An Ode to Jennifer

I would like you to meet one of my closest friends, Jennifer.

Jennifer and I are relatively new friends but we became close fast.  Isn't it amazing how God works?  He gave me Jennifer when I was discouraged over other friendships.  She is newly married and moved here from California.  She is adventurous in getting to know about Idaho but I know the move has been hard.  Jennifer likes coffee, loves breakfast at Goldy's (this has become a tradition anytime we have a day off from school), loves animals, rebels the cold weather and dislikes blogs (this is why I can talk about her, she won't even know!).

God has blessed me with this amazing friend and it is great to be able to gut laugh with her one minute and share with each other the "deep stuff" the next minute.  Thank you Jennifer for your friendship!

Our "road trip" to Twin Falls.  Another day full of laughter!

*Side note: I don't really know what an ode is, so do not hold me accountable for authenticity*

Depression and JOY

What do you do when you hear the word depression?  Do you cringe?  Roll your eyes?  Sympathize?  I would have to honestly say that until before this winter, I did not think depression could exist if you were a Christian.  Often I would think that if you truly believe in the Lord and have His hope you cannot be depressed.  Then last October hit and God taught me differently.  While I do not have any official diagnosis or on meds, I truly believe that I have struggled with depression.  There are many factors to this including medicine I was taking and well... LIFE.

Often I thought that if I could just turn to God and trust Him with the things I was struggling with, everything would get better.  Well here comes confession #2: I was too angry at God with where my life was at to even want to do that.  It has been a long winter full of tears and anger but things are getting better.  A dear friend reminded me of Psalm 121 and often I would just sing the song or read it when things felt tough.

 ⁷ The LORD will keep you from all harm—
   he will watch over your life;
⁸ the LORD will watch over your coming and going
   both now and forevermore.

So where does that leave me now?  I am rediscovering my JOY in the Lord and trusting again in His plan for my life.  I have moments of random crying and no motivation but I praise God that He doesn't abandon me as easily as I abandoned Him.

This boy...

just melts my heart!  

Sawyer and I got to spend the morning at the zoo together on Wednesday while his mommy and daddy were at the doctor learning if he was going to be a big brother to a sister or a brother.  (He's going to have a sister!)  I am in love with my nephew and cannot wait to have a niece to love on as well.  Notice Sawyer's hat?  He cannot go anywhere without it.  You get in the car and he starts saying "haa, haa" and touching his head.  I think our pictures from the zoo are much better with his cute hat!

 As you can see, I am very excited about feeding the giraffe and Sawyer not so much.

We saw lions, tigers, giraffes and penguins!  Sawyer would make the sound for the lions and tigers and even threw in an elephant for good measure.  (I wish we had elephants!)

 Did I mention that this wonderful lady tagged along with us?  I love this girl!

 Sawyer was a little unsure about feeding the goats.

 He warmed up to the idea but threw the food at them.  He didn't wait for them to lick it up.

 Can you see the wallaby baby sticking its head out of the pouch?

It was a fun day full of laughs and the exciting news of a baby girl!  I am glad to be auntie to my Sawyer!