Sometimes I wanna be the cute Christian wife in a praise band with her cute husband that tours and changes the world. Also, I couldn't think of a title for this post.

Hello world.

this I thought was cute.

So, I Googled "hello monday" and these were some of the pictures that came up in Images. I like them, because usually when people mention Monday it's with a groan and a grimace and even a few tears. But these pictures are positive and lighthearted, and it reminded me that not every Monday has to suck just because it's a Monday. I think we are in serious need of a paradigm shift in regards to this, the first weekday. If one can get past the label of "Monday" one can imagine what one can accomplish.
    Also, y'all should just love Mondays because I (Laura) post on this blog on Mondays. And uhm hello, I'm pretty alright :)
    Soooooo ladies, I was extremely encouraged and relieved by your responses to my somewhat controversial post from last week. I'm glad that we can dialogue about boys in a relatively mature way. As young women -especially young Christian women- we are expected to think and gossip about boys and love and marriage, and while all of that is healthy, it can be dangerous. Yes, there is a 91% chance that each of us will one day marry, but why focus on our wedding day when there's so much to do in the here and now?
    There's nursing school to prepare for.
    And Ed Sheeran songs to learn on guitar.
    And plays to act in.
    And people to sass.
    We have a lot on our plates, gurls! Everything will work out in God's timing. We could all marry at twenty (shudders), or twenty-five, or thirty, or never. Who knows? Maybe I'm called to be single, live in a rundown cottage on the Great Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, and work for the IHS for the rest of my earthly days. Maybe Mercy will become a world-famous Broadway star with a penthouse in Manhattan. Maybe our future spouses (who WILL have to read this blog if ever they wish to understand their hysterical wifeys) are reading this post right now, in the future, and maybe we already they know them, and maybe we don't. Whatever. Everything -our careers, love lives, futures- will fall into place in God's impeccable timing.
    That being said, it's Man Crush Monday, which means-

those dimples.

    Also ladies, I vote we change our bio picture on the blog. What do y'all think? That one is soooo fifteen months ago. We have to have a nicer, more up-to-date picture of the Foursome. Not that I don't like that one- I love all the memories associated with that picture, and all the other ones we took in that giant photo booth in G&M's mall London on that spontaneous world tour we took a year ago in March. I just have a small attention span.
    And we should change it before we leave for *quivers with excitement* THE HARTFORD PROJECT! Seriously gurls, I am so stoked for next week, even though Mercy won't be on our team.

And so, for the second time this summer, the Foursome is being split up. I just don't think God or Fate or the Universe get it- one does not simply split up the Foursome *insert Borimir meme*. You either split us down the middle or not at all. But these are the cards we have been dealt, and it's going to be weird and unnatural like it was last time, and now Mercy will know how I felt at Orientation, and I will know how you all felt at the Eges minus me for the week. But, gurls, we will be serving Jesus. And if we let ourselves get in the way of doing His good work we may as well not go at all.
    I'm not Mercy. It's easier for me to say this because I'm not the one who will be separated from my three best friends while they hang out all day, every day for a week. But I was separated from you three at Orientation, and it was strange and I was a bit upset and jealous, but when we saw each other again the following Sunday it was like almost nothing had changed. I fell right into step with all your new private jokes:
    "Tentacle?" Mercy whispered to me as we sat in posting order at the theater, just before The Fault in Our Stars began. She extended her crooked elbow towards me over our shared armrest.
    I latched right on. "Tentacle," I said back, looping my own elbow with hers.
    Mercy whispered excitedly over her left shoulder, where Rose and Grace sat, "Guys, she gets 'tentacling' already!" And as the other half of our Foursome enthusiastically responded I knew that nothing much would change when I left for college. This was a four-way friendship built to last, and whether I liked it or not I was 100% stuck with these young women for a lifetime.
    THP will be awesome. Even though Mercy will be without us during the day, and I feel a bit awkward, because I don't know everyone going on the trip, and maybe I'm invading your church and being burdensome. The great thing about serving God is that it's all about Him and has nothing to do with me. So I can completely die, to myself and my own insecurities, losing myself but finding my soul and my calling by pursuing the commands of Jesus passionately and thirstily.
    On another note, did you know that 'thirstily' is a word? I learned a new thing today.
    In conclusion, I apologize for the randomness of this post, but you don't have to worry about me following up with an equally as slapped-together letter next week, since I won't be posting next week. None of us will, actually, since we will all be in Hartford (!!!!!).
    Enjoy our posts for the week, and expect a full debrief on THP two weeks from Monday! Mercy, I can't wait to hear from your smashing self on the 'morrow.
    Now, if you will excuse me, my sweet little sister just brought me a bowl of mac n' cheese here out on the back porch, and I intend to enjoy it. TTFN <3
--Laura :)