all things beautiful

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

my best friend is getting married.

In honor of my best friend, Casey, getting married, I thought I would put up some embarrassing, hilarious pictures from our friendship.

I started writing a sentimental journey of our friendship, but thought I should save that for the wedding. :)

Anyone who knows me, knows Casey. She and I have been best friends since freshman year of high school, when she told me she liked my ribbon I was wearing... in my hair. (I carried the trend from middle school.. what then) Ten years later, we are still besties. Our deep friendship has been such a sweet blessing from God!

Many of these pictures are the edited version, for we too are broken and have some interesting things from our past. However, God has brought us tons of healing and taught us so much along the way. One is that I used too much eyeliner (which Casey first introduced me to, along with the hair straightner).

Not long after our friendship began.. Freshman year Homecoming

Freshman year of college

At da club

First week after our senior year of high school

Greenville Christmas parade.. this really happened

wal-mart. really?

oh i love this picture!

and we entered a hard core outdoorsy phase in college. and man, were we ever.

too cool for you.

The Lord has blessed us immensely through our friendship and I am deeply thankful that she is my sister through Jesus.

I love that she is getting married!! Marriage is soo good and I love that God uses it in the broken world to display His love and goodness.

What a beautiful picture:
"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ... 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.' This is a profound mystery - but I am talking about Christ and the church."
Ephesians 5:25-32

I love this also, as we are apart of God's bride, the church.
"As a young man marries a maiden, so will your sons marry you;
as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you."
Isaiah 64:5

Did I mention she is marrying one of the coolest guys ever?! :)

Love you Casey and Chris! So excited for ya'll!

Lylas.

Monday, April 2, 2012

Sister! Sister!

This past Friday I had a wonderful surprise! My sweet sister flew overnight from Fraser, CO to spend Friday and Saturday with me (and our family).

Kim (also know as sissy, sisser, Kimly, Kimmers, Timmers, or whatever comes out at the time) moved in September 2010 to go to a discipleship school, called Timberline. She spent a year being a student, learning Truth about the Lord, and about herself. She decided to take a job there after her time as a student, stepping in faith of what God was calling her to do. She currently lives and works at Timberline.

Most people that know me, know my sister, and the beautiful transformation the Holy Spirit has done in her life. If anyone would have told me a few years ago that she would be my best friend, I would have made a crazy face and thought that to be a ridiculous thought. Good thing our God is faithful, a healer and that He is redemptive. She has a really sweet story of how God called her to be His, but I will let her share that when she hops on the blog wagon. :)

When Kim left for Colorado two weeks after Reed and I got married, she told us we could not have kids until she came back. However, the Lord had other plans. :) She was the first person I called last September when I told her I peed on a stick and it was positive. She responded by crying, saying she was really sad she wasn't going to be in Greenville.

Kim has loved this little baby girl from that moment. She has done nothing but encourage, listen, and shower gift after gift (her love language) on me and this little baby.

Kim made this for the nursery- It is a sweet, southern song my Grandma Langley would sing to us when we were children. We loved it and still sing it.

Baby's first onesie

I have wanted her to be here so many times throughout this journey of growing a baby. Kim always helps me in life, she's good at it. Whether it is packing for my honeymoon, getting ready for prom, moving into college, or just moving in general.. she has always been there to help me keep it together and stay focused. Believe it or not, I don't always have it together. :)

This weekend was a sweet gift from God! I am so glad I could spend time with Kimmers before this baby is on the outside. (Even though Kim really came to see how big I am now and rub my belly non-stop.) Not only did I get to spend time with my precious sister, we also hung out with some of my other favorite people, Reed and my brother. (We def had a slumber party at my house Friday night) We also spent time with my parents and were able to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary.

Breakfast at Coffee to a Tea

Family picnic at the park

Awkward family photo

Drums on my belly

I so thankful God gave me such a wonderful sister. I am thankful that she and I are very real with each other, from our hair and style to our hearts and sin. I am thankful for technology, that we can talk to each other often. I am thankful to see God through her serving and giving heart. I am thankful that God has given her a gift of being blunt, and that He is using that for His Kingdom. I need people like that. I am thankful that she chooses to serve Him and lives in His love.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

My dream job

I've been working on this post in my head over the past week. Today is my last day at Frazee. Reed and I decided it would be best for our family for me to take some time off in preparation for our baby girl that will be here in May. I still expect Frazee to be a big part of our lives, and I am eager to see what that looks like in the upcoming months.

There are so many details I want to include in this post: my journey into my "dream" job (God did crazy things!), different stories of kids and amazing volunteers, the many, many things I have learned... because the Lord has blessed me immensely in all of it! However, to avoid writing a novel, I tried my best to sum it up. My summary does not do justice to how much God has taught me in my time there. I am extremely thankful to God for His goodness in giving me such an amazing opportunity!

I graduated from USC with a fashion merchandising degree, and worked in the apparel industry for a year and half at a local company. To be brief, I was very thankful for it, since that was at the end of 2008 and our country was on an economic downfall. While it was a great job, it was not for me. It was my Egypt and I was making bricks, continually crying out to God. And like God with the Israelites, He heard my cry. (Praise God!) In 2010, I left the job, spent a couple of weeks preparing for a wedding, then a couple more adjusting to marriage.

I began working at the Frazee Dream Center in the fall of 2010. With no education degree or experience. The only thing was the Holy Spirit and amazing teachers (Matt & Jenny Reeve's, my brother, and the Brown's).

The Frazee Center is an after-school program, for "high-risk" kids in the downtown community. They also have a preschool program, and a summer program for all the kids. Not only that, they provide dinner, lunches, and try to meet any need in the kid's lives that come up. There is also a mentoring program that pairs each child with a mentor/mentor family. The mentoring program is the backbone to Frazee, as we are learning how important that is for changing these children's lives.

Ahh.. but that is just a small part of it. I cannot describe in words, how special that place is. It is not just a building for small, inner-city kids. It is a place where the kingdom of God meets earth. It is a place where kids get to see God's love in a tangible way. It is a place where they can learn the practical things in life, to be functional people in society. Daily we teach practical that leads to spiritual in how to: work hard, respect authority, love everyone, and forgive quickly. Isn't that what God desires?

And God let me be a small, small part of that as a "teacher" there for almost 2 years!

I have learned so much about poverty and how broken our system is.. and how we need Jesus even more. I have learned a lot about working through disciplining a child's heart and some of the emotions with that. I have learned how to train a child, over and over and over, in forgiveness and grace. I have learned how important it is to confess to children that I am not perfect, and that because Jesus forgives us, we forgive each other. I have learned how to have fun. I have learned how to have joy in small things. I have learned how to not give a kid a band-aid for every scratch or run to every crying child. I have learned that some people are crazy. I have learned how important discernment is. I have learned that the biggest needs aren't more "things", but relationships.

I'm so thankful for Mr. Matt and Mrs. Jenny, for their obedience to God in starting the Frazee center. I've learned an unbelievable amount from them! They are an inspiration to Reed and I, in mostly how fun they are! :) Thankful for Alise and Gresham, for their patience and guidance. They are also an inspiration! And my brother Kory, who despite being a full time student at Furman, continues to work at Frazee. He has taught me tons during my time there.

I am thankful for all the wonderful volunteers who help make Frazee what it is. I'm super thankful for the ones in my class, and their patience with me and the kids.

I could keep going.

but I will stop for now...