Surprise!!!!

I went home this past weekend, and I surprised my mom for her birthday. My dad and brother took her to Olive Garden for her birthday, and it's only like an hour and a half from here. I showed up around thirty minutes before they did and hid in a back room. It's a room in the restaurant that if you're in the right place no one can see you as they walk in. I was so jittery waiting for them. When they arrived, the manager told me they were there and that they were going to take their drink orders first. So I waited for around five more minutes and then they came and got me. I walked out behind all the waiters and waitresses and followed them down to my family's table. They had seated my mom facing the wall so she couldn't see me. My brother saw me first and I put my finger to my mouth to shush him. They started singing the Bona Fetcha song, which I guess is Happy Birthday in Italian, and about halfway through the song, I slid into the booth across from my mom. We both couldn't say anything for a minute because if we did we would've both started crying. She just got this really big smile on her face with a really bewildered look. She asked me if I was going back to college that night, and we had to remind her that it was Thursday and that I was staying for the weekend. She was really happy.

On Friday, we went down to where my dad hunts and cleaned out brush and trees so he could see deer better. We got up in his tree stand and you can see pretty far. He's in a pretty good spot. He's in the farthest corner of our property as he could get with still being legal. It's kind of funny. That night we went to watch the last football game of the normal season. It was against our big rival team. We ended up winning, but it wasn't a very good game. It was good though because now they are undefeated and we have been our big rival for five years in a row. They will be in a playoff game this Friday, but they're going to have to play a lot better than they did last Friday if they plan on winning. I was kind of disappointed. I also got my hair cut on Friday and it's super cute. I love it. It's so light, and I can wash and dry and fix it in less than ten minutes. It's great. It's the shortest I've ever had it. I would have pictures up, but my camera's dead so I'll have to charge the batteries.

We kind of just hung around the house on Saturday. That night we went and saw Madagascar 2 which I was kind of disappointed in too. I thought it was going to be funny like the first one, but it was very culturally relevant. I had a heard a review from someone from Focus on the Family that it wasn't very family friendly. They had given it a 2 1/2 out of 5. I understand what they meant now.

Church was good on Sunday. It was a salute to the veterans. It was good, but I think my first weekend home for Thanksgiving break I'm going back to our old church for one Sunday. I miss everyone there and I want to see people. I'm so excited for Thanksgiving break. It's in two weeks, and I'll be home for one whole week. I had thought about working for three days, but I want to see people and visit with people. I'm going to save the working for Christmas break when I'm home for 5 weeks.

I also have good news of God's blessings. I had received two scholarships that came from my Indian program, but my account was already paid in full so I was refunded for the scholarships and opened a savings account with the money. I had planned on doing it, and God blessed me with that. Now I have money for next semester already waiting to be paid. God is so good.

Yesterday was the first day I came home without getting teary-eyed in my truck after I left. The first two times were kind of hard, but I think it's getting easier. I have been praying about it a lot. I know God helped me yesterday.

Well, I will post more later, but right now I've got to prepare for tomorrow's classes. God Bless.