chairein!!

last week my lovely best friend courtney joined me at tuesday night bible study, which was such a huge blessing as always, and having my best friend with me made it even that much better!

i know these pictures may appear otherwise,
but we really are almost grown-ups! :) 

chairein - to rejoice in abundance

we laughed, we cried, we sang, we ate thai food, we (of course....) refreshed our collection of photobooth pictures.

Thank goodness for an awesome God who was kind enough to put this lovely lady into my life.  I am so thankful for her! :)

consider it pure joy

do you ever have those moments in your life where you are just so blissfully happy you don't think anything could ever go wrong? the kind of moments where your laughing so hard your cheeks start to hurt and you think your washboard abs are finally on their way? i love these moments. and they usually result in  wayyyyy too many photobooth photos.


 


   




ever wondered what a mature relationship looks like??

  


ya, me neither! ;)

  


how to make duck lips 101.

    


 



can we just talk about how cute that boy is? and how normal and mature he looks in [practically] all of these pictures?

 

that's the kind of happy i feel when i with you. :)

thoughts of appreciation

A few weeks back I came across this wonderful website, #reverb10, which is full of inspiration and prompts to help you reflect on all that has happened in your life throughout the past year.  If you think about it, a year truly is a very long time.  Sometimes when I think about who I was a year ago, where I was a year ago, it's impossible for me to figure out how I ended up where I am now.  Even though I would have never planned my life to be how it is right now, I wouldn't ask for anything in my current life to be changed.

Prompt: Appreciate. What's the one thing you have come to appreciate most in the past year? How do you express gratitude for it?

How do you even begin to answer that question? I am one of the most blessed people I know. I have a fun apartment, a wonderful job which gives me the opportunity to enjoy and shop and explore in the great city of Houston, I have super great friends (both new and old) and a terrific family. I have a car that is full of memories and has never let me down.  My heart, lungs, fingers, toes, and brain (some may think this last statement is debateable...) are all healthy and in perfect working order. 

I think over the past year i've really learned to appreciate my blessings. Being away from my family has made me realize how much I love them, and how much I needed them to become who I am today. Being with them over this beautiful Christmas Season has brought me such joy and I'm trying to soak up every minute I can with them before it's over again!

What have you learned to appreciate most in the past year?