A New Milestone

This weekend I celebrated the big 3-0.  I had been dreading this day ever since I turned 26 and knew I was closer to 30 than 20.  I don't know why 30 was such a big deal to me.  I guess because anything in your 20's sounds young but 30 seems to put you into a new category of old.  I just never could imagine myself being 30.  But I thought the same thing when I turned 18  :)

I realize that 30 isn't that old.  I'm sure many people reading this are laughing at me as I lament over this new decade of my life.  But the reality of having been alive 30 years just makes James 4:14 ring so true...that our lives are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.  It reminds that my life, while purposeful and significant, is a speck in the realms of eternity.  That might sound discouraging, but in fact in encourages me even more to live out a life of purpose, of pursing the Lord wholeheartedly and experiencing more of Him daily, and loving and enjoying the people in my life.  I don't want to miss out or waste days or pour myself into things that don't ultimately satisfy.

Okay, well aside from all the life epiphanies, I had a great day.  I woke up to breakfast in bed served to me by my three wonderful boys.  After filling my bed with toast crumbs and jelly stains, we went to church.  After we got home, I headed out for my annual birthday tradition of spending a couple hours at Starbucks by myself.  A free birthday latte with my ipod, Bible, and journal made for some great time of reflection, prayer, and connection with the Lord. It was very refreshing.  (really, anything quiet would have been refreshing!)

Then we had two couples over for an impromptu homemade pizza birthday dinner.  These are couples that we have been living life with in community and ministry over the past few years.  It was such a fun night.

Once again, my husband was amazing and served me so well.  He got up with the boys while I slept in, made me breakfast, held down the fort while I was at Starbucks, and made all of the pizza (dough and everything) for my dinner.  He made it such a special day!

One more fun thing was the birthday call I got from my brother and his kids.  They sang Happy Birthday in English, then the oldest sang it in Spanish because he goes to a bilingual elementary school, then all three of the kids (ages 5,4,and 2) sang it in Hungarian, their second language!  I've never had such a multi-cultural birthday wish before!