Well hello! Long time no talk, my
friends. I have absolutely neglected blogging because frankly, I have had too
much on my heart to put it into words and not enough time to attempt. I am
already more than half way through this semester, which is crazy…crazy awesome.
Ha! I cannot believe that tomorrow is April. That is so exciting. April means
(hopefully) warm weather, sunshine, flowers, Rachel’s bridal shower, and the
last month of school. Bring. It. On. Well, I have struggled to write this blog
for dearly two months now but once I got going I didn’t stop. Ha! SOOO, warning: this is a ridiculously long blog post.
My Sweet Valentine…
This year I got to celebrate
Valentine’s Day for the first time with my Valentine! Who knew Valentine’s Day
could be so much fun? Ha! Unlike years past where Valentine’s Day meant
“Singleness Awareness Day,” it was SO much fun to intentionally celebrate my
sweet love and spend time with him! We took celebrating this year seriously and
celebrated not one but two days. Oh yes! The day before Valentine’s Day, Darin
picked me up and we went to a super eclectic little coffee shop to talk and
hang out and watched a couple of Jon Weece’s sermons on relationships…yup,
cliché. But super awesome. After that we went to a restaurant downtown called
Bellini’s and enjoyed some delicious Italian food and of course enjoyed some great
conversation. A bonus of eating out the day before Valentine’s Day= we had the
restaurant to ourselves. Ha! It was awesome. Then the adventure began. Can I
just preface this by saying how amazing my sweet boy is? That night we went to
Painting With a Twist, which is a painting studio where an instructor teaches
you step by step how to create a masterpiece.
On the night we went, the painting was called “Love Birds.” Fitting, huh? We
quickly learned that neither of us are artists and giggled at how unnatural
everything felt. BUT, we had a really good time laughing and painting and
making a fun keepsake to remember our first Valentine’s Day together. Oh I love
my sweet boy so much!
Well, the fun continued on the real
Valentine’s Day. Sweet boy picked me up from class and surprised me with
beautiful yellow and red roses. I absolutely love flowers! They just make me
happy. After that, we joined the masses and saw Nicholas Sparks’ newest movie,
Safe Haven. We both really enjoyed the story line and enjoyed just spending
time together watching a movie. After that, we went to a restaurant called the
Julep Cup for dinner. We had SUCH a good time there. The people were so nice
and treated us like we were celebrities. Since we went to the movie before
dinner, we missed the crazy Valentine’s Day rush and had the whole restaurant
to ourselves…we tend to do that. Love it! Then we came back and exchanged
gifts...which was awesome. We were both so excited about the gifts we were
giving that the giving and receiving was so much fun. Darin gave me a
pillowcase (and kept the matching one) representing our long distance
relationship. Ha! Hilarious. Totally love it. What a HAPPY Valentine’s Day it
was!
Happy Birthday to Two Amazing Women…
I love grandmas. I love the way
they love and serve their family and the way they so willingly spoil their
grandkids. I love the wisdom they possess and share. I love their hugs. I love
their stories. I love their aged skin and twinkling eyes. I love grandmas. At
the beginning of the month, I got to celebrate TWO birthdays for two amazing
women and grandmas. My sweet Nanny and Darin’s precious Grandma Lois.
March 1st was Grandma
Louis’ 87th Birthday. You would never guess that she is 87. Seriously, she is amazing! To celebrate
the amazing woman and grandma that she is, Darin and I went to Franklin,
Indiana and took her out to eat and visited for several hours. My goodness, we
had the best time! Grandma is so full of wisdom and has the BEST stories! I
feel like I have known and loved her for years. For several hours Darin and I
sat listening to Grandma share story after story and were so captivated by all
that she said. She is so awesome. Grandma is the perfect blend of sweet and
spunky. I love her tight squeezes and the way she pats my hand as she talks.
She is such a special woman and my life is better because she’s in it! Happy 87th
Birthday, Grandma!
The next day, we got to celebrate
Nanny’s 85th Birthday. How fun is that? The whole family met up at
Austin’s Steakhouse and celebrated the amazing woman, mom, and grandma she is.
I m SO blessed to have such a godly, wise, beautiful, kind, gentle, and simply
amazing grandma. She really is amazing. I am so humbled to have such a Godly
grandma, who leads our family to Jesus and loves and serves us in such a
sacrificial and beautiful way. I never seem to have enough time to visit with
my sweet Nanny but absolutely loved celebrating her and the amazing life she
lives. Very few things bring me greater joy than being surrounded by family
celebrating life and love. It was SO wonderful to be surrounded by family,
enjoying great conversations, great food, and some crazy great birthday cake!
