To my best friend

Oh Sweet Leneigh,

It's been two years. Two whole years of being best friends. And I could never tell you enough how great of a blessing you are to me. Like no other friend I've had... You are incredible.

And tomorrow morning, you leave. Big plans, big hopes and big fears for the next year.

But more than all that, a big God.

Being able to witness your growth of love, trust and understanding in Him has been one of my greatest joys. You are fearless, my love. You are unstoppable. You are running after Him like I've never seen anyone run. It amazes me. You are powerful.

I am going to miss you every second while you're gone. I honestly can't believe that I'm not going to see you for something like 286 days... But every second that I'm missing you, I know that it is a second that you are using well. A second that you are bringing the Lord glory and furthering His sweet kingdom. And in all of my selfishness, every second that you're gone means one second closer to you coming home. Home to your family, home to Anthony, home to me.

And while we're here, let me please tell you how amazing you and that boy are. Simply wonderful. You two are Thias and my very best and sweetest friends. The best in all the land. You don't know how much we appreciate you. And Anthony... oh Neighners, he loves you so very much. I can't wait for you two to be together again and start your amazing life!

(.....hopefully here, with us.)

I don't want to write too much, because I don't think much needs to be said... You know it all.

Tell Thailand hello from me.

I love you, best friend. More than I love S'Mores.

Weekend with Michigan Best Friends

What do you do when your best friends are in town?
Well of coarse, you stay up into the wee hours of the night... To crazy, unheard of and ungodly times in the morning.... Just so that you're able to spend as much sweet precious time as possible with them.

 

You go to Goodwill and find great deals, drive around with nowhere to go, spend 2 hours debating what to do that day.... only to wind up at a Chinese Buffet. You skip church and explore the Antique Mall, grill out, sit around listening to boys with guitars...

You hold those moments closer, hug your friends longer,

laugh a little harder, and cry a little longer when they drive away.

Gosh, having friends is good.
Really good.
I've missed the feeling of a best friend around me.

So very thankful for Leneigh, Kayce and Anthony for coming down and spending time with us.

An update in photos

There you go. There's the past 2 weeks. Kind of.

Grand Opening of Matthias & Keilah's Bed & Breakfast

Throughout the next 5 weeks or so, we have every single weekend and most weekdays filled with family and friends visiting us. Holy cow pies!

We are so very excited. Honestly. It's going to be great, and such a blessing to spend time with people who love and support us.

No sleep?!
Bring. It. On.

Break From Reality

Last Friday, I got the blessing of saying hello to some of my very best friends.
Then Sunday afternoon, I had to say goodbye, once again, to those sweet friends.

Matthias and I are completely blessed; we have incredible friends and family who take the time to drive down and visit us. About once a month, we get to see a group of people who we love. Pretty sweet deal, I must say.

This weekend, my best friend Leneigh and old roommate Kirsten came down. With them were two of Matthias' best friends: Anthony (also Leneigh's boyfriend) and Keith.

My heart hasn't been so overwhelmed and full in a very long time.

There are a handful of moments from this past weekend that I've tucked away in my heart...

-Driving home from work, giddy and filled with anticipation to see their sweet faces.

-The first hug, tears and smiles.

-Staying up until 2 in the morning, listening to the boys play guitar in the dark.... Singing and worshiping our sweet God all night, just like we used to.

-The way my living room looks when I walk out early in the morning.... The boys sleeping anywhere they could find.... Couch, chair, next to the TV, under the table... I really do love that sight.

-Morning whispers with my best friend.

-Exploring. Mmmm, exploring.

-The helping hands of people who truly care.... Have I mentioned that I'm blessed?

-Driving down the country roads, singing along to our favorite Lady Antebellum songs. Smiling into the rear view mirror.

-Going on a quick hike, trying to beat the rain. Jumping for "Tarzan Vines" and running up the "You Can Do It" hill. Then running down the mountain, laughing with Keith, not able to get our legs to slow down.

