turning 39.

Hello there, friends! This past weekend, I entered the final year of my 30’s. Want to know how we celebrated?  Great! I’ll tell you.

First of all, David gave me the best gift imaginable: 24 hours all to myself in our house. He and our friend, Bryan, took the kids to Bryan’s family’s farm outside Charleston to fish, run around with dogs, feed the cows, and do some target practice. They had a blast (pictures forthcoming).

And I had a blast too!

I scrubbed the fronts of all my kitchen cabinets, oven, and fridge. Why, you ask? Because it’s one of those deep-cleaning projects I can never seem to get to during my normal life with a houseful of people. And looking at those spattered cabinet doors for months stressed me out. I had cleaned the inside of the fridge the weekend before. A clean kitchen was the birthday gift I gave myself. I didn’t even listen to music or a podcast while I cleaned. The silence felt so amazing!

I also read a lot, of course, and wrote in my journal. And my parents brought me Mediterranean food for dinner and birthday gifts, and we ate and visited.

Then, on Saturday afternoon, some friends from church threw me a birthday party! My first in years. It was relaxing and encouraging, the perfect way to launch a new year of my life. God has surrounded me with godly, honest, and fun friends. I didn’t choose them — He chose them for me, He brought these ladies and their families into our church. They make my life immeasurably rich.

On Sunday morning (my actual birthday), David and the kids gave me presents and scones from Drip coffee shop. And after church, I got to spend more time with friends at a wedding shower for one of our staff wives.

I took a nap on that cold, rainy Sunday afternoon, and then we headed to Steve and Linda’s house for birthday burgers, Merlot, and a carrot cake made by Amie. She has become quite the baker of cakes this past year. While she’s experimented a good bit, her specialties are dark chocolate with peanut butter frosting, dark chocolate with vanilla buttercream frosting, carrot cake, and a chocolate chip bundt cake.

I got some fun gifts, including lots of books or gift cards to buy books. I thought I’d show you, since I always want to know what people are reading or buying.

Here’s the stack! One more is coming, Kristin Hannah’s newest novel, The Four Winds. Yesterday, I finished the first book, Evidence Not Seen, a biography that you should buy immediately. It’s incredibly powerful.

It was a perfect birthday weekend. I felt so loved and I’m excited to see what 39 brings.

This post was made possible by Linda, who said, “I’m coming over Thursday morning to do school with the kids so you can go write.”