HBD to my BFF 🥰 @clarkhays you are so easy to celebrate! I am grateful for your life, and am truly honored to be your wife. Thank you for spending your days making me laugh, praying with me, dancing like there is no tomorrow, working hard for our family, creating fun, reminding me what faith in Jesus looks like, being VERY first class, doting on Darla, and always walking in integrity. You’re simply the best. You will be the most incredible dad! 😭 I love you, handsome!
Christmas Morning 2019 ❤️ Our last Christmas before little man gets here...! #9monthspregnant // Even though the holiday is officially over, I am praying the message of Christmas continues to saturate our hearts.
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The wise men and the shepherds ultimately end up at the exact same place: Jesus Christ.
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Regardless of where we are from or what our stories have been made up of thus far, our hope is the same: Jesus Christ!
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May you be reminded today, and every day, of the unprecedented and unending LOVE the Lord has for you. Wherever you are, you are not alone. He is good, and you are His.
Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. {Hebrews 13:7}
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There are no adequate words to thank my work family for their outpouring of love for our baby boy! I am not only grateful for the incredibly generous gifts and for the time, energy, and planning that went into this sweet shower, but also for the daily example of your faith and devotion to Jesus Christ.
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It is an honor and a blessing to work alongside each of you, and you continue to impact my life more than you know. THANK YOU for celebrating this miracle of life with us -- @clarkhays and I are overwhelmed by your kindness and care. Your prayers are powerful and mean the world to us! #35weeks
Our little man was surrounded by so much love this weekend! I am overwhelmed by the family + friends who rearranged schedules, jumped on planes, drove across state lines (or across DFW which – let’s be honest – is basically the same), secretly coordinated with Clark to surprise me + spent their time celebrating this miracle of life with us. There are so many beautiful faces I got to see this weekend that are missing from these pictures, but please know that your presence meant the world to me!
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Clark + I can’t thank these incredible women enough for making our family feel so loved + for hosting this sweet shower – Shanna, Val, Katie, Amy, Sara. Your thoughtfulness + generosity is unmatched + I am truly blessed to know each of you. THANK YOU! You have been amazing friends to me for many, many years, + although I don’t deserve your unwavering friendship, I thank God for your love + grace more often than you know.
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Lauren – THANK YOU for flying in to spend time with us this weekend. Seeing you was such a gift to me + I still can’t believe you made the trip…but actually I can, because you are one of the most loyal + intentional people I have ever known. I hope you know how grateful I am for you + how wonderful you are!
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Aunt Sharon, Jessiqua, Yaya – Still speechless that you were here + pulled off the best surprise ever! THANK YOU! My heart is still so full + it is an honor to not only call you family, but to call you friends. I love you + appreciate you so much!
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In John 15, Jesus says that greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. The older I get, the more I realize how immeasurably valuable time is with the ones I love, how significant it is to spend money and effort on a gift for someone + what an immense gesture it can be to send a text, make a call, or show up for others when life is busy + schedules are full.
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Clark + I pray that our son will grow into a man who knows the sacrificial love of our Savior + we thank God today that this new life is already surrounded by tangible examples of what it looks like to joyfully lay aside priorities, preferences + plans for the good of another. GRATEFUL isn’t a strong enough word.
I went skydiving for the first time 12 years ago. I signed up for my second jump almost as soon as my feet were back on the ground.
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My dad was pretty into skydiving when I was a kid. We watched countless videos of people jumping into the clouds, grabbing onto one another and free falling together in formation: colorful, kaleidoscopic, carefree.
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I got to sit in the co-pilot seat of the tiny plane as one of his buddies guided us from the certainty of the dirt to the certain danger of high altitude. The pilot would tell me jokes through the headset while my dad sat on the floor behind us.
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We would climb to about 13,000 feet and then my dad would leap out of the open door. I’d watch him fly through the sky until he faded into the landscape below. I would hold my breath for the next minute or so and wait for the sudden pop of bright red or yellow parachute to let me know he was okay; floating, not falling.
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I used to do things my dad loved to feel closer to him after he died, to see if I could somehow still get to know him. From jumping out of planes to taking shots of whiskey, I longed for a connection with my dad that never fully existed in our time on earth together.
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It was quite selfish, really. I thought knowing my dad would help me to better understand myself. After all, he was half of me, right? There had to be answers to my identity and purpose hidden within the ashes of who my father once was. It breaks my heart to think that I missed him not always because I loved him, but sometimes because I was trying to find reasons to love myself.
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And alas, here I sit with the same selfish heart over a decade later. I often seek connection with my Heavenly Father not to know Him and enjoy Him, but instead as a way to better understand myself. The answers about my worth are there, YES! But there is so, so much more.
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JESUS, lift my gaze so l see beyond myself! Your Holy Spirit testifies with my spirit that I am indeed a child of God. It is settled! I am known. I am loved. Now let me lose myself completely as I sit in the beauty of your Presence! Wash away any need for validation. Fill me with wonder and worship. You alone are worthy of my meditation!
Sweet @gennycarsten, it was such a joy to celebrate baby Brielle with you! 💕 So thankful to be on this crazy journey with you! You and @ccarsten11 will be the most incredible parents to this beautiful baby girl. Like you said today, she has been destined for your family since the beginning! I sooo can’t wait to meet her! ✨ I love you, gorgeous mama! Rejoicing with you over this wonderful blessing and thanking God for the gift of new life today
#32weeks #16weeks #truthsetto
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“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!” - Psalm 139: 13-17
Happy, Happy Birthday to this stunning sister! It has been an honor and a blessing to be a part of your life these last 6 years. Your loyal friendship, timely wisdom, sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, and effortless ability to bring people together has inspired me more than you know. Watching you become an incredible wife to Chris, celebrating with you both as you made your first house a home (and welcomed your sweet pup into the family!), and now eagerly awaiting your precious baby girl to come into the world... what a gift it is to rejoice with you in every season! I am so, so grateful you were born and I can’t wait to see you as a mama! You were made for this. ❤️ Cheers to you, @gennycarsten ! This will undoubtedly be your best year yet! I love you so much! #truthsetto
