Joy in the Journey: Summer Blessings

Hello Friends!
Since I leave in exactly a week from tomorrow for college, I figured it was time to start blogging again. If there was one word to describe this summer it would be "blessed". I have always loved summer time, but this summer in particular God brought about blessings I never would have even imagined. It might be a bit difficult to summarize my entire summer in one blog post so I will attempt to do a quick re-cap :) This summer has been filled with lots of weddings (6 to be exact) including my best friend Latisha's wedding. Additionally, we were able to spend a lot of precious family time together before my brother Bryce and his wife Ashley headed off to Boston for Bryce to attend law school at Harvard. Some of my favorite highlights of this summer were leading worship at both our district kid's camp and at our district girls' camp. And of course, to my heart's great joy, we made many memories with friends and our church family.

Now for what God did in me this summer. Going to college last year was an incredible experience. However, by the end of last semester, it was time for me to come home. Last semester was one of the most challenging seasons of my life thus far. This summer the Lord gave me a beautiful opportunity to process through all He did this past year and just get refreshed to go back to college this fall. I can truly say there is no place like home - the place where I am completely understood and loved.

Alright. Now for the most exciting news of the summer! You know the saying "every love story is beautiful, but ours is my favorite"? Well I totally believe that now :) Here's our love story: 9 years ago Alex and his wonderful family began attending our church. My first impression of Alex was that he spoke like a grown up even though he was only 13. I had never met such a young guy who was so respectful, confident, and just enthusiastic about life. We had a lot in common between our involvement at church and homeschool activities and similar personalities. By highschool, not only did he become one of my best friends, but his entire family became like family to me. Three years ago he told me of his feelings for me and I told him I cared about him as a friend but nothing more. Two years ago he brought it up again and I again told him no. God (separately) led us both to attend the same college. Because we transferred to the college, last year was our first year together at college. It was not until then that I realized he would not always be part of my life. We wouldn't always get to do ministry together. I wouldn't always get to be part of his family. He wouldn't always be there to make me laugh in the good and bad times. I came home for Christmas break and talked with my parents during dinner time one day and told them what an amazing, godly man Alex had become. They agreed and also said what a good husband he would be to me. Well that shocked me because my parents are super protective (in a very good way)! All I could do was wait and pray that the Lord would give Alex and I the opportunity to talk. On June 5th God amazingly opened the conversation for us. That night Alex told me, "Ivy if I date you, I will marry you." Needless to say, our parents were thrilled! And so were we :) Alex is truly everything I have prayed for in a husband and more! I could go on and on about how perfectly God has written our love story. I am so thankful for His great blessings!