30 Year Old Adventures

Well, it was an interesting birthday for me! A lot of potential disasters that turned out all right – kind of the story of my life!

The night before my birthday, Rebecca was up for 2.5 hours in the night vomiting every 15 minutes. But by morning she was doing much better, and nobody was sick for the party that evening. The actual party was nice (a lot of people put a lot of work into it and I totally appreciate that!), although I didn't really get to talk to everybody. And traffic was so bad that night that some people didn't even make it. And then they gave me an opportunity to stand up and say something, and I had no idea what to say. I thought of some things I could have said that night while I was lying in bed. Oh well. People seemed kind of worn out by then anyway so maybe it's good that I didn't have a lot to say.

Also both my parents and my sweet Shannon sent me flowers, and neither of the delivery people could get in the building. So that was kind of a bummer, but I got them on Saturday which was fine. And they are very pretty!

And THEN, I got super sick! It must have been the same bug Rebecca had, but I got the no flu-shot version. Instead of 2.5 hours of sickness, I had 13 hours of actual vomiting, plus another 6 hours of nausea. It started around 6pm last night – right when our couples group was showing up for a meeting. So I went and hid in the bedroom ... But I actually just started eating solid food again and so far so good. And I'm glad it happened after the party (and after the WA Caucus), but still on the weekend so Colin was around to help out.

So this is how 30 begins. But we are full of new beginnings. New home in Santa Cruz, CA – and along with that a new church, new ministries, new community, new preschool etc.; new job for me (and eventually – I hope – a new career path as an academic adviser); new family roles as Colin and I redistribute the parenting load … I don't feel like I've passed a big milestone, like, "Oh, I'm old now," or anything like that. But looking back I can see that in many ways I've changed a lot from what I was like at age 20. And people don't tell me I look 18 anymore.

I think I'm a much happier person than I've ever been before. I have a much easier time giving people the benefit of the doubt. Other than hormone-induced pregnancy depression, I haven't had a depressive episode since before Sarah was born. I feel secure in the arms of the Lord, like He's really guiding my life and I'm willing to trust Him with it (after all, He did die to give me this life!) and say yes to whatever He has in store for me. My marriage is good. We had some rocky times there for a while, but now things are better than they've ever been, and it keeps getting better, too. My girls are adorable. Exhausting, but adorable. I really couldn't ask for better children. (But we must never forget that children will tend to behave in childish ways … and dealing with childish people day in and day out is no picnic! They give me a lot to smile about too though.) I still can't keep up with every single thing I'd like to do, and sometimes I get down on myself when the house is a mess, but for the most part I feel so blessed to be a part of what God is doing in this world, and to have so many treasured relationships in my life.