June has been a whirlwind of a month. I feel this way mostly due to directing VBS at my church. Quite the endeavor, I have a new found respect for those who have been directing VBS for years. That is besides the point though, June has flown by along with Ainsley's 9 month mark, Josh's first fathers day and last but not least my 30th birthday.
The day of my birthday I was thinking back over my life and to be honest Satan was getting the best of me. I felt unaccomplished, worthless, small and that my life had left no "real" impact. However, God had other plans for me that day. I eventually was reminded that I am a child of God and the lies I was hearing all that morning began to fade away.
Josh was up to something the day of my birthday. I knew he had some type of party planned, due to him spilling the beans. However, all I knew other than that was that I needed to be out of the house and then to my parents house by 4pm. So Ainsley and I ventured out to attend a retirement party of my former boss at Bethany. It was a joy to see all my old co-workers at Bethany, catching up and seeing the progress Bethany is making. I was reminded that Bethany was an amazing ministry that I had the privilege of being apart of for the past 7 years of my life. I had the opportunity to minister to hundreds of women who were contemplating aborting their children and others being desperate to find an adoptive family for their precious ones. God in his mercy and grace allowed "little" me to be a part of helping women and children in that very vulnerable time of their life. However, I was also quickly reminded of the new ministry He had given me to care for and Shepard my own child. My beautiful baby girl Ainsley what a blessing to be able to stay home with her. I told you the lies quickly started to fade away.
So after the retirement party I headed home to rest briefly before heading to my parents house. Josh was home and said he wanted to go with me so he could see my face, whatever that meant at that time I did not know. However, once we got to my parents I knew very much so what it meant. Upon arriving at my parents house it was full of family and friends, friends traveled from North Carolina and Ohio to be at my "little" me, my birthday party. Yet again I was reminded of how many people God has blessed me with in my life. People who love and care for me, people who I meant enough to for them to take a day out of their life or for them to travel so far to make my 30th birthday special.
Then lastly, I was reminded of one of the biggest blessings in my life. Josh! Josh had gone way beyond himself with planning this party. My husband is the spur of the moment, let it be guy. However, he had been planning this party since January 2011 and it showed. Every detail was perfect, from the decorations, my gluten free pizza, my mint chocolate chip ice cream cake, the guest list all the way to my amazing gift of one on one photography lessons!!! It was an amazing day, I was humbled by the thoughtfulness and generosity everyone showed to me. As I looked over the party attenders I could not look at one person without seeing how God had placed them in my life at the perfect time. For those who couldn't make it you were missed. Needless to say by days end the lies had completely faded and 30 is so far, so good!
Note: My parents gave me a pinata at the party and it was one of my favorite parts. I so enjoyed seeing my friends and family enjoy the party and the pinata made it to where their kids enjoyed the party too! It was a big HIT with the kids!
