I want to talk to you about my friend Annie. First of all, anyone who meets Annie, can’t help but to love her. Something about Annie makes her easy to get a long with and hard to get a long with. ; ) Annie knows what I’m talking about. See, Annie and I used to be roomates back in high school and even through some of our (rough) college years. We have gone through a lot.

Throughout Annie’s life, I started becoming more apart of it. I met her family and her dog, clickity ( my name for that long nailed pathetic dog who escaped death like 3 times! ). After high school Annie was dreaming big. She wanted to make tons of money so she could support people. She wanted money to live free of worries. Annie went to college away from home for a year and our friendship was put on hold. She came to visit with me during Christmas break and we had some great talks about life during that visit. Next thing you know, Annie left college and moved in with my family and attended college with me. She attended church with my family and participated in family functions. You might as well call her, Annie Blackburn Garard. She was one of us!

Then Annie’s story started to change. Her life started to change. Her decisions started to change. Her point of view on life started to change. Her heart started to change. It was Christ. Annie started asking questions and would sit down with my dad asking questions, reading books, reading the Bible, and asking more questions. While I thought I was setting an example for Annie in my home, in reality she was setting an example for me.

Today Annie is one of my beautiful Christian friends. She is still setting an example for me. She is about to marry a great christian guy who she met at church. The church where her faith grew. Annie called me one day at work asked me to be in her wedding as Matron of Honor. I use to think, wow, if someone asks you to be their matron of honor that really says something about the friendship. I think friendships run much deeper. Especially ours. Our friendship runs through Christ which holds a bond much stronger.

Its a friendship that will last forever.

I love you Annie and I’m so proud of you!!