The WACOHs! As you know or have picked up on, I attended seminary for a few years shortly after graduating from MC from 2007-2009. I moved to New Orleans knowing absolutely NO ONE. It was terrifying, especially considering I almost didn’t go to Mississippi College in Clinton, Mississippi because I’d have to drive in Jackson, Mississippi – the smallest state capital of any state. So clearly moving to and driving in the thriving metropolitan city of New Orleans made sense. The first few weeks were pretty rough. I didn’t have any friends! One of the good things about going to a theological seminary – people are a little more apt to knock on stranger’s doors and meet them. One day these two girls living a few doors down from me in our dorm knocked on my door and asked if I want to visit churches with them. YES! I finally made some friends, two other first semester girls – Amanda from Virginia and Cheryl from Florida.

I’m a little rusty on the order in which the rest of us met, but before long we had a solid group of girl friends who decided we wanted to meet together to pray together and read the Bible together – me, Amanda, Cheryl, Courtney, Stephanie, Lucy, and Marlena. Being seminary students, we read the Bible a lot, but we really wanted to read it for personal spiritual growth and meet together for accountability. We decided to call ourselves the WACOHs – Women After Christ’s Own Heart. We hung out with a lot of other great girls and guys too, Sarah, Kat, Jeremey, etc, and we had fun no matter what we did!

These ladies were (and continue to be) AMAZING. They loved Jesus and had a hunger for God’s word unlike anyone I had ever met. The moments we shared together were absolutely beautiful. We kept a prayer journal (that I still have) that we passed around and wrote our needs and praises in. We watched God answer SO many prayers we wrote down and prayed over. We committed to pray for each other and really did. Being friends with these beautiful souls was a catalyst to change for me. I started to realize as they exposed their hearts to me and one another, that they had experienced a kind of freedom I hadn’t and weren’t trapped by shame like I was.

During the time we met together, a lot of things I had compartmentalized from my childhood and previous years of life started to come to the surface and demand to be dealt with. I started going to a counselor, and it was beautiful and so needed and eventually brought so much healing, but in the midst of it as I started to relive things and attempt to let go of shame, it caused a lot of emotional turmoil. I started struggling majorly with depression and anxiety. Instead of choosing a healthy road and confessing my struggles to them to find support and coping there, I closed myself off, isolated myself further, and clung to a lot of unhealthy coping mechanisms. This eventually lead to me leaving school and no longer getting to have these wonderful women in my life.

I have to talk for an extra moment about Amanda, who ended up being my roommate! We moved to an apartment together on campus with Lucy and eventually another girl named Crystal. At the time I was going through all my hard junk, I thought Amanda didn’t know. But she did. She did and the way she loved me and supported me never changed. And before everything got bad, there was a whole heck of a lot of good! I learned how to cook and shop with roommates for the first time. I learned how much I loved cooking and meal planning. I watched a LOT of Gilmore Girls and Alias with this girl. We got to work at a summer camp together and then travel to 13 stays in 4 days and 3 nights to visit all but one of the Ivy Leagues (something we had become obsessed with). She was an amazing roommate and friend and the love she had for me helped me through A LOT.

I had a long road to walk through before I could look back and realize that despite my running and pushing and isolating, these women meant the world to me! We ate a lot of snowballs. We wrote a lot of papers. We cooked a lot of meals. We laughed a lot. We prayed a lot. We cried a lot. We went through a lot of note cards. But we really were women after the heart of Christ and it changed us all. The freedom I saw in these women was the catalyst I needed to walk down my own road and journey to freedom and I could never in a million years thank them enough for that. We are scattered all over the place now, but we occasionally catch up on one another’s lives through email, stalk each other’s Facebook ongoings (that’s possibily just me, but I love seeing what they are doing and how God is using them), and I’m confident ONE DAY there will be a WACOHs reunion.

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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.

My Total Woman U ladies! I’ve been part of this ministry since 2009, and if you’ve heard my story in the last few years, you know these women have been an essential part of my life and have literally changed my life. And I’ll get to that in a minute, but first a little about the organization. It’s a non-profit organization that exists to “equip and empower women of all ages to be the TOTAL woman God created each of us to be.” Our message is and has always been, “you are a unique creation with a God-given identity and purpose.” In addition to helping plan and put on events, occasionally teaching at events, and planning for the organization as a whole, I also get to run their social media, blog, and write for the blog (though I’ve been slacking in all of those duties lately!). It’s an amazing organization created by an amazing lady where I get to serve with more amazing ladies (that you’re about to read about!).

Before I tell you about my amazing friends on this team, I want to go back to when TWU entered my life and the changes it brought about in me. The organization is based out of Slidell, which is where I lived for two years and went to church for four years. While I was in seminary in New Orleans, I was HEAVILY involved in my church in Slidell. I taught children’s church every Sunday, I was a volunteer for the youth group on Wednesday nights, I was in a small group on some other night, I volunteered some with the women’s ministry leadership team and went to all of their event, and I helped start a group for post-college singles adults. Some rough things happened in my life (I’m going to vaguely talk about them in one of these posts where I talk about my counselor) which lead to me quitting seminary. As a result of feeling like a failure from quitting and all the other things going on (depression, anxiety, etc), I wholeheartedly believed I could never be used in ministry again and withdrew from everything I was formerly involved in. I still went to church and still had some amazing people loving on me, investing in me, and praying me through (they’ll be getting posts soon too), but I went as a much quieter and more reserved version of myself that wanted to hide.

When I was attending seminary, I was aiming to get a degree in Women’s Ministry. Doing life with women young and old was and has always been my heart. This super out-going, energetic, cute as a button lady started coming to our church and wanted to put on a women’s ministry workshop that was right up my alley. My heart leapt a little. I wanted to be there. I wanted to be invisibly there, but I wanted to be there! I timidly told Jenny (the out-going, energetic, cute lady) that I would be willing to help with background stuff. A week or so later she asked me if I’d be willing to teach a low-key session on home decorating that she would write form me. On a whim I said yes and them panicked a little. I texted Molly and told her about it. “I’m not ready to teach again, I don’t know if I can do that anymore,” I said. Molly – always the voice of reason and wisdom pushing me further than I think I can go – said, “God doesn’t need you to be ready, just willing.” I clutched my notes tight that first time and probably read every word straight from the paper, but something in me started to come alive again. A week or so later Jenny invited me to a meeting to be on faculty and I never looked back.

God completely used TWU and the ladies involved in the ministry to draw me back to Him and to allow me to believe I could serve Him and be used by Him again. If it wasn’t for TWU, I would have never looked for another job to escape my “people are just pieces of paper” social work job that I had while living in Louisiana. (Note: Note all social work jobs are bad!) And I would have never applied to work at Mississippi College and believed I could fill a position that involved daily doing ministry with college girls (obviously you’re going to get a post about those people(s) too). So without further adieu, let me tell you a little about these amazing, beautiful, Gospel-living ladies! 

Jenny (bottom row right) is our fearless leader, the president and founder of Total Woman U! Obviously she sees the potential in people even when they don’t see it themselves and has a way of pulling the very best out of everyone. She’s a natural born leader, so full of life, an amazing mom and wife, so inflectional, a gifted speaker, a beautiful singer, and SUCH a visionary. She has the biggest heart and is so sacrificially giving.

