today, august 27th, 2014, marks sixty years of marriage for my grandparents.  sixty years!  it's just extremely beautiful to celebrate such a thing.  my thankfulness over my grandparents' marriage is hard to express.

our whole family got together on saturday to celebrate and at the very end as i was saying goodbye to my grandpa, he made clear to me, as he always does, how precious life is and how blessed our family is to all be in good health and how that could change at any moment.  so in this moment, i want to pause and express my gratitude to my grandparents for their marriage, for the family they have made, for their legacy of following Christ, and for the importance and priority they have placed on the covenant of marriage.  i know full well that their times have not always been peachy, but through it all, all sixty years of it, they have remained faithful and love-filled towards one another.  truly something to celebrate!  something i do not take lightly and never want to take for granted.

& just a few fun images just goofin around with my cousins during our celebration below, with thankfulness,

i love that my family is so tolerant of all of my little photography whims... it actually really means a lot that they put up with all of my posing ideas ha! ..sometimes i know i'm pretty annoying!

these cousins of mine are so dear to my heart!  so fun!  the thought that they're forever friends is a good thought (:

happy anniversary, grandma & grandpa!  thank you for your marriage.  thank you for choosing to love in all those times it was hard.  it's been a beautiful 60 years!

...listening to this incredible album.. seriously, on repeat over here!  soo good.  do yourself a favor, friend, and go get this one!  or listen HERE!!

hands down, my favorite song is out of hiding (Father's song) gahhh!

adventure destination 7:  a twins game!!
the target field, minneapolis


my first one and oh, whatta blast!

^^^ bahah, this isn't even the half of it... our parents and sidney kept texting paige and i different food requests after we left to find popcorn... let's just say we left no classic american "fan food" behind..  you shoulda seen us with the humungo go-big-or-go-home popcorn bucket we got... people literally walked by us saying "holy cow!" haha ^^^

^^^ world's most obnoxious fans!  we won!  but really, i'm pretty sure that the teenage couple out on a date night sitting next to me weren't too fond of us... ^^^

our noses are bleedin!  haha, only one row away from being in the very highest seat!  it's fine.  soo fun though!!

hey friends!

i would like to present you all with a request!  i need some new tunes!  my dad and i were talking the other day, and we both are thirsty for some good new music.. i can only listen to my favorite mixed cds so many times.  i just could use somethin fresh!  especially for bed time!  songs like this one that i just posted about (haha, i really do play it all the time.. paige and sid are a bit annoyed with me ;))  but songs that have that kind of feel to them!  if ya got any ideas, i welcome them here with open arms!  so please put them in the comments, if you'd be so kind!!

thanks so much!  can't wait, you guys! (:

for lots of things, like being my friend, but also for this song!

saw these chickens today.  i think they're beautiful.  aren't they cool?!  so fun to squabble like an idiot at them with lucas and sophia today (:

today, in the car, lucas said "the sun's followin me, wexi!" and it made me so happy.

at this point in the summer, i really am missing being with adults during the day.

dwight. schrute.

throughout the day, lucas and sophia give me kisses and it's my favorite!  i love how their trust in me has progressed throughout the summer and how now it's displayed in kisses and tackling/jumping on me and coloring me lots of pictures.

ya know how i said earlier that i eat that autumn wheat cereal in a mug with coconut milk every day?  still do.

ya know that song i posted most recently?  i think i've played it about 547846164196797 times since then ha..

i'm learning so much about how good and diligent and faithful and Christ-honoring my parents are with their money and i'm so thankful for their example.

making video messages for my friends is my new favorite thing.  it makes me feel like they're closer.

afton, that girl.  sharing life with her is a blessing and i'm not even living with her yet!

i have a cold.  who gets a cold in august anyway is what i wanna know?

last night while i was falling asleep i had a mini panic attack and started dwelling on some negative thoughts, but then i knew i needed to believe that God really does love me and i was immediately lifted by thoughts of His kindness and unrelenting love and then fell asleep knowing love instead.  and i'm so grateful.

i am upset with myself for the petty things i think and worry about in the midst of Christ followers being persecuted in iraq and paul's words and people not knowing hope or worth like robin williams.

when i am overwhelmed by the things happening in the world, and feel very similarly to rachel, i listen to this song.  it reminds me of where victory lies.

i'm a quite a bit nervous about this new school year, if i'm honest.

messing with my sister paige is on my top five favorite activities.  i'm gonna miss her.  i'm gonna miss my whole fam.

i'm not who i say i am, but God is who He says He is.

b u d d y

p i a n o

s i d n e y / m a m a

b e a u t y

m a r k e t  f l o w e r s

s n u g s

h o m e

s m o o t h i e

d r i v e

w r o n g  t u r n

b e c c a  i n  g l a c i e r  p a r k

s  c a r e y

l i f e  g i v i n g

s u n d a y

...these happy beautiful friends of mine!!  like, seriously, they get to be my friends?! 
missing them all a lot tonight... all the other ones too.  a lot.

i had a mini-revelation recently with my friend, lauren, that is kind of transforming me these days.  i was telling her about some frustrations i've been having with not feeling loved by God but not really knowing how to feel loved by Him, as well as frustrations with the purpose and meaning of my life, and how to view myself as a child of God in the midst of just feeling dry and less-than-valuable.  after this, i came to the conclusion that i was operating on my feelings again and that my relationship with God is deeper than how i feel a certain day, and my feelings certainly do not change who i am in His sight.  and, ultimately, i realized i need to trust God in those moments of dry-ness that He is who He says He is and does what He says He does.

this lead lauren to say that looking at the grand scheme of life, isn't trust the central exercise we as followers of Christ need to practice?  trust that He is a provider. trust that He loves us just like He says He does.  trust that He listens and responds to prayer.  trust in the truth the Bible claims.  trust that He forgives.  trust that He redeems us... and on and on...

foundational trust that He is who He says He is and does what He says He does.


so now these days, anytime i am inclined to point my finger at Him in accusation that He has somehow left me or does not respond to prayer or changed His mind about loving me or is no longer making me new, i am learning to trust Him despite how i feel or what i think.. because feelings and thoughts change.

sidenote:  i have found that this practice of trusting Him must be paired with reading and studying the scripture.  because how else are we to know what to trust?  it's too easy to make assumptions that aren't based on truth about God and His character and trust those false assumptions.  we want our trust to be based in truth, right?!

ultimately, His ways and thoughts are not our ways and thoughts and it's impossible to understand Him fully, so we need to trust what we do not know about Him or about life to the God who has proven Himself trustworthy throughout the generations.  and ain't it grand to have such a God?!  so much security and peace come too!

and so, i am increasingly thankful that He is trustworthy.