OH you make me smile

Bran,

Happy 20th Birthday. You have no idea how much you have blessed me in the past two years. When I met you, I had no idea what true friendship looked like. I was so wrapped up in myself and I had never experienced real friendship. Thank you for showing me what a true friend is, you've changed my life forever. I've never known anyone as caring as you are, no one not even my own biological sisters have shown me the kind of love that you have. The first time that this fact hit me was when we were sitting up late in the laundry room of beloved Bell Hall and I started crying and venting everything out to you. I wasn't sure how you would react....when I looked over, you were crying too. I realized right then and there that you were unlike any friend I've ever had. When I hurt you hurt, when I need to talk you're always there waiting, if I'm having the a bad day all you have to do is say "I love you, Santa" and my day instantly gets better. You've carried me and supported me through the best and the worst times. Thank you for all you've done and will do. Thank you for putting up with my lack of direction, annoying phrases "listen", my snappiness when I'm tired, my lateness, my horrible driving, my never ending talk of poop!, my nagging, and my constant singing! You are the only one who I would want to be dancing with at 2am in a dorm room:)

 I love you so much Bran, Santa, Jr, media naranja, sister, and best friend.

Here's to you beautiful,

p.s.-for those who don't know, I threw Bran a surprise party for her 20th bday, heres how the night went down:

 So Bran just thought it was gonna be her and I out to Jalisco's for dinner, little did she know about 20 of her friends were waiting around the corner for her:) Her reaction was priceless!

 Of course the authentic Mexican food was sooo Good!! although our stomachs paid for it later:/

 Probably the best moment of the night, for everyone else but Bran, the waitress decided to decorate her face with whip cream and stick a cherry in her mouth! Needless to say, it was a tad awkward! Afterwords all Bran could say was "What just happened?!?"

 For her Bran I planned for her favorite acapella group, EXIT 245 to come and sing personally for her:) She had no idea and was soo shocked! She told me later that she had had no idea that acapella groups even did private events like parties:) It was amazing

After the party, we headed back to our room for some gluten-free brownies which were soo GOOD and we sung to Bran for the third time that night! Also, she got her last gift from me at 1200am, she's been wanting that picture for a good 5 months now!

She was totally wiped out, I later preceeded to cover her in a blanket and she was still only under the blanket this morning! 

I love you so much Bran, I'm so glad I could make your birthday memorable!

You're the rain that washed my blues away

This week was a little crazy...I was in the library every chance I got, sometimes doing work, other times not so much:p Well when you're with Steph squared and Tay-Wow it can be a tad bit hard to concentrate! 

So the main reason I haven't blogged in the past week was because I was waiting to finish editing the pictures from the SAO Spring Retreat!!! Tonight I officially finished and although I came home with 800 pictures, I narrowed it down to approximately 407:) 

Retreat was absolutely amazing and life changing!! Here are some of my favorite shots from the weekend....

A weekend full of:

 Jesus

  Jumping into the 30 degree lake:) I can officially now say that I've completed a polar dive!

  French Braids

 Nature

 Sisters

 

 

Bonding

 Laughing

 Singing/Music 

 Late night chats

 Fishbowl

 A new SAO pet: "Buddy"

 Fish of every sort:)

 The theme of this years retreat: Fishers of Men! Kudos to the Retreat Committee for the awesome shirts!

I had such an amazing time with each and every one of these beautiful ladies, I created some new bonds and feel deeper in love with Christ. The devos were amazing and I came back feeling so refreshed. I realized that it's time to get out there and share this wonderful gift that God has gracious given us. During the last devo, Steph C asked us to think of one person who is close to us that doesn't know the Lord, she asked us to pray that God would give us the strength to share his love with that person. The one person who popped into my head was: My Dad, although he claims he is a believer, he doesn't understand my mother's dedication to the church and I believe that he has lost his connection with Christ. I am making it my goal to share Gods amazing gift and love with my father this summer. It will definitely be a struggle but I know that God will be right there with me, helping the words of his love flow from my lips. 

“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” Matthew 4:19

Over retreat I also realized what selfless compassion and love truly are. My beloved sister, Stephanie Cancro showed me this. On Saturday night I was an emotional wreck, my friend and I were struggling through something and I was just so hurt. For those of you who know me, I am not a big crier, it takes a lot for me to cry and when I do it's not like a couple tears, it's massive, I basically drown myself in saltwater and snot and the sounds that come out of my mouth are scary! I was laying in the darkness of my room at the lake house when I heard someone climb into bed beside me. At this point,  I had been crying for about 20 minutes and my "nankie" was already covered in snot and tears. I turned over to find Steph laying beside me. She stayed with me until I stopped crying which took about 2 hours, the entire time she silently scratched my back, except for when she got up to go get me tissues aka a roll of toilet paper she had stuffed in her sweatshirt pocket in an attempt to conceal it:) She never asked questions, she just laid with me and scratched my back while I sobbed. I was so shocked. I have never had anyone who has ever done that for me. Through Stephanie I learned what unconditional love was and how to show it. I realized that I desired to have that kind of unconditional love and compassion for my friends.  Thank you Steph for everything, you have no idea how much that meant to me and how much I learned. I love you so much. God has truly blessed me by placing you in my life. 

Needless to say, the Retreat was amazing and so humbling. I love my sisters so much, I don't know what I would do without them in my life.

Nothing to exciting recently, just editing pictures for the past week, doing homework,  and hanging out with my SAO sisters who are everywhere: I love it:)

Until we meet again....