When my soul leaves this earth for the sky, I know the wait will be worth it.

{Thailand Mission trip, where the tree of us ladies met. 

LtoR: Linda, Bobbie, Tracy & my Dad Jim worshipping at the last church service in Thailand. 

I'm so glad I took this photo. I'm so glad I have it to treasure. }

I am holding so tightly to the truth that when you are absent from the body, you are present with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:8.) It brings me great peace to know that you will be without pain & without sickness. I imagine the moment that your eyes closed, in that very instant, you were relieved completely. You will see the face of God and he will hold you closely. He will look right at you and say, "I'm proud of you." And you will know that your life was not lived in vain. All of these months of fighting death, of seeing your friends and family in pain, of feeling defeated will all dissolve just like you've said, "Jesus' blood covers it all and because of his great love for us, I can walk in victory knowing that he has set me free." Preach it sister! Preach that good news! He will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The LORD has spoken. (Isaiah 25:8)

I am celebrating that freedom with you today.

When I get to heaven and see you again, You'll be there too showing off your hot ass new body (totally restored and cancer free!) and we will worship the Lord together just like we did here on earth-those nights of eating until we were satisfied, drinking wine, talking about who Jesus is and what he's done, sharpening each other, crying, laughing, that's what we'll do in heaven. I hold onto that promise and it brings me so much comfort. Those nights together were little precious slivers of what heaven will be. I can't wait for our minds to be blown for all of eternity. I had so much fun with you. I can not express what you have done in mentoring me, in teaching me what being a woman means. In what loving God wholly means, in what being STRONG means. I have such marvelous memories to treasure forever. You have taught me so much. My heart expands with love for you.

{Bobbie & I back stage at her first fashion show of which I took the photos of.

That was a fun night.}

Bobbie passed away yesterday. I have not had the strength to pray, I've been in a bit of denial, I've broken into tears through these these last few days, I've been mourning her death, but also felt peace that she's at home. I've never gotten the chance to say goodbye like I did with her. That was probably one of the most beautiful experiences of my life getting to read to her, sing to her, love on her, and kiss her goodbye. Even if she wasn't "there" to reciprocate her love for me, I'm still glad I got to tell her I loved her and she was one of the best friends I ever had.

I'm in shock though. Just two weeks ago I was sitting on her porch sipping tea with her and Tracy and both of them were schooling me and hollering at me, the young-married girl who needs much shepherding. That is me. I was telling them about a purchase I was going to make behind Dustin's back (well, sort of behind his back. we've talked about it a million times but he's hesitant and if i just DO it, he'll have no choice but to get on board!)...and both of them were practically yelling at me and rattling off scripture and telling me I was a dumb ass and saying things like, "listen to me! I've been down this road! Don't ruin your marriage. Don't make the mistakes I made!" And after that lashing, I felt a little embarrassed and was like, "OK, OK! I wasn't REALLY going to do it! Geeze! Lay off me!" I was telling Dustin that one of the best dynamics in my relationship with these two fabulous ladies is that they've taken the roll of shepherding me. I love how they make sure that I don't get too far away from the Lord. They always pull me right back in and love me, instruct me, and teach me lessons so gently. I'm going to miss that.

{Bobbie & Conrad playing at the pool a few months ago:}

It's shocking that cancer took over so quickly. I was JUST with her two weeks ago. It's so strange. I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around it. Thank you for those of you who prayed for me this past week. I've had a really tough time with it, and I'm so glad that I had friends to pray when I couldn't and friends to encourage me to go out and run and spend time with Jesus. I did that yesterday and had the best 4 mile run I think I've had In a LONG time. Jesus is good to me. He is so faithful.