Amy (bottom row middle, next to Jenny) is the most creative person I’ve ever met! She does all of our set designs, makes jewelry, makes pottery, paints, and is a creative genius. She’s is such a loving wife, caring mom, go-getter to the max, and has a beautiful, tender heart. Amy’s story is incredible and one that changed my life personally. She’s a prayer warrior and an amazing encourager.

Steph (bottom row left, next to Amy) is truly a servant. She quietly works like a beat behind the scenes and we’d never be able to put on any event if it wasn’t for her. She’s HILARIOUS, has the best giggle, is stylish and trendy, is an AMAZING teacher to kids with special needs, a terrific mom, and a thoughtful (and funny) wife. She embodies gentleness to me has a beautifully tender heart.

Bronie (middle row left, above and to the left of Steph) is ridiculously funny and witty and an INCREDIBLE writer. Reading her former blog is one of the reasons I wanted to start a blog, and obviously that worked out pretty well. She was one of the first people I met at our church in Slidell, even before TWU days, and I loved her instantly. She’s an amazing (and candid) mom, homemaker, and wife, she sings beautiful, she’s sees stories, lessons, and wisdom in everything, and is a fiercely loyal.

Stef (middle row, between me and Bronie) is the queen of DIY, another amazing homemaker/mom/wife, so full of wisdom, a strong leader, and ridiculously hospitable. She sent her eldest daughter to come to school in my town at MY school (my college girls are getting a post soon too!)! I get to see her more often these days because of Abbie’s presence here and I LOVE that. She gives the best hugs, has a great laugh, and sees the beauty in everything.

Jenn (middle row right, next to me, above Jenny) aka Doc Holliday is a sassy little fireball. She’s an eye doctor, crazy smart, so funny, not afraid to be on a stage and act silly (which is super beneficial since many of us – me included – are at times), fun, and energetic. She’s a strategic thinker and we NEED that. She’s so genuine, makes her care known for all of us often, and is a beautiful mom and wife.

Suzanne (back row right, above me and Jenn) was another one of the first people I met at church even before TWU and someone I connected with instantly. We used to teach together at events when I lived there and I LOVED it. We both share a heart for broken and wounded people and bond over that a lot. She’s amazingly hope filled no matter what hardships she faced, she has an incredible heart for kids and is a fantastic teachers, she’s a gifted speaker, a beautiful dancer, and another incredible mom and wife.

Claire (back row middle, above me and Stef) is another strategic thinker that we wouldn’t survive without. She too is an amazing mom and wife, she’s a vulnerable and transparent speaker, and so hard working! Claire has experienced so much loss and grief in her life and beautifully lets Jesus shine through it all. Her story is impactful and influential to SO many people.

I could go on and on and on and on! I LOVE every one of these ladies more than words on the page of a blog post can express. They have changed my life. They believe in me fiercely. They support one another in such incredible ways. I am a different and better person because I know them, love them, and because of their love for me. Their love for Jesus is SO real, encouraging, and challenging and I adore them.

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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.

I don’t know why I thought I was going to be able to post twice on my favorite day while having to also work and prepare/host a favorite day celebration/out door dinner party for missional community. Didn’t happen! One of these days I’ll catch up, even if some posts get posted in November. But for now, the rest of my Gospel family! You’ve heard about the Manuels, Taylors, and my DNA group girls – Sara, Lindsey, and Anna. Today I will attempt to tell you about the rest of these beautiful people, but first let me tell you a bit about our little extension of the big C Church.

I should say let me tell you a bit MORE about us, because I’ve written about us a couple of times. Here (when I knew I’d love them forever), here (when I first started getting to cook for them), here (when I was reminded of how the Church should love and thankful that my people love like that), and here (one of the many times something we learned together stayed in my mind for weeks). In short, we don’t go to church, we are the church. Our mission is to make disciples (someone whose life looks increasingly more like the life of Christ) who make disciples who make disciples right where we are. To borrow a few things from our website:

“Arise Church isn’t a place, although we do gather regularly. Arise Church is a people. It’s as much a statement as it is a name. Isaiah 60:1 says, “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.” We are a group of people who seek to live our lives in light of the fact that the true Light of the world has come in Jesus, and all of life is about bringing glory to Him.

We believe that as Christ followers, we have a new identity and a new purpose. We seek to live our lives as a family of worshippers, united with Christ, sent out on mission with God to make disciples of all the world. We want to see our city saturated with the gospel, with the good news of Jesus, so that the love of God is both declared and demonstrated everyday in every neighborhood within our community.”

We are the Bride of Christ, the Body of Christ, and my favorite – the Family of God. I read an article yesterday that Relevant Magazine posted about community (you can read it here). It talks about some of the misconceptions of community being that it’s easy and convenient and natural. So true! It’s not easy. It’s not convenient. It’s not natural. Going to church, not being the Church, being a seat filler, a church consumer, is easy, it is convenient, it is “natural” because our human nature tendencies are sinful and selfish. Being the Family of God is hard, messy, and takes effort and intentionality. It’s not cookie cutter, it doesn’t just happen on Sunday mornings, but it’s SO worth it. These people really have become my family. We do the messy and hard work of living missionally together, admitting our failings and shortcomings, and loving each other and the world around us when things are good and easy and when they aren’t. I love these people! Brace yourselves for the biggest, longest paragraph ever about my people.

