wintery wedding

on a cold day, just after Christmas, Andrea and Jorge committed everything they had to each other. with eyes wide open, minds focused, and hearts full of promise they stood before their friends vowing forever.

their love isn't only of emotion but of the promise that their life together could make more of an impact for eternity. never before have a heard such strong words promised coupled with the recognition of consequence if those promises weren't fulfilled. i was blown away.

my boys

because of rachel....

....i know what it means to have an instant friendship turn into forever,
because of rachel i know what it's like to sing at the top of my lungs, and to run through Walmart hugging strangers.
because of rachel i learned it's okay to have an opinion.
because of rachel i paint my toenails bright red.
because of rachel i fell in love with wes and addison.
because of rachel i love cheerwine slushies in the summertime.
because of rachel i love God more.

rachel and i met 9 years ago. we were assigned to work on the ropes course at a young life camp. she was from texas and i missouri. we became instant friends and because of our differences called ourselves each others other half. we've never lived in the same city and after that month together rarely get to see each other. but, for me, it's the kind of friendship that picks up where it left off. i can be completely candid, quiet, loud, happy, or sad and know that she loves me just the same.

rach- thanks for coming to see us. we had a great time with you all!

it's really not what it looks like, really

one of my favorite times during the month is book club night. i get together with an AMAZING group of women that i adore. we all used to work together and now have sort of scattered, but this keeps us close. so that one time a month we get together, eat really great food, laugh, drink good wine, and maybe talk about the book. some of us are better about reading then others, you know who you are.......

last night was no exception to fun. we met at celeste's house. and toward the end of the night stumbled upon something hiding in her couch. she had knitted an outfit for her cat. while you may wonder, does she have 15 cats? is she 65? does she collect precious moments? does she keep hard candy on her coffee table? no, she is absolutely normal, well except for this minor hiccup. but we all had a good laugh, and i snapped this photo from the camera i keep in my purse. sorry celeste.

the book we read was A Map of the World by Jane Hamilton. READ IT! it's beautifully written, tragic, and very very thought provoking.

the forgotten chey

i took these photos of cheyenne in october and didn't do a blog post! so now here she is, beautiful as ever.

how in the world does she do it?

jennifer is one of those people that must just do well in the midst of craziness. as if law school isn't hard enough, she has a 3 year old little guy and just had a baby- right before finals! so that means she has been raising a toddler in the middle of Contracts, Con Law, and all those other incredibly hard classes- and while i'm struggling with this blog post because deacon is on my lap trying to type his own special message, she focused through morning sickness, the terrible twos and rallied a week after child birth to study and take finals. whoa she's something special