he's 21!

its true. today's is my boyfriends birthday. and he's 21. alot of you may know joel, but alot of you probably dont. so i decided that now would be a good time to introduce you to him.

ive only known him for a little over 3 years now but i sure can tell you alot about him. joel has a heart unlike anyone's ive ever known. its a selfless serving heart. he'd do anything for those he loves and is continuously giving of himself for the comfort of others. he's one of the hardest workers i know. and he's not just a student. he works at starbucks and has earned respect and loyalty from coworkers and customers, serves in various ways at his church, and runs sound with asu younglife. and the cool thing is that joel does these things not because has to or is forced to, but because he enjoys them. and if you've noticed, each of the things i just said all involve sacrifices and giving of your time and energy. and thats just it, joel enjoys serving. and what completely fascinates me and warms my heart every time i think about it is the fact that amidst all of that stuff, joel always finds time to serve me. ME?! over and over again im blown away by the thoughtfulness and care he treats me with. partly because im so undeserving of it, but mainly because it is just so wonderful to see how someone can have so much room in their heart for others. joel is such a perfect example of what i want my heart to look like, full of jesus and others. he strives to serve God in all areas of his life and he really has given Him his heart to shape and form like that of Christ. im so impressed by the man that he is and im proud when i get to walk into a room holding his hand.

on some lighter notes, he makes me laugh and he likes to enjoy life. he's always thinking of fun and unique ways we can spend our time. even though 98.3% of the time we end up going to oreganos or walking around target. but thats ok, because there's really no one else i'd rather walk around target with. and come on, is there really a better way to spend an evening? we paint, have picnics in the park, drive around aimlessly, play guess who, bake cakes... cool stuff like that. he lets me be the DJ in the car, even though he hates it when i have the ipod on shuffle and skip through songs until we've arrived at where we're going. (im sorry, i just cant commit to a song!) he dances and sings in the car, and if you're lucky you can occasionally catch it in public. he appreciates different forms of art, and even my art. you KNOW i love that. and when we're riding in the car, he flips his hat to the front so he can rest his head on the seat back. i can just count on him to be consistent with stuff like that. its because of these little things that i love every single minute with him.

so there he is. thats him. in a nutshell. i feel like i could post about him every day, but then i'd have to change my header to "photography. design. + joel." and i dont think it has as nice of a ring to it. im glad that some of you may have read this entire post. because i feel like if you want to really know me, then you have to know joel. and i so wish that you all could. but in conclusion... i'd like to say what i started out writing this post about...

happy 21st birthday!!!!!!!!!!!

joel.

sincerely,

me.