A Time for Everything

Every day I'm convinced more and more that life is just a cycle of seasons. Tough seasons, good seasons, sweet seasons, slow seasons and so on and so forth, you get the picture. There really is a time for everything. For those of you older and wiser than me you're probably agreeing whole heartily because you know this lesson far greater than I do. You've lived it longer than I have.

On our plane ride home from Belize I had a mini-meltdown. To be honest, I was on the brink of a meltdown most of the day. I kept swallowing that big ole' lump in my throat until I couldn't swallow it any longer. In all fairness, I warned those around me that one could very well happen so just in case they were unfortunate enough to see my splotchy face, they shouldn't be concerned or surprised.

Ironically enough, I was sitting in the same row as two of my senior girls. Two of my senior girls that are now no longer "my girls" (although to me they'll always be "my girls"), two of my senior girls knowing that this was my very last trip with them. My very last time to be their leader. Although my meltdown was caused by many things, mainly exhaustion, it also had to do with the fact that leading that group of girls was over. My season with them was coming to a very quick halt. The tears came freely. It was the kind of tears that even trying to stop them was next to impossible.

They've joked with me all year about crying when they left, but I always told them I wasn't that sad to see them go. Of course, I was always kidding but it finally hit me that those girls the Lord had allowed me to pour into for two years, were about to enter into a different season of their own. College.

In a way, I feel like a parent dropping their kids off at school wishing them the best and loving them from afar. Of course, I am clearly no parent and I don't know exactly how that feels, but I can imagine it's somewhat how I'm feeling letting these girls go on a very minuscule level.

It's so bittersweet because on one hand, I am thrilled to see how the Lord will grow and use them in college. College was such a turning point for me and my own relationship with the Lord. It was a time when my faith really became my own and I took that and ran with it! I know God wants the same for these girls and I'm jealous for them and their love for Jesus. I don't know what the next four years looks like for any of them, but I know if they follow hard after Jesus, they won't be disappointed. That alone excites me! I'm already looking forward to our reunions at Thanksgiving and Christmas when I get to hear every detail of what life is like for them. It makes my heart so happy. Of course I'll miss them, but on the other hand, I get a whole new group. A new, fresh start with a huge group of Freshman girls that, God willing, I'll get to serve, love and pour into for the next four years. That alone gets my nosy personality excited. Y'all, four years! That's a long time to get to watch them grow into young, Jesus-loving girls.

This is always a great anxiety to me, being entrusted with these girls, but I know the Lord has wired me to love and serve these girls the best I can so I trust Him that He knows what He's doing through me. And I pray I do it with excellence.

This past Sunday night the Lord gave us one more fun night at a hotel to just all be together. I'll be completely honest and tell you that no serious conversations took place, no tears, just a fun night of games, laughing, IHOP at 1:30 a.m. and just being together. It was fabulous! I was and am so drained from all the trips that it was good for not only me, but also for them to just relax one more night with familiar people before they move on!

Because I've done the whole college thing and left folks behind, I know there is a certain dynamic that will change in my relationship with these girls. I won't see them weekly. I won't get to nag them and ask them the hard questions every time I see them. I won't get to tease them about the boy they're currently dating or have a crush on. But at the same time, I know that my investment in them is far from over. I won't stop loving them. I won't stop praying for them. I won't stop caring for them and I most certainly won't stop asking them the hard questions.

More than anything, I'm looking forward to a new season with my new girls, and a new season in my relationship with my old girls. They'll grow. I'll grow. They'll change. I'll change. Life will happen, but Jesus will always be our focus.

I'm so proud of these girls. So proud of who they've become even in just the two short years I've had the privilege of serving them. Even at this moment we have an ongoing facebook message board where the girls are continuing to pour their hearts out and ask for prayer for hard things they're dealing with. They really want to honor Jesus in all they do and I couldn't ask for anything greater.

I love you girls dearly. Thank you for giving me huge glimpses into your lives. I can't wait to see what God-fearing woman you will become in these next few years at school. I know it will be greater than I can imagine.

I mean, come on, let's just be honest here! ;)

Sweet Shannon!

Mary loves me. Can you tell?!


We won't even chat about how far Loribeth is moving. ;)

JOY!

Kara, our in house ballet dancer.

Laura Lou!

Hannah banana!



Thank you, Marriott for providing us one last night of fun all together.

So this was supposed to be a sad face picture. Apparently, they're happy to be leaving us. As they should be. ;)


Sleeping picture fail.

