Birthday Eve

Tomorrow is my birthday. My 30th birthday. And I'm not that bothered by it. I've always wondered why people fret over their birthdays, or why people won't share their age. You can't keep yourself from aging. You certainly can't avoid the day altogether! Why avoid a day solely dedicated to celebrating a life?













My parents always did an AWESOME job celebrating my birthdays. I remember my 6th birthday, the year I got a bike. My mom made my birthday outfit. And I mean it when I said I ROCKED the early 90's fashion trends. We also did the hot/cold scavenger hunt (you know the drill... the gift giver says "you're getting warmer" when you near the hidden gift.) But the gift was a bike so when my dad wheeled it into the kitchen and my mom screamed "You're hot! You're really hot!" I jumped up and down and squealed. And of course I immediately took my new ride for a spin. Notice the curly ribbons on the handlebars? Oh yeah, baby.

When I turned 10  I got tickets to my very first concert- Paula Abdul. (I already told you I was a child of the 90's, don't judge.) It was an awesome concert too. My mom crimped my hair. We went out to Chi Chi's for dinner beforehand. We had lawn seats down at River Bend. I even got to take my best friend Katie Jostworth. Such a great night!

When I turned 18, we threw a formal dinner + dance for my friends. My parents made this really delicious dinner and we ate on my mom's good china. We strung white Christmas lights in the backyard and borrowed a portable dance floor from our church. My dad even put on a firework display at the end of the night. It was one of the best nights of my life.

29 birthday cards

Daniel's planning something great! 

This year, Daniel is planning something wonderful, I just know it. He's actually been celebrating my birthday all month. You see, tomorrow is my golden birthday. That's right, I'm turning 30 on the 30th. To commemorate Daniel's been giving me a card and/or a card + a small gift every single day this month. He's done an AWESOME job. He has only forgotten twice, which is impressive for a man who says gift giving and receiving is so low on his love language list that it doesn't even register.

So, I've decided my thirties are going to be the best decade yet. Bring on the stability, the maturity, the thrive-ability of a woman loving life and learning to center on Jesus. Hallelujah! Where's the birthday cake?!

Teenage Boys

Daniel, Isaiah, & I have spent the last 2 weeks at CIY Move. It's AWESOME. Let me just say that I'm really grateful CIY keeps calling back, asking Daniel to be the emcee, because the people at CIY are seriously on to something that WORKS. This current week, we have also had Daniel's 17 year old brother Tony joining us. Between Tony and watching all the boys here, let's just say I have had a peak into what lies ahead of us when Isaiah is a teenager. Here's what I have observed about teen boys.

• Using cologne is a perfectly acceptable alternative to showering.
• Mt. Dew is good any time of the day, even 7:30am.
• Hats, but especially sunglasses can be worn whenever, wherever. It's raining? Doesn't matter. We're inside a restaurant? Sunglasses still on. 9pm at night? Rockin' the shades.
• Girls who are perfect strangers will walk up and ask to have their picture taken with you. They will not always introduce themselves. They will not always engage you in any conversation, other than "Can I have my picture taken with you?!"
• Girls who are perfect strangers will walk up and ask to give you a free hug. I mean, come on. Who charges for hugs anyway? Ppfftt.
• Teens will do ANYTHING for junk food. or the chance to be on stage. or the chance to win a free t-shirt. [OK, I'd do anything for that stuff too.]
• Some songs are so popular, it's like the Pied Piper himself is backstage working the turntables. Those songs include anything remotely catchy and with a dance beat. The teens WILL get up and dance, especially if pandas* are involved (*Note: this may not actually be true outside of the CIY culture but it sure does work here.) 
• Above mentioned music + one really convincing kid and the teens will start a conga line that snakes around the room until we're surrounded by that pungent teen boy smell. Yeah, there's no escaping that. Sure, go ahead and go out into the lobby for a breath of fresh air. That smell will be hanging thick and heavy in the air the moment you step back into the auditorium.
• A surprising number of boys have noticed, played with, and/or commented on how cute Isaiah is. I mean, I know my kid is cute but when a 16 year old boy says so, it's gotta be true, RIGHT?!

Parenting wishes

I'm sitting quietly, listening to Isaiah wail his head off in the next room, calling out "mama, mama" and I'm doing nothing about it. He needs to be sleeping right now and the longer he cries, the more tired he gets. The more tired he gets, the longer he'll sleep. The longer the sleep, the better the nap. These are all good things, right? Babies need naps and based on the way he's been carrying on, my baby DEFINITELY needs a nap. But he's been crying for almost a half an hour, which is sort of a rarity for Isaiah. Don't get me wrong, he cries, just not for super long periods. I keep having to find distractions to keep myself from going in to 'rescue' him. So I'm blogging. You, dear reader, are my current distraction :)

I am learning that I find myself wishing for certain things as a parent...