Happy Birthday, precious Nanny! I am honored and humbled to be your
granddaughter and really do love you the most, fraid so dearie!
Love Does…
Bob Goff, author of my favorite
book Love Does, came to speak at
Southland…and it was awesome! If you haven’t read this book, do it! Bob has
such an amazing presence about him and absolutely leaks Jesus as he speaks. His
love for God and love for people is inspiring and such a joy to watch. I
absolutely loved hearing him speak and was convicted to, “Love God. Love
People. And Do Stuff.”
Spring Break in the Sun…
For spring break I got to go to
Sarasota, Florida with CSF, which was great! It was SO nice to soak up some
sunshine and just relax on the beach doing nothing but reading, sleeping, and
relaxing. It was great to worship with sweet friends and take time to sit and
reflect on who God is and who He has called me to be. With spring break being
so early this year, the weather was a little chillier than last year BUT it was
still lovely to escape the cold and snow of Kentucky and enjoy some sweet
Florida sunshine!
Sweet Boy’s Birthday…
I had SO much fun celebrating the amazing man that Darin is
for his birthday. The festivities started on Wednesday and lasted through Saturday.
So much celebrating and so much fun. There was a One Day Catalyst Conference in
Lexington on Thursday, so on Wednesday, Darin and Linda came to Lexington…perfect
timing, huh? We took Darin out to eat and surprised him by having his sweet
sister and her family meet us there. We had SO much fun visiting and
celebrating Darin! We absolutely loved getting to spend that time together as a
family celebrating Darin and celebrating the start of March Madness! Thursday,
the fun continued by coming back to Northern Kentucky with Darin and Linda and
having dinner with them and my parents. Phew, putting Linda and my parents
together is dangerous…and completely hilarious. We played Spades, ate some ice
cream cake, and laughed a bunch. So awesome! Friday (Darin’s birthday), we went
to the Pub, watched some basketball, and went to a sweet friend’s wedding.
Saturday was a super fun and relaxing day. With March Madness being at it’s
prime and with Darin being a huge madness fan, we spent the day relaxing and
watching basketball…and more basketball. Ha! While I’m a little basketballed
out, spending that time with my sweet boy was so wonderful. I am so thankful
that God created Darin in His image and am humbled every single day that I get
to love him. He is such an incredibly godly man who points me to Jesus every
day. Here’s to many more years of celebrating, loving, and laughing through
life together!
Mr. & Mrs. Barry...
My sweet Leah Babik is married! So crazy and so exciting. I
am SO excited for Leah and Sean and was so honored to be apart of their special
day. The wedding was “so Leah.” It was so beautifully and creatively decorated,
so genuine and sweet, and was such a joyful celebration of two amazing people
starting their life together. And Leah looked absolutely stunning. She is
always beautiful but my goodness, she was just glowing. On top of all the
celebrating…I caught my first bouquet. Of course, right? Ha! My goodness
gracious. Of all the girls fighting over the bouquet, I reached up (without
heels on) and sort of panicked when I realized I had caught it. Pretty much
hilarious and quite a memory. Congratulations sweet Leah and Sean! I am so
excited to see how God blesses and uses your marriage for His glory. So blessed
by your friendship and love you dearly.
School…
School is school. The studying, exams, and homework seem to
never end, BUT school is going well all in all. I found out last week that I
made it into UK’s Teaching Program, which is exciting! Classes are pretty
average this semester and have kept me super busy sooo needless to say, I’m
ready for summer! Bring it on.
Woodhill…
Woodhill has been absolutely AMAZING this semester. My
goodness. It has been so exciting to see God move powerfully and boldly in the
hearts of our families who live in Woodhill. Gosh, it is so humbling to be
apart of these precious families lives and to have the opportunity to bring
Jesus to them. Woodhill has by far been the most worthwhile thing this year and
has brought me so much joy. I continue to pray for the hearts of my sweet
families and pray that they would see Jesus through me and come to know Him as
their love, their savior, and their redeemer.
He Is RISEN...
Happy Easter, everyone! What a happy and humbling day this
holiday is. I am so overwhelmed by the greatness of our God. I am so thankful
for a God that has conquered death and who loves us beyond our greatest
comprehension. I don’t understand it. Why would God love this broken and sinful
girl? Why would He choose to love me in such a sacrificial and unbelievable
way? I am so thankful for the cross. I am so thankful for the empty tomb. I am
so thankful that Jesus was risen from the dead to save us from death,
hopelessness, despair, and brokenness. Because of Jesus, I am saved. I am
redeemed, restored, loved, and treasured. And I. Am. Thankful.
