Happy Birthday To Me!

This past weekend one of my close friends Katherine flew to NYC to see me! We both had birthdays this weekend and so she came to celebrate, and celebrate we did!! It is not hard to celebrate a birthday in this city. We started in Greenwich Village for dinner on Friday night. We then trekked across to the East Village with some of my friends from here to hear some live music and do a little(or maybe a lot of) dancing!

Conrad, Megan, and Whitney are a few of the people who went out with us.

We had a great weekend together. We went shopping in Soho, went to the park, got desert at Cafe Lalo, talked a lot, laughed a lot, and, celebrated alot!

I had to put this picture below in my blog. I joke with my friends and family that when they come to stay with me they have to earn their keep. Everone knows living in NYC is super expensive, so whenever I have company they will ask me if I need them to bring me something from the land of cheap goods. They think I am joking when I ask them to bring their own toilet paper.:-) Actually I still have a stock of several types of toiletries that I have not had to buy in over a year because I have had enough company to stock me up. you should know this in case you want to come stay with me. Just Kidding! But honestly I do appreciate my suppliers:-)

Kiki earned her keep by ironing my clothes! I told her I was going to take her picture to put on my blog so others would know what I expected if they were thinking they might want to stay with me. Just kidding guys, I would not ask you to do that! But isn't she a pal!

So as I write this blog post I am another year older. This birthday was kind of hard for me. In some ways it was really cool to turn 27. I have prayed for years that the Lord would bring me to a city by the time I was 27. It was so fun to celebrate this birthday and see how the Lord answered my prayer. I have lived in this city for a little over the year and the Lord has been so faithful to me here. In other ways though I felt like by age 27 I would be in a different place in life. I would be further along in certain areas or be settled down with a husband and maybe a child. The last few days I have claimed the verse in Proverbs that says, "A man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." I am so often reminded that as much as we think we should plan out our lives, it is God who is in control and leads our steps. He has ordained each of my days and He is the one leading on this journey of life. I have to remind myself of that every day and fight to let go of what I think my life should look. I am continuing to learn what it means to walk in faith and trust a God who is so incredibly worthy of my trust.

It really was a great Birthday! My friends and family were so great and I got some fun presents!

I also had a sweet time with the Lord on my birthday journaling and thanking him for specific prayers he has answered this year and specific things he has taught me and grown me in. I also spent time praying for things I would love to happen while I am 27 and areas I know I need to grow in. It was just really great to reflect and pray and be with the one who knows me the best and loves me the most!