A Prayer.

Dear Lord,

Thank You, thank You, thank You from the bottom of my heart for each and every one of my girls, my grandgirls, great-grandgirls, great-great-grandgirls and for all of the generations that I may not have the blessing to know.

Lord, thank You for their smiles. For the way that they light up a room.
Lord, thank You for their laughter. I love that it is one simple way that You show me just how different they are.
Lord, thank You for the way that they pray like You're right there beside them.
Lord, thank You for being right there beside them.
Lord, thank You for making them stronger than you made me, and thank You for strengthening me through their love and kindness and through each one of those smiles that I get to witness.

Lord, out of all of the beautiful girls that You formed perfectly and placed on this earth, how did You know that these one-hundred-and-thirty-some were the exact ones that I wanted and needed in my life? I'll never understand it.

Sweet Father, I ask that You break them, like You broke me. Father, break their sweet hearts for the things that are not pleasing to You. But Lord, do not stop there!!! Rebuild these hearts, Lord! Rebuild them perfectly to plead for the things that You love. Rebuild them for Your Kingdom. Strengthen them Lord so that You can use them in mighty ways.

Lord I ask that You are a lamp to their feet, just bright enough to know that You are right there Lord, and You're not going anywhere.

Daddy, I pray that You refine them through the fire. We both know how hard that is and how much work it takes. We know how much it hurts. Lord, I know that You put obstacles along the way: temptations, pain, sharks, mountains, jagged rocks, broken glass, lions and tigers and bears, OH MY! But God, I also know that YOU are at the finish line!!! I know this Lord! I know that when we come out of each trial and temptation, that You are there to pick us up. I know that when we finish, screaming in pain, crawling towards you, saying:

"Daddy! Daddy! It hurts so bad! Everything hurts, Daddy!"

I know that You pick us up and carry us! I know that You kiss away every tear, You clean every scrape and cut. You wash away every drop of our own blood. I know this, Father! I know it!

You look at us and say, "Beloved. My sweet girl. My darling. Daddy's here. Daddy never left."

"But Lord, I didn't see You!"

"I was right here, baby. And I have never stopped loving you. I'm going to fix this."

Lord, refine them. Make them Yours and Yours alone. Don't allow the distractions of tin foil take their eyes off of the mountains of silver and gold you offer us freely. Wrap Your great, vast, loving arms around them. Father, please, please, please don't let go!!!

Father, use their smiles and their laughter. Use their sass and their stubbornness. Use their gentleness and their determination. Use their desires and mold them new ones! Teach them how to hang on to each other and to You. Show them how to walk blindly, because it is only then that they can truly learn how wonderful, how beautiful, how amazing, how awesome, how incredible, how unspeakably good You are. Use their many talents, and ask them to use some of their weaknesses too! Show them that You are mighty, and that You are powerful, and that, more than anything, that YOU LOVE THEM!!! Lord, take them out of their comfort zone and then hold onto them so tightly that they know they are not alone, but that You are there, and that they are only standing there because You have them wrapped in Your strong arms.

Sweet Savior. Beautiful Father. Precious Redeemer. Almighty God.

I did nothing. I did nothing for three years. We both know this. I did nothing, and You still blessed me with these smiles, with these cheeks to kiss, with these girls to hug, these hearts to love. I will never, ever understand it.

But Lord, if You give me nothing else for the rest of my years, I will completely be content.

You gave me You, Lord. And because You're more generous than I can fathom...You gave me them.

Thank You.

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To my girls:

I write this with tears streaming down my face thinking of your beautiful faces and all of the blessings that I have received through each and every one of you. These tears come from knowing our Savior and from knowing you. I pray this prayer and many others for you daily. I have each of your names written in various places where I can see them and pray for you, by name, daily.

Know you are loved more greatly than you will ever comprehend.

I am blessed to know you, humbled to serve you, and overjoyed to love you.

Lack of Productivity.

This picture is currently my Facebook profile picture, my computer background, and my cell phone wall paper.

I can't get anything done because whenever I try to...this picture makes me stop and stare, smile and giggle.

I ran into my Rachel on campus yesterday and was telling her about how I couldn't get anything done. She started laughing and informed me that it would be really sad for me to have to ask for an extension on an assignment because "you couldn't stop telling a picture that you love it."

It's kind of pathetic.

"I run in the way of your commandments, and so you shall enlarge my heart." Psalm 119:32

I have run the race and the Lord has certainly blown up my heart with joy, blessings, and excitement!

No matter that I have two papers and a test due tomorrow.

Coooooooooook OUT!

My beautiful parents offered about six weeks ago to throw a cook out for my friends here in Raleigh. How does a girl say no to free food and fellowship with some of her favorites?

