Oh what a night

Or should I say day/weekend?! My birthday was on Thursday and it was so much better than I thought it would be seeing as how this was my first birthday away from home. I plan to give a play-by-play of my day... so just bear with me!
First, I was greeted with a coffee from my favorite coffee place when Audrey got home from taking Deci to school. Journey came in and told me "happy birthday" lots of times... well, she tried to tell me "happy birthday" and it's the thought and effort that makes it special!
The mailman came and brought me lots of birthday cards and a package! I was so excited, because while I was expecting the package... I was definitely NOT expecting cards from anyone!
I received one from Nick and Brandi Longshore that included a Starbucks gift card, one from Nancy, Anna, and Allison Montgomery, one from Miranda and Erik Emanuel(and their sweet children), one from my sweet mother, and one inside the package from my favorite cousin ever, Ashley who lives in Georgia! (and has a blog here, in case you are wondering)
Inside the package was a super awesome journal/scrapbook thing that I am SO excited about using, I just have to think of the perfect thing to do with it first, an awesome 2-3 page letter and, like I mentioned earlier, a card!
I was literally in tears at the outpouring of love from my friends and family back home that I was totally not expecting to experience! Just when I thought my birthday couldn't get any better(seeing as how my friends in Oregon already threw me a surprise birthday party on Monday!), my friend Kylee showed up at the front door with a HUGE chocolate cupcake and beautiful flowers for me! It was so sweet of her to stop by on her way to work... go out of her way(because my house is DEFINITELY not on the way to her job) just to make me feel special!
I'm telling you all... I have the best friends/family in the entire world. You could try to argue that statement with me all day, but I would win! I never expected gifts or anything from anyone(except maybe my mom), but I was blown away at the things I received!
Here is a pic of all my gifts(including the ones already mentioned in my blog about my surprise birthday party.)

Later on in the day, I skyped with my mom, sis, and brother back in Alabama for a while and that was such a fun time! I love getting to skype with my family, but with the 2 hour time difference it is so hard to coordinate a time where we can all sit down with nothing to do for a few minutes. I'm so glad it worked out where I could see them on my birthday. It was definitely more special than just a phone call. 

After our family skype date, Holleigh, Maribel, Audrey and I went out to the Granary (an awesome pizza place in Eugene) to eat. It was so good! Our awesome server took our picture for us:

There is no group of girls I would have rather spent my birthday with! I would have added a couple of people to this picture if I could, though. Since my birthday was a weird day of the week, a lot of people had to work... sad day. But, we had an awesome time and yummy pizza!

After this we went to the rose garden where there is this super old tree that sits smack in the middle of the rose bushes and such. It just so happened to be blooming and it was so beautiful! 

We left the rose garden and took Holleigh back to her car because she had some things to do at home, and Audrey, Maribel, and I went to Yogurt Extreme for dessert! I love frozen yogurt so much... it was only fitting to eat there on my birthday! It was so yummy! 

After Yogurt Extreme, I went to Maribel and Thania's apartment for Bible study and to hang out with my working friends who had finally gotten off work! When I got there, there was another cake waiting on me! It was an orange jello cake and it was awesome! 

I thought my birthday was over(and technically it was) but the next day I received another birthday card and some drawings from 2 of my favorite little girls from back in Alabama, Emma and Ava Rhoden. Also, my mom bought me a NOOK tablet from Barnes&Noble that came in that day as well! I have been playing with it nonstop and already have like 4 books downloaded to it. I love it so much! It's the best birthday gift I think I have ever gotten(thanks mother!)

My birthday festivities continued yesterday(sort of) when Holleigh and I got the chance to go to a Ducks baseball game for free! I love baseball here lately for some reason, and it was like 75 degrees outside... perfect day for baseball! It was an awesome time, for sure! 

I am so thankful that the Lord placed me in a place like this with so many people who care so much about me! I don't know how my birthday would have been without all of these amazing people He has placed in my life. Thank you, Jesus! 

*Tonight is our first service project in the Whiteaker district with The Beautiful Mess! We will be cleaning  up the neighborhood and inviting people back for dinner in the basement afterwards. Please be in prayer for our team as this happens. We really hope the Lord blesses our efforts and plants seeds and fosters relationships tonight.

I'm 20!

Happy birthday to meeeeeeee, 

Happy birthday to meeeeeeee, 

Happy birthday dear self... 

Happy birthday to meeeeee!

Happy birthday(week)to me!

