Happy Birthday to Me!

written by Dakotapam on February 23, 2012 in life as we know it with 10 comments

Today I enter the wild adventure known as my 40s.

I’m not ashamed to be turning 40. I don’t feel old. I have grey hairs, but I’ve earned every last one of them.

I remember being very excited to turn 30. At 30 I finally felt grown up. My 20s were so uncertain with college and Dakotapastor’s graduate studies and seminary years. It all felt so unsettled. Plus I was the relatively young mom of two little boys (and another on the way) and I felt that everyone just saw me as so young.

My 30s were different. On the day I turned 30 we were fairly settled into our first congregation, I was a month from delivering boy three and I felt mature. Grown. Like a real woman (whatever that is).

So here I am at 40. In the past 10 years I’ve given birth to four more children, moved to a new state, bought a house, Dakotapastor started a new congregation, and I a had brief stint as a work outside of the home mom. Oh, and I started this little blog. A big transition for me was moving from a young woman being mentored by older women, to the older woman mentoring younger women. I have to say, that has been my favorite role ever, and I look forward to watching these relationships grow.

In some ways, little has changed in the past 10 years. I am still the mother to young children. I’m still a pastor’s wife. I still drink a lot of coffee. But I have grown, and matured and I really enjoy the woman that I have become!

As for today, I’ve had a great day. Devotions with all of the kids before school, a playdate for the girls, a shopping trip to pick out new recliners for our living room, lunch a Qdoba, and I look forward to a dinner out tonight. A winner in any book!

I aso got a fun email surprise this week. I hinted at it Tuesday. I was visited by the Fairy Hobmother, whose aim is to spread joy throughout the blogosphere. I was gifted with a very generous Amazon.com gift code. Now, I have to decide what to buy. What would YOU get if you were me? And feel free to leave a message in the comments for the Fairy Hobmother, he/she is always watching and you never know when your wish may be granted!

And now, to go eat cake with the coolest gift ever, my family!