It's my birthday....

and as I get older this day is more and more special.

When I was younger I was so excited for my birthday.  It meant so many things - presents, friends and an awesome cake that my mom made!  I was so excited every year to be older.

As I started getting towards the end of high school my birthday was still special, but it came with some different feelings.  I was getting towards the "grown up" stage of life.  I had to decide what I was going to do with my life!  I had to be responsible now!  All throughout PRBI I loved my birthdays - it was time with friends and family and even though I was always a year older (funny how that works!) it never seemed to matter.  I graduated PRBI at 21 and turned 22 later that year.  That was when I really started to feel the "older" part of my birthdays.

I had always imagined that I would be married and starting a family by around that time.  So as the next couple years passed while I worked, built a house, moved out on my own and went back to school I really, really felt the year I lost.  Don't get me wrong, I still loved my birthday, but it just brought about the reminder that I still had dreams and desires that were still unfulfilled. 

Dan & I started dating a week before I turned 25 and while I couldn't guarantee at that point that I was going to marry Dan, I knew that my life was about to change.  My 25th birthday was a great day.  It was my first birthday with a boyfriend and while I knew that this might be a lasting relationship, I was at peace with where God had me and I was really able to enjoy my time - even though I had questions running through my head all day on that birthday!

As it turned out, my 25th birthday was my last birthday before I was married.  By the next year I had been married for almost 4 months and was almost 4 months pregnant with Maddison!  Since then my birthdays have had a different feel.  Even though I am getting older, it's almost a surreal type of older.  My husband makes me feel super special every year, my girls are the light of my life and having them in my life just makes my birthday that much better!

So today is my 29th birthday.  I woke up this morning, cuddled with my baby in front of our fire, kissed my husband before he left for work, spent some time with God, went grocery shopping, had a great lunch with my mom & sister and now am just relaxing while my girls nap.  Dan is working late tonight but that doesn't really matter.  I know I am loved and that's all that matters.

Does it still freak me out a bit that I am almost 30?  Sure.  I remember when 30 seemed like forever away and now it's next year and 30 still seems to be way more grown up then I feel I should be, but that's the way life goes I guess! 

So happy birthday to me!  As to how my prayer challenge is going, well it's been alright.  We went on holidays over the weekend so getting up early was not in the cards, and I came home sick so I spent a couple days recovering, but today I once again was woken up by the Lord at 6 and I spent some time praying.  I must say it really does make a difference during the day!