LAUGHING!

Sweet Sara! I love you to bits. Even when you laugh at me as I slam on the accelerator as my car is in park. :)



"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven." Ecclesiastes 3:1

Too Skinny?

I am sick.

Well, not really sick, but hang with me.

My friend, Tara, posted these pictures on her blog about this girl on the Tyra Banks show that has recently tried out to be on America's Next Top Model.

I wanted to puke when I saw them, for multiple reasons.





1) What is this showing our girls? What is this showing our woman? That we should strive to be this skinny? A skinny that isn't even healthy?

2) Although we know in our hearts this is not the weight we are to achieve, in our heads we desperately want to be the skinny, beautiful girl that we think gets all the attention and these pictures don't help.

3) How does it help our comparing issues? Ugh. I just hate it.

4) Also, would homegirl please eat a cookie? Some cookie dough? A bowl of ice cream? Something, please.

It rips me apart to hear so many girls I'm around degrade their own bodies and discuss how "fat" they are and how discontent they are with their bodies. Or just always comparing what size they wear to their best friends. I know some of it is attention, they want some sort of attention and they'll get the inevitable pretty comment if they say things like that. I also know this is a legitimate struggle that is far and wide among young girls all they way to ladies in their 70's. But it still makes my heart hurt.

I'm not saying I don't struggle with this, but if I let it consume me we all know the kind of ditch I'd be in. I'm saying let's strive to honor our bodies in a healthy way. Let's not neglect or go overboard, both are sin.

And in the meantime, join me in praying for our precious girls. The ones who are caught in a death trap. It breaks my heart.

And for the love of stars, please eat a piece of cake every once in a while.

Rebuilding Galveston

A little over three weeks ago, I piled a few middle school girls into my small SUV (all of whom sat in the back seat which I thought was hilarious) and we headed to Galveston for the week, along with 25 other students and adults. It was our middle school mission trip and although both David and I, our middle school pastor, were very hesitant because of the physical labor we'd be doing, the students honestly blew us away! They worked so hard all week and served the residents of Galveston like you wouldn't believe. I've never been more proud of them!

One of the girls tagged me in a note on Facebook about the week and instead of me writing a re-cap, I'm completely hijacking hers and using it. Not only did she do an phenomenal job, but it's neat to see the trip through the eyes of a student. I hope you are encouraged and inspired by how the Lord is working in a through this generation of students. Oh, how I pray their love for the Lord only grows more and more!

wow. all i can say is wow. its so amazing how just five days in a place in need can change your life forever. most people would think that being served and living in luxury for five days would be the perfect experience, but being in Galveston and serving the Lord along with his people was truly the best experience anyone could ever ask for.

(i know this note is long, but just bear with me.)

1. The Mission during the five days in Galveston our goal was not only to help rebuild the houses that had been destroyed by hurricane Ike, but also rebuild lives and the hope in the hearts of the people who lived there. During the week we would think about the people in need and reach out to them as best as we could. we found that the need to rebuild houses came in second to the need of prayer, lights of Jesus, hope, courage, and strength in that community.

2. The People when most people think of Galveston, they think of the beach and the pretty beach houses that stand, or stood, in that city. but once you get there and see the people that live there and have suffered from economic depression and the hurricane, the beach totally flees your mind. you see the people in poverty, the destroyed houses, the drug addicts and alcoholics and homeless people who seem to have forgotten all joy in life before it went in a downward spiral, and you get a feeling in your gut that there has to be some way you can help, you just have to.

3. The Conditions where we stayed was far from hotel status. there was two big rooms (one for girls, one for guys) with no air conditioning, no TV or computers, holes in the floors where creatures could crawl up, and bunks lining the walls. combined with another small youth group from Houston, the girl shared 5 showers and the boys shared 2. there were 29 of us from cypress bible only on the trip. the mosquitoes seemed to be starving to death 24/7. when we would walk from the rooms to the fellowship hall, or anywhere else for that matter, there would almost always be a trail of mosquitoes behind you eating you alive. we came back with what seemed like millions of bites on our legs. this is where "we're serving the Lord, we're serving the Lord" comes into play over and over in your mind.