The Strouds live walking distance from my house and have impressed me since day one of knowing them. Bonni and Landon are so in tune with the Holy Spirit! They have picked up strangers on the side of the road because they felt the gentle tug to do so and invite displaced people into their family so welcomingly. Landon is hard working, a servant (has helped me move and fix things more times than I can count in the last 2 years!), and so full of insight. Bonni is sacrificially giving, so thoughtful (she texts me often and asks how she can pray for me!), and seriously has mom super powers. They have three kids under the age of three (Brandon, Callie, and Adelae) and still make time for us and the strangers that cross their paths! The Holmers are two of the funniest people I know. Rachel is so fun and sassy, an amazing quilter/seamstress, cute as a button, a loyal friend, and gives the best hugs! Matt is a a genius and knows as much as Google does, a master home renovator, an excellent griller, and the most amazing husband to Rachel. They are new parents to sweet baby Wolf and such an adorable little family. The Krasons are also hilarious (we have a lot of funny people!) and watching them walk through a hard season of obedience has encouraged me a lot! Ashley and Tim are both college professors, so full of wisdom, and have such a hunger for demonstrating and displaying the Gospel to their neighbors and our community. Another family with three littles! Lydia is so adorable and I want to squeeze her every time I see her, Issac is ridiculously smart for his age and never ceases to amaze me with his smarts, and Tanner won’t let me talk to him yet, but we’re working on it! Tyler and Kaitlyn make me laugh too and are two of my favorite newlyweds. They’re perfect for each other, have a sense of adventure that inspires me, and aren’t frazzled by anything life throws at them (washing dishes in bathtubs, yellow jackets in their apartment, new jobs, etc). The Baxters are brand new parents (less than a month) to sweet baby Amelia. Blaire is beautiful and as friendly as can be. Christopher is quiet in a group but SO observant and full of wisdom when you sit down and talk to him. I’ve loved getting to know them more and more and seeing them fit seamlessly in with our family. They are full of insight and handling new parenthood like champs. Chris and Grace are my other favorite newlyweds. Grace was in our DNA group when her and Chris were dating and then got engaged! They have such a beautiful story and every time I think about it I get chocked up. They’re adorable and marriage looks good on them. Lyndsey Hester is the most hospitable l person I know! She’s funny, clumsy (which adds to her funniness), warm, kind, friendly, great with kids, fashionable, beautiful, and I always know she’s going to give me a hug which makes me love her even more! She’s so full of blind faith, bold hope, and loves her people so well. The Mansells are an encouraging and impacting family. Amanda and Clay are super involved and influential in our town. Clay is a genius business man and makes Clinton a better place to live by the ways he contributes to it. Amanda embodies gentleness and is an incredibly supportive wife and mom. Annabelle is adorable, sassy, and smart. She teased me for having a Starbucks frappe phone case Sunday. She’s 7! Drew is another one of our hard working guys! He has helped me move and fix things A LOT. The way he’s grown since he’s been at Arise has been so beautiful to watch. Jenny and Cole are another set of cute as can be newlyweds and my neighbors! Jenny is a first year teach and handling it with such grace. Cole is in law school, and I’ve seen Legally Blonde so clearly I know how hard that is so I’m impressed. Jayme is another one of our interns along with Lindsey and Anna, and she’s great! She has a heart for the nations and loves kids. She keeps us organized and on track with teaching the kiddos. Mindy has SUCH a heart for broken people and uses it in a big way. She started a group for wounded women and loves them beautiful. She made the brave decision to go back to school recently for counseling and that impresses me a lot! David is here in Mississippi for a semi-temporary time to live and work with college kids at MC. I don’t know how long we’ll have him, but I’m glad he’s with us! He fits in so well with our other guys and LOVES the heck out of the college guys he works with. Josh and Britney are also my neighbors (we have an awesome street!), have an adorable dog, and helpfully jump right in to run powerpoint, lift things, and selflessly help in any way they can every time they are around. Candace doesn’t get to hang out with us as much because she’s a world traveler and taking care of and visiting grandkids, but I want to be her when I grow up! She’s so fun and vivacious and fashionable. When she’s in town and with us, she always has encouraging words of truth to speak. And she gave me one of my favorite dresses! Zach and Jessica recently moved to Clinton, but jumped in head first with doing life with us! They’ve only been here a few months and are already radically loving and reaching out to their neighbors in such beautiful ways! Zach is a great teacher, full of wisdom, and has such a heart for the Gospel. Jessica is an amazing teacher, also chocked full of wisdom, and let me talk her into giving Harry Potter another chance! And there are the families who have been with us and moved to different cities and states – JD, Trisha, and Marion, Rebecca and Caleb, and Sarah, Brandon and Hadleigh – who are still in our hearts and missed dearly!

I could go on and on so much more about all of these people and all of the things I’ve learned from them. I could tell you story after story about how we’ve grown. I could make a list a mile long of the prayers we’ve prayed, tears we’ve cried, and all the ways we’ve seen God move. We laugh a lot, we interrupt Michael when he’s teaching us A LOT, we learn together, we grow together, we eat together (A LOT), we celebrate, we mourn, we love. It’s incredibly beautiful, incredibly messy, not always easy, but the most life giving season of life I’ve ever lived. The same article on community I mentioned earlier stated another misconception of community being that it’s optional. It’s not. I grow because I read my Bible. I grow because I pray. And you could grow some solely doing those things. But we just aren’t meant to live life alone! God created the big C Church. He meant for us to need each other. He meant for us to be messily in each other’s lives. I have grown dynamically more than I ever have in any other season of life because I’ve experienced what’s it’s like to be the Family of God, not a seat filler, not a Sunday consumer, but a family member. I love these people and the way they love each other, me, and our God.

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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.

I’m aiming to post twice today to make up for the one post I missed and get out part 1 and 2 by the end of the day, but we’ll see! In the next post, I’ll go a little more in depth about the family aspect of my church, but in this post I want to talk about two families. In the little over two years that I’ve known these two families, who feel like my family now too, along with the rest of our Gospel family, I’ve seen them both walk through some hard things with such supernatural grace, patience, and hope.

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First, I want to tell you about the Manuels. Michael, Megan, Myles, and Marlee.

Michael felt the call and vision to start Arise Church. Since we’re going through the process of studying the New Testament church to learn what it looks like for us to be an elder lead church vs. a pastor lead church, I won’t call him our pastor (it’s going to be a hard habit to break!). BUT, he is a shepherd for us to the utmost! He loves Jesus in such a real and contagious way. His personal desire, and desire for us, his family, and all believers to live for the Gospel and in the freedom of the Gospel is incredible. The way he’s helped change my view on living missionaly right where I’m planted has forever changed my life. He’s funny, transparent and vulnerable, full of wisdom, challenging and encouraging, an amazing leader, an excellent teacher, the best realtor around, and just great. He’s broken over sin and overwhelmed by God’s grace and the gift of freedom that is ours. He also occasionally misuses or mispronounces words and it’s hilarious. We call them “Michaelisms.”

Megan is beautiful, has the most tender heart, is such a great mom, and lives her life to share it with others. She’s also a ballerina! She has a heart for the nations and for the least of these and is always seeking to do something to serve those populations. She lives for the Gospel, hurts with those who hurt, mourns with those who mourn, and rejoices with those who rejoice! She’s graceful, quirky, and funny. She is one of the most encouraging people I know. One of my favorite most endearing things about Megan is how she often leaves a gathering, like missional community or a girls’ night, and doesn’t say goodbye. It makes me laugh every time and I love that about her. But seriously, Megan is such a giving and caring soul! She somehow has the ability to sense when I might not be having a great day and always speaks words of truth, wisdom and hope to me. I love her! And Myles is a silly goof ball, understands way more about the Gospel than he can even begin to realize at his age, and teaching the kids on Sundays isn’t quite as fun when he isn’t there.

This beautiful family has been on a LONG journey for 3+ years of feeling called to adopt their sweet future baby girl, Marlee. It’s been hard, really hard, and there have been many times where I know it’s felt hopeless. I love that they can be honest about that and confess the times when it just simply sucks to still be waiting. But I also love that they NEVER stay in hopelessness. Megan has a blog where she’s written beautiful about the journey many times – http://themanuelfamily-mandm.blogspot.com/. I also love how beautifully supportive Megan is of other local families who are going through the adoption journey, many of which she’s watched get to hold their babies already. Can you imagine how hard that is?!

Those are hard days for her (and Michael and Myles), and she admits it. Being able to admit that is beautiful to me for sure, but in the midst of her hurt she keeps on loving and supporting everyone in her life. They’ve willingly invited us along on this journey with them to pray for them, help carry their burdens when it’s hard, and rejoice over every small step towards bringing Marlee home. I don’t know why they don’t have that baby girl yet, but I do know that the present suffering can’t compare, even for a millisecond, to the joy that will come when she’s here. And we are going to have the biggest, most celebratory party you can ever imagine when we all get to meet sweet Marlee one day! She’s going to be the most loved little girl on the planet and have the fiercest village anyone could ever imagine! This family means the world to me and I am a better version of myself because I know them.

