..."3 dozen..."

Today is the date of my birth... I am 3 dozen years "young"...

I love birthdays! I always have.... as a kid my birthday usually marked the nearing of the end of school. Many years it was the last day of school.  As a college student, I graduated on my 22nd birthday. What a fun celebration that was.... my mom & dad gave me a card with 100 $1 dollar bills in it... I still remember chuckling at that... my dad took us all out to a nice lunch after the graduation ceremony, he bought champagne and we toasted the end of my days as a student, the beginning of adulthood, and me becoming another year wiser (or maybe smart-y-er) ....

My Kansas teaching license is then renewed every 5 years on the date of my birth....

As a teacher I loved making a big deal of my birthday... some years baking cupcakes in ice cream cones, something my Mom did for my birthday treats back when I was a pre-schooler at the Lollipop House... some years bringing in my favorite candy for 'brain food'.

One year my track team ran at the Regional meet on my birthday... qualifying for the State meet.... what an awesome birthday gift...

3 dozen years is monumental for me.... I have gone through the refiners fire this past 14 months or so.... I have come out stronger than I have been over the past decade...

When I turned 30, six years ago, we had been in Indiana for almost a year... I was really struggling with all of it, the move, being a stay at home mom, having a second new baby... it was my first birthday 'at home' without students or colleagues to pamper me.... I remember telling my husband that I wanted a white cake with white frosting & lots of flowers.... that day when he came home for lunch, he had my cake in hand.... my then 3 year-old son posed for pictures with the cake... blowing out the candles for me...

Living far away from our immediate family means we celebrate birthdays with just the four of us.... the birthday boy (or me on May17) gets to choose the dinner menu... our kids generally get to pick a favorite restaurant to each at... Red Robin is usually the top pick... with mac & cheese, chicken fingers and bottomless Shirley Temples....

My favorite is fried chicken... my Grandma Lenore used to make the best fried chicken... it was a town favorite at the annual Memorial Day pot luck.... I have visions from my young childhood of her dressing a chicken from the farm yard....
Next to my fried chicken I would request a pile of my mother's mashed potatoes with her white chicken gravy.... my husband even says it is the best gravy he has laid eyes on....

This year I am running in my second EVER 5K race.  I ran my first 5K when my oldest son was a baby... our church hosted a race for an African orphanage...

This race is for Autism, a disorder that was diagnosed in prevalence by the time I exited the classroom seven years ago...


Malachi 3:2 (The Message)   2-4"But who will be able to stand up to that coming? Who can survive his appearance?
   He'll be like white-hot fire from the refiners furnace. He'll be like the strongest lye soap at the laundry. He'll take his place as a refiner of silver, as a cleanser of dirty clothes. He'll scrub the Levite priests clean, refine them like gold and silver, until they're fit for God, fit to present offerings of righteousness. Then, and only then, will Judah and Jerusalem be fit and pleasing to God, as they used to be in the years long ago."


The Lord has used the past decade, or so, to refine me.... He has placed www.vantagepoint3.org in my path.... showing me the 'tale' of my life.... what he was trying to do in and through it .... He has made me face some difficult demons... and when I reached out to Him... when I completely submitted and gave my whole self to him, He reached down to me and pulled me out of the pit I had fallen into....

For all things are possible with Jesus... He strengthens the weak... He equips the called.... He loves completely...

I want to celebrate my birthday, 3 dozen years on this earth, by doing something for someone else.... by not being as 'selfish' as I have been on past birthdays....
By running in honor of all the kiddos I taught who are individuals with autism... by doing something that shows I am stronger.... that I have been through the refiners fire, and have come out on the other side... all the better....for the Lord created me, exactly the way I am ... a grateful believer with her own bag full of hang ups..... but if I get my strength from the Lord, the next 3 dozen will be a piece of cake! .... right?