4. The Work When the six78 students teamed up with EFCA and Galveston Bible Church, we were immediately told what our duties would be for the next few days that we stayed there. we would be non stop painting and mudding two houses that had been destroyed by hurricane Ike and were being rebuilt by several teams that were with EFCA for the rest of the week. we would also be part of the daily clean-up. when we heard this we had to constantly remind ourselves that we were doing this for God, and we had to put others needs behind our own. it was only through God that we were able to get through that week with cheerful hearts and attitudes, and a sane mind. our jobs were finished on time and we had reached our goal. thanks to the Lord, of course.

5. The Prayer when were on the verge of passing out from paint fumes and in desperate need of a break, multiple people at a time would go on what we call "prayer walks". this is where we would walk around the neighborhood and pray for what we saw. sometimes it would be prayer for a closed business or a vacant home that was wrecked, or a praise that a house would be standing or the smiles on kids and adults faces were still appearing. not only did we pray for our surroundings, but we would walk up to people on the streets, no matter who they were or what they were doing, offer them a cold water and ask them if they needed prayer for anything. sometimes we would get weird looks and the people would politely say "no thank you." other times we would be told "God knows what i need." our response to those words would be "well, God bless you." and we would be on our way, silently praying for them and whatever they were going through. but the times that were so close to our heart were the times that the person would look at us with shock and gratefulness in there eyes and nod their head with much enthusiasm. they would tell us their prayer request(s) and we would ask if they would like us to pray for them right then and there, or as we walked around the neighborhood. it was so special when they would ask us to pray for them right there. when we would finish praying, we would look at the person we were joining hands with. there were two reactions to our prayers most of the time. a) a huge ear-to-ear smile that showed a great joy that could lighten anyone's heart. or b) tears running down their faces and big hugs all around. every person. whether they declined or accepted the prayer, was close to our hearts. we also went to a bible club for kids where about ten kids were lead to Christ by our junior high student. we held a free hot dog cookout the last work night of the week and prayed for dozens of people there. it was absolutely incredible.

6. The Pleasures most of our time in Galveston was eat, sleep, work, and pray. but who says we couldn't have a little fun? we went to the strand, an oldies-looking shopping center with lots of stuff to see and buy, the movies, where we watched Despicable Me (so cute!), the beach, and of course the lovely fast food restaurants that had air conditioning (this is where we would say "praise the lord, we're not sweating!"). but the amazing thing is, although those things were fun and a great way to relax, the most joy i had all week was serving others. weird, huh?

7. The Overall Experience Galveston was overall the most amazing experience of my life. it wasn't luxurious or air conditioned, but it was a week filled with hope and total humbleness and surrender to God. i wouldn't have traded that trip for the world. i'm sure others would agree with me when i say it was spectacular.






Our living quarters. It was no San Luis, that's for sure!

That blue line? Yup, it's the hurricane IKE line. Crazy to think how much of La King's and the entire Strand was under water and severely damaged.

Some super adorable girls! They're about to be my new small group. I'm getting so excited! New freshman!

My bunk.




Down the hall to the bathroom...

Looking beautiful after painting one day!

Such a great group of students!

Long Time No Talk

You know the worst thing about traveling and being away so much? I never quite know how to re-enter into blog world. I want to make it as graceful as possible, and that's next to impossible.

The issue is, I still have yet to talk about my vacation to Colorado, and now I have a week of Galveston and Belize under my belt, both of which were mission trips, so it's a mouth full. And to top it off, in between all that I had a little 24 hour (or less) girls getaway that would be fun to blog about as well.

So I'll say this, I do plan to blog about every trip. Quite frankly, I want to blog about them because they were both amazing and since I consider this my scrapbook, I want to remember them in some way shape or form, so I'll ask you to be patient with me! I still have about two weeks of summer activities left with our students, so I'm going to soak up that time and blog when I can! Who knows, maybe once I get started I won't stop. That would be lovely.

One more thing, I am flat exhausted! I haven't really had a chance to rest since I've been home and all adrenaline is soon to leave. I don't find it ironic at all that my podcast of choice this morning was about taking time to rest before we explode. Truly taking time to rest in the shadow of His wing. It was a short Life Today podcast, so I had no way of knowing the subject matter and it was just what I needed. Thank you, Jesus!

Okay I lied, one more tidbit, after being in non-air conditioned conditions the past few weeks, yesterday was the first day I was able to get up, shower, not get out sticky and wet, get ready in the air conditioning and actually put on make-up and straighten my hair. I felt like a GIRL and the Lord said it was VERY good!

I'll leave you with our group picture from Belize outside our hotel in San Pedro during our "fun" day. We got to go snorkeling in Ambergis Caye and I was in awe the entire time! Our God is good, y'all. And His creation is phenomenal.

