24's off to a lovely start...

while the past week consisted of daily studious (read: furious?) all-nighters till 10am, the weekend following was a nice change of pace: pseudo-surprise parties, presents galore, and wonderful times spent with good people that i hold so dear to my heart. some of them were MIA, but the good times just kept on rollin'. the celebrations were a little on the more quiet and simple side this year, but it was well-appreciated - i loved every minute of it. my valiant efforts to function on a total of 9 hours in 5 days were certainly not in vain. :o)

i am so blessed.

thanks to all who made it such an awesome birthday!

and now for a brief visual recap:


the celebrants: me, kitty, ryan


the roommates: ed, ryan, erin, me, joannie


the roommates + the "honoraries" (with claudia and bikin)


the girls


the boys


the best friend: tess et moi


the cake


the presents - including...


the DVD :oD

... but the most memorable highlight of this past weekend would have to be sunday morning. i had been asked to give the message during our church service, which included flashbacks and perspectives of vietnam shared with the congregation. what i had intended to be a 15-20 minute sermon, turned into a challenging and immensely emotional delivery, eventually leading to the entire congregation joining me in breaking down into tears.

though i've had a number of opportunities to speak at church, this time was distinctly different.

for once, i declined to read from a script in an attempt to sound smart.
for once, i let go of all my insecurities of crying in public.
for once, i truly understood the burdens of a Christian.
for once, i gave God back all the glory instead of myself.
for once, i was able to assess the meaning of spiritual growth.

and for once, i was comfortable with the fact that i really have grown up.