-Laying, spread legged, on the bathroom floor while my husband and best friend dig a tick out of my inner thigh. So great.

-Going to church, singing with my sweet friends "...on Christ, the solid Rock, I stand. All other ground is sinking sand... Til He returns or calls me home, here in the power of Christ I'll stand..."

-Sitting in the back of Matthias' truck, riding with him, Anthony and Leneigh... Thinking, "So perfect, so perfect, so perfect."

-Hugs and sobbing into each others shoulders. Saying goodbye.

-Watching the car drive away, arms out the window and hearing "bye!" and "I love you!" The greatest and saddest sound.

Okay, that was more than a handful I guess.

To Anthony, Leneigh, Kirsten and Keith: Thank you for coming to stay with us. Never once did we feel like "hosts". We wish it could've lasted longer, but we are so very glad for our super fun weekend! I'm pretty upset that we didn't really get many pictures of our weekend.
You guys rock, and we love you.

Before they all drove away, we stood in a circle and said one last prayer. Matthias thanked God for the wonderful weekend and asked for their protection on the drive home. He used the phrase, "Thank you for this break from reality" and it has stuck with me since.

What used to be our every day reality is now just a 'break from reality'. It's amazing to me how life is changing. And also amazing is God's faithfulness through it all. Maybe, Lord willing, our every day reality will one day be similar to this weekend. Oh, how sweet that would be.

Why I'm Happy Today

Aside from being a complete-over-the-top-more-than-usual-emotional-wreck the past couple weeks, I am taking a few moments to write about the things that are making me happy today.

Happy+Blessed+Overwhelmed+Excited+Stressed+Thankful = More Emotional... More Lumps in my throat and stinging in my nose, threatening to make me burst into tears at any possible moment.

Oh, it is so fun. Let me tell ya. Just ask Matthias.

Here's why I'm happy today.

1. Randomly waking up at 5:30ish THREE times this week with my husband. For no reason at all, our bodies just woke us up. Normally, this is an awful thing because I hate loathe waking up before my alarm goes off... but those sweet mornings cuddled up in the quiet have been very nice for us. Mmmm  (:  It's good for my heart to dwell on these simple moments with him.

2. Texting my not so little anymore  cousin, Jenna. She went to her Senior Prom last night. (Man, I'm getting old.) And she looked absolutely gorgeous. I honestly just teared up typing that last sentence about her being gorgeous... see, I'm a wreck. I can't express how proud of her I am and how much I hate that I have to be so far, watching these fun times through facebook and texting.

Sweet, sweet Jenna. Here's us when we were Little Bitties.

I just LOVE her face! And, I know you're jealous of my bangs.

3. Packing. We are moving in 9 days. It is a bittersweet thing. I love having something to do on Saturdays when Matthias is at work... and we are more than absolutely ready to be out of this apartment... but. It will always be 'Our First Apartment'. No matter how much we like it here or not, it's the first place we've ever lived together... The first place I've ever lived other than my parents house and a dorm room... Where we spent our first Married Holidays, Birthdays, etc. We talked (and I cried, of coarse) a little bit about this last night. We'll kind of miss this small little smelly crummy place. (We have too much stuff!)

 

4. Talking on the phone with my best friend in the world, Leneigh, for A WHOLE HOUR this morning. Yes, folks, it was marvelous. It's always great to hear her voice and talk each others ears off when we have a free second. And she doesn't get many of those; she's SO busy. The kind of busy where she's moving to THAILAND in less than 4 months. Holy cow. But that's all for another post.  God is amazing. So proud of her.

5. Last night we signed the Lease for the new apartment! Hip, Hip, HORRAY!

6. Also last night, Matthias and I watched the very last episode ever of Friends. (Greatest show ever to be on TV. Ever.) It took us 2 years, but we finished them all. No words to describe how empty we feel now. We are probably going to start back from Season 1 again pretty soon. Once we find and unpack the Movie Box.

7. Our wedding rings are currently at Kay Jeweler's getting their bi-yearly cleaning/inspection/rhodium-dipping! I am so excited to see my sparkly ring again! My finger is quite lost and confused without it.

