holy weekend!

Blessed with the BEST five-day-weekend ever!! Taylor came in from Chicago on Friday night, we drove up north with Lin, Steph & Meg ... had a laughter filled trip up north & met up with Scott & Tina, who are going back to Australia next Monday!! It was so good/refreshing to just sit & talk to them! It was just like old times. I love friends who can pick up conversation right where it left off. Tina's family owns a bakery...so going there at 11-pm to raid it was definitely a high light :) We had yummy meals, quality conversations, & pretty scenic walks. We parted with Scott & Tina on Sunday afternoon, so the girls & I could make it back for Lighthouse...Monday Taylor & I biked 14 miles...went shopping...drank lots of coffee...showed off Detroit...had lots of laughs. ahh...I still can't believe how great my weekend was! Now back to reality... I'm happy it's a three day work weekend.

God you are SO good!! I can't handle it sometimes!!

h a p p y christmas.

“For to us a child is born...
HE will be c a l l e d
Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God, Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace.”
_ i s a i a h 9:6

*amazing Christmas Eve church service, quality time with friends + family, too much yummy food, many fab pressies, twinkle lights, J E S U S...feeling super BLESSED.

Guest Post:

Stole this post from my twin lfillmore.

"For our third-annual Christmas get-together with my girls {babes, sisters...}, we got all dolled up & had a huge, delicious dinner together.

I love dressing up, I love dresses, I love wearing heels, I love putting make-up on, I love curling my hair, I love it. So its always exciting to get all dolled-up for dinner with some of my favorite girls. In years past we've gone out to eat all dressed up, but this year it was kind of sweet just dressing up to go over to Angela's.

After we ate & took pictures {of course}, we put our "cozy clothes" on, ate dessert, & started what turned into an almost four hour period of time of just sharing what God has been doing in our lives since the last time we all met {in this setting, last spring}

It was one of the best experiences I've ever had & will always remember. One by one, we all talked about God, our families, school, work, guys, friends, & everything else in-between, struggles, highs, lows, & weaknesses, but there was so much openness, honesty, & rawness. And there was a lot of tears & tissues, but also a lot of laughs. It was so great!


Once more & more of us started talking about our lives over the past few months, we started to see a trend or thread throughout each of our stories/updates that all kind of related to each other. It was so encouraging!

It's also just sweet to think back over the last few years that this group of girls have been together. We've all grown & matured SO much, its awesome. It's awesome that we have each other to share about what Gods doing in our lives with!

There was one point when we gathered around Angela & prayed over her. It was so great, she has prayed over us & for us so many times, it was so sweet to be able to come around her & pray over her!


When I left {at 2:30am} I felt so filled, so overwhelmed, and just feeling overly blessed once again by God's greatness in my life.

How did I get so blessed with such a rich sisterhood that I know I'll have around me for years to come!? I wish every girl could experience times like these & have a group of sisters like mine...

It was definitely a sweet early Christmas gift.."

My Mom's Day.

Mom's day was on Sunday & we got to celebrate the best of the best ... sorry to those of you fooled into thinking your mom is the best, you're mistaken ... for real, because only five humans have the best mom.

To surprise her, I got all five kids together for an updated "kids picture".

Thanks to::
+ my garage sale tripod
+ the heavy Spring rain stopping for 20 minutes
+ all the sibs cooperating.

perspective

I am so blessed.

blessed to be a child of God. blessed with a family that loves me and for the most part is solid (not perfect by any means). blessed to live where I live. blessed to worship my Creator freely. blessed to be fed and not hunger. blessed with solid friends. blessed to have clean water to drink. blessed to live in America. blessed to have a job. blessed with good health. blessed to be where I am right now in life. blessed to have not experienced a broken heart. blessed with new mercies and grace every time I wake. blessed to have a car that runs. blessed to have the education I have been given. blessed to have sight and sound. blessed to have a twin. blessed to have a mom that gives good advice and wants what's best for me. blessed to have hard working parents. blessed with opportunity. blessed with shoes to wear. blessed to have things I could live without. blessed to wake up this morning. blessed with what I have, though my selfish mind set says it's not enough. blessed to have a bed to sleep in. blessed to be able to serve. blessed to have breathe. blessed to be alive.

