Mug Swap 2012

Comparison is the thief  of joy.

Yes, it really is.

I share in this post about my reluctance to participate in a mug swap.

I was comparing myself to these wonderful women, 

when in all honestly I had no reason to do so.

Why?

My life isn't like theirs.

Most of them have kids.

I don't.

Most of them have been married for several years.

I haven't.

Most of them have years of experience.

I only have 24 {almost}.

Why compare lives when I'm not in the same boat they're in?

The important thing is that most of them have Jesus in their lives.

I do too.

I can learn from them.  And I will.

So I put my fears and insecurities behind me.

And I signed up for this year's mug swap through the lovely, Kim's blog.

She was so gracious to host this.

Oh, and she travels a lot...

enough to make me a little jealous.

Anyway, so after I signed up, Kim sent me an email with my partner's name and information.

My partner was Sarah, who blogs here.

I looked at her blog and instagram to gather any information I could about what she might like.

Then I set out to go shopping.

I was so excited to put together this little gift of happiness for Sarah.

I looked high and low for a mug.

I finally found one, and then I started to actually think about what I was going to put with it.

See, I had an idea of how I wanted it to look, but that was before I had actually found the mug.

So, of course I hit up my absolute favorite store, Hobby Lobby.

This is a little glimpse of her "happy mail."

I made sure to wrap it in bubble wrap.

And I wrapped the entire package, too.

I've had bad luck with sending breakables in the mail.

I just wanted her to get it safely.  :]

The anticipation of waiting for a package in the mail is half the fun.

I love getting mail, so if you want to send me some let me know and I'll give you my address. LOL!

Anyway, my package finally came.

My husband was even excited about it because I had been talking about it so much.

He even took lots of pictures of me opening it.

As if you couldn't tell...I was really excited!

This was my, "How many more pictures are you going to take?" face.

My partner was the lovely, Laura, who blogs over at Bits of Splendor.

She has an amazing testimony.

Please go read her blog and get to know her if you have time.

She has a wonderful ministry called Project Hope, which you can read about here.

Anyway, I was super-duper excited to get my package.

I was excited even more about what was in the box.

A gorgeous mug, with a sweet little pair of earrings {that I've already worn}, along with some coffee {her favorite kind}.

It definitely smells good. :]

I had a wonderful time doing this swap.

I'm so glad I didn't give in to my insecurities.

I'm glad to have met some wonderful people along the way!

Click here to see what some of the others received!!