Quick Trip Home.

I love being home, for several reasons. First because I really do think Longview, Tx can be pretty great, and I know the rest of the population that's my age would wholeheartedly disagree, but seriously sometimes it's nice to get away from Dallas traffic and such. Second because MY FAM IS AWESOME. I love getting to spend time with them when I can. Ok, so can we just talk about family friends for a second? The Fortner family has the coolest families close to us, it's kind of insane. I am absolutely beyond blessed by them anytime that I'm home and able to spend time with these wonderful people, and if we're being real the blessings usually follow me all the way back to Dallas too. They're great.

The past several months the Lord has really been teaching me a ton about community and what that should look like in my life right now. And because of this, I think I've been extra thankful lately for this community that He's built around my family in Longview even though they've been here for years and years. I am so grateful for new perspectives. So incredibly refreshing.

There's about a billion names I could list in this little shout out post, but one of the main families that has really gone overboard to love on my fam in the good times and in the bad has been the Phillip's family. These people are wonderful, Mrs. Sheryl and my mom grew up together in Deer Park and have been the closest friends ever since. Somehow they both ended up in Hallsville, Tx and boy am I glad. Sheryl and Rodney have 3 wonderful kids who are still super special people to me. Meredith, Trevor and Travis, and now Meredith is all married and pregnant and such so Jacob is a part of this wonderful family too. And we're all anxiously awaiting the arrival of Adalyn Grace! She's going to be perfect. I could literally talk about them for days, so I won't. But all you need to know is that they're a blast, and beyond that, a blessing. Seriously.

All this to say, they threw Max (my little russian brother) a welcome home party on Memorial day (complete with huge inflatable slide and many butcher shop burgers), so he could meet all of these family and friends that have been praying for him and his arrival for over a year. It was such a neat thing to be a part of, and we're still so grateful to the Phillip's and their sweet sweet hearts that they wanted to do this for him.

Our new family of 6 at the party!

After everyone left, the Fortner's and Phillip's had a late night swim, and of course it was instagramed.

Today I'm just feeling beyond blessed to even know these people, much less get to do life with them daily. So thankful.