Fair warning: This is not a short post. lol
First off, how much do I love it that my "Jesus year" 33rd birthday fell on 2-17-17, a Friday in the 7th week of 2017, on National Random Acts of Kindness Day!? ❤
I've had a lot of great birthdays, but I believe this one was my favorite thus far...
I took my birthday off work, of course, so I drove to OKC on Thursday night. We went to bed around 11:30, and I spent the few minutes before and after midnight reflecting and praying and consecrating the year ahead to God. I was greeted in the morning by Miss Reagan jumping on me with all her joyous fluffy energy, which is always a fun surprise. lol (No pic of that, but here she is on the bed after I made it.)
The Parrish fam was headed to Texas that afternoon for a stay at Great Wolf Lodge, so we did a birthday brunch at All American Diner. Breakfast foods are among my favorite things, and I went with biscuits and gravy this time. :) Josh was working and T&C were with Brooke this weekend, so it was just the original four that morning (Mom, Dad, me, and Rach) + Jaceman and Kyndal Faith, which was really great!!
J&K were not in the best moods, but there was a brief period where they were super sweet with each other, and luckily, I was nearby with my camera ready. lol I just love them so much, and I was glad I got to spend the morning with them!!
Rachael wrote me a wonderful B-day card that morning and shared this on Facebook last night. So great and meaningful -- love you, Rach!
I went to Cut Loose Salon in Midwest City where they worked me in for a quick wash-and-style appointment. Yay for the salon shampoos and scalp massages! Peyton did some quick curling wand curls, and I had her throw some pink in it just for fun. :) We chatted about the Parrish kids (who go there, too) and about my birthday plans and the greatness of Andolini's pizza, then I took this selfie just before making the drive back to Tulsa! I sometimes wish I had a job where I could have fun colors in my hair all the time! lol
I got home and found these lovely flowers + a beautiful card and gift from my roommate, Jenna! What a fun surprise!!
Let the girlfranz out for a minute, got ready, then headed to Andolini's to meet the girls for our 5:30 dinner. Since I had skipped lunch, I was very ready to eat by the time I got there! The "opulent mac and cheese" did not disappoint. =) It was Tiffany, Angela, Laura, Jenna, and me -- "all the single ladies, all the single ladies!" lol Four of us got the mac n' cheese, and Angie got one of their appetizers that she likes. Funny that none of us went with pizza, which is also really great there! (Thanks again to Laura for buying my birthday dinner!!) ...Each of the girls had written me a wonderful card... and since I've talked about loving baths lately, I got some fun Lush bath bombs and a face mask, so I'm all set for a few "Spa Saturdays!" ;-)
We headed to the Wilsons from there, and Sarah took a couple pics of me with this lovely birthday banner made by Karli! =)
Jeffrey Edward brought me some eggs fresh from the Moss farm, and we got a passing of the eggs pic that really makes me laugh! =)
JEM also took this pic of all the girls in the living room. Love it!
Then we went out back to start the birthday bonfire festivities!
Unannounced to me, there was a burn ban and it was super windy, so the fire portion of the evening was quite interesting and brief, including the guys being very alert and stomping out the flying embers while the girls roasted marshmallows and dramatically darted away when the wind changed directions, or maybe that last part was just me! ;-)
Lots of great memories out here already, and I'm thankful we were able to eat some s'mores and get a few fun pics outside! Chet had his bluetooth speaker and played some fun songs, and it was all light and fun and good! =)
Sarah volunteered herself to be the s'mores model. lol (I completely forgot to bring the s'mores stuff I bought last week, but the Wilsons had us covered! Thanks for that, Chet and Karli... and for hosting this birthday, and for getting me a cookie cake in the middle of Chet's no-sweets year!)
Laura's cracking me up in this one! #cameraready
Tiffany, Kelly, and Angela -- some of my favorite friends from the Women's Lifegroup!
Hooray for Sarah Elizabeth and God renewing our friendship!!
They put out the fire and we came inside for the rest of the evening... this was the game plan I texted everyone a couple weeks ago.
I started us off with prayer, then I chose the death and resurrection topic, talking about dying to my fear/worry/anxiety and worst case scenario imaginations, and about God's mercy and grace always being sufficient for our present reality but not meant to cover our overblown imagination and fears.
"In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it!" -John 1:4-5
I love metaphors, and to me, that verse speaks to the life of Christ inside me being stronger than depression and stronger than sin, piercing through that darkness. I love that the verse acknowledges the existence of darkness but makes it really clear that the light of Christ is more powerful. Yes, please!! I also love that it says His life was the light of all mankind, the force that saves us all!
Choose life = my word for 2017. After the major depression struggle and difficult seasons where I really did not feeling strong enough to make it through life, and after a lot of loss and distancing myself to avoid further loss, God is resurrecting certain things and I am reawakening to the strength and desire to live out whatever life God wants to give me! And to the earthly hope of a future family and the very real possibility of adoption within the next few years. #getexcited I am praying about that and doing my best to keep my heart open to love and life, trusting God to put me back together if or when my heart gets broken again. Praying for continued peace and joy in the meantime. (End scene. lol)
...After I shared, everyone else took their turn sharing. We covered each of the 7 topics and more, and it was so sooooooo great hearing everyone's stories, stopping to pray for Steve and Sarah, passing Kleenex around the room, laughing about certain memories together, encouraging each other with memories of God's faithfulness, and learning some new things about every person there. It was good and sacred and meaningful, everything I had hoped for and more!!
We took a cookie-cake break after "story time," and I got a fun video of everyone singing Happy Birthday to me. I can't even help myself, and I love it! :)
Chet Lee has been on a recent juice cleanse, so he made us fresh orange juice that was really good! Sarah Elizabeth went for coffee and got this happy mug that creeps her out again. lol
After that, we returned to the living room for part two -- another big thanks to Laura for putting that surprise together! They went around the room again, each person sharing what they most appreciate or the character qualities or growth that they've seen in my life. It was intense and awesome -- lots of love and very meaningful words of affirmation and encouragement from people who know me well!!
Not sure how it got started exactly, but we sang Amazing Grace a capella to officially finish things off, which was also very random but cool! I drove Tiffany back to her car that night, and we had a really good talk. She said she nearly had a panic attack over sharing her testimony, and I assured her that she spoke really well and that I'm so glad more people got to hear her story (it's powerful!). I completely understand that it's nerve wracking for almost everyone to share personal stories and emotions in a group setting like this. I felt a bit nervous even though it was my idea and I'd written down most of what I wanted to say. I wondered if that would mean a very small crowd, but almost everyone I invited was able to make it. So thank you, friends, for pressing through the nervous energy and being willing to dive deep... it was so worth it!!
All that to say, 33 is off to a fabulous start! I want this to be a year of drawing near to Jesus and studying His life and character more deeply. (And hopefully reflecting it in new and different ways.) I feel very loved and crazy thankful for the people God has placed in my life. And I wanted to write a full recap of this day because it mattered to me.
Whew!! Congrats to those who made it through this post. ;-) Thanks for reading and caring about my life! Happy Saturday, and I hope you enjoy the long weekend! =)
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