One year ago, I sat on that couch with some people who I never knew would become my best friends. I watched fireworks with them, not knowing that a year from that day, the very boy whose couch we were sitting on would be coming home from Monrovia. That boy is now a man. 
Heather, that summer was a summer of healing. God gave me a love for His word and I read more of the bible in one week than I usually read in a month. To try new things is a comfort. All in one day, we saw miami, I tried shrimp, and you learned to longboard.
My favorite coffee mug from philly. Thank goodness someone talked one of my friends into going...and then, they talked me into going. I let go of being perfect and the lie that for a christian to admit pain and struggle and to be sad means that they are not trusting God. It's okay to feel deep sorrow. My heart finally heard the words "You are so beautiful, and I will call you Beautiful." And I will never forget the way God uses people to speak the words we wait so long to hear. 
This man is the one coming home from Africa. Because of God, he left behind all that he knows, so that he might learn what he doesn't know. 
3 things I love: Romans, flowers, and cocktail rings. I'm not sure if there is any other part of my bible that is highlighted as much as Romans 5-8.
I am blessed beyond measure.
