well... over the past year or so i have become slightly addicted to anna and josh's blogs. so much so in fact that i could not resist starting my own. for those of you who are also anna/josh blog addicts i cannot promise that mine will even compare to theirs. in fact, i am sure that mine will be dull in comparison. i am only doing this to remember what has transpired in my life and to try and share some of the joy that i feel with the rest of the world. so enjoy!

this past weekend i went to the brown-cook extravaganza and i cannot even express to you how absolutely amazing it was. these two people have influenced me in so many ways and have shaped me into the person that i am today. i was blown away by their love for each other and for their friends and family. i have never been to a wedding where the focus was not on the bride and groom but on the people who got them there and mostly importantly the God who supports them. attending their wedding was a worship service in itself and i am a better person for being a part of it. i learned this past saturday what true love is. it is not the mushy romance scenes that you see on tv or even the profession of the 3 little words. no... it is much deeper than that. it is God's gift. it is His glory and majesty working through you. it is His perfection and majesty bringing you together through His love, not your own. i should have realized before then that without God you have no love and that as always love is part of God's amazing plan to show His unmatched glory to the rest of the world. even marriage is not about us... it is about Him and no marriage between two people has ever exemplified that fact better to me than the newly-formed Mr. and Mrs. Brown. congrats! i love you both!

so much happened this weekend. even the time with my best friends was a worship service simply because i have never been more thankful for them. God has truly blessed me with them and they are the greatest people ion on this earth. they make me laugh harder than anyone else and inspire me to be a better person. those two days on jekyll island refuled my soul for so many reasons...
- cramming 5 people into a small car for almost 8 hours
- discovering Family Force 5 and singing it at the top of my lungs
- being with my best friends after not seeing them for a month
- dancing like a crazy person on the beach with ashley and stephanie
- listening to adam play his guitar
- watching chris attempt to play left-handed guitar
- long walks on the beach at night
- realizing that i would be perfectly happy living on that beach for the rest of my life
- trying to curl 3 girl's hairs
- girl talk
- wrong turns
- understanding the miracle that love is
- celebrating the marriage of two of my best friends and mentors
- riding in the car with the windows down and david crowder blaring
- feeling perfectly content for the first time in months
- realizing that i have the greatest boyfriend ever
- being covered in bug bites and not caring at all because it was totally worth it
... and so many more that i am sure that i left out but y'all get the gist. i love my friends and family and i thank God for them everyday. y'all know who you are. thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything that you do for me.