My First Blate!

This weekend, I went on my first blate (blogger date, copyright: this gal).

I feel like I am officially a blogger now. Hooray! 

I had the privilege of getting together with the wonderful Julie, who blogs over at An Anchor for the Soul. And I don't think it could have been more perfect. 

Quick back story of how I "met" Julie in Blogland. I found her over in the comment section of The Williams Post (thanks, Kerrie!). One click of a button, a few glances at her blog, and I was sold. 

It only takes reading a few posts to know if you share the same heart as someone, am I right? And this girl? Well her words could have come straight out of my mouth. And that's how I feel with every single one of her posts. 

You know those blogger glasses that we all wear? The ones you put on before you read someone's blog, that blocks out all of the bad and illuminates the good? They either leave you feeling super dang inspired, or super dang jealous? 

Well, the closer Julie and I have gotten, the more and more we realized that both of us were wearing those glasses at first. Reading each other's blogs and thinking 'dang! this girl's got it all figured out. this whole shining for Christ thing.'

And usually I would curse those blogger glasses, because of all of the comparison, self-doubt & envy that they bring. But this time, the glasses didn't bring any of that. They brought encouragement, inspiration and motivation to shine brighter for Christ. 

And I will always be thankful for Julie and her example that she set for me, without even realizing it. Because of her, I have learned (and am still learning!) to be a confident witness of Jesus. 

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Things I learned about Julie:

1) She is beautiful. Hands down, stunning. 

2) She has the cutest accent. I heard it in a vlog, but hearing it in person is even better. 

3) We have really similar back stories, and our families have a lot in common. 

4) She is incredibly easy to talk to. The conversation was flowing from first hug. 

5) We have the same taste in coffee. (Both ordered iced non-fat mochas, her's decaf and mine white mocha). 

6) Her and Matt really do shine for Christ. It's not just words on a page, they truly are in a Christ centered relationship. 

7) I swear we are the same age. Even though I'm 4 years older. When did that happen?

8) We really would be bffs if we lived closer. But I'll settle for Blogger bffs :)

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Julie, I had so much fun with you this weekend. Thank you for being my first official blate! I couldn't have asked for a better one :)

I hope you enjoy the rest of your vacation with your fam! And can't wait until the next time we get to meet up!