Last weekend was our 9th Annual Palace Reunion. I met my best friends in college and we lived in a house we named, “The Palace”, because we were daughters of the King and that made perfect sense to us!  Unfortunately, like most college houses, it was more of a dump than an actual palace. All of our parents have since told us how disgusted they were by the whole house. Looking back the mouse poop in the cabinets and the birds living INSIDE the third floor bedroom might have been red flags…

These yearly reunions are so special to us. We rotate visiting each other’s homes so that we can share our home towns and get a little taste of each other’s lives. This year was Kendall’s year to host so we took the road trip of the century to Knoxville, Tennessee. It was a loooooonnnngggg trip but we carpooled and got extra time to catch up.

Let me introduce you to some of my favorite ladies of all time (from left to right):

Stephanie is fiercely loyal and absolutely hilarious. She is an amazing photographer who lives in KC with her hubs and two kids. I love Ste’s heart for loving people and serving them. She is a phenomenal wife and mom – I am always learning from her. I love that Ste doesn’t need the limelight to shine, she just puts her head down, and serves anyone and everyone with joy.

Cindi has the voice of a mouse and the soul of a saint. When you are around Cindi, you are loved well. Its just who she is. If there are ever tears being shed, she joins in because she feels so deeply with people. When you chat with her, you can’t help but feel the tender love of Jesus. Cindi, her hubs and 3 kids are moving to Rogersville this week and when she opens her etsy shop back up, you can buy her amazing baby products.

Ashley lives in St. Louis and has the cutest house you ever did see. She is wise beyond her years and has a trusted, well earned, voice into many women’s lives. She loves Jesus with her heart, soul, mind and strength. I always leave conversations with Ash having learned from the way she presses into Jesus and His character. And her one liners will have you keeling over laughing.

I’m me. Let’s have coffee.

Whatever Deb’s is doing, she does 100% and with excellence. So if she is being funny, she is being THE FUNNIEST.  Her passion and zeal for the people she loves makes her an amazing wife to J, mom to two littles, and friend to us! She loves Jesus in the marrow of her bones and the last few years, I have watched her face trials with amazing faith and endurance.

Kendall is always up for an adventure. We met Kendall on a Cru summer trip in East Asia and convinced her to move to Missouri and be our roommate in a ten minute conversation! She was even up for hosting a group of 7 while being almost 37 weeks pregnant with her second little girl. After 10 minutes of knowing her, you would know she is a safe person – she can handle the best of people and the worst of people and still adore them all the same.

Bekah lives in Nashville and runs the amazing High Fancy Paper.  Bek’s attention to detail makes her fabulous at her job and helps her to see the world in lenses most people don’t have. Whatever is making you happy, sad, or anxious, you can always know that Bek will take notice and enter in with you. She loves God and people with intention and care.

Seriously, how great are these women?!?!?!

We always wrap up our trip by going to church Sunday morning together and its one of my favorite memories every weekend. I love standing with these sisters and singing to the One who has knit our hearts together in friendship. We say we are thick as thieves. Basically, we fight for each other. Occasionally, with each other. We are always saying yes to a friendship that can withstand being in different states and often very different life seasons. We grieve together, pray together, laugh together, often pee our pants together, and our group text thread is often eating up every ounce of memory on each of our phones.

Next year will be year TEN. How that many years have gone by is insane. But to say I’m grateful for each year would be an understatement.

You can catch up on a few of our old reunion posts here & here.