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Today, I turn 30.

For some reason, I have been dreading this birthday.  My friend Lindsay, who turned 30 just 3 days ago, and I were talking about how for some reason, 30 just seems "grown up."  Sort of like we have no excuse to be silly anymore or dress in a certain manner (I've been buying shoes and accessories and Forever 21 far too long by now, but I don't really want to stop.).  :)  Somehow having two children, a husband, and a teaching career doesn't make me an adult, but turning 30 does.  It's bizarre, I know, but it's just been in my mind.

However, this has actually been the best birthday of my life.  I have just what I mentioned above, a great job, amazing children, a fantastic husband, and wonderful family and friends.  All of these people came together to help Jason throw me the very first surprise birthday party of my life, and one of the most fun parties I have ever attended.

Jason tricked me into thinking that we were going on a date to Giovanni's (I LOVE their cheese bread, so it wasn't hard to get me to go.) and that his parents were taking the kids out to eat because they wanted to come down and see them before we left for Savannah.  This didn't make me suspicious at all, so I was oblivious when our pastor, Bro. Jim, called and asked Jason to stop by the church.  Jason went in while I sat in the car, and then he came back out and said that Bro. Jim wanted to speak to me as well, which honestly made me a little nervous.  This is what happened as I walked in:

It is a rarity to find me speechless, but I was at that moment.  All I could do what get teary-eyed.  I was so surprised and yet delighted.  I could hardly believe that Jason (and his minions) planned all of this for me.  I have really never felt so special.

There was a slideshow playing with photos from all the stages of my life and with all of the people I love, and Lindsay created a playlist of songs that I enjoyed over the years, from Boyz 2 Men, to the Spice Girls, and who knows what else.  :)

The food was all of my favorite things: potato soup and cornbread (made by my mom), chicken salad on croissants (by Veronica), watermelon, my favorite punch (made by Randy), and my very favorite type of 

cake, chocolate with buttercream icing.

The theme was fashion related, because Jason knows my love for all things fashion (and he also told a story about how on all of my mom's home videos of my birthday I always had to model the clothes I had received.  Therefore, Jason had coerced some of the guests into modeling my gifts (things he, my mom, and some of the other attendees had gotten).  I have never had my own fashion show, obviously, and it was such a huge treat.  Seeing my friends and family (and even Jared modeling a dress -- yikes!) was so much fun.

I was surrounded by people I love, and my only complaint is that the night went by too quickly. I was sad to see it come to an end. Rarely do I have all of these people in one place at one time, and it was wonderful.

I am so thankful for Jason for coming up with the idea for this party, for his creativity, and for all the time and effort he put into surprising me and making me feel like the most special person on the planet.

I am also thankful to my mom, Lindsay, my dad, Randy, and Veronica for all of their help making Jason's plan come to life, for the cooking, setting up, cleaning, and everything else they did that I don't even know about.

Thanks to my friends (and family) who participated in the fashion show, setting aside their reservations to strut it on the catwalk.  I loved it!

Finally, thank you to everyone who came and made the night so wonderful with your presence (and your presents...you all did too much!).  I will never forget this night, and I love you all!

Turning 30 really hasn't been as I feared it to be.  So far, it's actually been amazing.