Love you all! Thank you so much to those of you who took time to pray for these trip. The prayers were felt and answered!



P.S. I couldn't leave this out, soon and very soon I'll have a brand new blog make-over and I'm thrilled to bits! Be on the lookout! Maybe that alone will inspire me to be a better blogger. Ha! :)

An Unexpected Blast

Yesterday I had a very unexpected fun day.

I know that Fridays are normally a day worth celebrating, but yesterday was exceptional.

Of course I started the day at work, but I had a very fun lunch date to attend that included my BFF's Joanna and Jen.

Joanna currently lives in Montana (we like to call her Joanna Montana) because that's where her hubby is based for the Air Force. (We're THRILLED because soon and very soon they'll be moving to the SOUTH! Can I get an amen? Montana is WAY too far from Texas.) Anyway, they were in town so we were tickled pink to dine with her. I picked her up and we met Jen near the Galleria and enjoyed some chatting and calories at a Chinese restaurant. It was fabulous! These lunches are rare. And that's an understatement.

Our time was limited, but I would give anything to even spend just 10 minutes with them. I love that I got to pick up Jo because that means we got some extra chat time in!

Can we just take a moment and praise the Lord for girlfriends? There is truly nothing like them. Such a gift! I do not take my friendships for granted one bit. Especially the ones the Lord has blessed me with for my entire life. There's a bond that can't be broken. And I believe that bond is Jesus.

Me and Joanna! We're pretty much picture happy.

Jo and Jen!

Because we don't have enough pictures together...:)

This is the best we could do to get all 3 of us in a picture. It reminds me of our weekend in Las Vegas.

We always, always miss Sally when we get together, but our homegirl lives in Kentucky! Will we ever all live in Texas again? Oh, I hope so! We love you, friend! (Thankfully, I got to spend some time with Sal just last month and it was glorious!)

After I dropped Jo off, I ran some errands for work then headed to the office to wrap up there.

It was after work that my night got exciting.

My little brother has been in town this week from camp and we've talked about trying to get tickets to see Wicked while he was in town (for one week), but our schedules proved that to be quite impossible.

Until last night.

We decided on a whim, knowing the show was completely sold out, to drive down to the Hobby Center to see if by any chance we could score some tickets.

We arrived super early and the first guy we talked to left us hopeless. (We obviously assumed we wouldn't have a chance, but we live on the edge like that.) As we were walking out to leave, I told him we should just stay just in case anybody happened to have an extra or turn one in. He was up for waiting so we did.

Then we saw a lady that looked legit, so he decided to ask her. (Listen folks, he's never seen the show, he was desperate!) She clearly knew more about the ticket process than the other man and her answer to him about getting tickets was, "It's slim, but possible." She told us to wait and she'd keep us updated.

We found ourselves to chairs and took a seat. After a while she told us there were two tickets, but that a couple was in line ahead of us and if they didn't take them, they'd be ours! At this point we were excited, but didn't get our hopes up. I mean, who wouldn't take those tickets? When we asked her how much they'd be, she gave us a distorted look and explained that they were FREE!

Um, excuse me?

People pay big bucks to see Wicked. Especially for where those seats were located.

We waited a little longer, than about ten minutes before the show started, she walked over to us and handed us the tickets. We both about fell out of our chair. I think our jaws even dropped. Literally. Talk about an unexpected blessing! Honestly, we were prepared to leave without seeing the show. But God is so good, and loves little surprises like that. We were beyond grateful and I'm not sure how many time we told that lady thank you and how grateful we were.

We rushed to our seats right in time for the show to start. I know it was my third time to see it and I just saw it a few weeks ago, but I'll say it time and time again, this show does not disappoint. At intermission, right after Defying Gravity is sung, Kev came over to me and I swear there were tears in his eyes. He's been wanting to see it so bad! And it's flat amazing to those that appreciate the theater.

Needless to say, we left last night a very happy brother and sister, feeling super blessed. Not to mention it was just a fun date before he went back to camp today to finish out the summer!

Thank you, Lord, for unexpected blessings!

I hope you've all had a great weekend! I'm currently letting a load run in the wash as I pack for our Galveston mission trip starting tomorrow. I would SO appreciate your prayers as after this trip, I head to Belize with our high school students. It will be an exhausting two weeks in many ways, but I have no greater joy than to watch these students fall more in love with God and serving Him!

