...Speechless...

I am utterly speechless when I think about the pure and perfect love I have been shown by my precious, precious friends over the last 3-4 weeks.

From phone calls, "just because," to amazing surprise visits (even whilst I was on the road!).

I AM BLESSED.

Here's just a smattering of the pure joy that has covered me of late:

These two amazing, amazing loves of my life are seriously closer than blood. They are definitely my brother and sister (most importantly, in Christ). They always house me, always feed me, always love on me in just the right way. I love their continual reassurance that I am not moving away, but rather, off on an extended vacation :)




This little lady drove down to spend some time in CS and say our farewells...I cried...she cried...We're girls, it's fine ;) But, I am so excited for her as she embarks on her journey through nursing school - SO PROUD OF YOU, LOVELY!!

I also got to spend a substantial amount of time with this sweet girl. Oh, Mak...there are no words. You, little lady, are beyond a blessing to my life. I love how our friendship has blossomed, even over distance. I can't wait to wave to you and Wes as y'all pass through the Frozen Tundra on your way to Alaska!!

And this kid...we have no clue how we have missed out on him for the last 4-5yrs...I mean, wow. Can you say insta-best friends??

For this group of "'Cause we're the..." that was certainly the case.

TRUE

LOVE

I was also super blessed to get to see my bestie Elaine this past weekend - it has definitely been too long.

She and her hubs are getting ready to move in to a new house! And, I was fortunate enough to get to see the place before my move to the frozen tundra - it will, for sure, be a gorgeous home for them to settle-in to. We got to spend an entire afternoon/evening together (bliss) and Josh even made the two of us his famous fried rice when he got home from work - thanks friend!!

Love you, Ponder!!

From there I made my way to see my darling Kristen...and what was there waiting for me??

This guy. Ummm, I cannot express to you how much these kids fill my life with joy. You know your friends love you when they make a decent little drive after a long week of nursing school to surprise you...I could have punched B, I was so excited (Ricci...I think you're wearing off on me...)...and kinda ticked 'cause I had already bawled my eyes out for a good 20min when I said goodbye to him the night before -and so I knew I would cry again the next day when the three of us parted ways yet again, rude... Ah, well...it was totally worth the extra water works =]

And so, after a loooong night of visiting, and then a fairly full day of visiting and lunching, the three of us went our separate ways and I made the rest of my trek back home to continue on my housing search and moving preps....and THEN!

This lady came all the way to Arlington to see me!! We got to have some sweet, sweet time while I was down in CS this last time, too - oh how I adore her!! (Note: Alyssa, we need to take more pictures together...just sayin')

Something I will definitely miss about CS/TX is this:

My precious, precious Hope Group. I cannot express to you how much these amazing brothers and sisters in Christ have blessed my life. I seriously do not know what I would have done without them the last year and half/two years. Such an amazing blessing to my life.

I'm sittin' with Miss Cindy in this one. Oh how I love this wonderful woman of God. The Freemans have more than taken care of me and I am going to sorely miss Ken and Cindy...like, really.

While I was in CS this last time I was able to spend a good amount of time with Ken and Cindy - absolutely fabulous. Ken helped me make a beautiful cross to take to my new place - I'm way happy with it. He makes just stunning crosses and it was great to get to make one on my own with his supervision, of course...I didn't think I'd be able to make one as creative and beautiful as his, but he just let me loose on the tiles to come up with my own design and everything, and voila!, here's my creation:

I like it a whole lot...like, a whole lot, and I absolutely cannot wait to put it up in my new home. YAY!!!

Though it's probably needless to say, I have been quite busy the last few weeks. But I wouldn't trade it for the world. These people are absolutely my family (and the J-man just walked in front of me like a chicken, making the following sounds, "Doo-doo. Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo..." Just thought I'd share.) and I wouldn't trade them for the world. And this doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of the magnitude of people God has so, so generously blessed my life with ('Cause, I dunno...some people went out of town when I got to CS...Poarch...).

And for now, dear readers, I will close...it's late and I've been working on this post for long enough.

Blessings to you!

Shalom!
~MW