I woke up the next morning, dreading the day. It was my birthday, and I should be excited, but I wasn't. I was exhausted, and I had a lot on my hands. I felt like the world's weight was on my shoulders, but when I thought about it, there really wasn't anything to be stressed about.

"What to wear." I said aloud to myself. I opened my closet door and took a cute white dress out. I looked at my shoes and picked out light brown flip flop/sandal things. I put the dress and the shoes on, then walked over to the full length mirror in my room and took a look at myself. I smiled, glad I found something in my closet that I actually liked. Someone knocked on the door to my room. I opened it, and there they were, John and dad, standing in front of me with my birthday cake.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, dear Jennette, happy birthday to you!" they sang together.

"And many more!" John added. I blew out the candles.

"Thank you." I put my arm around John.

We went downstairs and dad put the cake on the counter. I took a plate out of the cabinet and got a knife and fork. I was ready to dig in, but dad stopped me.

"Breakfast first. I - we made your favorite." dad put the dishes I got out back into the cabinet. John took my hand and led me to the dining room, where I saw what dad had made. Blueberry pancakes.

"I can't remember the last time I had blueberry pancakes. Thank you, dad." I wrapped my arms around dad's neck.

"You're welcome, sweetheart. It is your special day, and I haven't done anything nice for you like this since your mother -" dad stopped. He looked at me with a discouraged look on his face.

"Dad, she went to be with the Lord. God is in control, and He knows what He's doing." I hugged dad and squeezed my eyes shut, trying to hold back the tears.

"I know," dad changed the subject, "well, I guess we better start eating before the pancakes get cold." John smiled, ready to sit down and dig in.

"Where did you get that necklace you're wearing?" dad asked.

"Oh, Cameron gave it to me. I forgot to tell you, yesterday, he asked me to be his girlfriend. I said yes." I told him.

"That was nice of him. I like that boy." dad surprisingly said, while stuffing a big bite of pancake into his mouth. I smiled, glad I found a guy I liked, that dad liked too.

At Church, everyone sang happy birthday to me. I was grateful to be surrounded by all of my friends and family on my special day. I had an amazing boyfriend, a great best friend, my awesome family, my youth pastors, the Church pastor, my youth group friends, and many, many more people in my life that I cared about dearly. After I hugged everyone and said thanks, we sat down and had Church. School earlier was great too, almost everyone gave me a card or a gift, and everyone said happy birthday. I had a lot to be thankful for, even if I did take a lot of things for granted. I guess in the end life turned out pretty amazing, thanks to the Lord.