My People

I want to introduce you to some people who have influenced my life in amazing ways. If you ever visit Bend, you'll want to try and meet them, you would not be disappointed. There are a twenty five other people I could list, quite easily...and it's not that I don't want to mention them, I am simply going to keep it somewhat narrowed to this particular area of my heart for Africa. Some of them have nicknames, I thought it important to share :)

Elizabeth (Beth, BS, Bess(ie), BethAnne): Meet Beth. Her namesake: Consecrated to God. This woman is definitely living that out, and I think her parents knew she would. I used to live with Beth for about two years. She's been my big sis ever since, and I love her dearly. She's a video cowgirl, frickin' amazingly talented video editor, travels the world, loves Jesus like crazy, and inspires me to follow the passion deep in my heart. Oh, and she always knows what you need to hear from God, whether she's conscious of it or not. And she says the funniest things in private and loves being vague and ambiguous.

Sarah M: My soul sister. We honestly cannot remember how we met (probably a human rights function of some kind or another), about a year ago or so. She's passionate about art, true beauty and love. She LOVES Africa (ask to see her tattoo). Her life goal (in my eyes) is to show the world truth and Christ through art and personal surrender to His direction in her life. We always drink nutty love mochas at Thump, and only drink them with each other, it's our treat to ourselves. We usually spend that time talking about two things: boys and Africa. ;)

Lauren (Lo): I feel I cannot quite sum Lauren up in a paragraph. I shake my head at how amazing she is just thinking about her. A soul filled with passion for Christ and for His children. A devoted wife and incredible mother. She has the most beautiful voice I have ever heard, and writes songs that could bring a terrorist to tears all while giving a remarkable description of God's love for us. I love to sit at her home, or Sparrow Bakery and enjoy soaking in her wisdom about life. She has a lot of it. She is the Proverbs 31 woman.

Benjamin (Benny Boy, Bro - yeah, I got real creative there, didn't I?): Husband of Lauren. Very much my big brother in many ways: silly remarks about the last date I went on, or sound wisdom about life and business, or brilliant ideas. Genuine and kind-hearted, passionate and full of adventure, this guy you must meet. He's the kind of guy that is married to the Proverbs 31 woman that you hear his name at the gates and he is respected. In fact, if you attend my wedding some day you'll get to meet this husband and wife duo of awesomeness, because he's not only passionate about photographing for God and using his gifts to share with the world, but they are rockstar wedding photogs. I can't imagine my life without them, whether I am in the states or in some far off country, I know we'll always be friends. (And Ben? I'll keep the diarrhea joke to myself.)

Ann (that fiery Irish woman): In the short time I've known this woman, she has simply STEPPED IN. In a good way, of course. We share a passion for Africa, advocacy, people and Christ. She is another woman I can gladly say is now like family to me. She's easily embarrassed me in front of approximately 60 people by calling out, "Hey Annie-bo-nannie!" in her sweet accent just after the room went dead silent for some unknown reason. You can't have family without a moment like that! Anyway, she's always there to tell me how it is. She even said last week that if I didn't see God still desires me to go to Africa, she'd smack me on the head until I got it. Needless to say, I got it ;) She is a great encourager and supporter, a mother of two absolutely darling kiddos (one of whom she calls "chicken" as a pet name), and wife to a rad and hilarious dude, Mike. She loves that I am a very logistical person, and I love that she has an awesome accent. Those are the same, right?!

Darcy (hot momma, ladybug): I call her hot momma for a reason. She's drop dead gorgeous, blond, stunning blue eyes, and she's REAL, unlike the barbie dolls you see in Target. But WAY WAY WAY WAY more than that, she's passionate about human rights and stopping injustices. She does everything she can to educate herself about these things and searches high and low until she finds answers, or more knowledge, or a way to help. It rocks my world. We love to have strongcoffee and or breakfast together while her son plays with water in the sink. We talk about life, and Africa, and women (not gossipping, but women in Africa and all over the world who face atrocities every day), and boys, and Courtney and I help her plan date nights for her hubby. (Courtney is another amazing woman, passionate like crazy about human rights and loves Jesus, and simply wants the world to know. She's not shy about it, and I LOVE that about her!).

Sam and Katie: I have to put these girls together. One, because they are roomies (MY roomies!!). And two, because I'm realizing I can't just say one brief sentence about everyone and suddenly this blog is gonna take you an hour to read. These girls are
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They love Jesus like crazy. They follow their passions. They tell me the truth, give their opinions, and then they let me make my decisions without passing judgment. Well, you know in a healthy way I pass my thoughts and stuff by them, because I respect them greatly. Sam daily fights for women to be respected and to not be objectified, whether that is outside of a bar on a Friday night or not. She tells it like it is. And she drinks whiskey like I do. Straight, room temp. :) Katie, is a beautiful single mom who is tougher than nails (oops, almost cussed, haha!). I don't think many women can compare to her strength and dignity after having gone through such a craphole of a time. But she leaned on Christ and here she is today, passionate, joyful and RAD. Oh, and she is an incredibly talented (and those descriptors are not strong enough) makeup artist, and she does all of my waxing, THAT is something else. I love me some smooth legs! The three of us have an awesome time together and we can laugh and joke like nobody's business.

Kathleen: This woman loves the word of God. I feel like that's almost all I need to say. I've never been so inspired to read scripture before - even the seemingly obscure stuff like the minor prophets (I say that in a jabbing tone, please understand: I love sarcasm(to an extent) hehe). We have been reading the word together every Thursday morning for like, a year now, at 6am (sometimes 6:10 or 6:27) at Thump, the baddest coffee shop in the whole dang town. And recently we have decided to embark on a three-point-two-five year adventure: copying the bible, word for word, in our own handwriting by doing one chapter per day. It's probably one of the coolest things I'll ever do in my life. I'm excited to see how God enriches my life through this divinely inspired adventure. I'm glad she's the one doing it with me, because holy smokes she knows her bible. When you meet her, I dare you to ask her a question that will spark a theological debate. You'll have fun. :)

Sydney (Sugarbear): This is my precious niece. I never thought I could love someone so much. Seriously. She's hilarious, absolutely stunningly beautiful, and she makes me want to fight for every single orphan on the planet. She makes me want to further pursue justice and show God's redemption. She makes me want to love people more and more every moment I see her and watch her sweet face as she giggles. She is the little children that Jesus talks about.

I sincerely hope you get to meet these people some day, if you haven't already. AMAZING.