Birmingham

Kyle and I drove to Birmingham last Saturday for the best weekend of life. This was the third year in a row we’ve gone to Alabama to visit Kyle’s best friend Grant and see Step Sing, an annual song and dance show that Samford University puts on that rocks my world. We expected to have a great time, but we didn’t expect that Grant had sneakily invited Caleb and Scott to crash the party, and so we were totally blown away by seeing some of our favorite people on top of all the rest of the adventure. Birmingham is a small pocket of sweetness in our life. We love the city, the people that we know there, the show, and the thrill of being on the road and being somewhere different.  We sat around the campfire at Grant’s, explored parks in downtown Birmingham, frequented our favorite local coffee shops and had a few impromptu dance parties in the backseats of cars. It was a drastically fabulous break from the routine of our regular life and an encouraging reminder of the richness of friendship and community.

It is refreshing to sit with people who know and love me; who say my name because they want to hear about my life or want to tell me something about theirs.  I have a lot of thoughts simmering right now about communities and thankfulness and the way that I am changing so quickly and that my life is so different now than it was even a few months ago and what that means for my heart. I am wrestling with my identity and finding that if I define myself as anything other than the rescued daughter of a mighty King then I am deceiving myself.

I am so thankful for this weekend and for my life. I believe that the Lord is orchestrating something monstrous and wonderful for us. I believe that He loves us. His mercy is long and His purpose is Good.

1. Welcome to Alabama! 2. So excited that our friends are here. 3. Kyle and Grant enjoying some franks at Tip Top Grill. 4. A little Sunday caffeine from Urban Standard. 5. Rock stars 6.You are beautiful in downtown Birmingham 7. Troubadours serenading us with Wagon Wheel at Railroad Park. 8. Kyle finds a friend backstage 9. Group hug