SURPRISE!
Saturday, May. 07, 2005 @ 7:35 PM
Today Shannon and I went to see Mrs. Maricle and talk about literary night. We discussed some stuff about being MCs and stuff. After that we went to New Hope Church and scoped out the stage and stuff. Then, we went to the Stevens house. For some reason, Mrs. Maricle really wanted to go there first, and then take me home, even though it would have made more sense to just drop me off. But I didn't argue with her.
When we arrived at the Stevens, we went inside and
Shannon and I just stared, shocked at the huge mass of people in the Steven's living room. Confetti was flying everywhere, video cameras were staring us in the face, the flash of my Dad's camera kept going off, a bunch of smiling faces stared at us, as well as a huge poster with the words, "Happy Birthday Shannon & Katelyn!" on them.
Needless to say, we were more than a little surprised. Shannon turned sixteen yesterday, but I still have three weeks and one day to go. I know this because of Shannon's excellent mathematician skills, along with a superb memory. She, for as long as I have known her, has known the exact difference between our birthdays. But I usually forget.
Almost all of our friends were there: Mary, Katie, Kim, Teresa, Caitlin, Hollie, Julia, Heidi M, Heidi G, Sarah Bratton, Rachel Walker (I don't really know her that well), Amy Hackbarth, Chelsea Conklin, and Ashley Short. It was crazy! But it was a lot of fun. We played games, and everyone told a story about Shannon and/or me. There was pizza and cake, which I did not have, because I was really full and also I haven't eaten sugar for a week...more on that later. And, it was really fun!
Hollie and Jenna set it all up. They did a ton of work. Hollie made a video of Shannon and I. It was incredible! Jenna helped with that, too. It was hilarious. They had funny pictures and video clips. They had background music. They even had my song from when I did the speech contest in the background! It was absolutely perfect for the video, too. My enunciation wasn't the greatest...but the words were perfect. They are:
I wanted to sing for you, but nothing I could sing was worthy for you
I wanted to dance for you, but nothing I could dance was perfect for you
I wanted to bring you something beautiful but nothing I could find showed your love divine.
Thank you for loving me
How I thank you for holding me
How I thank you, Lord, for loving me just the way I am.
It's a good friend song, and worship song. I almost started bawling. I was so close to crying, but I didn't. My mom did, though.
Mom made Shannon and me the most beautiful scrapbooks. There's a bunch of pictures in there of us and all this stuff. It's so cool. There's a page in there that has pictures of us holding Amanda, my sister who's in heaven, and my mom wrote little notes next to each picture, and I had to quickly turn the page, because I was about to cry. Even as I write this, tears are forming in my eyes. Maybe later I'll post what she wrote.
And Jenna made me pajama pants. They are absolutely adorable. They're blue with frogs and dragonflies and other various bugs. They're so cute.
I could just tell you all about all the wonderful gifts I recieved, but what really matters to me is the people who did this for Shannon and me. They loved us enough to put all the time and effort into it that they did.
Hollie spent hours and hours working on that video, and Jenna made those pajama pants for me, my mom started the scrapbook on Sunday, and she got as far as she did. Heidi M. helped with all the planning. It just makes me feel so good to know that these people care about me enough to do this for me. They love me enough to go through all that work, just so it'll be a surprise. I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends. All those people who came, I am so blessed to have them as friends. God is so good.
Thank You, Jesus, for all the wonderful people You've put in my life. Bless them, Lord! Because they have most certainly blessed me!
Love,
Katelyn
Mercedes