I learned that in two ways today.

First, my little sister Anna's birthday was today! I woke up at 7AM and made the best pancakes that I have EVER made to greet her with a hearty breakfast. After I dropped Anna and our brother Daniel off at the bus stop, I chilled at home for about twenty minutes before starting out, armed with bottled water, on the 3 mile journey to Best Buy and Harris Teeter.

We (I bought it with my parents' money) got her an 8GB pink Sony Walkman mp3 player for the discounted price of $75! WHOA! Crazy what coolness you can find at your neighborhood Best Buy.
Then I crossed the street to buy three dozen Krispy Kreme donuts. You can imagine how ridiculous I must've looked to the drivers on the busy road as I walked back with my three boxes of Krispy Kremes and my wristlet and plastic Best Buy bag dangling from my arm.

I was really blessed to be able to eat lunch with Anna in her elementary school cafeteria, even if I did get yelled at by the cafeteria lady twice. The first time was because I started passing out the doughnuts to her class before the cups turned from red to green (meaning they could actually talk and have treats). The second time was because I sat down at the end of the table with the little girls, which I'm actually not supposed to do because they don't have enough seats for all the children and as such need visitors and their student hosts to sit at the overflow tables on the other side of the cafeteria. I don't remember cafeterias having so many rules, really. O.o

The kids thought I was a walking comedy show. When they were throwing their trays away one of the boys ran up to Anna and said, "YOUR SISTER IS SO AWESOME!" I was actually quite flattered. One of Anna's guy friends is taller than me. And he's in fourth grade. Meh.

Anna was excited about the special treatment and all the extra attention she was getting for having a much older sister who talks really fast and acts crazy in the cafeteria. I was excited that she was excited.

After Operation Anna Birthday Lunch ended with their lunch period at 11:55AM, I walked the two miles back home and began putting together songs for Anna's mp3 player. I promptly fell asleep two hours later and woke up in time to pick Anna and Daniel up from the bus stop at 4:15PM.

I hope that Anna's 10th birthday was memorable. Before I tucked her in at night I talked with her about the growing pains that she's feeling right now, especially when it comes to her relationship with our parents. I'm really thankful that God brought me home for this summer because I think it's a crucial time for Anna. I always worry that she feels like she's falling through the cracks of my family's busy lives, so I'm glad that God is giving me an opportunity to truly invest into her life close to home.

So Anna is one princess.
I am the second, and under uncanny circumstances.

You see, my 4.0 went out the window today with my B+ in OPIM. I'm not typically the person to freak out and analyze every little grade, but this one is significant because there's an important lesson that God's teaching me in this.

One of my blog posts earlier this year mentioned my desire to do well in my courses this past semester so that I could show myself that I could manage six courses for the rest of my Penn career. In order to get my two degrees in four years without making my parents pay extra for summer sessions, I'm going to have to take six classes a semester, and I started that this past semester.

OPIM isn't a class that I feel like I "fell behind in" because of my courseload. I actually think that OPIM was a wonderfully challenging course that stretched me to think, and think hard. I thought I understood the concepts pretty well, at least well enough to explain them to others when necessary. Because of this, I was really surprised today when I found out that 60% of my grade ended up being a 24/30, the average of my two exam grades. This put me under the A- range that I'd really been hoping for, and into the B+ range. So with the three grades for this semester that have been posted thus far, I have a GPA of 3.77. With the eight grades that I have so far for this year, I have a 3.91. That doesn't have a 4 or an 0 in it.

It might seem like I'm just moping about grades. How does all of this make me a princess?

Well, as petty as it may sound, seeing the B+ actually was rather discouraging and disappointing to me. I never considered myself to be falling behind in OPIM, so I never worried excessively about it. I understood the material and consider myself quite the stable student; I didn't fluctuate between being a genius and being completely clueless in the course. Given how discouraging this grade was, I talked to two of my GCC brothers and sisters who I thought would understand, and who I knew would be able and willing to speak God's truth into my life.

They were so tremendously encouraging. My brother reminded me that when God sees my life and how I live it out, the grades that I receive are just a very small part of what He can do in my life. Similarly, my sister reminded me that this grade, which was not a good indication of how the course has stretched my understanding, should not deter me from pursuing the challenges that define me and a life where I achieve the most.

And they're right. Their simple truths were so incredibly encouraging, and I certainly feel much better now. By taking the time to empathize with my disappointment and invest their godly wisdom into my life, they have made me feel quite like a princess.

I'm listening to the Ultimate Disney Princess Song Collection right now. :)

God is so good to provide people in our lives who can invest into us, and people into the lives of whom we ourselves can also invest. ^__^