'Til I Only Dwell In Thee

We returned home late Wednesday night, I unpacked one bag and packed another to prepare for my flight to Colorado the next morning. 

It was really wonderful returning to the place I was raised.  It doesn't take long to forget the beauty that Colorado posesses.  The crisp evening air was a refreshing break from the muggy heat of Fort Worth.  It had been an emotional two weeks with my panic attack, deep, overwhelming depression, and Papa's funeral but somehow that all seemed to melt away as I breathed in the cool Colorado air. 

Ashley has been my best friend since I was about 10 or 11.  She knows my heart, she knows me inside and out, and I couldn't think of anyone else I wanted to spend this time of rejuvenation and relaxation with.  We had a blast the first few days simply catching up and being silly together.  Here are a few pictures from our first couple days:

Lunch at PF Chang's the day I flew in

Couldn't help it...

This was the first house I ever remember living in.  I fell out of the two story high window when I was 19 months old and was in a body cast for 3 months.  Lived here 'til I was 7. 

This was my second house I remember, lived here from 7-15. And for those of you that read my facebook status a while back about my "sex talk," well it took place on those front steps...

Ash and I took a long walk the next morning, it was gorgeous!

Then spent the afternoon at the pool

That night we headed to downtown Denver with our friend Alex and had the BEST time!

The next day Ashley and I packed up our bags and made our way to the Mountains.  We stayed at a little hotel called the Dillon Inn in Silverthorne.  It was perfect.

Then we went out to eat at Old Chicago where I fell in love with a bear:

Then went swimming/hot tubbing... sorry for the blur, it was steamy!

Then we were up early the next morning for our BIG hike to the top a a mountain... Two hours up, two hours down.

Finally made it to the top after a LONG and difficult hike!

Then we rewarded ourselves with a snack and some much needed quiet alone time with the Lord

Then we finally made it back down to the bottom... We were pooped.

We took a nap and then got dolled up for dinner. This was the view from our hotel.

The next morning we took a little drive to this pretty little part of the world...

Where there were chipmunks everywhere... this one had it out for me, I just know it.

We then made our way back to Aurora in time for some yummy dinner and yes... a double rainbow!  What does it mean?!

We went to the theatre with Ashley's boyfriend, Patrick 

and then it was time to go home.... We always take our sad goodbye pictures.  And yes we cry.  

Ashley and I spend some serious hours in deep prayer for one another.  We cried, we laughed, we learned.  I feel like God really blessed our time together and I returned home feeling very refreshed and encouraged.  I feel as if I finally found myself again.  I had been letting the things of this world, the people of this world define who I was.  The lies of the enemy had been so burned into my mind that they had become truths to me.  I am so thankful to finally find myself back in the arms of my savior.  I know that there is a long road ahead of me. I am bound to trip and fall, but I know that I have God at my side to pick me up and dust me off.  This song by Bethany Dillon has really pushed me through the past week.  I'll end on that note. :)

Who can hold the stars
And my weary heart?
Who can see everything?

I've fallen so hard
Sometimes I feel so far
But not beyond your reach

I could climb a mountain
Swim the ocean
Or do anything
But it's when you hold me
That I start unfolding
And all I can say is

Hallelujah, hallelujah
Whatever's in front of me
Help me to sing hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Whatever's in front of me
I'll choose to sing hallelujah

The same sun that
Rises over castles
And welcomes the day

Spills over buildings
Into the streets
Where orphans play

And only you can see the good
In broken things
You took my heart of stone
And you made it home
And set this prisoner free

Hallelujah, hallelujah
Whatever's in front of me
Help me to sing hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Whatever's in front of me
I'll choose to sing hallelujah