Disney + Grace

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 

and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

 Romans 3:23-24

On President's Day weekend, Mark + I drove down to sunny (but not so warm) Florida to join his family on their annual Disney vacation. 

I knew this weekend was going to be nothing short of amazing for many reasons:

1) Mark had never been to Disney! (!!!)

2) And he was going to experience it through the little eyes of his cousins!!!

3) IT'S DISNEY.

There was something I did not expect though. Throughout the trip I was consistently overwhelmed by the complete abundance and presence of God's grace.

- I was surrounded by our English family.

- I looked at my overjoyed, silly cousins having the time of their life.

- At my husband (!!) beside me.

- At the beauty and innocence of everything around me.

- I thought about how I have felt sincerely accepted as part of Mark's family since they day I met them.

- Now I am (officially) in their family, and it feels almost too good to be true!

Grace. 

I was surrounded by grace.

It's a gift given freely to us that we've done nothing to deserve. 

More on that soon....now a recap of this fabulous weekend through pictures. :)

Rise and shine at 4:45. We rolled up to Disney circa 2 P.M. on Saturday afternoon!

...and walked straight from our hotel to the Magic Kingdom!!!!

: Mia keeping warm in my scarf :
: Mia + Evie taking advantage of Granddad's savvy trasportation :
: Mark + Evie on Buzz Lightyear :

The views from our hotel room. I could literally look to the right of our (sofa) bed and see both of these amazing sights out the window!!

Disney date night!!! The park was open 2 extra hours, so Mark and I ran around the near empty Magic Kingdom like little kids from 11 P.M. -1 A.M.
IT. WAS. SO. FUN!!!!

family : i love them so much!!!

these people.

the reason why our weekend was so perfect

: Mark + the (few days late) birthday girl :
: fireworks from our boat at Epcot :
: Mark and his Nana :

At the beginning of our drive home (circa 6 P.M. on Monday evening with my alarm for school going off a mere 12 hours later...), I told Mark how I could have burst into tears of joy time after time throughout the weekend. We are so blessed, so loved, so taken care of... I couldn't help but feel so humbled by the grace found in all of it. Thank you, Jesus!

And, of course, thank you Uncle Craig and Laura for taking such amazing care of us. To say you completely spoiled us rotten is an understatement. I only wish we could be around you and the girls more.

We love our English family so dearly, and we can't wait to see y'all in July!!! xxxx

To everyone reading (myself included!): As a result of what Jesus did for us on the cross, let us freely give and receive grace each day of our lives. :)