21 Things I've Done That I'm Proud Of

1. Became a Christian
2. Got Baptized
3. Studied Abroad/took a huge leap of faith
4. Graduated High School
5. Climb mountains
6. Served God, wholeheartedly
7. Beat teen-pregnancy!
8. Managed to live 1 year on my own
9. Learn the 50 states in alphabetical order
10. Found incredible friends
11. Read the Bible, cover to cover
12. Remained Vegetarian for 4 years (and counting!)
13. Played on a Volleyball team ranked 4th in the state of Texas
14. Traveled outside the United States
15. Be a mentor
16. Planned out my future with the mindset that God is in ultimate control
17. Never broken a bone in my body
18. Kept a steady daily prayer journal for over a year
19. Watched every episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch...at least 4 times
20. Went to a World Series, Rangers, Baseball Game
21. Continued on in my faith even when life got hard

21 Things to Accomplish In The Next 21 Years

1grow in Christ every day
2get married
3adopt a child
4be ok with being in my 30s
5learn how to exercise daily
6show my love for Christ through my actions
7sponsor a child
8be ok with being in my 40s
9love deeply
10find a job that will bring people joy
11skydive
12give more then receive
13finish college
14develop deep & meaningful relationships with friends
15live in Australia (not just study abroad)
16visit all 50 states
17get over my fear of the dark
18give up something big when it really matters
19stop doing meaningless stuff/wasting time (watching tv, on the compter, etc.)
20keep in touch with some of my friends from my 20s
21challenge myself daily

Happy Happy Birthday!

I know I said I wouldn't write any more sad post about Joey, but it's his birfday!

For your birthday this year I will put up an incredibly embarrassing picture of us before we went to homecoming one year.

You'd be 20 today! Meaning this 4 year old picture should be burned. Haha no, but really I love you and will be spending the day celebrating your life and how wonderful you were.

Anne said it best "How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."

Happy Birthday to me!

So my birthday is in about 20 minutes.

Usually I get really excited about birthdays and usually I get let down. I place these outrageous expectations on one day and it NEVER works out.

Tonight as I was leaving campaigners, I started getting my hopes up for tomorrow. I mean I have had the most amazing week of my life. Really, I have. Tuesday I was in Austin and marched to the capital and rallied and just had a BLAST. Wednesday I got into the social work program and got one of the nicest letters ever from one of my summer staff friends (shout out to SAL!) and then today I just had an all around great day. I feel all this momentum leading up to my 20th birthday which has to be great?! Right?!

So as I started getting my hopes up I realized what was happening. I realized that I ALWAYS get my hopes up and am always let down so I immediately started telling myself not to get my hopes up. That it was just another day and if I have high expectations they are going to betray me and I am going to end up with another sad birthday. THEN I realized that I was being ridiculous.

It's my 20th birthday. The one day that I get to celebrate this crazy idea God had-- giving me life, and letting me be apart of this universe. Have expectations! But in the end, even if it is a horrible day and everything goes wrong remember that God still loves me. God still wants me to be apart of His family and above everything else, God is good.

(p.s. photo by the BEAUTIFUL Kristin Bohacek)