Great Birthday!

If you are a regular reader of my blog you have heard me say before how special birthdays are in our family, especially growing up. In the Koutz house a birthday is a holiday. Trust me. It is a BIG DEAL!!!! Birthdays have been the hardest part of growing up for me. Now that I'm older and don't live near any of my family, birthdays just aren't the same. No hugs from my parents, big brother or my sisters. We aren't all together to celebrate. I miss my family on my birthday more than any other day of the year.

This year was no different. I missed my family today. It was a rough morning and tough day at work. I was booked solid with meetings and projects until late tonight. But thanks to my amazing family and friends, it ended up being a fantastic day. Here are some highlights.

• My 3rd period class sang Happy Birthday to me. We were all reminded why we are instrumentalists and not vocalists and laughed in the process.
• Lots of birthday wishes from my 6th graders.
  
• I can't believe the number of facebook messages, texts, e-mails, phone calls and twitters (or are they tweets) I received today. I'm overwhelmed.
  
• I received phones calls from everyone in my family. This is one of my favorite Koutz traditions. It hope it never dies.
  
• An almost video blog post from Allison.
• Brooke breaking into my apartment to leave gifts in my room. (More on that embarrassing story later. Sorry Brooke you have to wait until tomorrow.)
• Jeffrey giving up nap time to save me from my ignorance of video stuff.
  
• Being surrounded by friends with massive hugs in the middle of the atrium.
  
• Having a group of students yell happy birthday across the church and everyone turning to watch.
• Jeff Bell's amazing teaching at Journey Class.
  
• Dinner with Jeannette who is moving back to Dayton tomorrow. It was suppose to be a going away dinner and she turned it into a birthday dinner.

Thanks for an amazing birthday everyone! I love you all!!!!