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my nieces informed me at 7:15am today, standing on my front step with cupcakes and party gear, that i both look like a monkey and smell like one also. good thing they're cute.

celebrating the big 2-7. four syllables sounds so much older than three. good thing i get to go back to three next year.

various celebrations include:
*dinner with my in-laws on wednesday - quite fun. i'd never noticed before, but we laugh a lot when we're with them. i sure enjoy it when my father-in-law joins in.
*coffee with a friend who has her birthday the day before mine - the closest i have to a "birthday buddy".
*aforementioned surprise from marisa & the girls, which included a scrapbook from each featuring pictures of us together, many really awesome drawings of their memories, and an exhaustive list of the reasons why they love me.
*dinner with my family.
*late-night dessert with my girlfriends.
*dinner with m&l tonight.
*something yet to be announced with matt... no idea what he's planning.

i do like stretching this birthday thing out over the course of several days.

2009 in review

(since review posts are just about all i do regularly, we might as well recap 2009.)

jan: bought a house - our offer for which was accepted on my birthday of all days! celebrated my 26th birthday. proceeded to pack up life as we knew it.
feb: dedicated our house undercover, then got our keys a day late, but just barely. spent a week working harder than i've ever worked, and moved in on valentine's day.
mar: prepared for the church's move to the new campus, not the least of which included painting, unpacking, setting up and decorating all of the kids wing rooms. matt got laid off again.
apr: held our first outreach event at the new campus, an easter egg hunt, and celebrated our first sunday morning there on easter sunday. so glad to be "home". katey & rt were married at teh end of the month.
may: worked our butt off on the house. preached for the first time, with Don. took a quick trip to the lakehouse.
jun: celebrated matt's 25th birthday. had a housewarming party!
jul: another quick trip to the lakehouse. went camping with marisa & the girls. preached again, with Don.
aug: celebrated 5 years of marriage! moved in my inherited piano. went to summer camp too. matt got a part time job, which allowed him to work and supplement with his side business.
sep: preached for the first time on my own. matt went to copper island. started E3, our intense spiritual growth journey at church.
oct: creekside hosted it's first comedy club night. so much work; so much fun.
nov: celebrated thanksgiving with dad. got my first traffic ticket.
dec: gave an awesome pyrotechnic (sorta) kids message at christmas eve services. celebrated christmas with all the families; rang in the new year with friend.

happy new year!

december in review...

• crafted like crazy. barely finished it all in time for the holiday.
  
• wasn't quite as prepared for christmas as last year. oh well, not every year can be a real winner.
  
• met mark driscoll from mars hill. cool guy. i've always admired his teaching. we don't see eye-to-eye on everything, but that's not what matters.
  
• blew up a bottle of soda in kids church. that makes for the best teaching ever.
  
• went to the ladies ornament exchange at church. quite fun.
  
• dabbled in mystery shopping. still not sure if i'll keep doing it or not... but was a good learning experience.
  
• cut about 4" of my hair off.
  
• continued working through E3, creekside's spiritual growth initiative. am learning a lot about God and myself.
  
• went to court to discuss a little traffic ticket i received. thank the Lord for deferrals, and the judge who struck fear of traffic laws right back into the hearts of every citizen in that room.
  
• celebrated the birth of my dear friends' first baby. they're single-handedly responsible for starting the "let's buy a house" trend which caught on with all the young marrieds' at our church, so let's hope they're the start of the next baby wave as well.
  
• spoke to the kids at the christmas eve services on the difference between joy and happiness, using flash paper and a candle as a visual. was fun, but the real highlight was that my mom, grandparents and even bob's mom came too.
  
• reorganized my craft room. yay.
  
• changed up our christmas celebration traditions - christmas eve dinner was at mom's, and we spent the night, our first christmas, in our own home.
  
• am currently thoroughly enjoying a week's vacation. have deep cleaned a few rooms, organized a few things, crafted quite alot, and read even more.
  
• am ensconced in a book called "the light and the glory", the history of God's plan for and hand in America. i love history, i love God. good combo.
  
• celebrated mom's birthday today by going to see the new penguin exhibit at the zoo, which included brunch before and afternoon tea afterwards. what a lovely day!
  
• rang in the new year with our dear friends. waaay past my bedtime. i'm afraid i'm just not any fun after 11pm.