Days 98-99: HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADAM!! (11/20-11/21)

Adam’s birthday is on November 21st, and it’s a special birthday because he turns 21, hence its his golden birthday! He’s definitely not as crazy about his birthday as Sarah, but he’s excited. Unfortunately, i woke up to some stressful news. They planned a service project on his birthday, and the only time we could celebrate is today from 12-4pm. I learned this at 8am, leaving Ellie and I with little time to figure something out. So we just straight up allies him what he wanted, and he didn’t really know himself. He mentioned a park would be cool, as well as Korean BBQ since he’s never had any. Well, there was none around, but there were a few parks around, but on a cold November day it wasn’t ideal. We left the house at around 9:30 to go to a café so we could work on fundraising things, giving us more time to brainstorm. Finally, we got it: go to a mini-golf course with a bowling alley. Done, make a reservation just in case, left a message, easy. En route to the place, we had to run a quick errand to Fedex, where i received a call back saying that the place was closed. Great. So i whip out my phone again, and found a place called Laserdome about 10 minutes away. I call ahead and talk to a man named Carl, cool guy, said he could hook our squad up with a deal. So we drove over, and find out its not just laser tag, but also an arcade! And the best deal was 2 hours worth of laser tag and arcade access for a decent price, and we were the only ones on the place. Awesome! So we blindfolded Adam as the guys literally carry him in, where we surprised Carl more than Adam about the fact that we carried him into his shop than showing him we took him to a laser tag arena. Turns out Carl’s the owner of the place, and have been successfully running the place for over 20 years. We got to play 6 games of laser tag, and, at least personally, a lot of Dance Dance Revolution. Carl mentioned we were an absolutely awesome group to be with today, which is so cool to hear! When finished, we all gave him funny birthday cards that i got at a store, and everyone had a good laugh. Not bad for an impromptu birthday party. From there, we went back to host homes, where we had some early thanksgiving food for dinner, and played games with the kids the rest of the night. Another great day on NET!! What else is new. . . On Adam’s real birthday, we were bombarded by a decorated van just for him brought to us by the sisterhood. So many balloons lying around, but it was a great surprise. Our service today was painting at St. Leo the Great in Lancaster, PA, where we met Joe Amidon, a Netter from last year who is an incredible man of God due to his passion for the Lord. We ended up doing team prayer with Joe, and it was a really good prayer for all of us, especially Adam. From there we began painting the rectory basement, with a mass break in between. Overall it was a really cool time with the team and i absolutely loved it. Then, before we went home for the evening, we had one more surprise for Adam on his birthday. Aimee walked Adam around the church as we pulled out the silly string and birthday poppers, and once we took off the blindfolds, we bombarded him with all we had. Then, since he was 21, we pulled our red solo shot cups and put in apple cider (since over half the team is under 20) and affirmed him for the man he has become, and raised a glass for him. After dinner at host homes, our host mom, Beth, asked if we wanted to go see Frozen 2 with her two daughters tonight the day before its actually released. We gladly accepted, and it was SO AMAZING!!!!!! I recommend it to everyone, especially if you even sort of liked the first one. So so so good. Also, it was just funny to see three guys freak out over Frozen 2, but we all absolutely loved it. . . Adam, I don’t know if you’ll ever read this, but I am forever grateful for you. For all the silly moments we share to the good discussions in Olney, you are an incredible man of God that takes advantage of our opportunities, and I’m so excited to see what’s in store for us. Thanks for being an amazing brother to me and to the team, and let’s continue to learn!