13 days left.... last day in San Diego

Thirteen days left until I fly out to Rwanda! My ticket is bought, but it still doesn't feel like this is happening! Today was a BIG day for myself and making progress in raising money for Rwanda.

1. Today was my last day at Invisible Children. I have been here for 10 long months and had the privilege of seeing more life change in myself and others than I have seen in the last 18 years of my life. It has been such an honor working along side these amazing and influential individuals, I wish I could just take everyone with me to be apart of this next journey in my life. But instead, I will say my goodbyes, shed many tears, and know that God placed these people in my life for a reason! I feel that they have been strategically placed in my life to teach me, help me understand my strengths and weaknesses, believe in me, and show me that I can move mountains. It is only goodbye for now, I will come back to San Diego because this is where my journey began, this is where I fell in love with helping others, and this is where I discovered my passion for film. But most importantly, I am going to come back to see the family I have made here.

2. YESTERDAY WAS MY BIRTHDAY! 19 basically feels like 18, the only difference is that this is my last year of being a teenager. So I am going to soak up every last drop of these 525,600 minutes left of my teenage years, live it up, and love every minute of it! It was a fabulous birthday by the way! Here at the Invisible Children office, they had a surprise birthday celebration with my IC family. I am always the one who notices surprises, but yesterday it was completely under my radar. I walk in the conference room, and it is filled with faces that I love! There was a huge pink card that every one signed and had an EPIC Chicago Rescue picture! Beautiful bright flowers, and if you know me, you know I like bright! And finally, every one pitched in some money for my trip to Rwanda. Then later that night we went to Laurens house and had a fun get together.... so much love bunched up into one day, It was magical, and I will NEVER forget May 19, 2009.

3. Today was a HUGE day for raising money for Rwanda. I have only 13 days left until I go, and I began to panic yesterday because I only had 2 weeks left to raise money and had only raised $1,427... So my friends and family spread the word of how urgent it is that I raise this money so I can go to Rwanda and document people's stories that deserve to be told to the rest of the world. Every one spread the word via facebook, word of mouth, and calling people. Yesterday, in 24 hours, I was able to raise a little bit under $1,000! That blew my mind! The best birthday present ever, so THANK YOU! You know who you are! Now I have $2,438.87 raised, and $4,061.13 still needed!

To every one at Invisible Children, I love you! It hurts to leave because I have so much love for everyone here! There aren't enought words in the English language, Spanish, or Chinese to express my time here and those of you that I have had the privilage of spending that time with. I LOVE each and every one of you more than you can imagine, and I thank God every day for placing you in my life!

So much LOVE!