Lauren.

I guess everyone knows my sisters and I like to pick on each other. Or I like to pick on them. Or Rachel and I like to pick on Lauren. To be specific.

Well. The thing is, it is one way that we love each other. I jump on Lauren in the morning and laugh at her while she rolls around groaning for 10 minutes until mom yells at me to leave her alone. It's fun (for me) and I honestly only remember one time where she really, truly got mad at us for picking on her and that was when Rachel and I poured water in her ear to wake her up while she fell asleep writing in her journal in Africa. Wups.

But on the other side, we really have no trouble expressing our love for each other. We can say "I love you" or "I miss you" or whatever else potentially-cliche phrase there is, and mean it every time. Never does it teeter towards the empty words that the world has shaped them to become.

You might not know that. And that is why I'm telling you. Not that it's important for you to hear it, it's just important to me to say it.

Lauren and Rachel are what I call built-in-best-friends. Above all other titles besides Daughter of Christ, Sister is the one I pride most. I cannot convey the gratitude I have to the Lord for creating me to be the Big Sister. I am so thankful that He has imparted in me even a tiny bit of the Love that He has for them. His tiny is my huge.

Lauren is really going through a difficult season right now, and I don't think she'll mind me telling you. In fact, my main goal here is to ask you to pray for her, however you feel led. Anyway, I've been thinking lately not only of how much I love her, but why I love her. And I thought I'd share that with you visually.


Here we are at one of Rachel's volleyball games on Lauren's birthday. I made her wear this ridiculous shirt. And then...


I made her pose on the court. She's trying to make an awkward face...and she succeeds.
Lauren likes to have fun. She is fun incarnate. You can't not have fun with Lauren. To me, and awkward face in a homemade T-shirt on a volleyball court while everyone is starring at you...is fun. Thanks for having fun with me.


Lauren is so amazingly quirky. She scares really easy and she freaks out when you tickle her (I do too, but more on that later). This is one of her strangest quirks. She hates silverware. The sound it makes on the plates literally makes her cringe and shake a little bit. So she uses these plastic forks. She's unique. She's okay with it.


She's funny and she likes laughing. Lauren makes me feel like I am the funniest person on the planet. The only time I couldn't make her laugh was when Rachel and I poured water in her ear to wake her up...that was when I knew she was upset. But here she is being funny, mimicking mom while dad is driving. You don't have to see it to believe it - just look at Rachel's face. Lauren's funny.


She makes this face. I LOVE THIS FACE. This face says, "I probably shouldn't have done that..." (in this example, "that" is pretending to have a broken arm right after Rachel actually broke hers) "...but it's pretty funny anyway, right?" This face cracks me up and almost immediately makes me say, "Lauren!" in a "I'm slightly reprimanding you-but-am-still-happy-you-did-it" way.

Also this face. This is the tickling face. I know sometimes I shouldn't like this face, but I can't help it. How can you resist tickling when she makes this face?


And this face?



And okay. Sometimes I joke with her about her boy-like features as a child. Clearly, I am just jealous because look at her. Seriously, look at HER. She's adorable.

And this one.

Please take time to consider yourself incredibly blessed right now because you are looking at the most beautiful picture ever taken. This is it. THIS is pure beauty. I love this picture. And maybe that's because I love the person in it. But it's also this picture. She's something between exquisite and perfect.

That's not all, but I think it will do for now. Feel free to discuss Lauren in the comments because clearly, I have not said it all. Love you, sis.