{30 Before 30} :: Celebrate My 10 Year Friendiversary with Laura

10 years ago, a sweet freshman knocked on my door asking for a ride to church. Little did we know that it would be the beginning of a beautiful friendship...like they say, the rest is history...   :)

Laura and I have been friends for 10 years! In some ways, I feel like I have known her my entire life. We have been through so much together, and she is one of the few that knows everything about me. We have been blessed to live in the same place the past 10 years {first at Baylor, then in DFW}, and I am so thankful that she is close enough to meet up and grab dinner/coffee. 

Laura and I decided to take a random Wednesday off work and go do something fun to celebrate our 10 Year Friendiversary! Because she's awesome and super patient with my craziness, she offered to help me tick off one of my other "30 Before 30" items: visiting historical markers. Poor thing...she endured probably the most nerdy one on the list :)

While I thought the historical markers were super interesting, it was just fun to head to downtown Dallas and walk around in the beautiful weather. We took the Dart down to the West End, walked to each of the markers, and then had lunch.

At our first historical marker :)

And since we were all the way down in Dallas...it only made sense that we would stop at Sprinkles. And not just Sprinkles, but Sprinkles Ice Cream. Oh. my. goodness. New favorite thing!

A Sprinkles Sundae...a cupcake on top of ice cream. 

A red velvet waffle cone with red velvet ice cream (with red velvet cupcake mixed in). YES.

LOVE this sweet friend! :)

We stopped at a couple of fabric stores and then ended up back at Laura's house to hang out and watch the Duggar wedding. It was SUCH a good day. Just being off work in the middle of the week, enjoying the beautiful weather, and talking about anything and everything with my best friend. PERFECT way to celebrate 10 years of friendship.

Redeemer Family

Last night, we had our last meeting as Redeemer Church. It was most definitely bittersweet. We are sad that this chapter of ministry is coming to a close. But we were reminded last night of God's incredible faithfulness to our little family.

 

In the short time we functioned as a church body, we witnessed....

 

...complete strangers become family.

 

...the restoration of the broken.

 

...the healing of the sick and hurting.

 

...the growth of faith and knowledge of Jesus.

 

...the life-changing power of the gospel.

 

We praise Jesus for all He has done, and all He will continue to do in and through this small group of disciples. Mike and I have been so blessed by our time with Redeemer Church, and we are grateful that God called us to this ministry at this time, in this place, and to these people.

 

{Not everyone is pictured}

"And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."

~ Philippians 1:6

A Fair to Remember

My mom came in for the weekend, and we had so much fun! The boys had a hunting weekend, and we had a girls' weekend. Friday we headed to the State Fair, and we enjoyed fair food, shows, and just walking around in the beautiful weather.

The new Big Tex looks good...while still awkward, I think his body proportions are slightly better than the last one.

Big Tex kept telling everyone to wash their hands before they ate. Just an observation: considering all I witnessed at the fair, Dallas is doing pretty darn good to only have a few ebola cases. Just saying...

My cute mama with Big Tex :)

Taking pictures in the truck my dad wants to make him jealous :)

Gotta have a Fletcher's corn dog!

The only fair food I can eat...it was about the size of my head and most definitely yummy!

We did the Chevy Ride and Drive to check out the truck my dad wants...I always enjoy test driving a truck on a fun track :)

Enjoying the random exhibits...this was the 100 year anniversary for Greyhound bus exhibit

We took a water break and watched the sheep auction. Noisy little sheep :)

Baby piggies! :)

We went through the animal exhibit and it kind of felt like being at the zoo. 

This guy kept eyeing me...

And a trip to the fair wouldn't be complete without the pig races ;)

We stopped for dinner on the way home to let the traffic die down, then enjoyed a night in after a long day at the fair. Saturday we had breakfast with Laura, then did some shopping. We explored the quilt shops in McKinney, and just enjoyed hanging out and catching up. It was a great weekend, and I'm so thankful for the time with my mom!

