The Big Four-Oh!

Last week included a milestone day for me.

It started out with a bang when I stepped out of bed,
tripped over a gift placed there to be the first thing I saw on my special day,
landed solidly on my belly with an OOOOF!,
banged my chin hard on the ground,
and knocked over 3 vases in the process!

Celebrating 40 with my own special flair!

Hey, at least I'm used to spectacular face-plants and as a bonus, it wasn't in public.

Otherwise, it was an absolutely splendid day! I had breakfast at the beach. Favorite. Spent the day at the spaaaaaaaaahhhh. Massage, facial, steam room, slices of cucumber on my eyes, the whole enchilada. Favorite. Delicious dinner at a fancy-schmancy place. Favorite. And, a bunch of my girlfriends stole me away, made me wear a sparkly tiara and we enjoyed a lovely harbor cruise and dinner. Super favorite!

Seriously, ladies, where would we be without our girlfriends? I think I'd have quit a long time ago without mine! My girls encourage and exhort me. They make me laugh, oftentimes at myself. They know my life, joys, struggles, strengths and weaknesses. They know me, see me, and still love me! They tell me when I'm off-base or flat out wrong, when I need to grow up, when I must turn my heinie around and apologize, and help me to forgive myself when I blow it. They wrap their arms through mine, cheerlead, and help me get through the hard stuff of life. And, they let me be and do that for them as well. Shoot, I love my girls!



In between laughs, they asked what I wanted this next year. What is God doing? How is my heart? Good questions.

This next year, I want to go to Ethiopia (hopefully in June) and serve. I want to finish writing a book I've been working on for a while. I want to sing more. I want to build more friendships with women, to be an encourager of my sisters in Christ. I want to be a better woman, wife, and friend. I want to be changed by God, to learn where I'm blind, to see my sins and weaknesses, and to give them to Him who has the power to transform. I want to seek out those I've wounded and repent of my wrongdoing. I don't want to reach Heaven having not made amends with those I've sinned against. I want to learn to trust God with every facet of life, to be more in love with Jesus, and to live in constant communion with Him. I want more of Jesus.

This is the verse for this year, maybe this decade:

"The LORD your God is with you,
He is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing."

Zephaniah 3:17

How rad is that?



The biggest gifts of my life:

Muffin


Meatball


Pookie


Sweetpea


Cupcake

Ok, so here I go... Into a new decade...



Here's what I think. Life is rich with blessings. Friends are such a gift. God is so very, spectacularly, beyond-my-wildest-imagination good. He has been with me every single step of the way through the big, big highs, and the stinky, rotten lows. He delights in me. Sings over me. Rejoices over me as His beloved. And laughs with me when I trip and fall flat on my face with an OOOOOF! So, come what may...



Bring it on!

A Slammin' Saturday Night

Last Saturday night, Sweetpea got a doozie owie.

Long story short, her right middle finger got slammed in a glass door which...



acted like a guillotine leaving her with a compound fracture between the last knuckle and the nail. We learned later was very nearly an amputation!

Zonked out waiting for x-ray results
with her Nana Blankie and her two teddybears

Poor little sweetie! I'm not going to share all the disgustivo pictures that Haus took of her finger all bloody and sticking out at a horribly unnatural angle because EEWWWWWW! (It's a Man Thing.) But, here's the sad x-ray.



As usual, Sweetpea was incredibly charming and hysterical at the ER, cracking up the nurses and the doctor. The surgery was brutal, though. I'm still beating myself up about not listening to the Holy Spirit when I knew He told me to choose sedation. Holding her through it was punishment to last a lifetime.

Right at the worst part, when the surgeon was stitching through her fingernail causing pressure against the severed bone (which the local anaesthetic didn't numb) and intense pain, she shouted at him,

"FIRST of all, that HURTS me!
And, SECOND of all...

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

Oh, my little love cannot help being funny, even in the worst pain of her life!

"I want you to STOP that immediately!
And, I want to go HOME
ABSOLUTELY immediately!"

It was "super no fun", but she did beautifully. Her finger is thankfully intact, although looking remarkly Frankensteiny. Prayerfully, her fingernail was not damaged too severely and will grow back.

Very excited about her cool bandage.

(Funny for the Naughty Files:
In the morning, she was so excited to show off to her baby sister.

"Cupcake! Look! This is my owie!
The doctor did a surgery
and it really dammit hurt!")