Sarah is Getting Married!!

My dear friend, Sarah, is getting married TODAY! I wish so bad that I could be in Las Vegas to celebrate with her & Zach as they start their life as a married couple! I know that it is going to be a beautiful wedding so I will be waiting anxiously patiently to see all the beautiful pictures that will hopefully start being tagged on facebook very soon!

Sarah is a precious friend to me. We met in the airport just after we had both arrived in Central Asia where we were roomates for 4 1/2 months. We had talked on the phone a couple of times before moving overseas and were so excited to meet each other on the other side. Sarah had already claimed her luggage and was waiting with our team when I finally got through and she walked right up to me and gave me a hug. Right then I knew we were going to be great friends. We hit it off right away and were each others closest friend/travel buddy/accountability partner/roomate & so much more in our time overseas. I could not have asked for a better roomate while living overseas & am thankful for how our friendship has continued long-distance since we got home. We have had many, many phone dates as both shared our exciting stories of adjusting back to life in America, looking for jobs, getting engaged & wedding planning. Of course I wish all the time that we lived closer and could have coffee dates & talk about life & go on double-dates with our now-husbands. Or Sarah & Zach could just move to Maryland and live next door to us in the empty townhouse.

Sarah & I both must have taken a bajillion pictures in the few months we were in Turkey, so here are some pictures to re-cap our friendship & the kind of friend that Sarah is.

godly friend

We spent many afternoons sitting in coffee shops where we would read, journal, write updates to send home, talk about how much we love Turkey, update our blogs & have our weekly accountability. I am so thankful for the accountability & prayer partner that Sarah was to me during that time as we encouraged each other in the work we were doing, shared our highs & lows for the week and prayed intently for each other. Today, on Sarah's wedding day, I can't help but think of all the times we sat and shared & talked about our desires to be godly wives & mothers one day. Each week we would pray for our future marriages. Sarah prayed for Michael & I as we were beginning to talk about marriage & I prayed for Sarah's husband-to-be that the Lord would reveal him in the right time. The Lord has answered both of those prayers today. We are both blessed with godly men to call our husbands.

determined friend

We survived AND navigated public transportation in a city where there were 20 million people who didn't speak our language. I would be lying if I didn't mention that there were definitely days that one or both of us were nearly in tears trying to figure out how to get from point A to point B. Thankfully those experiences taught us to rely on the Lord and gave us confidence as we were so determined to figure the transportation out. Getting lost usually wasn't anything a perfectly delicious magnum bar couldn't fix though (p.s. you have not had an ice cream bar until you've had a magnum bar). We were even so cool that we lived in the only city in the world that spans two continents, which took navigating transportation to a whole new level of complicated.

  

world-traveling friend

Sarah has literally traveled the world with me. No one else has done that.

We drooled over beautiful views like this when we saw them in person. And we most definitely shot the Eiffel Tower to death with our cameras!

We traveled to sites of all the Seven Churches in Revelation & listened to a national believer read from the Word at the sites.

gentle friend 

We took an overnight bus trip to babysit these mischiveous precious faces for a week. And then took another overnight bus trip back. Can I say exhausted?!

hospitable friend

We celebrated Turkey Day in Turkey (and yes, we did eat turkey - which was a surprisingly frequently asked question when I returned). What a precious day to be reminded of how thankful we are for the gift of Life that the Lord has given us. It was a privilege to be able to open up our apartment and host a Thanksgiving meal for some of our national friends who are ministered to so strongly through the gift of hospitality.

prayer warrior friend

 We saw views like this every.single.day and prayed that Light would pierce through the darkness.

encouraging friend

We were blessed to share precious friends whom we could encourage in their walks & share Truth with.

patient friend

I must have scared Sarah to death almost every time we had to be anywhere "on time" - like the time we decided to leave the airport during our 7-hour layover in Rome so we could explore a little bit of the city & barely made it back to the airport & got through security in time. Or the time we were leaving Paris (about 3 days after our close-call in Rome) and we got on the earliest train to the airport (which happened to be a dreadful 5:30AM, or something like that) and by the time we arrived the gate, everyone had already boarded and Sarah was holding her breath. She is a very patient friend.

never-a-dull-moment friend

 We have survived being stuck in an elevator together (plus two other roomates). True story. Go read about it.

disclaimer: this picture was NOT taken the time we got stuck on the elevator.
We were not smiling at that moment.

loving friend

We fell in love with the people in the country where we were serving...

...and the beautiful country that they live in. It really is breathtaking. It was a blessing to live in a different part of the world. I know that we were both changed forever.

dedicated friend

And because Sarah is such a FABULOUS (and dedicated) friend, she flew all the way out from Las Vegas to stand with me in our wedding last August. It meant the world to have her there with me.

Sarah, I am so thankful for you! I know you will make a beautiful bride today!

Welcome to the MRS Club!

And Zach, we can't wait to meet you. You have a gem of a wife.

Congratulations Sarah & Zach!!

p.s. Sarah, PLEASE come visit us soon so we can meet Zach & be friends again and drink chai lattes while we can adequately catch up on life. Thanks :)