is grey and it's chilly outside and I'm about to go for a walk with my lovely mom. This really is the good life.

cosmic love.

I've been listening to this on repeat for days now.

I can't get over it.

I don't want to get over it.

(Today wasn't the best. But tomorrow brings the promise of a day off, a walk with my mom, some sun, and some rain.

Life goes on.

I go on.)