{ you give me life } feat. hannah casey

"You give me life...
And I give it back to You..."

:: Jason Morant

Yet ANOTHER song on my heart tonight and today. I think I must have been a singer in another life.

Oh, just love love LOVE these pictures of the beautiful Hannah Casey! I told Rod, (her dad), this last weekend at church, I saw pictures of Hannah, OMG you never told me she was G-OR-GEOUS...

I had actually never seen nor met this member of the Casey family that I've heard so much about from her parents, Rod and Julie, from Woodcrest, and their oldest daughter, Miriam, ANOTHER beautiful Casey girl that I have gotten to be good buddies with in the last couple years going to various retreats together and such.

I first heard a lot about Miriam before I met her as well as during my support raising period, the more people I would meet with from Woodcrest and share my story and my passion for women's ministry and recovery, nearly EVERY appointment, seriously for three months, people kept telling me i needed to talk to Julie Casey (she founded Woodcrest's recovery program and has been in ministry as long as I've been alive.)

Yes, I remember in the year I met her, I was turning 25 and when she told me she started all of this in 1984 I was like, wow this is amazing. I have a LOT to learn from her, I remember thinking as she began sharing how it all came together from the very baby stages.

Julie is amazing and somehow we hit it off (though I was super nervous and intimated to meet with her and then God took care of that little insecurity by placing me in the same small group the following semester. No seriously, out of 200 women and we just "happen" to not only be in the same class, but end up sitting next to each other and literally looking instantaneously at each other's name tags and were like, "people keep saying I need to talk with you!" And thus, a relationship was born.

Somehow, Julie took me under her wing and mentored me and allowed me to participate in their leadership community for their recovery program, and during that time period, we had lots to talk about. But not just recovery, I would always say, Julie how are YOU doing, and as Miriam was getting married that May, we always had PLENTY to talk about :).

And, I love Rod, he is one of the pastors, amazing, amazing man. Have enjoyed getting to be know Miriam over the last couple years as it feels like we have known each other longer because we both tell each other, my mom talks about you all the time!

She now lives in Minnesota, where her and her husband, Joe, are in seminary, but we get to see each other at least twice a year when she comes in for holidays or to speak, and then at the annual Created Female retreat, where we first met a few years ago.

Caught a glimpse of these on Silverbox's site and Miriam's facebook, is Hannah and are these senior photos NOT the cutest?! SO fun. Pretty little lady and such a beautiful family. Beautiful in so many ways. Cheers!