3 days ago, I turned 27.

  This post originally began with "yesterday I turned 27".  Than the days kind of kept slipping by, and well, here we are.

   Usually, I experience a bit of a panic attack whenever another birthday rolls around.  "Another year has gone by?!  How can it be?  What have I accomplished?  Did I enjoy each moment to the fullest or did I just fritter it away on ridiculously unimportant things?!  Time is going by so fast!"  You get the picture. 

But not so this year.

  Maybe it's because in the past year of my life, I feel like I accomplished quite a few things.  I have nurtured, fed, and loved on an 8-month-old baby to her now age of 20 months.  We tackled solid foods, crawling, teething, first steps, and traveled all OVER.  Florida, Iowa, Georgia, Tennessee, and maybe even a few others.  We went to weddings and Major League baseball games,  dipped our toes in the Pacific and Atlantic, and moved to a big house and planted our first gardeItn.  I have also, during that time, grown a baby inside of me from its conception to full term, delivered her, and plunged back into the wonderful, albeit sleep-deprived, world of newborns and nursing for two months now.  Whew.

   And so for now, my normal mini-crisis has been avoided.  Because even if the 'only' thing I got done that whole year was another pregnancy and birth, I guess that would have been quite an accomplishment.  Other birthdays have rolled around to find myself wondering so many, many questions about my life, but this one came and it just felt good.  Like the past 27 years haven't been for naught, because I have a terrific 3-year marriage under my belt, and 2 beautiful daughters.  I have grown as a wife, mother and as a woman, and as a daughter of the King.  And so as long as I can look back and see signs of growth, I don't mind the growing old part so much.

Plus it helped that the waitress thought I looked way younger than 27.

   It was a wonderful birthday, from start to finish.  Starting the night before with Randy bringing home a chai latte, movie and poppyseed muffins, and gave me a nice long foot massage and a beautiful necklace with my birthstone in it.  The next morning he made my favorite for breakfast, biscuits and gravy.  Then in the evening he treated me and some friends out to dinner, and even chauffered us around in a limo! We sipped sparkling cider and nibbled mints in and felt like queens.  Ant it was so good to have an evening out with adults!  Sometimes, after all the diapers and "Mamamamamama" adult conversation is just SO refreshing.

   I was so blessed and touched by his efforts.  Parties aren't nearly as much "his thing", so for him to throw one for me meant all that much more.  It tells me that he knows ME, and what speaks love to me, even if it isn't necessarily what would speak love to him.  That's probably one of the best parts of marriage.  Learning what their love language is, and learning how to speak it.

   I am ready for another year of life.  Sometimes I don't feel ready, and a birthday just sort of steamrolls over me, leaving me feeling slightly rumpled and bewildered.  But this time around, I am ready. 

 There are a lot of things I hope to do/experience/accomplish in the next year of life, and these are a few of them.

1. Expand the blog.  Not in a "make-me-famous" kind of way, or a "make-some-money" kind of way, although I wouldn't refuse either one....;)...but in a, "write more often about things that matter to me" kind of way.
2. Make more handmade Christmas gifts.  Ha.  We'll see about that one.
3. Grow a bigger garden.
4. Plan another first birthday party.
5. Another pregnancy.  O.k. just kidding, but I wish I could have seen your reactions to that one.
6. Read. More. Books.
7. Cook more light and healthy.
8. Potty train big sister.
9. Actually start using my sewing machine.
10. And last but not least, keep growing.  I know it sounds cliche, but really, that's all I want for this next year of life.  (If God gives me another year of life)  Grow as a woman, wife, mother, daughter of God.  Just keep growing.

   Sorry no pictures, but I really better just post this thing before another few days go by.  Thanks to all of you dear, dear people who actually stop by and read this little blog.  I am always a little dumbfounded when someone stops me out of the blue and says that they read it.  Really and truly, that is why I do this thing.  Yes, it is a "journal" of sorts, and a way to collect memories of our family's life, but mainly, I do it for people.  To whomever it may touch, encourage or inspire in any way, that is really what it is all about. 

   And thanks too, for making last month the biggest month yet!  And not just by a little bit, either.  I still can't figure out why.....but thanks!!