8. Playing "Draw Something" with my wonderful Sis-In-Law, A'Lisa. So funny and entertaining.

9. Having a 'First Conversation Ever' with someone who I used to not like very much. I'm so thankful for her forgiveness, and the fact that God can take away the grudges I hold.

10. Big huge reason why I'm happy right here: God got rid of the spiders. I'm not kidding. The last one I saw/killed was a whole week ago. I've been praying hard that He would make them leave and not follow us to the next apartment. I believed He would, and He has. Incredible, He is.

I'm unbelievably thankful.

11. I was reading Leneigh's latest blog post this morning. (Go follow her story, please: http://leneighjanette.wordpress.com/ just click that website!) And it was there that she broke out the most exciting news! She and Kirsten (another one of my best friends) are going to be driving down to visit us in just 27 days. I don't think I'll be able to contain my excitement for that long. I haven't seen Leneigh since our Tim Horton's date while Matthias and I were in Michigan for Christmas, and I'm pretty sure the last time I saw Kirsten was Thanksgiving-time, for breakfast at Bob Evans. Is that right?! WOW. Seriously, I cannot wait. Mark it on your calendars, people, and title it:  

"May 18-20th: Coolest Weekend Ever, Since The Last Coolest Weekend, Of Coarse."

 Love love LOVE them!

And last but not least, number 12. The delicious bean dip I'm going to make tonight. YUM.

Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous things! Psalms 98:1

Congratulations to you if you made it the whole way through this post.

Lovely weekend

This weekend was one of the greatest weekends I've ever had. No joke, folks. It was awesome.

On Friday night, three of our sweet friends from Michigan surprised us came to visit us! Being so far away from home and our best friends is very hard, and we are always so giddy the entire week leading up to when they'll be here. After work, I met them and Matthias at Burger Up for dinner. It was our first time there, and it was delicious! The juiciest burger that's ever been in my mouth. Also, I sipped my first alcohol in a public place as a big-bad-grown-up-21-year-old-lady! Woop! Thanks, Mike! The 5 of us stayed up extremely late into the night, I'm talkin' 2:00 a.m., people. Holy smokes. But it was worth it. On Saturday morning we ate Melt-in-Your-Mouth pancakes and spent about 2 hours deciding what we wanted to do for the day.

We did a little hiking.

A little hydrating.

Some exploring.

The brave men went cliff-jumping. Best friends. They're so sweet.

Kayce Wayce  (:

My sweet boy.

Oh, how I miss seeing her every single day.

Kayce takes wonderful pictures.

We may or may not have had a little run-in with some local police officers.... oops. Great story for the grandkids, right?

Just in case I was thinking that the weekend couldn't get any better, God went ahead and blessed me even more. My little sister was in town on her Spring Chorus Tour. (Go check out MDYC!) Matthias, Kayce and I were all in the same chorus in High School. So we spent the evening catching up with the sweet director and lots of good friends. Also, Sweet Sis and her packing partner were able to stay the night at my apartment! God is so good! We had such a fun girls' night!

On Sunday, we went to church and got gas for only $3.59 a gallon!

We enjoyed naps.

And went to the MDYC concert. GO SISSY!

Oh, hey Anthony...

Beautiful girl.

I love you, Leah. So proud of you!

And now 'tis Monday. I peeled myself out of bed and 6 o'clock and went to work. I took the little girls that I nanny for to their Grandma's house for the day. What a nice way to change up our normal schedule. We had so much fun, all of us! And while the girls were napping, their Grandma and I were enjoying coffee/chatting/reading... Just lovely. Then she asked me if I'd like to go home and take the afternoon off. After the crazy, sleep-deprived weekend that I just had?! Absolutely! So now I'm home, relaxing, my favorite song is on and I'm thinking about going outside and reading some good ole' Harry Potter.

Oh, happy day.

God bless Grandma!

I'll leave you with one of my new favorite pictures.

 So in love with him.