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The Taylors! If you follow me on Instragram, you should know who Hazel and Henry Taylor are. Allow me to jog your memory (purely for the sake of reposting cute pics of Henry and Hazel).

Henry and Hazel are adorable and have all of my heart, and I’ll talk a little more about them and their cute personalities in a minute, but first I have to talk about their parents. Obviously two of my favorite kids in the world wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for them, so I’m thankful for that! But Scott and Amanda Taylor are two amazing humans apart from their two amazing little humans. They could be a move star couple for real, an insanely stylish and beautiful family. But don’t let their movie star looks trick you, they are two of the most down to earth people I’ve ever met! They are so even-keeled. Being the highly dramatic and panicky person that I am, their ability to remain calm no matter what life throws at them impresses, challenges, and encourages me.

Amanda, as mentioned, is a beauty! She’s one of my fashion inspirations and one of the two people who finally talked me into wearing booties. If I ever get to be a mom, I’m going to DAILY channel Amanda Taylor. When her toddlers freak out or throw a fit, as all toddlers do, she just looks at them and calmly tells them to relax or be strong. I’ve never seen her frazzled by anything! She’s full of wisdom and has a heart for knowing and reading scripture. She loves reading blogs as much as I do (and I always know she’s going to read my posts!). She’s a loyal friend and the way she stays connected and makes time for her college friends impresses me! She’s sassy and fun and I’m always slightly disappointed when she’s not a gathering because of a sick kid or being out of town.

Scott is hilarious and witty. He too is full of wisdom and daily living for the Gospel. He’s an amazing dad. He’s a great handy man and builds their own furniture. He cooks. He cleans. He takes care of those cute kids A LOT. I mean, he’s the model husband! He’s been with Michael all through the journey of planting a new church. He is intentional to build relationships with every new person that walks through our doors (and by our doors, I mean the YMCA doors, because we don’t have doors, haha). He’s a great leader not only for our Gospel family, but in the Clinton community too. And a little more about their little people. They both speak so articulately for toddlers! They’re smart. They are ADORABLE. Hazel is the most independent child I’ve ever encountered. Henry is the politest child I’ve ever encountered. They are just my favs! Life goals for real.
Above everything else, the thing I love most about them is the hope they have in Jesus. This year hasn’t been an easy one for them. Scott lost his mother unexpectedly. Amanda lost her mom a few years ago. Grief is always hard no matter who it is, but I know too well that the loss of a parent is really tough. They also said goodbye to the last home either of their moms will know and have been displaced while finding a new home for a bit.  Despite any hardships they’ve gone through, they’ve continued to be incredibly loving and serving to our Gospel family! They’re amazing friends to everyone who is privileged to call them friend. They camp in garages and go to zoos and fairs and everything in between with their kiddos. They love Jesus and really strive to live for the Gospel in all they do. I’m so glad I know them, the Manuels, and the rest of my Gospel family that you’ll get to hear about soon. Living life with these people is one of the main reasons I love this season of life more than any other I’ve lived yet.

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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.

Next up of my 31 people(s) is Brittany Jo Perrotta. Brittany and I have been friends for 4-ish years and she is one of the quirkiest and endearingly weirdest people I know. We worked together at MC (fast forward 5 years after graduating from MC, I got to go back and work there!). We were Resident Directors (you’ll get to hear more about RDs and RD life soon). We worked together for a almost a whole year before we decided to be real friends. We are both pretty outspoken and everyone thought we hated each other because we argued a lot. We decided it was kind of silly that we weren’t “real” friends since our life stages were exactly the same (30, single, adults living with college kids, etc.) In the beginning of our “real” friendship, a convo like this went down and people could no longer doubt our friendship.

Me: “Let’s hang out.”

Brit: “Okay, wanna get tattoos?”

Me: “Sure.”

Friends who get tatted together stay together! (We also got another tattoo together right before she moved away from me last May.)

Hers is the tiny care bear heart (that has nothing to do with care bears, I just like calling it that) and mine is the dove. Brittany is a gem though. She’s hilarious. Really, go read her blog, you will laugh your butt off – http://coffeeandpuppies.blogspot.com/. And let’s pause for a moment to talk about the formation of Brittany’s blog. Brit decided she wanted to take up writing. Instead of asking her friend who is a long time blogger (me) how to go about doing this, she just picks up her computer and types blog.com. It was a terrible site, and then she wanted me to fix it. I made her switch to a site I could work with, got her set up, and every other day or so she’d send me a template and say, “make my blog look like this.” I’m proud to say she can now install her own templates and keeps the hilarious posts coming.

She’s about as real as a person can get. Being friends with her has taught me many things, but one of my favorite things she’s taught me is how to fight and that fighting with friends is okay. As you know, I grew up in crazyland. Fighting was prevalent, but usually resulted in people leaving, quitting, or giving up. Brit and I fought a lot, but it was good fighting. She taught me what it meant to fight well, that confrontation is good and doesn’t always result in giving up, and that friendships can become stronger because of it. Her friendship taught me that it’s okay to say that hard things. Brittany was the first person I was able to talk to face to face about a sin struggle I’d always allowed to trap me with shame. She wasn’t shocked or disappointed like I thought she’d be. She loved me exactly the same and wanted me to experience freedom as much as I wanted to experience freedom. And THAT was freeing!

Brittany’s family is as hilarious and awesome as she is. She’s a twin. Her dad’s name is Joe. She and her sister carry the middle name Jo. And she has a cousin named Joey. Half of her family are South Carolinian southerners and the other half are Pennsylvanian Italians. Her parents are the most generous people I know. Brittany and Abby (twin sister) always bring random assortments of people home with them for holidays. Her mom makes us all Christmas stockings and Easter baskets AND buys any girls who are there for Christmas matching pajamas. Her dad makes everyone feel welcome and cooks us breakfast every morning. The southern side insists you eat the yummy food they cook. The Italian side kisses you on the cheek and tells you to come to Pennsylvania soon. They’re loud and hilarious and amazing.

Brit is also crazy smart. She’s a seminary graduate and working on another masters degree. She has a heart for the nations, the marginalized, and the forgotten. Brittany is a pro and making displaced people feel placed. She’s an includer to the max. If you don’t have friends, she wants to help you find them. If you don’t have a church, she’ll take you to hers until you find your place. If you don’t have a family, you’re now part of hers. If you don’t know Jesus, she’s going to tell you about Him. If you’re stuck in sin, she’s going to love you through it. If you have no desire to love Jesus, she’s still going to love you and offer you everything she has. If you don’t have a car or wreck yours in New Orleans (hey, I did that), she’s going to make sure you have rides places and let you use hers anytime you need it. She’s also an excellent cook and randomly has a cooking school certificate. Make her cook for you! She forgets to use this skill.

