ANNA! My sweet, rambunctious friend Anna. She’s also part of the squad and we hang out at least every other day if not every day. Another BEAUTY too. I mean seriously, my friends are gorgeous. We’ve been friends for a year and a half too, but it feels like so much longer (in the good, forever friend kind of way). She’s another one of the interns at my church and everyone has loved her since the moment she arrived. She’s a vivacious little human, so full of life! She loves to hug and I love hugs so we work out well in that way. She’s a baby whisperer and kids love her because she’ll roll around on the ground with them or toss them up in the air over and over again. She seriously has just as much energy as they do!

She too is ridiculously talented. Anna is a self taught beast of a drummer! She’s amazing on a full drum set, rocks the heck out of an octopad, but my favorite way to watch her play is on her cajón (I had to google how to spell that, I don’t music). That’s what she plays most Sunday’s when she leads worship for our gospel family. Somehow she’s able to play the cajón with one hand, shake a shaker with another, bass kick the cajón with her heel, and use her other foot to tap a tambourine… WHAT?! I can’t even rub my belly and pat my head at the same time. It never ceases to impress me AND she’s worshipful while she does it! She’s also a self taught carpenter of sorts. She’s built really impressive benches, a chest, a coffee table, and an awesome plant box just in the short time I’ve know her.

She loves bikes, maps, ked-like tennis shoes, and doesn’t want to admit that pink is one of her favorite colors so finds other creative names to call it (peach, salmon, faded red, etc). She keeps us all from getting lost by being a human GPS. She’s hilariously not good at the internets (I will have to send her a direct like via text to read this post because she won’t see it anywhere else and/or know how to get to it, and she probably won’t even see the text until tomorrow!). She’s a great cook and an adventurous eater! The way she can put away a meal impresses me. Seriously! I always tell her I wish I could be a fly on the wall on all her first dates and watch guys be impressed with the amount of food such a petite human can put away. It’s a skill! She has the quirkiest phrases and sayings and oh my gosh they’re catchy. We often all find ourselves saying some obscure phrase or repeating a quirky mannerism that comes straight from Anna’s brain/mouth. Her expletives are the names of random people I like to call her imaginary friends – Claude, Shelly Patelly, Shelly Ford, and more.

Anna is one of the most adventurous people I know and just being friends with her makes me a little more adventurous. She’s a ball of fire and an energetic little monkey! Seriously, if something is climbable, she’s going to climb it. She’s fearless and brave. It pushes me and inspires me and I LOVE that about her. I’m the ultimate scheduler and she’s the ultimate go with the flow type and I like that being friends with her helps me be a little more spontaneous and less reliant on my calendar. She’s smart and chock full of wisdom. She sees the world through bright eyes and full of possibilities. She cares about people so deeply. She makes me laugh ALL THE TIME. She too has good genes, a Godly family, and the most adorable nephews ever. But again, my favorite thing about this gem of a friend is Jesus in her!

Anna has such a hunger and heart for the Gospel. She truly lives out a gospel centered life, always seeking to let grace cover her sinfulness, never hiding in shame, always wanting to find ways to achieve intimacy and closeness with Jesus, and forever inviting the Holy Spirit in. Her thoughts are deep! She asks questions that I never think to ask and really gets us all thinking through hard things and makes me want to dig in scripture and context to really learn things, not just stay on the surface. She really looks for God’s hand and guidance in everything, and it’s beautiful! She’s so bold, so vulnerable, and so transparent. She’s an inward processor, and as an outward processor, it makes me value the things she shares with me so much! She challenges me to dig deeper. She pushes us all to be real whether it’s good, bad, or ugly.

She’s beautiful. She’s quick-witted. She makes me laugh. She hugs me. Sometimes I want to pinch her cheeks. She’s a bantering champ. She loves me and our people well. I love that she eats the pumpkin things I bake even though she doesn’t like pumpkin. I’m thankful she has tools that fix things. I’m thankful she never settles for less in any area of life and inspires me to do the same. I’m thankful for the way she processes things and sees the depth in everything. I love the way her brain works. I love the way she loves Jesus. I love the way she loves life. AND I LOVE HER! Seriously I’m so blessed to call her a friend, to be challenged by the depth of her realness, and to get to do life with her.

This is part of my 31 People(s) I Love series. I’ll be writing about 31 people/peoples that I adore! Click here if you would like a list of all the posts in this series.