Apples, TOMS, Sprinkles & Belize

Today I had some grand plans to sleep in, relax, blog about Colorado, unpack, clean and so on and so forth. Truly, I've not had almost one day actually at home this entire summer. And the fact that there's only a few weeks left of summer completely kooks me out.

Anyway, all those plans went to the dump with Michaela had the perfect plan to kidnap me and Bethany and drag us to the Galleria area so she could get fingerprinted. Obviously, that wasn't the draw, but when she mentioned Sprinkles Cupcakes, I was automatically on board. A day with those girls in uptown Houston eating cupcakes? Yes please!

We left about 9:30 this morning, then after her little errand we spent the rest of the afternoon goofing off. It was so much fun! I think what makes it more fun is these girls are my future roommies, so knowing we can enjoy a day together makes me excited for what's ahead. I'll definitely miss my current living situation. We have a few laughs ourselves!

After getting finger printed, we headed to Central Market for some lite grocery shopping. It was there that I got to taste a little bit of heaven, the "envy" apple. Bethany stumbled upon the samples and after I tried one slice, I was sold. They are a mix between Braeburn and Gala apples and the sweetest, crispiest apples you'll ever taste. After dinner I had my habitual apple and peanut butter that I'd been looking forward to every day, and it was glorious. I was like a little girl on Christmas morning slicing that thing. For those of you that don't know, I have an odd apple obsession. I'm such an apple dork.



After Central Market we had lunch at Brown Bag and then we headed to an outdoorsy and nature type store that hosted a ton of fun trinkets. We played more than anything before getting serious about finding me some red TOMS, but unfortunately, they didn't have my size. I was so tempted to by the children's book, Everybody Poops, because I'm really mature like that, but upon browsing the pages, we decided it was too explicit. ;)

Fortunately, Nordstrom's was right around the corner and they sell TOMS so we headed straight there. I was so thrilled to find out they had my size! I thought for a split second about whether or not I should buy the ash color or red, but went with what I've always wanted, which was the red TOMS. I'm now praying I can actually pull them off!



Aren't they so fun? They're actually fairly comfortable, too.

After that unexpected trip to the Galleria, our lunches we settled and we drove ourselves to Sprinkles. The cupcakes are so rich there that it would be a sin to go there full. An empty stomach is an absolute must.

We only waited in line for about 10 minutes then purchased these delectable treats!

Go ahead, take a look for yourself.

Is your mouth watering yet? I don't mean to make you jealous, but it should be.

Here is Bethany very excited about her cupcakes. Why wouldn't she be?

Michaela digging straight in! Yum!

I had a moment of silence before devouring my Black and White cupcake. It was only necessary.

Here goes nothin'...

The perfect treat for a great day!

If you've noticed that I speak of shopping and eating a lot, you're not imagining things. It's my weakness.

I came home and took myself straight to my step aerobics class. I haven't been since May so it about killed me and I seemed to be very uncoordinated, but it was fabulous. There's nothing like getting a good dose of endorphins. For our abs segment she made us do 360 sit-ups and to say that I'm feelin' the burn would be an understatement. Oh, but I love it!

Lastly, and on a completely different note, as most of you know we're taking our high school students to Belize in two weeks and we have a little blog to keep our friends and family updated. We would love your prayers as we prepare and as we're there! Our missions pastor caught me at church on Sunday and had me film a quick blurb about the trip. To keep updated, you can read more here at our Building Bridges website! We appreciate and covet all your prayers!

Hope you all had a marvelous Monday. I'm all about alliterations today. Not to be confused with alterations.

Okay, I'm delirious and signing off.

Lindsee the Builder

Hey strangers! I landed back in hot, humid, nasty weather Houston on Thursday evening and haven't stopped since. I totally plan to blog about my vacation to Colorado, but in the meantime, I think sharing my new hobby with you will hold you over.

Friday morning I headed straight to a retreat center for our Belize 101 team planning retreat. These are the rookies of the team that have never been on a mission trip before, so we did some very basic training and team building exercises and it was all around a great, productive time! The main job this team has while we're in Belize is they will be building beds for the camp we'll be staying at. They will also be doing other things, but it will mainly be a lot of physical labor.

To prepare them for this, a crash course in power tools was only necessary. Building a side table was their job this weekend! Although I'll mainly be serving with and helping the 201 team, I figured paying close attention could only help me.

I never imagined they'd actually let me touch a power tool.

Let alone use it.