She was my everyday life friend through one of the hardest, if not the hardest, seasons I’ve ever lived through. She was there when I found out me dad was sick. She let me use her car to drive to Arkansas to visit him multiple times when he was in and out of the hospital (mine didn’t have AC at the time). She was there when I made terrible choices because I was mad that my dad was going to die and she loved me through every moment. She even forced me (aka showed up at my apartment) to make me let her meet a guy I knew I shouldn’t have been dating and tried to keep it a secret. She wasn’t even on campus when I found out my dad died, but was there lightning speed fast when all I could do was text her and say that he was gone. She stayed with me the rest of the day. I spent many night in her apartment even though mine was just across the parking lot because I didn’t want to be alone.

She was there when I FREAKED out because I didn’t have anywhere to go for Christmas since my dad was gone. She helped me buy a plane ticket to come stay with her family for Christmas and took me home with her for every holiday after that. When I didn’t think even Jesus could heal my grief, she pushed me to try. I finally felt relief in the midst of grief because of the routine of spending time with Jesus, and then I wrecked my car! I panicked again because I wasn’t going to have the healing routine to cling to, but she got up with MY schedule every morning and took us both to Starbucks. She made me write and process and think of all the things I learned because of my dad’s life. She made me proactively plan for every holiday so I wouldn’t panic and snowball. She helped me and Allison (pictured above with us) plan a Father’s Day meal with all of our dad’s favorite things (Brit was also there with Allison every moment of her journey when she lost her dad shortly before I lost mine).

We freak out about life and next steps a lot together. We complain about boys and the lack of their presence in our lives often. We went on many 10 hour road trips to South Carolina. We watched A LOT of Netflix. We fought a lot. We laughed a lot. I cried a lot and she listened a lot (she doesn’t cry much). Like I said, she’s a gem. She’s a servant. She’s vulnerable and transparent. She loves Jesus with all of her heart. She loves her people fiercely. She fights well. She never gives up on people. She pushes everyone to Jesus. She’s my family. She tells people that if I got to chose who my sisters were they would be her and Taylor Swift (hence the picture she gave me above that I’ll never get rid of). I’m sad we don’t live in the same place anymore, but I’m thankful that we get to google chat almost every day and solve all of our, and the world’s, problems.

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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.

The Friendgroup! You’ve heard about them three times already when I’ve talked about Micki, Molly, and Sara and a little bit about our beginnings. I’ll recap the way the formation of The Friendgroup went down. Micki and I met right before we started MC. Molly had transferred in the year before. Micki and Molly knew of each other from All-State youth choir. I had met Molly randomly the summer before I started MC. Anna and Megan transferred in at the same time as me and Micki from another community college. We met Anna and Megan at the very first transfer game night Molly hosted via BSU. All five of us decided to go through rush together. Micki knew Leah, who had been at MC a year already, from high school and their community college, but soon we all knew her too! Molly knew Stacy and Sara from their hometown and I knew them from our community college. Stacy joined the MC crew the next year. Brownhair met us when she transferred in that next year too. She lived on our floor in the dorm and was roommates with a mutual friend of Micki/Molly/Leah/etc. We basically occupied an entire hall at MC! Our friend group and a younger friend group we were also friends with took over 5th Floor East. You can’t convince me that better college years than ours exist! Sara, Leslie, and Sarah P were added on through camp. Micki, Molly, Sara, Sarah, Stacy, Brownhair, and I worked at Camp Garaywa for at least one summer and most of us multiple summers.  All of us worked camp with at least one or two of us together in different combinations. Sarah P eventually transferred to MC too. Sara graduated from Southern Miss and Leslie graduated from Ole Miss. The rest of us (me, Molly, Micki, Anna, Megan, Leah, Brownhair, Stacy, and Sarah P) graduated from MC between the years of 2004-2008.

I could write a book with all the hilarious memories from our college days! We had so much fun. We laughed A LOT. We stayed up to the wee hours of the morning A LOT. We studied a little (we all graduated!). We talked about our many crushes A LOT. We watched A LOT of American Idol. We ate A LOT of pizza sticks from Pete’s. And you could probably assume that 8-12 girls together at any given time were not very quiet. We got in trouble a few times by RAs for being too loud. I have two favorite too loud moments. We got in trouble once for playing bunco on a tiled floor apparently past the hours that the girls under us wanted to be awake. Another time we got in trouble because Anna decided to try out her metal roller skates on the same tiled floor. We slept on roofs. We went to grab-a-dates. We fell in mud puddles (okay that was just me). We had the time of our lives! And we were all involved in things all over campus and knew lots of people on campus, but we were our favorites.

Sometime during college, we started visiting each other’s families as a group. Several people’s families would host us and we’d go away for the weekend and do all sorts of fun things! We fished. We went to quirky small town festivals. We rode (and fell off) party barges (not me that time!). We even sang together at the family church of whoever we were visiting that weekend and called ourselves Sheltering Tree. (Note, I basically just held a mic and lip synced.) As we started to graduate and no longer were able to live all day everyday dorm life together, we realized how special our friendships were! In an effort to not be just a group of girls who were friends in college once, we established Summerfest and Friendmas!

Summerfest was basically an extension of the weekend gatherings we started in college. We don’t get to do Summerfest anymore, but when we did it was a blast! We’d always stay at someone’s family’s cabin or lakehouse, swim, get sunburned, eat way too much, retell old stories, catch up on new stories, and as always, laugh A LOT. Summerfest has been replaced by weddings, baby showers, and meet the baby showers, which are all equally as fun. Friendmas is still going strong and is one of the things I look forward to more than anything! It’s always sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. A different person hosts every year. Pictures are always a given (see below for my fav Friendmas pics over the years)! We eat and share recipes, we steal gifts from one another, we hug a lot, catch up on life, laugh as much as we always do, and get teary eyed when we have to leave.

By far one of the most fun things about being friends with someone since college is getting to see them fall in love and get married! We’ve all been at each wedding as bridesmaids, honorary bridesmaids, and/or the loudest cheerleaders. It’s pretty much an unspoken rule that a boyfriend isn’t real until he’s met The Friendgroup. It’s so fun to watch the husbands become friends with one another (and us) too! These ladies have married some keepers for sure who love us all and have all become pros at taking pictures of us. They play along at Friendmas too and bring guy gifts to steal from one another (though I don’t know if any of them have ever stolen, they don’t like the stealing drama as much as we do). And now they’re having babies! One of my favorite title’s in life is getting to be Aunt KK to my friend’s adorable kids.

