Me!? 17!?

It is official.

I am 17 years old.

I remember, back when I about 9 or 10 years old; I looked upon the 16 through 18 year olds with awe. How good and wise and patient they must be! And I couldn't wait until it was my turn to become "good and wise and patient". But now here I am, little me, just the same as always. The scales have fallen and I see now that becoming a "good" person doesn't just happen when you turn a certain age, but rather, it is a continual striving to be what you want to be. I still get impatient with my siblings, I still do silly things like putting the wrong kind of soap into the dishwasher and I am still striving to live like, and for, my Saviour, Christ Jesus. Thankfully, I serve a God who gives grace and mercy, freely and generously. So everyday is another chance to do better.

When mom asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday this year, I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted. I decided to not have any friends over this time; I would have felt bad only having some friends over and having to exclude others, as I have so many. Not to mention, if I had invited all of them, we would've needed to rent a football field for the day, and football fields are rather scarce up here in the hills. ;D

So instead, mom, Megan, Emily, a close family friend named Katie, and I all had a girls day out and visited all the antique stores around Yamhill County. I am a history nut, I love learning about how we lived waaaaay back when, and going through an antique store is like walking through a museum, only in this kind of museum you can buy the "artifacts!". ;) There were many things that I would have liked to purchase, but in the end I decided on an old book that was written in 1898.

After our excursion, we came home, had cake and did presents and then for a grand finale, we watched Pride and Prejudice.

It was a very good day. :D

~Caitlyn