Life moves fast...

This past week we visited our home state of Florida. I'll try not to bore you with a huge recap of everything we did. But I will say it was both a fun and exhausting trip. Basically, anytime we visit Florida it's never a "vacation" in the true sense of the word. Setting my alarm every morning doesn't exactly ring "you're on vacation!" to me. But we had places to be and people to see and commitments to attend. We flew in to Orlando as usual and my mom picked us up. We headed straight to Panera Bread (oh the broccoli-cheddar soup was delcious..) before she dropped us off at Casey and Kendra's house where we would stay for the week. Upon arriving to their house, we were greeted by Casey who was holding Avery. Normally it's all hugs and hellos. This time it was some version of the following: Casey: (opens door) "Hey guys!" Amy: "Hi Casey!" (no hug, immediately enters house) Casey and Jeff: (Still standing at the door wh...

I struggle with insecurity.  I do. I wish I could brush off the fact by saying, "I can't help it." And then I realize all of those statements begin with "I". Which pretty much solves the problem for why I can't help it. Sometimes it's a battle that isn't for me to fight alone. In Exodus 14:14, it says, "The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still." Which spoken by itself sounds great with no strings attached. A "let go and let God" kind of situation. Full of power and reassurance - which it has. But the real truth to its substance is found in the following verse when God basically tells Moses to get everyone moving. In short, Moses must also be active (do his part) in the circumstances surrounding them. I think that part of the story lends clarity when dealing with life's struggles. Making excuses never got anyone from point A to point B. Waiting for someone else to do something about anything may not produc...

[Smile...exhale of contentment...happy reflections...] I'm not sure I can accurately express how blessed I am and how blessed I feel right now. And this last weekend was a large contribution to that blessing. For my birthday, I have experienced the gifts of love and friendship and worship and identity. It has truly been the best birthday I can recall. Birthday 25... Friday I enjoyed lunch at Que Pasa in the company of Hackey and Jess - two wonderful ladies. There's nothing like "girl talk" that brings one closer to their friends. I've always appreciated how we can get together and enjoy raw conversation that does NOT include bashing our husbands, gossiping about this or that, and other trivial things. It's really an honest joy to dive deeper into my new friendships and experience growth in even just an hour's conversation. Saturday morning was spent up in the hills at Mystic Mountain (I think that's the actual location, though it's also know...