Brownhair (who is called that because we had two Erin’s on our hall and her descriptor was Erin Brownhair and then it just stuck), wife to Caleb, mother of Bennett, is 100% the prankster/instigator of the group. She grabs butts in pictures, tries to pick you up when she hugs you, and can’t be trusted in the best kind of way possible (I’d trust her with my life and secrets any day, but not in the dark because she does crazy things like dress up like a midget clown to terrify her friends). I get to see her semi-regularly and it makes me happy! Her and Caleb have to come to my area for meetings a lot and I just adore them. Anna, wife to Kellen, mom of Kingston, is a hilarious little fireball. I’m pretty sure her spirit animal is Lucile Ball. She really could be a stand-up comedian. Megan, wife to Chad, mom to Sarah Bentley and Susanna, is one of my go-to prayer warriors! She’s also one of the sassiest people I know and may have passed down that sass to her gorgeous little girls. Stacy, wife to Brandon, has my heart! We’re cut from the same cloth, have similar family backgrounds, and I have and will always love her to pieces (and hope we get to have a reunion soon!). Sarah, wife to Kyle, mom to Avyn and Ayla, is also one of the funniest people I know. She makes me laugh endlessly, but she also has such a tender and caring heart. And her family has loved me like their own more times than I can count! She also let me sleep on her dorm room couch every night when I didn’t want to accept that I had graduated (and had a real apartment I could have been sleeping in!). Leslie loves her family fiercely, more than I’ve ever seen anyone love their family. She’s an encouraging presence among our group. Leah, wife to Brock, mom to Vanna, is one of the brightest, joyful people I know! Her smile lights up a room and her laugh is contagious. And you’ve heard lots already about Sara, Micki, and Molly already. This goes without saying, but they’re all gorgeous too! I told y’all, I have beautiful friends. I love these ladies so much!

And allow me to take a very serious moment (I kid about the seriousness) to say there are two very fantastic girls left in this wonderful friend group who are still single. And we just happen to be roommates! I could list many reasons why you should tell your single guy friends about about me and Sara, but who wouldn’t want to marry into The Friendgroup?! Sara and I are forever taking applications for eligible bachelors. Feel free to use our amazing friend group as one of many selling points if you happen upon either of the following types of guys. 1. Dark hair, dark eyes, bearded, drives a truck, smells delightful, loves Jesus, has a little meat on his bones, and toleration/like for country music is a bonus. (Clearly for Sara, y’all know I hate country music.) 2. Doesn’t drive a truck (or at least not one with any camo or big tires), doesn’t like country music (or at least doesn’t like ONLY country music), big, bearded, Jesus loving, foodie, likes eating baked goods, huggable, quirky lumberjack. And I’ll just leave this gem of a picture I found while looking for Friendgroup pics right here. Still single and ready to mingle world!

Seriously through, my life wouldn’t be the same without these girls! I never feel like I don’t fit in with them or am out of place regardless of my marital status or child status. And I know they all long for me to find my Friendgroup husband (and Sara to find hers) as much as I do! But I also know that even if I never get married, I’ll fit just as perfectly with them forever. Every single one of us knows The Friendgroup is where you go when you need prayer warriors, encouragement, and to be reminded that you’re loved. Jesus is at the core of who we are. We’ve seen each other experience life’s greatest joys, greatest losses, and all the silliness in between. According to the internets (via Micki), Amy Poehler once said, “Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life.” I’m beyond blessed to have found these girls in college and know my life has been changed many times because of them. Now let’s start planning this year’s Friendmas already!

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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.

Since Saturdays are the hardest days for me to write, I decided I’m gonna keep it light and funny on these days. I don’t do well with doing anything structured on unstructured days like Saturdays. And most Saturdays I pack full with as many fun and life giving things as I can with all the people you’re hearing about! Today I went to a pumpkin patch, went on a hayride, ate lunch with people, washed clothes and sheets, cooked a meal that I’ll deliver tomorrow for a friend with a new baby, and ate dinner with more people! And the sillier light-hearted posts were already planned, I just moved my outline around a little to make those posts fall on Saturdays. So today you get to hear about my imaginary friends!

I get  really involved in the lives of fictional characters y’all. REALLY INVOLVED! I can admit to finding myself multiple times wanting to pray for different things FICTIONAL characters were going through. And oh the things I’ve learned from them! Harry Potter and his friends taught me to love reading. Meredith Grey and her friends (though I no longer watch them) gave me some insight on grief once (I wrote about it a billion years ago). Lorelai Gilmore has taught me more lessons that I can even count! (Coffee is life. Always have some good clothes that are clean and don’t have to be dry cleaned. Live in a quirky town. Etc etc etc.) Coach Taylor taught me so many applicable life lessons in relation to team life (aka life lived in community), made me push myself harder and feel like I was winning a state championship football game when I was ellipticaling, and forever ingrained on my soul that with clear eyes and a full heart you just CAN’T LOSE!

For real though, book reading and tv show watching (particularly when the tv shows have great character development) can be quite therapeutic! I think it’s possible to have unhealthy relationships and addictions to tv watching because literally everything can be used for bad. BUT, I think it’s possible when balanced and paired with other healthy activities for it to be a good, relaxing, and fun outlet. And I really do think there are practical lessons to be learned everywhere, even in the lives of fictional characters (along with a lot of lessons to be filtered out). I just really do love them y’all! And so I’m going to tell you about my favorites.

• Harry Potter. Forever and always. FOREVER! I used to HATE reading. I wouldn’t read books. They didn’t engage me and it wasn’t fun to me. Micki made us watch the movies, which we of course loved, and then forced me to read the first book promising I would love it. I didn’t believe her, but she was right! I love the books. I love the movies. I love the fandom. I love Harry Potter world. I LOVE IT ALL! So many beautiful life lessons and classic good vs. evil battles. I own all the movies (and books) and will forever and always still watch them on ABC Family weekends, commercials and all. I have Harry Potter tattoos (tiny cute baby ones). I have a Hogwarts sweatshirt. I have Hufflepuff paraphernalia. I’m a Harry Potter dork and don’t care! Seriously, #HarryPotterForever.

• Gilmore Girls. OBSESSED! Best show ever. I’ve watched it all the way through 3 times and just started a 4th. Ultimate love. The utmost quirk. I mean I basically live where I live because it reminds me of Stars Hollow.

• Nashville. Oh the drama. I LOVE IT! You just can’t beat singing + drama.

• Friday Night Lights. All the heart eyes forever. I just recently made my way through this show. I never thought I’d like it because I hate football, but it’s so not about the football! I wish Coach Taylor was my personal life coach. I wish Tammy Taylor was my mentor. And Tim Riggins! Nothing else needs to be said. Texas isn’t on my list of places I’d never live, but it’s also not at the top of the places I’d love to live list either. But I’d be all Texas Forever any day for Tim Riggins.

• Parenthood. All the teary eyes for this one! Such a wholesome show. And it really did help me cope with my dad having cancer. They approached real life topics in a real way and it was really beautiful (and tearful!).

• Food Network! The Food Network makes me dream and inspires my cooking so much. I don’t know if I’d love cooking as much as I do if it wasn’t for Food Network. My current fav Food Network show is The Kitchen! Tons of practical kitchen tips, but also the hosts just have excellent chemistry.

• Scandal. This is just one of my guilty pleasure shows. I learn nothing from this show other than how to conspiracy theorize and that Olivia Pope is the ultimate BA. It’s also one of a handful of shows that I watch that I CANNOT stop watching because I must know how it ends.

• Once Upon a Time! This is probably my favorite show currently on. I love it so much. I’ve always loves fantasy and fairy tales and magic. It combines it all so perfectly with great twists and incredible character development. It feels like watching a big screen movie every week! And TONS of life lessons/good vs. evil lessons/messages of hope. LOVE.

• My Big Fat Fabulous life could be categorized as a guilty pleasure too, but I love Whitney Way Thore! I don’t like most weight loss shows because I think they preach a terrible message. I love this show though because she is trying to lose weight for health reasons and to be her healthiest self, but she loves herself and her life at her current size, not at a dream goal size!