1. The thing you wish your kid would grow out of.
 I LOVE having a baby around. I know that all babies must grow and if he wasn't growing then something might be wrong with him, but I also secretly hate how quickly he's growing up (I know, I know, every parents says this.) But I am SO ready for Isaiah to grow out of the napping stage. He goes down for a nap at 8am, 11am,  and 2pm. Do you know how hard it is to go to the grocery store knowing you only have a 2 hour window before it's time for another nap. My technique is to get myself ready, get the car loaded, get shoes on and the second that kid wakes up we are out the door. Stressful.

2. The thing you wish you knew about your kid.
I wish I could read Isaiah's mind. Has he had enough to eat? Let me tap into my gift of telepathy to ask. Why is he crying? Mind reading would keep me from nursing for comfort instead of hunger, changing a diaper that's not dirty, or forcing him to nap when he's not that tired. Did he actually poop or is it just gas? I'd never have to peek down the backside of his diaper again. If I continue to lay in bed when he cries at 6am, will he go back to sleep on his own? Nope, probably not.

3. The thing you never ever in a hundred years thought you do/say/experience.
(OK so it's not technically a wish. Just go with it.)
Examples: I never thought I'd be so excited to see a person poop. [This was following almost a week of no pooping for Isaiah.] I never thought I would say "Oh my gosh I think he ate a dust bunny." [EVERYTHING goes in Isaiah's mouth. Luckily (this time) I was fast enough that I fished the dust bunny out of his mouth before he swallowed.] Which leads to my 3rd example, sticking my fingers in someone else's mouth. I probably have my fingers in Isaiah's mouth twice a day. Seriously EVERYTHING goes in this kids mouth. Unless it's time to eat, when the things we place before him we encourage him to put in his mouth. Then he's not interested.

4. The thing you wish you could protect your kid from.
This is the serious one.  Someone told me once that having a child is like taking you heart and allowing to walk around outside of your body. I so get that. I hate when Isaiah experiences pain. Teething pains, growing pains, actual pains (like the time he fell off the bed. and the ottoman. and the couch.) I want to protect him from everything bad. I can spend the next 18+ years doing that, right? And still raise a high functioning, normal, responsible man? OK probably not. I don't WANT to spend the rest of my life worrying. I reject the mantle that all mothers worry. I just don't see that as being the best possible way to show God that all my faith is in Him. "Yes Lord, I do trust You. I'm just going to sit over and worry about every little thing that Isaiah might ever encounter in his entire life. But I'm still trusting You, Jesus!" Uh no.

So while some wishes are funny and some wishes are impractical, they're just wishes and not reality. You know what is a reality? Isaiah has been asleep for almost an hour now :) Thanks for the distraction!

An Imaginary Dialogue

Do you ever feel like the Lord is "dealing with you" over a certain subject or issue? I've been feeling God sort of prompting me to deal with some junk recently. It's small-ish junk (as though junk comes in sizes?) but small or large, junk is junk and I'd like it gone from my life. Actually,  I take that back. It's not small junk. It basically affects every area of my life. I guess I think it's small because it's not a major sin issue, it's a lack of spiritual fruit. But it's not small, not really.

Here's the dialogue in my head imagination when God prompts me like this (and I'm paying close enough attention to do something about it):

God: "Katie, you know self-control is a fruit of the spirit."
Katie doesn't recognize God is speaking to her.
God: "Proverbs says a man without self control is like a city that's been looted."
Katie hears God but ignores Him.
God: "My Spirit within you has the power to help you gain better self-control."
Katie: "This is uncomfortable. Learning self-control means I can't satisfy my flesh. It means I have to tell myself no. No to things I like saying yes to (ie. sleeping in instead of reading my Bible, checking Facebook instead of going for a run, eating ice cream at 10pm.)"
God: "I hear you but life is better with self control. It might not look this way right now but My grass seriously is greener. You know I wouldn't steer you wrong here."
Katie: "Nope. Don't like it. Not gonna do it. Besides, this isn't actually YOU God. This is just my crazy imagination."
God: "Do you want to be in exactly the same place with deeper ruts and even harder-to-break habits a year from now? 5 years from now? Or do you want things to be different?"
Katie: "Fine, I guess I can see some areas that I'd like to change. But I don't like it. What do I do first?"
God says nothing.
Katie: "God?"
God says nothing.

Does anyone else feel like this?! You have this great moment of communication with God. You feel yourself really truly "hearing" from Him. You make the decision to make a change. You ask God to help you get started and boom, suddenly Chatty Cathy up there is stone silent. Sigh. God sure does like for His kids to figure things out for themselves!

The Grand Opening!

This is it.
I'm going in.
I've made a decision and I'm sticking with it.
I've started a blog.

But why? With all the social media out there and all the stuff we see online everyday, who cares about ANOTHER blog?

Well... I guess I'm not really doing it for anyone else. Not really. I'm doing it because I sometimes have deep thoughts. and funny thoughts. and poignant thoughts. and TONS of random thoughts. And I need a place to jot that stuff down. I like to document life through pictures, creating a blog seems to be the next logical step. Plus it's easier to type than it it is to put pen to paper. (And with that thought another cursive letter dies...) Thus, a blog. So I'm pleased with this decision. I think writing more is going to make me smarter, more well-rounded, a better thinker. I like these things.

So for my first blog post, I'd like to leave you with this picture. because I can.