miss bachelorette, miss bachelorette!

This past weekend was the "Bacheloretter Getaway" for my BFF, Rachel. She's getting married in ONE MONTH! We rented a cabin in Dahlonega- and it was FABULOUS.
We went to dinner the first night at a place called the Crimson Cafe- it was crazy crowded and the food took forever, but we had a private room and a great server, so it was fun! In the grand tradition of any "fungirls" weekend, there were about a million pics!
On Saturday, we went to two different vineyards for winetastings: Frogtown and Three Sisters. They were both great- with beautiful views and delicious wine!


For dinner, we donned matching "Rachel's Last Fling Before the Ring" tshirts and went out for Mexican food. We were overwhelming to say the VERY least- but we had a BLAST!


In recovery mode, we went to lunch at The Smith House- which is a family style Southern restaurant: fried chicken, fried okra, black eyed peas, and so on. It was DELICIOUS. We ate in about 12 seconds, so I don't have any pictures of the food! But, we took this incredible picture in the gift shop right before we leave. So typical.
We had a blast! I hope we get to do it again next year! It was amazing to get away with such fun friends- and celebrate Rachel!

**None of these pics are mine... most of the group shots were done by Susan Crutchfield- she's amazing: check her out!

jsw

Jonathan and I met about 10 years ago. I was still in college, and he was coming home from an internship with Focus on the Family. I had known his name for years because my entire church has been praying for him. When Jon was in middle school, he was diagnosed with nephritis lupus- which is lupus that attacks your kidneys. He went through dialysis and eventually had a kidney transplant when he was 18.

In the past few years, he's still had some health issues, but for the most part, it's been an uneventful decade of kidney health.

Until this fall.

The lupus has flared back up. It's attacking the healthy kidney. He's currently in the process of getting 3 rounds of chemo to stop the lupus- and get his kidneys back to normal function.

A few weeks ago, his white blood cell count was dangerously low- too low to give him chemo- so he had to hang out in the hospital for about 10 days, so I went to visit him one day. We had a great time just being able to visit and catch up- he lives in Texas, so we don't see each other very often anyway.
While we were talking, the reoccurring theme was "God's glory: no matter what". And to hear Jonathan say this over and over made me think about my own life. I tend to base my desire for God's glory on my circumstances, but over and over in the last few weeks, I have prayed that God be glorified in every situation- no matter what. No matter how I feel about it. No matter if I like the outcome. No matter if Jonathan's body is healed. No matter what.

I'm still in the plac where it's not always true- sometimes it's just my prayer. But, that is my aim.
God, your glory. No matter what.