• Gossip Girl. Definitely another guilty pleasure show. No spectacular life lessons, but it had a way of making you appreciate your besties (and that you didn’t grow up in that life). Also another one that I had to keep watching to know the end! And I guessed who it was by the way.

• Pretty Little Liars. Guilty pleasure. Stuck. Can’t stop. Don’t want to stop. MUST KNOW THE END! And I watch it with my besties so it’s super fun.

• Impractical Jokers. Oh man, I love this show. It’s not a great show to watch with mixed company, but it’s hilarious to watch with your roommate. It’s a perfect short show to watch while we eat dinner too. And Q and Sal aren’t too bad to look at either.

• The Vampire Diaries and The Originals. Another guilty pleasure. It scares the heck out of me at times, but I love it.

Fun additional fact: Micki’s husband says I won’t watch/like a show unless it has a crushworthy character on it. It’s a pretty true statement.

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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.

Marissa is the only girl cousin I got to grow up with! (I have another fantastic older girl cousin who always lived in Colorado and now lives in France, amazing!). Marissa and I were the only 2 girls of the grandkids on my mom’s side. She is Aunt Sandy’s daughter and first child and the older sister of Jacob and Zack (they’ll get shoutouts in a post soon too). We’re first cousins by birth, but have always been sisters at heart. She’s married to the perfect match for her and they live about 2 hours a way from me. We don’t get to hang out as much in this season of life as we did in the past, but the sister-like bond remains! And though we have spent our entire lives being besties, apparently we had a rocky start.

I’ve been told this story a million times, but I have no recollection of it at all. Naturally since I was so close to Aunt Sandy when I was little (and forever), I was excited when she was having a baby. Apparently my excitement faded the day she told me what she was going to name her. She says that I wept when she told me my new cousin’s name was going to be Marissa. They said there was a girl in my class named Marissa that reportedly was mean to me and I was devastated by the name choice. I pleaded and begged Aunt Sandy not to name her that, but she did anyway. I think any worries I must have had about Marissa being evil must had dissipated quickly because we’ve been posing in happy pictures together since she was an infant.

Obviously  we were together A LOT. I’m four years older than her, but as soon as she could walk and talk age difference didn’t matter. Most of our family members live within walking distance of one another, and I pretty much walked to Aunt Sandy’s house any day I could. Marissa and I were OBSESSED with Disney princesses. She was always Ariel and I was always Cinderella. Fun fact: I used to want to have a Disney Princess wedding hahaha. Marissa helped me plan it many times. All my bridesmaids were going to be Disney princesses and Marissa, the maid of honor of course, was either going to dye her hair red and be Ariel or because of long brown hair and olive skin was going to be Pocahontas.

We spent lots of hours watching the Disney Channel. We made Aunt Sandy record Days of Our Lives for us (until Marlena was possessed, then we quit that show). We were majorly obsessed with High School Musical (and yes, I was probably in college by then). We were in dance together, though I should say Marissa was in dance, I just went to class and participated in recitals and stunk. She was REALLY good. I quit after 4 years and she stuck with it a while longer. It paid off too because she was also an excellent member of the flag team in community college and got a nice scholarship for it! Even our Barbies were friends! And we usually had coordinating, or at least really cute, Halloween costumes! My mom used to sew a lot and made Halloween costumes and Aunt Sandy used to be a makeup lady and always did our makeup. We were adorbs!

I went to Copiah Lincoln Community College. She went to Copiah Lincoln Community College. I went to Mississippi College. She went to Mississippi College. We never got to go to either of these places together, but it’s another bond we share! Riss is super smart and always has been. She’s a teacher and great with kids. Side note to say I think teachers are super heroes. What you do is hard, exhausting, you don’t get paid enough, and you aren’t appreciated enough, but I see you! You’re all heroes in my book. In addition to being smart, she’s also beautiful! She’s always been better at makeup than me, she has great hair, great skin, and she’s just gorgeous (I told you, we have good genes!). She has a tender heart and always has. She cares deeply about the world and her people. She also has the best laugh and an even better laughing face. I can’t see her laughing and not laugh too.

As I mentioned earlier, she’s married to a great guy – Mark. We all love Mark and he fits into our family flawlessly! I love lots of things about Mark, but what I love most about him (aside from how much he loves my sister cousin) is how much he loves Marissa’s little brothers/my little cousins (who aren’t little at all anymore). He is SO great with Jacob and Zack and I love that. Marissa and Mark have a cute little house with a cute little dog named Henry. They both love Jesus fiercely and are continually and evidently growing. Mark really is perfect for Marissa and she’s grown so much because of him! I’m proud of the way he supports her and how bold she’s become in standing up for herself and others as they’ve thrived in their marriage. And she was a gorgeous bride! I got to be her maid-of-honor, cried the day she asked me, and SOBBED all through the perfect union of two imperfect people joined together by a perfect God.

Another great story that has to be told is the day Marissa found her wedding dress. In an effort to save money, Rissa’s plan was to order a dress online. We went dress “shopping” just so she could try on dresses to get an idea of what size to order. We picked dresses in a similar style to the one she found online for her to try on. They were all beautiful, but nothing magical. We still supported her decision to order online. And then… She tried on THE dress. It was one of those classic magical movie moments where we all three looked in the mirror and teared up. It was out of her budget, but we all vowed to find other ways to cut cost because none of us could say goodbye to that dress. And as if it wasn’t already perfect enough, the bridal shop lady told us it was in a line inspired by Disney princesses. The name of the dress was Ariel. Teary eyes released their tears and we all cried. (I actually wrote a blog post inspired by the moment once.)

My favorite memory from this year happened in May. I acquired Taylor Swift concert tickets and knew that Marissa was one of the only people who wouldn’t judge how excited I would be and the crying I would do. It was hot. We sweated a lot. My feet and back were hurting like crazy. We didn’t get home until 2 am. We both decided we were too old for concerts. BUT IT WAS WORTH IT! And we’d do it again. It was magical and perfect and I’m so glad we got to share it together!

We’ve been through a lot together. Good, bad, and ugly (including both of our awkward middle school stages). We’ve laughed until we’ve cried endless times. We’ve cried until we’ve laughed probably just as much. We’ve fought (you do this with heart sisters, it just happens!). I’ve probably bossed her around way too often in our lifetime. We’ve gone too long without being intentional to catch up WAY too many times. But we are and will forever be heart sisters. I know she will always be there any time I need her. I know she prays for me. She knows I pray for her. She’ll be there standing right beside me the day I get married too.I’ll be one of the first people in the waiting room for every kid she has and vice versa. And maybe one day we’ll get to make our kids fold our clothes and wear coordinating Halloween costumes too. I love you Riss!

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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.

If you know me, you’ve probably met Aunt Sandy and/or heard about her A LOT! She’s literally been there since the day I was born, before in fact. She’s my mom’s younger sister and we’ve pretty much been two peas in a pod since the day I was born. She got married 3 months after I was born, and therefore I get cheating bonus points for always remembering how many years she’s been married each anniversary (aka how ever old I am). She didn’t have Marissa (you’ll get to hear about her tomorrow!) until 4 years into marriage. Since Uncle Jeff worked often, we were pals when I was a toddler! I’ve been spending the night at her house literally for 32 years. And now she spends the night at mine sometimes. Her and Marissa are coming to visit next weekend and I’m ECSTATIC!

