30 is the new......30!

So this was my year. Yes, the year. The year God decided I would turn 30. (And thank you God for keeping me alive, healthy, and in You all of these years.) I've been dreading this birthday since last year. It seemed like 29 was okay and great, but 30 is pushing it. I kept saying that I had just a few more months to go.....a few more weeks......I told David in March or April that I thought I might need a birthday party so I would have something for which to look forward.

YIKES, its my birthday month! (Yes, we do birthday months in our family, and I highly recommend it!) The first week or so of May, I was starting to feel a little better about the decade change. Then a couple of days before the 12th, I started dreading it again. I had felt really emotional about several things then, and the looming birthday added to the emotions. David told me on the 11th that if I needed to wake him up after he went to bed so I could cry, that it was okay.

The night of the 11th I spent some time really thinking about what turning 30 means:

1. I'm another year older, but just 1.
2. I'm starting a new decade of life, but just the 3rd one.
3. I have a wonderful family, husband, and 2 beautiful (sorry, HANDSOME) children to show for the first 29 years of life.
4. I may not have accomplished everything I thought I would by 30, but here's a fresh beginning - a remotivation - a reason to get going again.
5. Why look at the changing decade as a negative thing? Why not see it as a positive thing - like making New Year's Resolutions (which by the way, I've done a fair job of following through on so far. And that's nearly 6 months now!) New goals!
6. This is my chance to get my God goals going again too - praying more relationally, reading His Word more, loving other people the way Christ would have me love them, living more like Christ lived and wants me to live.

I went to bed satisfied and happy. I woke up on May 12, 2011 satisfied and happy (and with a surprise of some kind to look forward to.) I got several lovely cards on my B-day day. One started with "From the moment you were born, God has had something wonderful planned for your life." (Emotional moment....) And I know the card should have read: Before you were born, God.....

So, 30 and I have made our peace. A friend suggested a "30 things to do in my 30's list" which I think is a great idea. I haven't started the list yet, but plan to soon. (Suggestions are welcome. Skydiving will not be on the list, nor will bungee-jumping, but para-sailing might make it....)

Here are a few highlights from my first 30 years (this is far from a comprehensive list):
~ Born May 12, 1981 to 2 wonderful and happy people - their first child, and the first grandchild on both sides of the family

~Age 3(ish) - gave myself a haircut.....(I'll leave the rest to you....)

~Age 4.5 - welcomed my beautiful baby sister to the world (lots of fighting with this tow-headed kid over the years! Sisters!)

~ Age 5 - Rode a horse by myself, and stayed on even after the horse walked into an electric fence and got spooked. Grandma is running behind me yelling for me to pull on the reins, and I'm wondering, "What are the reins?"

~ Saved at age 6. Baptized by my Dad.

~ (Also a horse memory) Summer family reunions in Jetmore, KS. Playing on the farm with my cousins and riding horses til I can't walk from soreness. (Also finding out from riding around the damp, mosquito infested pasture all day that I break out really bad from mosquito bites - I'm weird like that!)

~ Riding the Amtrack train from Denver, CO to Portland, OR with my great aunts, grandmas, mom, and sister. We froze to death on the train, made our own sandwich lunches in our seats, slept in our seats/in the floor/on each other. While in OR, we picked blackberries til our fingers were sore and black. Then froze some, packed them in an old suitcase, and sent them home to TX on the plane with my Dad. (They arrived still frozen to the unknown delight of every passenger whose suitcase was underneath the blackberry laden one!)

~ Youth camps in Ruidoso, NM. (Chris Tomlin was our worship leader one year - that was pre-fame.... My Dad always says he's going to contact Chris and ask if he remembers having cheetoes up his nose with him...)

~ Spring break ski trips with my grandma, parents, sister, and San Antonio cousin and great aunts. We skied all day, the great aunts and grandmas prepared all the food and visited all day, then we played Minnesota canasta til all (early) hours of the night. This is where I learned that if I wanted to play cards, I had better have a plan of what to play when it was my turn, or I was going to get scolded! I also learned that if I ever wanted to have a boyfriend, " You need to cut your broccoli into smaller bites!" and "Eat your corn with a fork instead of a spoon." (Courtesy of the great aunts :) ).

~ Middle school (not really a highlight on my list.....)

~ High school: cheerleader 7-12 grades, state champs my Jr. year; finally had that boyfriend I was warned I'd never have (must have been the dainty broccoli bites!); lots of copacetic, parent-approved parties at my house; leading worship at church with the youth band; very late night "Risk" duels with friends; lots of Monty Python and the Holy Grail; First jobs - bridal shop sales, then youth minister's secretary

~ College: lots of studying, singing, and attending recitals that I didn't want to go to; made lots of friends at the BSM; spent 9 wks leading worship for revivals in Baptist churches in the Wichita Falls area; learned to LOVE my sister, get along with my sister, and greatly miss her when I wasn't at home with her! (major highlight); met the MAN OF MY DREAMS through the BSM - what attracted me to him you ask? his shoes.....what can I say? I love shoes! (super awesome major highlight); got to go to Africa on missions twice in the same summer - Egypt and Tanzania (another major highlight); the MAN OF MY DREAMS proposed to me and my first words were "Did you ask my dad?" then of course "Yes!"; almost killed my mom in 1.25 months time - I graduated from college, my sis graduated from high school, and I got married between May 3 and June 14, 2003.

~ Moved with my new honey to LBK and started teaching. Met tons of wonderful friends at Calvary Baptist - still have them!

~ Matt. June 7, 2006 - I never knew how much my parents loved me until I held my sweet baby boy in my arms for the first time! No words.....

~ Spent a year in Petersburg learning to live 45 min. away from the city. I'm not sure it worked.... Also met Sally and starting writing real, semi regular, and sometimes silly snail-mail letters to my friend Sal (who also encouraged me to start this blog)

~ Moved to Wheeler. Now I'm learning to live 2 hrs away from a big city.....not sure that's working either.....(ask my parents how many times they've seen me in the last 2 months...A LOT!)

~ Ben. August 18,2010 - I didn't know how I could possibly love 2 as much as I loved the one, but the moment I first held him, the love doubled.....only God can do that you know.....

~ Starting to make some friends at our wonderful new church - FBC Shamrock, and through a new Bunco group in Wheeler (first Monday of the month at 6!)

~ Today - privileged to be married to a wonderful man, have 2 handsome children, loved infinitely by God, longing to know Him more, blessed beyond measure.....

I'm having a wonderful life! Thanks 30 for reminding me.


(Oh.....you want to know what the surprise was? Well, you made it all the way to this point of my life story, so....) - Check this:

That super awesome guy in the background ordered it for me!

Told you I love shoes!

And my party was perfect: family, Dad's cooking, games, lots of laughing (pants might have been wet.....I'll never tell.....), and of course cake! (Although the black decorations were a little uncalled for! MOM! and possibly DAVID!)