the list obviously goes on, and on, and on. these happened to be on the top of my head. so I was able to go over to Canada for a few days with two lovely girls for my spring break - more like almost spring break ... it's not quite spring. we stayed at Emily's grandmas house - free of charge and cleaner. she recently lost her husband unexpectedly, so it was so great to be able to spend time with her, getting her mind off things as she transitions from living life for so long with her best friend to suddenly living life without him there. I can imagine it's been hard for her, but I can rest in the fact that she finds rest and comfort in the ultimate giver of rest and peace. God calls us to look after the widows and orphans so why not do as God calls me and invest time and company into a widow who is suffering hurt I've never experienced. needless to say, it was truly a blessing to be able to spend time with my newly adopted grandma ... thanks for sharing Emily : ) as we were in Canada, we of course took time to go into Toronto to see the city. I love the city, any city, with tall buildings, busyness of business people, traffic, bad smells, store fronts, culture, stop lights, walking .... everything about cities I love. the only thing that makes me sick when I go into a city is the bad that come out of it. often times, cities are immune to drugs, prostitution, gangs, or violence. the most disturbing one is homelessness. I've seen my share of homeless people, you don't have to go far in any direction from my driveway to see that there is a need and a large sum of people without a place to call home or somewhere warm to rest their head. we walked to the Eaton Centre where people spend thousands of dollars on clothes that give them status and food that makes them fat. as we waited at a corner light, there was a homeless man literally laying on the cold, hard, uncomfortable cement, under some kind of tarp, and certainly no pillow - and he wasn't the only one we saw in our journey's. I've seen people beg for money in Detroit, and people laying on the streets of New York city in the hot heat of July, but honestly not that close to my feet, and not at such a cold time of the year. I was so taken back by this sight that it about made me sick. the fact that where I live and there in Toronto, people live 'normal' lives everyday with their coffee makers and alarm clocks going off, while people are laying on cold cement. and I know this isn't new to society, or new to me for that fact, but it just caught me off guard. it makes me want to serve those who are on the streets, I want them to find and see Hope, I want them to know that no matter what they've done or been through, they are still worth something to a Heavenly father. it also made me put my life into perspective. it opened my eyes to see what I have and not taking it for granted. God has given me too much and so often I selfishly feel it's not enough. when will we [myself included] stop being brats about what we don't have and stop to serve and think of those around us with nothing except lost hopes and dreams....

short & sweet

in a world that is so enthralled with looks, appearances, money, or keeping up with the Jones’s - which is so prevalent in the area I live, with the name brands covering each kid that walks into where I work, it’s sad that people think that money and status will satisfy... it's good to know that some people still want to make a difference in the world around them, not worrying about what people think. so this weekend was cold as I'll get, which I still dislike greatly, but I learn to deal .. I'm just happy to have a warm place to rest my head at night. so anyway, last night I got be part of something bigger than myself, which is always a good feeling. wsm [Woodside student ministry] hosted a volley ball tourney, where each team had to raise a certain about of money just to play and on top of that, prizes were given to those who raised the most money. the money is going directly to a orphanage that our church has in Thailand, where children are rescued from a life of sex trade and agony. as of today there are twenty-five children there, and hopefully twenty-five more this year. all together the high school students alone raised $7,000, not including concessions and other donations through the night. God was truly shown, seeing that we were only expecting maybe 2,500. it's just cool to see students spend their Saturday night (really snowy & bad roads at that) having fun playing volleyball, unifying as the body of Christ, and helping the children of Thailand. Besides helping those across the earth, my sister helped out at the homeless bbq downtown yesterday.. which I for one would really love to do, if I ever get a Saturday off! So yeah, anyway I love seeing/hearing about people doing things like that, it makes me smile. In other news, I started reading the Bible starting in Genesis & Matthew – at the same time. It’s the coolest thing ever, if you can get yourself through the genealogies, the Bible honestly is so intriguing and has totally captivated me, a lot more than I thought. Other worthy for mentioning news, me and Lindsay are going to Miami in April … I know I can’t believe it either. We both love & need adventure in our lives, so why not take the plunge. Finally, God is truly invading, captivating, and mending my heart. I love to see God moving and at work.