Her and Uncle Jeff have always called me their fourth child, and she definitely has always been a mother figure in my life. Aunt Sandy and I were cut from the exact same cloth. My OCD organizing cleanliness is straight from her. The one exception to my OCD cleanliness being piles of clean clothes not put away? Also from her. Marissa and I joke that our hatred for laundry is her fault. When were kids she tried to make us folding clothes for her sound like a fun game. We’d sit on the living room floor and watch Days of Our Lives or the Disney Channel and fold clothes. I think it’s about time for us to have our own kids to pass this game down to them! Guess who is also obsessed with pumpkins, decorating for fall and Christmas, and sitting on her front porch? Yep, Aunt Sandy. She recently sent me a picture of a Pumpkin Spice Life mug she got from Wal-mart telling me I should get it too and of course, I already had it. We’re both crafty AND I get my cooking skills from her. Seriously, two peas in a pod for 32 years and counting.

Aunt Sandy is also beautiful! Frequently when her, Riss, and I are together they think she’s our age and not our elder. She taught us from a young age to NEVER SLEEP IN MAKEUP! I think this, and good genes, are one of the many reasons we all look younger than we are (I still get mistaken for a college student at least once a week and I’m 32). Not only does she look younger than she is, she’s also always been young at heart. She loved all the Disney Channel movies and shows right along with me and Marissa, and not just because we liked them, she liked them too! We’ll blame me liking movies and shows meant for preteens on her as well.

She’s fun. She loves cats and if you love cats you should follow her Instagram. She’s super smart and the hardest person ever to beat at Scrabble. She’s supportive of everything her kids do and loves them (and me) fiercely! She never stops having a fun and lively life or learning new things. She’s a supportive and loving wife. She’s a great gardener. She’s a beautiful singer.  I’ve never introduced her to a person who didn’t love her instantly. All of my friends call her Aunt Sandy too. She’s just great!

But real talk time, there hasn’t been a time since at least middle school when I’ve been asked one of those ice breaker or interview questions about who my role model/hero is that her name hasn’t been on the list. I grew up in what I like to call crazyland, surrounded by chaos and at times a lot of terrible things. Aunt Sandy was always the person in my life who was the opposite of chaos and often the escape from chaos. When everything at home was dark, she was light. She’s the reason I wanted to go to church. My parents didn’t go to church when I was a kid, but she did. I was in church every Sunday because of her, and I needed that positivity and goodness in my life.

I was an EXTREMELY shy kid and teenager, but never with her family. She knew me. I was so shy that I resisted God’s gentle call to enter into a relationship with Him for probably at least TWO years. The night I finally couldn’t ignore it anymore, Aunt Sandy knew. I was a trembling 13 year old, scared to be in front of anyone or even talk to anyone about what was going on in my heart, but she saw me internally and externally wrestling with the fear to make a public decision. She reached over and held my hand and told me she’d go with me. She has always been and will always be a spiritual hero in my life.

When things got even rockier at home, she let me live at her house every weekend and for every holiday break during my first two years of college (I went to a community college and we couldn’t stay on the weekends). Everything hasn’t always been perfect, but in the times it hasn’t or wasn’t, there’s always been reconciliation. I think we’re closer now than we’ve ever been because we survived a really hard season. She’s taught me so many things I’ve mentioned and things I haven’t. She’s modeled what it looks like to have healthy boundaries in friendships. She’s shown me what it looks like to  parent children with so much grace. She was the one person who came to my dad’s memorial service for me and stood beside me and once again held my hand as I wrestled with something life changing. She believes in me and is one of my biggest supporters. It’s rare that a day goes by where we don’t text each other at least once. She loves Jesus in a real, growing way, more now than I’ve ever seen her love Him (which is saying a lot). I love her and wouldn’t be who I am without her.

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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.

Today I get to talk about my brother Kyle! He’s my little brother (2 years younger), but he’s the most big brother-like little brother that ever existed. I’m gonna keep this post short and sweet, because he probably wouldn’t read it if it was too long haha, but that doesn’t mean my love for this 31 People(s) is any less! First funny stories! I unintentionally endangered his life a few times when we were little. Once when he was a tiny baby, like not old enough to eat solid food baby, I tried to feed him chips. Oops. I believe there is another story of me pulling him out of his swing when he was a baby because I wanted him to play with me. He likes to tell people that I stabbed him once. But the knife was plastic! I also didn’t think he was going fast enough when we made a game out of sliding down the side of our dad’s old timey truck (terrible game for kids to play) so I pushed him off. And he had to get stitches. OOPS FOR REAL! And one time we were all (a couple cousins I think too) playing in a barn filled with hay bales (we grew up on a farm, there wasn’t much to do, don’t judge) and Kyle got stuck between some hay bales and we couldn’t pull him out. He thought he was going to die and in addition to apologizing to me for everything he had done wrong, he also told me to tell a whole list of people that he loved them. He doesn’t think that story is funny but I still laugh out loud every time I think about it.

I was a typical first born sister (perfect in every way, duh) and he was a typical little brother (had stitches a lot, got in trouble for everything including stuff I did). Though the list of things I did to him that he didn’t deserve was vast, don’t think he was angelic! There are lots of classic little brother stories I could tell like when he read my diary and told his whole baseball team that I had a crush on one of his teammates or when he and all my boy cousins would build “bridges” to cross the creek and make me test them first (AND I ALWAYS FELL IN). I love reminiscing about funny childhood stories! But for real, he’s an amazing brother and human and I really could write WAY more words than he’d care to read about all the reasons why.

He is seriously the most loved person I’ve ever met. Kyle has an army of people that would come to his rescue, fight for him, or take a bullet for him without hesitation. If there was a small town award called most loved town member, he’d get it hands down. He would and does do anything and everything for anyone! He has probably helped over half of Monticello do some odd job or favor. He’s helped me more times than I can even count! Most recently if you follow me on Facebook you know that he found someone to come help me with me car when he couldn’t and they did it for FREE. When I had a wreck in New Orleans (3+ hours away from where my brother lives or I live) and had to leave my car down there, he found a friend with a trailer to go get my car, spent 3 months finding the cheapest parts possible to fix my car, and spent way too much of his own time and money having it fixed. He’s helped me move more times than I can count. The list goes on and on!

Above all else though, he’s the one person who has always been there. We didn’t grow up in the most picture perfect of circumstances, but no matter how bad or crazy things got we always knew we had each other. We fight and will probably always fight (that’s what brothers and sisters do), but never ever have I doubted his love and loyalty. We’ve both probably said a lot of things to one another over the years that we didn’t mean, but none of that sticks. All that sticks is unconditional love and unending support. Unconditional love is loving someone and being only a phone call away no matter how disappointed you are or have been in them, no matter how mad you are or have been at them, no matter what stupid things they said or did. I am thankful to have friends that love me like that too, but there’s just nothing like a brother, and mine is pretty darn fantastic.

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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.