Today is my 23rd birthday. Twenty three years ago on this day my wonderful mother gave birth to me and brought me into this world. For some reason birthdays are always a time for reflection to look back and see where I have come from and what has happened since last year.

A lot has happened, like college graduation, moving to Colorado, staying in Colorado, getting my first "real job", learning to ski, tearing my ACL, Christmas family cruise, ACL surgery and still in recovery, learning campus ministry, and just recently quitting my job for the unknown. This has been an crazy year full of huge blessings, amazing lessons and a few tears here and there. I have left friends and family and have made so many great new friends also (not to replace the old ones of course).

Birthdays have always been a lot of fun in my life. I cannot remember a bad one. As a child I had countless sleep overs, with cookie cakes, games, movies, truth or dare, cinnamon rolls and the always popular "throw water balloons at my dad on the swing. One year in Oklahoma was spent in horror and tears after the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995. I have shared my birthday with my six days older than me best friend Ashley, played football, danced at prom, celebrated Easter, witnessed Columbine, and sped through Montevideo in order to not miss curfew after eating at the one Mexican food restaurant in the city.

Many birthdays were spend camping with the Smiths and traveling to Oklahoma for Easter/Birthday time with my family. Last year I sat around a table with my mission teammates as we decided to postpone our survey trip and now I am probably going to buy my plane ticket today for that same trip (but to different places). I was surprised (by Lauren, the queen of surprising me) that weekend by a visit from Ash and Ryan from Harding and we had a super fun, relaxing, silly weekend.

Even though I am "a grown up adult" and birthdays are a little different from when I was 10, they are still a time for fun, family and friends and that is what I try to fill them with. Living far from home makes that a little hard, and I expect this year to be different but still fun with friends. I will report on that after this weekend.