If I could sum up March in one word, it would be the word…

friends

The Lord richly blessed me over the past month by providing me with an incredible group of friends from my church. When I first moved to D.C., I struggled a lot with loneliness. In hindsight, I’m thankful for that season where I didn’t have close friends around me because I got to lean into the Lord in a new way. My roommates and close girlfriends have been incredible, but it’s been really neat to begin building friendships through the church.

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My friend hosted a Texas Independence Day Party, complete with Texas bbq (although my North Carolina self wasn’t used it. I’m used to a pulled pork, vinegar based bbq), blue bonnet ice cream, big red’s and Texas trivial. There were approxiamately 50 people in attendance. It was so much fun to hang out and celebrate Texas together.

2

I attended an Oscar Watch Party at the stunning Gaylord Hotel in National Harbor. It was fun to put on a pretty dress, go to a beautiful hotel and enjoy a fun event.

3

Truthfully, today was a hard day, so I had to search a bit more than normal to find something to be joyful about, but hey, that’s what this joy project is all about.

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We had a two hour delay at work. I slept in until 7:30 am, got up, made breakfast, and enjoyed an extended period of time with the Lord. #BestMorningEver

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My friend Ruth was in town for CPAC, and she stopped by my office. I gave her a tour, and then took her out to lunch. She invited me to spend the night with her at the Gaylord Hotel in National Harbor. I jumped at the chance to spend more time with her, and to hang out at the beautiful hotel. I also had the opportunity to meet Charles Kauthammer.

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My roommate’s boyfriend came over and cooked the house dinner. It was a such a kind gesture, and fun for everyone to hang out.

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I went to one of my places around DC – Great Falls. Such a beautiful location. Some of the girls from my office and I met up and headed straight to Georgetown Cupcake to pick up preordered cupcakes. When in DC… 🙂

We brought the cupcakes with us and ate them as we enjoyed the beautiful views. Then we strolled along the trails for a bit. I was looking forward to hiking more, but it was more of a nice walk through the woods. It was a perfect morning and afternoon.

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A friend from out of town was visiting D.C., and we got to hang out for a few hours and visit some of the sights!

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A lady who’s a few years older than me (5-6) has taken an interest in me and began disciplining me. I have to be at work at 8:30 am, and she doesn’t have to work until 10:00 am, but she came to meet me at 7:30 am just to spend time with me. It meant a lot to me.

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Somehow I managed to drag myself out of bed and to the gym for a 6:30 a.m. bodypump class. Bodypump is one of my favorites at the gym, and I thoroughly enjoyed working out.

12

I had the privilege of having an article published on The Gospel Coalition entitled Delighting in the Greater Adoption.

It was an honor to be able to write and publish on two topics very dear to my heart – adoption, both physically and spiritually.

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Held my precious babies at the parenting class through the local crisis pregnancy center.

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Three times a year, my church (Capitol Hill Baptist Church) hosts pastors from across the country to come for a weekend to see how our church works. Mark Dever, the senior pastor at CHBC has a ministry called “Nine Marks of a Healthy Church”, through this ministry he educates people on what a healthy church should look like. This weekend was one of the weekends that the pastors came in, so I volunteered to serve dinner. It was a joy to see so many men passionately following the Lord.

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Today was one of those days that was pure fun! My day started off at a coffee shop with my journal, then I headed to the National Mall to play ultimate frisbee with some people from my church. I am by no means a frisbee expert, but had a blast. We ate lunch at Chick-Fil-A. I hadn’t eaten there since Christmas time with my family, so it was a welcomed treat. After lunch, a few of us headed back to the Mall to meet up with a couple of my buddies from Liberty and to walk around some of the Smithsonian museums. 

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The hymn – Hark, I Hear the Harps Eternal

This sunset

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I went out to dinner to celebrate St. Patty’s Day with some friends. A small group of us ended up staying at the restaurant until almost 11:00 pm talking. It was such a delight to have good conversation with friends.

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One of my co-workers and I dressed alike. It made us smile.

P.S. This picture accurately reflects our relationship!

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Waking up early to a beautiful sunrise

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I have 2 things that brought me joy today! 

1) There is a man that hands out the daily metro newspaper that I’ve befriended. His name is Rob. I never take the newspaper, but at the beginning of the week, he handed me one and said that had to check out page 19. Rob was recognized as an outstanding worker.

The Lord has laid Rob heavy on my heart, so I wrote him a note recently. I told him how encouraging it is to see a smiling face at the metro every morning. I also said that I wasn’t sure if he knew Christ as his personal Lord and Savior, but that I daily prayed for him and if he ever had anything specific that I could pray about, that it would be my honor! 

As I was getting on the metro the day after writing him the card, he stopped me and with tears in his eyes, he thanked me for the card. If you would, please join me in praying for Rob, the metro guy!

2) Some friends of mine were attending a Switchfoot concert and invited me to go. After getting off work, I headed up to the Filmore for an evening filled with great friends and stellar music!

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I was invited to attend an informal lunch with Wisconsin’s Lt. Governor, Rebecca Kleefish. She and I got to talk one-on-one during lunch. After lunch, she spent a few moments encouraging us to stand firm in our principles and to be women not only of Godly character, but to also be solid women in the political and policy realm. It was neat to be able to have a personal look into her life.

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Brunch with friends

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Spent a few hours at a local coffee shop working on my next article. It’s a hard subject to write on for me, and I honestly spent more time praying over the subject matter than actually writing. But the words will come, and they will be well prayed over!

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Today I launched my new site! After many hours of re-designing, I was excited to officially launch it!

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I got to be outside the Supreme Court while a historic case was being argued inside. The Green family and the Hahn family both filed because they didn’t want to provide abortion inducing drugs to their employees because of their religious beliefs. This case is all about religious liberties and freedoms, and whichever way the court rules will be historic!

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Talking to my family 

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Today was a difficult day volunteering with the crisis pregnancy center, you can read all about it here. The joy was this precious boy!

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Doing the dishes. 

As silly as it might sound, doing the dishes relaxes me, and it’s something I truly do enjoy!

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National Portrait Gallery with friends. I had an absolute blast – but then again, I’m super nerdy!

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This…

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