"Oh, and FYI, it's going down this Thursday night."

(I wrote this in late August but didn't post it that night. I forgot that I wrote it until now. While everything below is still true a lot of the sadness has turned into excitement/joy! So lucky to call Kathryn one of my best friends.)

A celebration.

Tonight one of my best friends got engaged to an amazing man. I have been lucky enough to share a room with her the last 3 months as she transitioned from her lease ending on her apartment in Austin in May to moving to Dallas this past weekend. About a week ago I got a text message from her boyfriend that said, "Colleen - call me when Kathryn is not around. Don't tell her I asked you to call me." Every girl knows what this means. I gladly called him immediately, as she was not home, and he told me I needed to find out her ring size. Two things were happening in my head at that point: 1) Part of me was jumping up and down screaming like a 12 year old girl, 2) the other part of me was yelling at him to never call back and throwing the phone across the room. I know some of you are shocked by that -- but it's both exciting and sad at the same time to have one of your best friends move. I've been blessed to have her near for the last 3 years and by my side for the past 3 months. I was sad to lose her to distance but more overjoyed to get to help in the process of her being engaged to a man of great character. This is just a snapshot of things going on in life. There are changes happening all around. Really exciting things coupled with hard things....while engagement is happy, the loss of her here is sad. This same example has transitioned into all areas of my life right now: work, family, church, etc.

Through it all I have been reminded of one thing: Everything has its time. Night after night I keep coming back to Ecclesiastes 3 and reading it over and over. I hope this brings truth and encouragement to you all as well.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven: 
A time to be born, 
And a time to die; 
A time to plant, 
And a time to pluck what is planted; 
A time to kill, 
And a time to heal; 
A time to break down, 
And a time to build up; 
A time to weep, 
And a time to laugh;

A time to mourn, 
And a time to dance; 
A time to cast away stones, 
And a time to gather stones; 
A time to embrace, 
And a time to refrain from embracing; 
A time to gain, 
And a time to lose; 
A time to keep, 
And a time to throw away; 
A time to tear, 
And a time to sew; 
A time to keep silence, 
And a time to speak; 
A time to love, 
And a time to hate; 
A time of war, 
And a time of peace.