But alas, they did.

I have to admit, it was quite intriguing. And fulfilling.

And although I'm almost one-hundred percent positive God's call on my life is vocational ministry...

I'm not sure He hasn't called me into carpentry.

I mean, check out that form. And confidence! Doesn't it suit me?

No? You don't agree? Well, I'm not sure Jen's husband Grant does, either. Upon seeing this picture he said, "Let us pray for Belize and those students."

Pray you will.

Build I will.

Forget Bob the builder, Lindsee's in town!

I've got all your carpentry needs covered.

The Weekend I Didn't Take Any Pictures

Although it’s already Tuesday, I felt the need to blog about the weekend. Better late than never, right?

Here’s the deal, though. I spent this weekend doing one fun thing after another and guess how many pictures I took? ZERO. Nada. Zip. Whatever zero is in Spanish. It saddens my heart that you’ll have to imagine all that went down, but sometimes our imagination paints a prettier picture than the real thing, so I’m hoping you’ll let your imagination run wild for this post.

We’ll start out with Friday. If I did have pictures they would be of me and two friends starting the night out at Lupe Tortilla. But before that, imagine God flooding the earth. Though He promised to never do that again, I’m certain Houston was under threat of it. We got the remnants of hurricane Alex, and it was no game. Sweet mercy, I just kept singing all day, “the rains came down and the floods came up…” with a feisty attitude because I was over it.

Normally rain wouldn’t have that kind of effect on me, but I was being really selfish and needed it to end because that night after dinner, we had grand plans to drive downtown to the Hobby Center to see the Broadway musical, Wicked. Let me be even more honest by telling you that I was more worried about my hair than anything. My hair doesn’t last 3 seconds in that weather and my selfishness reared its ugly head again when I refused to wear it curly or up.

Thankfully, after dinner we did indeed make it downtown with no issues, but unfortunately, humidity won the battle over my thick mop and I put it up. Once Wicked started, however, hair was no longer an issue. I was smitten.

This was my second time to see Wicked and it was yet to disappoint. Overall, it was such a fun night with great food, amazing entertainment and fun friends!

Saturday I was able to sleep in, praise you, Lord and then I got up and ready for a cookout we were having at another friends house. And not just any ol’ cookout, their backyard is a theme park complete with a swimming pool, a zip line, volleyball net, and other fun things. We were all supposed to bring a snack to share and I got all patriotic and made a Fourth of July Funfetti cake. My friend Missy gave me that idea and I was shocked I didn’t think of it myself. I was going to bring just a bag of chips or something. Lame!



Unfortunately, the rain put a damper on our outdoor activities, but towards the end we were able to enjoy some time outside.

If I had my camera, you would have seen a bunch of girls sitting around the table chatting, and the men roaming around aimlessly as they waited patiently for the rain to stop.

After the party, as if I hadn’t eaten enough, I met my parents for dinner at a Thai food restaurant, then went home and crashed.

Sunday our church only had one service and I sang in the praise team. I don’t get to do that too often because of other responsibilities on Sunday mornings, but when I do get the chance, I love it. We had a great service then afterward I had enough time to run home, grab a quick bite to eat and take a nap before heading to another cookout with some of my favorite people. Also known as my parents small group. Their small group has been together since I was practically in the womb, which makes these peeps family. We had a great, relaxing time swimming, eating and chatting. Then that night we enjoyed a nice fireworks display from their backyard.

Monday I joined Jen at her parents’ house and we played in the pool with her niece and nephew and just enjoyed chatting. I haven’t seen her since my birthday which is just wrong since we do live in the same city. After a while Jack, Jen's dad, put up a tent for Grace to play in and we totally cramped her style by getting in it with her. Of course, we were prepared with our laptop and People magazine, but that's how we roll. ;)



That night we ate dinner with my parents, then we all went our separate ways, in which I grounded myself to my room to pack. That is until the Bachelorette came on. After that train wreck, I successfully finished washing all my clothes, then organized them to pack. Which will be the story of my life for the next month.

It was a fabulous weekend despite my photography fail.

But you know what I'm looking forward to more than anything? That would be my ridiculously early flight to Colorado tomorrow morning. So early, in fact, that we arrive at 7:30 A.M.

That means I better quit blogging, and that I won't be blogging until I get back. I'm so looking forward to some R&R in one of my favorite places in the world.

Have a blessed week, sweet friends!

Until we meet again...(Imagine me tipping my imaginary hat!)