My birthday is tomorrow and I am so excited! Honestly, I'm not sure why I am so excited about it... other than the fact that I will be 20! No longer a "teen." I don't consider myself a child as it is since I don't live with my mom or even in the same state as my mom, and I am totally independent, but it will be nice to have an age to reflect my responsibilities, ya know?!
I was a little worried that my day/week would be sad because this is my first birthday I will have spent away from home EVER, but it has been surprisingly spectacular so far!
On Monday, I went with my friends Thania, Derrick, and Maribel to the movies to see "The Vow" for the second time, and then they made up this big lie to get me to go into McMenamins where so many of my friends were waiting on me for a surprise party! It was totally awesome! :) and I am so blessed to be here with all of these guys who care so much about me to make me feel so at home during a time I have felt the most homesick.

McMenamins is my favorite place to eat in Eugene, and their strawberry lemonade is my favorite thing there! Audrey had ordered me one and had it waiting on me when I arrived at the party!
It was so special. Sharee made me a cake that was the most delicious cake I have ever had, they sang happy birthday to me TWICE, I received some birthday gifts, some homemade and some not, ....and SHAWN MCDONALD came to my birthday party! Yes, you read that right! Here is proof:

It took me forever to get the courage to ask him for a picture haha! But, I am so glad I did! He is good friends with Ethan, who is good friends with The Crash team... and he was in town and in Portland recording so decided to join Ethan at my party! Totally awesome! Check out this creeper stalker video my friend Holleigh made at the party. She was supposed to be taking a pic, but ended up videoing by accident. Look to my left and you can see Mr. McDonald sitting and chatting away at MY BIRTHDAY PARTY!

Here is a picture that Ethan took of the group at the party... 

Is that enough proof for you?! 

He was there... legit. And I felt like a little school girl because I was so excited and shy haha! BUT, it was the best birthday celebration so far and I am so blessed to have such great friends/family here in Oregon!

Please listen to and enjoy this Shawn McDonald song, which happens to be my favorite one by him.

Wooh!

Finally!

Oh my gosh.... I can't believe it has been so long since I have posted a blog post. To my faithful readers: thanks so much for emailing and commenting and checking on me, but I am still alive and well! Life just gets so hectic and I am the worst time manager EVER! Not an excuse, I know. But, I have been busy with Bible studies and moving houses and starting work(and then getting fired from work), looking for new work, school, and The Beautiful Mess which is our missional outpost/eventual church in downtown Eugene has officially started up and it has been so AWESOME and uplifting and encouraging, and busy! I love it so much, though and I am so glad God gives me great opportunities to serve and that my life has been consumed by Him! Our first service project  is scheduled for April 22! We will be cleaning up the neighborhood and then inviting people back to have dinner with us! Check out the website here.

I hope you all had an amazing Easter! I got to spend mine serving homeless with some other churches/ministries. We had a worship service, short message and then served dinner afterwards to a crowd that I don't think any of us expected to show up. It was so awesome to be able to serve alongside my friends and be able to share the love of Jesus with a group desperate for some kind of love. Below is a video taken by one of our friends of the dinner.

If you look when it goes to the water coolers you can see me standing there! woop woop!

Here are some random pics that describe what has been happening in my life in the past month or so!

.I got a hair cut! Rocking the new bangs and hanging out at a park on a beautiful sunny day! Notice the capri pants, sandals, and sun glasses!

Brooke came to visit and we took her to the coast! It was far from warm and sunny, but it was a BLAST!

Maribel and I took Brooke up to Skinner's Butte one sunny day to enjoy the day and soak up the vitamin D that we are all lacking due to NO sunshine ever haha!

Went to a new restaurant called Off The Waffle and had this amazing waffle. It was the waffle on bottom, a fried egg, bacon, and maple syrup. It was called something like Prophecy or Prodigal something or another haha! Anyways, yummiest waffle EVER.

The very first Beautiful Mess meeting in the basement of Eugene Evangelical Church. This is also where Hosea Youth Services meets on Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

We had a snow day! So pretty, but it stayed around for days and got really annoying after the first 24 hours haha! Apparently Eugene was on the news back in Alabama because it was a freak snow storm... totally abnormal for this time of year.

Oh, and in case anyone is wondering: my birthday is in 9 days! And I will be 20! I definitely don't consider myself a child by any means... but I will officially be out of my teens. People keep telling me it is all downhill from here. We will see! I am excited and sad at the same time, because it will be my first birthday away from home EVER!

I PROMISE to try and keep this updated more... there was no excuse other than not wanting to take the time away from my day to blog, and then logging on to post something today totally overwhelmed me because of how long it had been. Ugh! Definitely a motivator to never go that long without posting again! Thanks for sticking around, loyal friends!