quote on friendship.

Today, as I am missing home a bit more than usual, I was thinking about the friendships the Lord has brought into our lives, and consequently searching for a good quote [outside of scripture] that might sum it up for me, and I stumbled across this one from CS Lewis...

“In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out. 

By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity; I want other lights than my own to show all his facets. 

In this, Friendship exhibits a glorious “nearness by resemblance” to heaven itself where the very multitude of the blessed (which no man can number) increases the fruition which each of us has of God. 

For every soul, seeing Him in her own way, doubtless communicates that unique vision to all the rest. That, says an old author, is why the Seraphim in Isaiah’s vision are crying “Holy, Holy, Holy” to one another (Isaiah 6:3). 

The more we thus share the Heavenly Bread between us, the more we shall have.”

I am so thankful for the dear friends and family that indeed share with us this Heavenly Bread, and the daily remembrance of them encourages my soul :)  

Much love from Grenada.

brooke's first birthday :)

 I miss this adorable little face and blabbering :)  Here are some highlights from the fun get-together...Staci made ALL the pizzas, it was incredible!

I call this her senior photo :)

 Sweet feeding her daddy :)

 Chattin' with her friend...before she moved in to steal all his food and sippy cup -ha!

 "Hiiiiii...."

Pretty Beth :)

 The aftermath :)

 The Limantis :)

 Do I like this?

 YEP!!!

 Daddy thought it was a good idea to interrupt the cake eating for a picture...

 Then this happened.

 Then I got my cake back, and I was fine :)

 Jonathan's reading club.

Wonderful family, wonderful friends :)

So glad we got to share in this with you all!!!

farewell, my ol' kentucky home...

It is with a heavy heart that I type that tomorrow [well, later today] we leave Kentucky for good.  

At least, most likely.  

Of course we will be back to visit since J's family is here and all...but our time in Louisville is done as far as we can tell...unless the Lord brings us back much later down the road.  

This 6 weeks of summer has been such an encouragement to both J and I - and it's been jammed packed to say the least!  The past couple days alone have been filled with coffee dates, lunch dates, cleaning dates, a birthday party [Brooke turned 1!] a dinner date [ok, that was just with the hus] and a worship night!  Whoo.  Thank you, dear friends who are like family, for loving us so well!

I cannot tell you how grateful I am even to see my husband be so encouraged, relaxed, and refreshed these past few weeks as he soaked up the Word at Immanuel and met with various men who spurred him on, encouraging him for the year to come in Grenada.   

Thank you, dear friends and godly women who poured into my life and reminded me of the gospel and my identity in Christ, and encouraged me in so many ways to keep pressing on- the time with you is treasured in my heart.  I truly believe that the Lord has blessed us with glorious, supernatural fellowship that many others rarely find, and that is an amazing blessing that we do not overlook!

I feel like I had so much else to say for this post, but as I head back to Grenada for another year of school for the hus and whatever He has for me, I just wanted to share what a blessing it was to be "home" for a bit...as J keeps reminding me whenever I feel that little bit of despair creep in:

"We meet to part, and part to meet"

...and our fellowship is far from over.  To whoever is reading this [and I know most of those who will], we love you so very much, and as I have been praying for you all this summer, I will continue to do so in Grenada...

And on a happy note, here are a couple pictures from the all-day hang out in Columbus with Jessi, Alyssa, Emily and Ashley this past Monday :)  

 Glad the guy taking this didn't drop the camera...he seemed a little sketchy at first, and little more concerned about his cigarette, but it all worked out, obviously ;)  Was I the only one worried about him?  We all seem a little hesitant here...still one of my favorite pictures, though :)

 Hahaha...love it :)

Thanks to Tim for this one :)

I have a bunch of posts to catch up on, too...so be on the lookout this upcoming week for Brooke's 1st birthday and the rest of the hang out time with some of my favorite women in the world :)

Much love from Louisville, while we're still here for a few more hours :)

pretty charlotte...

I was able to hang out with my friend Rachel who had her beautiful baby girl while we were in Grenada.  Rachel graciously allowed me to be paparazzi for a bit and Charlotte could't have been more sweet!!! She woke up happy and was so cooperative with everything we tried to have her do [except lay on her stomach, haha!] She was so precious the whole time and totally adores her mama :) [all the pictures of her looking up are her looking at Rach :)]  It was a ton of fun, although I was a little bummed about the exposure of the pictures, but I was able to edit them a bit better...here they are :)  Oh goodness, this girl is so cute...

 look at those eyes!!!

 She looks like a doll!!!! :)

Love it all :) So cute!  Can't wait to see her grow on your website, Rach :)  It was great to spend time with you guys!!! :)