Happy Birthday to Me!

Today was my 20th birthday!  As my cousin says, I'm officially out of the nursery!  Birthdays have always been a big deal in my family.  We love to celebrate, well anything!  So I have been counting down the days to my birthday celebration since the beginning of the month.  I've even gone elementary in telling my college classmates to "Guess what?! My birthday's this Friday!"

However, when I woke up this morning I didn't feel like a 20 year old should, unless they're more nauseated than I've been told.  Yep, it was my special day, and I felt as sick as a dog.  And when I get extremely sick, I tend to be really still and quite, kinda like a vegetable, maybe like broccoli or spinach, they're nauseating enough.  So my poor parents wished me a happy birthday and all I could honestly do was smile a thanks.

Pretty soon it was time to get ready for work, and I was beginning to debate whether or not I should even go, but I knew seeing the kids would be good for my morale.  And I'm so glad I did.  My mom and grandmother brought a beautiful teacher themed cake up to the school to share with my students.  We had a mini party in the classroom, and the kids sang to me, gave me more hugs and love than I could almost stand!  One of my first grade girls said, "Miss Stephanie, this is one of the best parties I have ever been to!  Thank you for bringing your cake and sharing it with us."  I had to agree with her, it was one of the best parties I had ever been to as well.  Not because of a fancy cake, decorations, games, or gifts (because their weren't any), but because of the love that was in the celebration.

Although I was disappointed that I didn't necessarily feel up to celebrating 20 years of life, I am certainly grateful to God that He has given them to me.  I know that it was because of Him that I had such a good time at the party today, I could feel Him in the room amongst the kids.  I am forever thankful for those students and for loving parents!  So Happy 20th Birthday to me!