My New Decade

In the past year leading up to this day that I officially turn 40 and start a new decade, I've thought a lot about life and passing of time and how like Solomon says in Ecclesiastes life is like a vapor in the wind. It passes quickly and then is gone and whatever legacy one leaves here is only felt for a short period of time. So I've developed this bittersweet relationship with Time. Bitter in the sense that it is short and passes quickly bringing lots of changes. Sweet because I can enjoy every moment of it. I will live gratefully and joyfully while I watch my children grow and flourish. I will cherish this miracle of marriage that I have with Jeremy as we grew up and grow old together. I will love my family of parents, parents in law, grandparents, brother, sisters, brothers in law, sisters in law, nieces and nephews. I will cherish friendships near and far, old and new. And I will keep growing and learning and pursuing God so that I am the person He created me to be.

(Now the fun stuff!)
On the 4th, Mom, my sisters, my girls and a friend took me out for breakfast to celebrate my birthday. We had a lovely breakfast together chatting and me drinking chai to be conversational in the morning.

After we finished eating Janell and Mom began clearing off the table before they gave me the gift bags sitting behind me. I thought it was pretty dramatic to need so much space cleared and I made a comment to that effect. And then they handed me this bag:

Which lead to 40 little things being laid out on the table in numerical order.

The inspiration for this was my blog and I do love "little things." I chose the name for this blog back in 2008 completely out of thin air and now, 11 years later, the saying "Enjoy the Little Things" can be found quite frequently.

So each of them (Mom and Aliza, Janell, Meghan, Laura) bought 10 gifts and wrapped them without consulting with each other. There was only one duplicate and it was a bracelet from Mercy House. On the card it says "Fabulous Forty. Happy Birthday, World Changer. I'm going to wear that bracelet regularly for a while as a reminder that Forty is fabulous.

Aliza helped Mom chose things for me. She so loved being a part of the surprise. Anna was planning to go fishing with the boys, but wasn't feeling well and so ended up having to come with me and Aliza. She was glad that she came. Her eyes were sparkling and it was her job to hand me the gifts. This is what 40 little things looks like unwrapped.

The 6th:
Last night I had 3 children awake during the 4:00 hour. I was awake for a good long while and was glad that I could sleep in this morning. Jeremy made breakfast and we all just did things we enjoy doing at home. This evening we went to Panera for supper. Anna and Isaiah were sitting across from each other and were the goofiest, squirmiest pair you've ever seen. Isaiah was out of his seat every other second, on the floor, under the table. It was ridiculous. Between the night and supper I had a good chuckle--not much has changed between 30 and 40!

We spent some time browsing in Barnes and Noble after supper which actually showed how much HAS changed between 30 and 40! Superman was with us. Superman was with us at Panera too.

It's been a good day.
(And now it's thundering so the day probably isn't over quite yet!)