Birthday Week

Well i've officially entered the 24th year of my life. I always hate turning another year older because I always feel soooooo old. I always have to remember that 24 isn't old and I have an entire year before I turn a quarter of a century. Sometimes I worry because I'm still not sure what I want to do with my life. I always thought by this age that I would have everything figured out but the older I get and the more people I talk to I realize that no one ever really seems to figure everything out. :)

I had a great pre-birthday weekend. We really had a fun party at the house and I couldn't of asked for anything better. I've never really been one to celebrate my birthday rather I always try and help others celebrate their birthday so it was nice to have a party thrown for me instead. I have to thank my friend Kathy who helped do almost everything! I also have to thank Sarah who helped clean and decorate the house! Thanks to everyone who donated food or drinks to make sure we all had a great time! :)

The week was spent celebrating my birthday as it always should be when your birthday is in the middle of the week! On Tuesday I went to visit my friends Sanya and Hormazd. We ate pizza and they made me a dessert called dream pie for my birthday. It was a really fun night and we even watched the disney movie tangled. It is such a cute movie and I would definately recommend that you see it if you never have. I love hanging out with Sanya because we always have such great conversations and she brings so much joy and truth into my life. We may come from completely different faith backgrounds but even though we have different religions our faiths have many similarities in which we can discuss. :) God really is everywhere and He keeps showing me himself through different people of different faiths.

Wednesday was my actual birthday and I spent it busy at work! After work I went up to the orphanage because one of the boys named Lenny also has his birthday the same day that I do. I took him some chocolate chip cookies to help him celebrate the day. The boys all came running up to me and giving me birthday hugs and i'm pretty sure I got my work clothes full of all sorts of mud. :) The boys really are something else. After that I just hung out at home with a few of my close friends where we ate churches chicken and pixie sticks that my sister had sent me a month ago. :) I know it's a weird combination but well it was still pretty amazing. I was very happy just to sit around with my close friends and laugh about different things that had happened throughout the year. We must have laughed til our sides hurt.

Thursday I went by my friend Andrew who made chili pie for me as per request for my birthday. Unfortunately I had been under the weather all day thursday but I still tried to enjoy my pie the best I could! :) My friends Venus and Anisa came out to eat some of the chili pie with me and we watched the movie "This means war". It's a movie about two men who are in the CIA and go after the same woman. They make it into a competition and well you'll have to watch it to see how it ends. It is actually one of the best movies I've seen in a long time I laughed a lot and really enjoyed it.

Having my birthday this week made me really remember how loved I am. Life isn't always easy and sometimes we have to make hard decisions that will hurt someone because in the end it will be best for them. I feel like I've made a lot of decisions like that recently and it kind of left me confused and upset. Life isn't easy but the love of others always helps you to remember not to give up.

I am thankful for all those who have been with me during the last year and I look forward to all the adventures of my 24th year of life. I have to remember not to take anything for granted because we never know how much time we have or the time of our loved ones. My goal for this year is to learn to forgive quickly and never let yesterday hold a shadow over today.

Love and prayers,

Ashley Ann