{30 Before 30} :: Read an Entire Book in One Day

I knew this would be a long shot, partly because of time, and partly because I'm a slow reader. But I was able to do it thanks to jury duty :)

I got called for federal jury service, so I had to go to the courthouse in Plano. While there was still a lot of sitting and waiting {hence the reason I was able to finish an entire book in one day}, it actually was a really interesting process. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but I am glad I didn't get picked to sit on the jury! I was thanked for my service to the eastern district court, and I don't have to serve again {in federal court} for another 2 years!

Because I had most of a day to devote to one book, I was able to finish You and Me Forever: Marriage in Light of Eternity by Francis and Lisa Chan.

Amazon

It was a good book, though it kind of felt like a mirror of Crazy Love, just with some marriage references thrown in. I believe marriages were designed to be a reflection of the gospel, so everything they said was spot on. But I probably would only recommend this book to someone who has been married several years as a good reminder of what marriage should be built on, not necessarily for an engaged couple looking for pre-marital resources. It was a solid book, just not what I expected.

I do however, LOVE, that 100% of the proceeds from this book go to providing food, shelter, and rehabilitation for suffering people around the world. That in itself is worth purchasing a copy :)

{30 Before 30} :: Make and Send More Cards to People

I have always enjoyed making cards for people, but haven't really committed the time to do it recently. So I decided I was going to be more intentional, both in making cards {instead of buying them} and in sending cards "just because." We were gifted with an over-abundance of forever stamps, so it made sending cards that much easier! :)

I have pinned tons of ideas on Pinterest, and I have tons of ideas rolling around in my brain, so it was finally time to put those ideas to good use. I really enjoyed creating and sending cards to people, but it was time-consuming. So I don't know how often I will be making handmade cards in the future...but I did make and send more this year than I have in the past! :)

Here are a few of the cards I made this year:

High Five for Friday!

{one} Ahh...crazy Texas weather. It has been 90 degrees all week, but tonight it will get down to 48 degrees. And will most likely be 80 tomorrow. Nothing like a 40 degree drop {and then rise} in temperature in a 24-hour period! ;)

{two} So everyone is talking about Ebola. I get it. It's a scary thing. I am sad for the families in West Africa that have been affected by the epidemic. I pray that those suffering would find comfort and rest, and that those helping take care of the sick are protected. But can I just say that people in the US of A need to get a handle on their panic/emotions?? I understand that they need to quarantine this thing so that it doesn't spread, and there need to be steps taken to ensure public safety. But the media chaos is just causing so much misinformation and unnecessary panic. Plastering the face of the Dallas patient all over the news has made him and his poor family pariahs. We live in a country that has an abundance of resources and sanitation, so we should be focusing on helping those who don't have access to those things. Instead, people are panicking, cancelling their luxury vacations and stocking up on even more of the abundant items we already have. Ugh. I'm all about taking precautions, but the gravity of Ebola here is laughable compared to those actually suffering. Be smart: if you're sick, stay home. Wash your hands and don't touch the body fluids of someone who is sick. That simple. //End rant.  :)

{three} Ya'll. I am just a tad excited that Gilmore Girls is now available on Netflix! I watched this show in high school/college and loved the craziness of Lorelai and Rory, and was sad when the show ended. It could be dangerous that it's on Netflix...

{four} Last Saturday we had our last Redeemer Church service. On Wednesday, we had our last Redeemer missional community group. We are having a family dinner/meeting tomorrow, then will meet in homes for 3 more weeks to walk through what it looks like to find another church home. We ask for your continued prayers in this transition. We are saying goodbye to this chapter of our lives, and it's definitely hard and sad; we are emotionally, spiritually, and physically spent. But we are hopeful for what the Lord has planned for us next.

{five} I realized the other day that I still have quite a few things left to check off on my {30 Before 30} list! I have officially crossed off 7 items, and currently have 8 things in progress and 4 things actually planned on the calendar. Not too terrible, but I better get a move on some of these...I only have about 4 months left!

Happy Friday! :)