Another Candle on the Cake

My 33rd birthday was Tuesday. Another candle on the cake...well, the cupcakes that I made for my class. Why is it that birthdays seem to come so much quicker than they used to? Remember the days when you'd think your birthday was "getting close", but in reality, your mother reminded you that it was 3 months away? These days, just when I think that it is three months away, I turn around and it's the big day!

I'm always a bit nostalgic and dreamy around my birthday. The page turns on an old year and opens on a new one. Lots to ponder from the past, lots be grateful for, and some to be glad to bid farewell to. So many hopes and new possibilities for the year ahead.

My 32nd year was the hardest and best year of my life. If you'd told me a year ago that before I had another candle on my cake that we'd have gone through a year like we did, I would have never blown out the candles. The challenges were great and heart wrenching, but God met us in ways that we'd never know had the year been light and easy. Our souls have grown, and for that I am grateful, and more trusting.

And now I stand on the threshold of a new year...one that holds lots of hope and promise. I am twelve weeks pregnant with another baby, who is due on Easter weekend in 09! We are thrilled and are starting to feel like it's "real", now that we've viewed our little one, heard the heartbeat and my waistline is slowly disappearing. With the excitement there is hesitation, as pregnancy for me is no longer "innocent", as it is for some. I know that there are no guarantees, no promises of perfection, and that each day is a gift. I battle fears and worries but in the same moment, stop in my tracks and am so thankful to God for His love and blessings of Baby Sprout (who is apparently growing well, as I am still in the throes of nausea and fatigue, which let me tell you, has made the beginning of the school year LOTSA fun.) Now you know why I've been so scarce on the blog scene.

Before another candle is on the cake, a 34th one, I am sure that many joys and challenges will come my way. I know though, that the God who has brought me through this year, will certainly hold fast to me through another, and I can rest and look forward in that hope.