This dinner was supposed to be mainly for my Bible Study girls so that my parents could meet these gorgeous girls who I have spent the last three years of my life loving. I then pleaded and begged to add to that list. In my dad's words, I was to invite "[my] girls and then the first 25 people you think of in Raleigh." So I did just that. Last night from 5:30pm to about 9:30 pm in Wendell, 48 of my closest friends and Bible Study girls pulled onto Lake Drive and ate and laughed and fellowshipped.

I took the opportunity to snap a generation photo with my girls and grandgirls that were present.

 Six of these girls are mine. Two are my Hannah's. The rest are my Lauren and my Kelsey's.

We're missing about thirty girls from this picture.

My sweet little goofballs.

I am blessed to know you.

I am overjoyed to love you.

I am humbled to serve you.

To everyone else that came out last night, I have no words for how much you mean to my life. I am so incredibly blessed to call you friend.

Day of Love.

Happy Day of Love!

I have no romantic story to tell, except for the story that I am blessed enough to write every single day with The Love of My Life, my beautiful Savior.

I thought today could be shown through pictures.

Every picture here is a different representation of love and blessings in my life.

Each one of these photos makes my heart skip a beat for a unique reason.

Even if it's just a picture of me and one other person, it represents something far and beyond it.

So there it is. My life in pictures.

It's also not too late to submit your name in any of the SEVEN different ways for the Valentine's Giveaway!

A Teaser of a Snow Day.

All of the local news channels were calling for snow to show up Thursday morning. I was so looking forward to cancelled classes, chocolate chip pancakes, sweatpants, an Oprah marathon, and so much more.

I woke up to find this beautiful glaze of snow over all of my backyard and car and it was just beautiful. However, my classes were not cancelled, which means that I couldn't stay in my sweatpants and make chocolate chip pancakes. It meant that I had to wake up and get dressed and go to classes.

Isn't it beautiful?

Before I ventured off to classes, I had to scrape off my car. Thanks for your help, Taylor.

I was driving through campus on my way to the parking deck. Going down Dunn Ave there are trees on each side of the street. All of the trees have lost their leaves, but they had this sweet dusting of snow on them. I thought,

"This is either the most beautiful thing I have ever experienced...or the most depressing. I'm seeing all of the beauty...and I have to go sit in a classroom and discuss some very vulgar and depressing literature."

After six hours of classes, I got a two hour break and spent the majority of it with one of my grandgirls over coffee. Precious, precious baby girl.

After coffee with Madison, I went to work. Instead of hanging out with the eight-year-old, Super Z, I got to hang out with the three-year-old, Captain K. Three-year-old brains never cease to amaze me.

Captain K: Rebekah, will you write your whole name?
(I write my first, middle, and last name on his chalkboard)
Captain K: No! You need another name! Girls have four names!!
Me: What do you mean, baby?
Captain K: Girls get married and then they four names. Like, my mom. Her name is R. E. S. U. And because you are going to marry me, you have four names: Rebekah. S. Sanderson. U.

Ohhh, three year olds. Gotta love them.

After I got off of work, I headed to El Rodeo and went to celebrate this pretty girl's birthday.

Happy Birthday, sweet Alecia. I love you :)

Don't forget to check back in on Sunday and get all of the details about the Valentine Giveaway!

Listening to my Haley.

These are some of my grandgirls.

These are my Kelsey and my Lauren's girls.

Morgan, Haley, Natalie, Emma, Bailey, and Kelsey.

This made me smile.

I wanted to share that smile with you.

For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God's people, I have no stopped griving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know HIm better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy place, and his incomparably great ower for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

Ephesians 1:15-21

I love these girls a lot. A whole, whole, whole lot.

I had lunch with my Haley yesterday and I expressed some frustration with her about not being about to cast vision with my ministry any more since I have only have 112 days until I graduate.

Haley, in true gentleness and love, then rebuked me.

"You might not be here, but your girls will be. Their girls will be. And then their girls will be. Cast vision for them. Tell them of your college experience and how much you pray that theirs will be as fruitful and as much of a growing process."

Yes, ma'am.

So, my beautiful girls.

In short...

Pray without ceasing.

Expect God to show up all the time.

Challenge Him to do big things.

Step out on faith.

Get uncomfortable.

Learn the Bible like your best friend's Facebook page.

Listen to that still, small voice.

Love with everything you have.

And then love some more.

Never, ever settle in any aspect of your life.

THAT BOY IS NOT WORTH YOUR TIME.

Surround yourself with people that will support you and pray for you.

If you can count the number of people you have hugged in a day, the number of times you have said "I love you" or the number of times you smiled...you didn't do it enough.

Remember always that you're a daughter of the King.

Remember always that you're more beautiful that I can put into words.

Remember always that you are nothing and He is everything.

Remember always that if you do nothing else but love for the next four years, you will have done more than you will remember.

I love you.