Delighting In Grace: Three months later...

Oh hello there, blog. Long time, no see (I know, my fault). I just looked back at my last post and realized it's been over three months since I posted. How in the world. I would say that life got busy and so that's why I abandoned the blog, but life is always busy... Guess I just got tired of trying to keep up with blogworld (I also quit reading blogs for a few months, gasp). Anyway, I'm back (for now, anyway); here's the saved draft of the post that would've been published June 27th, had I finished it:

531. Lina's here to visit!
532. An impromptu mini-roadtrip to Killeen, to look for a car for Paul. Though the car didn't end up working out, it was still lots of fun driving and hanging out with Sarah and Paul!
533. Celebrating Everly's 19th birthday!
534. Roadtrip planning with Julie and Sarah!
535. Sunday morning breakfast with friends.
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Quick recap since then (not necessarily in chronological order):

Lina's visit ended up lasting a month, which was wonderful. She even celebrated her 16th birthday here, with a big party at Sarah's house--including a pinata, lots of cake, and a slip-n-slide.

Parker, Pearson, Paul, Lina, Peyton, and Phoebe
at Lina's birthday party

Paul bought a car! Life is definitely easier when our schedules don't have to be perfectly coordinated based on who needs a vehicle when. (Though it's a little ironic that I'm writing this today, since a friend will be borrowing my van this weekend, thus causing us to revive our car-sharing skills. But no biggie; we're pros!)
Julie, Sarah, Lina and I went on a roadtrip to FL, where we:

visited with Kevin and Danielle (and Stevie!)
spent an afternoon at Ginnie Springs
watched the last shuttle launch from the beach
got horribly stuck in traffic...for hours...before we finally made it to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch/dinner

Kevin and Danielle

spent several hours in historic Saint Augustine

I tagged along on a roadtrip with some friends to help another dear friend move to her new home in Colorado Springs.
I quit drinking coffee for a month. For no reason.
I quit eating sugar for a week. Because I eat too much of it.
I went with some friends to the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Part 2...and now, after nearly a decade of refusing to read/watch/be in the least bit interested in HP, I am now hooked. Just finished reading HP5 yesterday, and I'm caught up on the movies through #4 (and, of course, the last one).
Rachael, Erica, Jessica, and me
getting ready to head to CO

Paul went to Haiti for nearly a month to work with Real Hope for Haiti.
I got a kitten...for a month...until it was absolutely and abundantly clear that Dieuchka (my cat from Chicago) was not going to permit that this be a two-cat household. So Kitten got a new home.
The Aggies are back in town...which means, so long, summer traffic.
I bought a plane ticket to Haiti!!! After a year-and-a-half of waiting, I will finally be heading back to Haiti on October 25th! Soooooo excited!

So those are the events/happenings of the past several months that come to mind at the moment; to get back on track with Multitude Monday (even though, yes, today is Thursday), here's my gratitude list for the past week-and-a-half:

536. Donavon and Sabrina's wedding. So much could be said about this; suffice it to say, it was a beautiful wedding, all the more so because of the way the Lord brought them together and demonstrated His faithfulness through their relationship to each other, to their families, and with their friends. So incredible.

bridesmaids! at the rehearsal.
Birdie, me, and Everly

537. Spending the day of the wedding at Eyrie Park. I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised by how calm a day it was, despite the many women there (including bride and bridesmaids) getting ready for the evening wedding.

538. Visiting with friends at the wedding, including one who came all the way from Virginia.

539. Donovon's grin (the entire evening, really, but especially as he watched Sabrina walk down the aisle).

540. The clear, star-filled sky the night of the wedding.

541. RAIN!!! the night after the wedding...the most rain we've seen here in drought-stricken Texas in quite awhile.

542. Getting sick right before my day off this week (would've preferred not to get sick at all, but since I did, at least I had lots of time to try and sleep it off).

543. My brother, who provided dinner and a movie for me the night I got sick.

this just makes me laugh
Paul and Birdie, at the rehearsal

544. Talking and laughing with Everly and Birdie the night after the wedding, even though we were all still quite tired from the previous evening's festivities.

545. Samuel, serving leftover wedding food to me, Everly, and Birdie on the couch. Oh how fun he is...and how quickly he's growing up...

546. This post from a friend, reminding me of so many truths about the Lord and of His holiness.

547. Orange blossom tea with honey

548. God's protection and provision for Alloune and Lourdes Milla in Haiti. So thankful for Heartline Ministries.

549. Getting to meet and spend an evening with a sweet family who is praying about moving to Haiti. We spent several wonderful hours getting to know each other and talking about Haiti. I'm so excited to see what the Lord has in store for them!

550. 25 days til Haiti!!!