A weekend with family and friends is always a good idea. Jeff and I took a short trip to Missouri this weekend to celebrate David/Lucy's wedding! It truly did my heart so much good seeing so many sweet faces this weekend ... and also, I love weddings. There's something about growing up and having mini reunions like this that just truly melt my heart ... makes me want to stay in that sweet place forever.
My parents reserved the cutest little home in Missouri. It was a perfect place to disconnect for a bit and it was truly freeing ... even though we did spend much of our time on our phones ... lol.
I LOVED this morning. The smell of breakfast, conversations going, coffee running in the other kitchen, bright sunlight beaming through the windows --- an ideal morning for me. Hehe. I've become a huge fan of mornings and now that I'm on summer break, I have every intention on waking up early to bask in the morning sun.
I just love a slow morning.
After breakfast, we started the day off with a little bit of singing and sharing about what the Lord is teaching us. I love that this family is one that prays together. Y'all, I am blessed with this family here and it truly is from the Lord!
What parents feed their children and how they choose to nurture them becomes very evident in their children's lives. My mother and father in law just get it and knew long ago that how they bring their boys up is going to carry into who they become. I'm so thankful for that and who they are as people who love God. I have much to learn from them!
A few rounds of dominoes ... because Jeff and I love the game, but we have no one to ever play it with!
Jeff and I hitting our 2-year anniversary soon and each day is still a journey. When I woke up to see this huge hill, I knew Jeff and I had to take some running photos. Hehe ... how can you not?!
Friendship is the sweetest. I'm so thankful for these women.
So refreshing to see my family again!
I was telling everyone that when I look at this photo, I could literally just cry with Lucy. Now that I'm married, I know what it's like to walk down that aisle, expectant of all that's to come, but not yet ready for what I'm having to leave. It's such a bittersweet feeling; one that I can't quite describe with words. The longer I'm married (which, let's be real, hasn't been that long yet haha), the more I see God's perfect plan in marriage and how He's orchestrated it to be a sanctifying thing over being a pleasing thing. This idea of "leaving and cleaving" is a tough call, but God has a reason for it and I'm seeing and understanding it now.
Friends from all seasons of my life coming together!!!
We're aging and we know it! I'm not too concerned about this growing up (physically) though. Jeff and I have realized the reality of our bad habits and are making changes to them before they catch up to us. Haha.
Congrats to the happy couple! Genuinely so happy for them.
Seriously, the most beautiful wedding I've been to! So simple, light, and elegant. I love that every moment made space for conversations, mingling, pictures, and a lot of catching up. I even found myself humbled by both David and Lucy and how they chose to carry out their wedding. *sigh. I just really loved it.
Oh tfc fam, how I love y'all. Jeff and I got to talking in the car as we were headed home from the wedding ... and there's just something about our tfc family that we can't let go. I could only think of a few things and the best way that I can sum it up is with the lyrics of New Wine:
In the crushing, in the pressing
You are making new wine
In the soil, I now surrender
You are breaking new ground
Through seasons of being crushed and pruned, a lot of growing happens. In case you didn't know, growth does not always look pretty. Often times, it's uncomfortable. When you're being stretched in ways you're unsure of, life can get a little messy. But when you're doing it among other people who are also walking through their own growing seasons, imagine the greater mess! However, these messes result in a people who have walked with the Lord and have seen His faithfulness and tasted His goodness. While living in the midst of broken people, you really do see the reality of sin in this life, but what covers sin is grace.
Where there is sin, grace abounds all the more. (Rom 5:20)
And I think it's these moments in life that we got to share together, where we saw that reality of sin and instead chose grace, that make it so hard to let these people go. These moments embody what God's called us to do - to love one another, to forgive one another even after seeing the depths of each other's sin, to choose grace, to choose to understand, to choose reconciliation - only because we've first received these things from Christ.
My tfc days, y'all. It helps me to understand the gospel. It helps me to understand grace. It helps me to understand what we're called to do as the body of Christ. It helps me to understand community and our desperate need for it. It wasn't just a place where I got my degree, but it was a place where the Lord was doing something in me and in all of these guys and what's crazy is we got to see it happen ... even today, we get to see it happening! It's the Lord's doing and we simply get to be a part of it! Wow. And then you come out the other side of the tunnel and can't help but rejoice with those around you. I think that's me. Coming out of these seasons, simply rejoicing with each other and holding tightly onto the testimonies of our brothers and sisters that we got to see firsthand. We're so zoomed in when it's happening, but when you zoom out and see the bigger picture, you can't help but rejoice because of what God has done and is doing.
That's the best way I can sum up my love for these people and quite frankly, all the people I get the privilege of walking with! Haha. I hope that makes sense. All in all, it was a good trip and quite refreshing, might I add. Now that I'm on summer break, expect a few more posts from this girl ... 'cause it's been a while. ;)
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