Celebrating My 23rd Birthday

My Birthday was on the 1st of this month. I turned 23, but I still feel 19, well, actually better than I did at 19.  God has blessed me so much in the past year and I just feel overwhelmed when I think about it. It is so easy to look at life and wish that this or that were different, but if I look over just the past year I can see God's fingerprints all over it and when I look through His eyes I can see all the blessings. I read once that comparison is the thief of joy and I have found that to be oh, so true. So I choose to not compare myself and what I have with someone who I think has it better. Instead I choose to look at the amazing blessings God has blessed me with and recognize the fact that I deserved none of it. I recently saw someone make the comment to a person that, "You deserve better!" I'm sorry, but that is not true. What I and every other human on the face of the earth "deserves" is a miserable life, an agonizing death and eternity in hell. It is only by the grace of God and the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross that we can escape the horrors that Satan had planned for us to endure. Jesus came that we might have LIFE and have it more ABUNDANTLY! He has set me free from the laws of SIN and DEATH and given me LIFE! When you come to that realization you will become overwhelmed by the blessings that He has bestowed upon you!

I had so much fun on my Birthday and I know it's really late, but I just had to share my blessed day with you all!

After driving past Panda Express hundreds of times and wondering just what kind of restaurant it really was, we finally stopped there for lunch!

I would describe it as a Chinese version of Subway. I ordered orange chicken and it was the most amazing, mouthwatering, chicken I have ever eaten!

They even gave us fortune cookies, which I am always childishly excited about!

This one was mine...

...and here's Trey's. Now we're talking! That's my kind of Birthday fortune!

We drove right past the arch, but didn't stop. We'll save that for another day; it was very cloudy anyway, so there wouldn't have been much of a view.

This was my first time visiting the St. Louis Zoo and also the only time I've been to the zoo in winter with all of the waterfalls frozen.

I hope he never grows up...

The hippos were the first large animals that we spotted. 

They were all swimming and when they floated to the surface the steam would just roll off their skin. Once they jumped so high out of the water that it splashed over the retaining wall and sprinkled us!

The hyenas were next. Something about them makes the hair on my neck stand up. They look like they have massive upper body strength.

I'm glad there was a fence separating us!

The elephants. Always a personal favorite...

A random four eyed fish...

 It took a moment for me to realize that butterflies and moths were actually hatching out of these cocoons. So amazing!

I could have stayed in the butterfly house for hours!

My favorite was a beautiful blue one, but it wouldn't sit still long enough for me to take a picture.

 I was beginning to feel a little out of place in this subtropic climate.

The grizzly!!!

I really wouldn't want to meet him in the wild...

The seals were absolutely AMAZING! I could have stayed there watching them for the rest of the day!

They are such beautiful and mysterious creatures...

But, I caught this one winking at Trey and that was the end of our visit with the seals. 

(Just kidding, I'm not that territorial!)

A little girl started throwing her glove in the air and several seals began to play with her! I had never seen seals interact like that with a human that wasn't their trainer. It was so much fun to watch!

The prairie dogs were adorable!

 This city squirel was caught red handed stealing the prairie dog food!

This bird was ridiculously loud, especially for his size!

And now for the monkey house!!!

I call this utter relaxation! 

Am I the only one that thinks this orangutan looks like a human dressed up in a monkey suit? 

He was humongous and so friendly that it was almost scary!

He came right up to the glass to say hello to this little girl!

When it was time for them to head inside for the night they went right in.

Love monkeys!!! Please let me live with them! 

(I hope Trey and I look this cute together!)

I could have stayed in the monkey house for the rest of my life, but it was closing time.

On our way out we stumbled upon this outdoor ice skating rink that is usually open to the public but they were having their annual hockey tournaments. We had a lot of fun just watching!

The drive home was long and it was late, but we still had presents to open!

Trey got me some amazing gifts!

A Parcheesi game in some amazing, bright colors! It's always fun to learn a new game.

Ahhhhh... Every household needs one of these relaxing head messagers!

I finally have doughnut pans!

You can bet I got busy with these the first chance that I got! I love the feminine flower print beads and the sweet little fox!

I'm not usually one for fake nails, but when I saw the aztec pattern and two of my favorite colors I was sold!

My Husband blesses me so much!

I was a little sad because Trey forgot all about a Birthday cake. (Okay, I'm totally spoiled by a Husband who always makes me a cake of some kind on my Birthday.) He completely made up for it the next day by making my favorite dirt dessert!

I think I almost set off the smoke alarm this year!

I have been blessed by God in so many ways this year but if you have been living in sin and disobedience to God, please turn to God and accept Him and the blessed life that He is just waiting to give you!

Blessings!

~Clair