March has a tendency to speed right along, almost as if it’s anticipating spring as much as the rest of us are. It’s been a super fun-filled month so far. Exactly three weeks until race day, the trail has seen a lot of my old sneakers. Between miles there has been much chocolate, a medieval feast with friends (we are studying that period of history together), an Ikea trip with my sister and nieces, furniture painting, cute kids, field trips and birthday celebrations with friends. There is much between the lines, many memories and blessings. Lots of words are flying about in my brain, unsettled as of yet; waiting for the unseen breeze to stop their spinning. 
But right now, today, thirty-four is shaping up to be fabulous.
surprise; birthdays
Where Is The Happy?
Yesterday, as we celebrated Elsie’s 5th birthday, it marked the end of my birthday week. I actually thought her birthday was today. As she went to bed on Sunday night she told me in her sweet little voice, I’m not going to be grumpy anymore! When I asked why, she told me, Because the day after tomorrow is my birthday! I was pretty tired and took her word for it. Not until I woke up yesterday and saw some special birthday emails for her, did I realize that yes, indeed, it was her birthday. Please tell me something like that has happened to another mom out there. So, I scrounged in my secret trunk trying to find and hang up the Happy Birthday banner I made for such occasions. All I came up with was BIRTHDAY. Where is the HAPPY?! I kept asking myself. Before I go into more of her surprise (for me) birthday, let me back up a week and divulge all the fun that was had the past week.
It all started on my birthday, when the three older kids came with Matthew & I on a road trip to NJ. We drove 3 hours there and 3 hours back, with about 45 mins in NJ total. It was work-related, so nothing too exciting. The highlight was hitting the beach for fifteen minutes.
I had some wonderful friends over that night for tea and snacks and a whole lot of fun. The next day I was served breakfast in bed by my oldest. She loves to do this. The rest of the week was full of dentist appointments, Betty learning to put the car windows down with her bare little toes streeetching across her carseat, sweet sleeping children, lincoln log creations, school, tea, and much more.
Then came Friday. After dropping off the kids, Matthew and I spent the weekend away. What a wonderful time. Becoming disconnected happens so quickly! As it should be, we have both changed and grown, and sometimes we miss that happening and we look at the other as if they are a stranger we should know, but don’t. It was a treat and a blessing to have this time.
From the beautiful inns where we stayed, to the memories made, it was a weekend to remember!
The week was completed with an impromptu meeting with dear, old friends.
There’s the Happy.
Good-Bye Twenties
My palms were sweaty when we drove up to my sister’s house on Saturday. For weeks now, I have been sneaking around behind Matthew’s back. Since I’ve only ever known him as a teenager or a boy in his twenties, his thirtieth birthday was a big deal. I jotted all of my notes down in Jack’s notebook, drove here and there picking things up and dropping them off. One day we had a “craft day” at Heather’s house to make these beautiful creations:
They weren’t exactly the highlight of the party decor, like in my minds’ eye, but the tree they hung on looked festive anyway. The entire day wouldn’t have been so fabulous without my family. Everyone was amazing. Matthew eventually stopped asking me questions about our “surprise date”, and later he confessed that he did have suspicions. But nothing dampened the mood of that day, and it was delightful to see friends and family and hang out together.
There was much swinging and baseball to be had by all.
We have arrived in the thirties with much celebration and gratefulness. I love my husband so very much. A lot of things have happened since I filled up his attic bedroom with balloons on his 17th birthday. We’ve been up and down and all around, yet I can confidently say that I love him more today than I ever have. It’s an exciting thought to anticipate loving someone more each day. It’s exhausting sometimes to work at marriage and keep it growing. We’ve been doing a lot of gardening lately. Just tonight, in one of our egg carton starters, all of Matt’s little seedlings got knocked over and spilled. We could give up when things like that happen. Or we can pick up the dirt, mend the broken pieces, water, love, and nurture those seeds and expect to see growth. Maybe those beans will be that much more able to withstand a violent storm, because of the test they’ve been through tonight. Every hard time in life, in marriage, in parenting, is growing us into stronger men, women, husbands, wives, fathers and mothers.
Every day I’m reminded of how beautiful life is. It’s not always exactly how we wish it would be, and oftentimes it’s much harder than we’d like, but it is always, always beautiful.
A Beautiful Birthday
Today was my birthday, and it was truly a special day. All week, the moment I sink into the driver’s seat before going somewhere, the kids have broken out into a hearty rendition of “Happy Birthday”. I’ve felt the excitement growing. I love birthdays. Then this morning it arrived! I woke up and was served a delicious waffle and hot tea by my husband. He took the entire day off work just so I could have some time alone. He shooed me out of the house and I perused thrift stores and had lunch at my favorite cafe with a good book to keep me company. I perused more thrift stores and didn’t feel the rush of people needing me. The press to answer questions and solve problems was lifted for a few glorious hours. Notes, messages, a few cards and lots of love was poured out today. Matthew took the kids out on a mystery trip and came home with something I’ve always wanted but would never buy for myself: a glass tea-pot and flowering tea. Nadine mopped the floors for me. Then, I invited some girl friends over for some much-needed hang-out time. When my sister arrived, she said she brought one more thing with her. Thinking she forgot something in the car, I just about fainted when my other New York State-dwelling sister popped out from around the corner! What a delight to see her face and laugh our guts out all together. I’m so bummed I never asked my fabulous photographer friend to take a picture of us sisters together. But, here is a snapshot of my day in part:
Chocolate,flowers, tea, sisters, friends, messages, more tea, surprise packages, drawings, and many renditions of “Happy Birthday” have made today so incredibly delicious.
>Exciting Surprises!
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Two days ago I turned 30. Matthew stayed home from work in the morning and made me breakfast and bought me roses. Then he left for work and I pretty much just cried. I might as well be honest here: I was a bit upset about this momentous day happening without too much fuss. What a selfish little girl I am! Little did I know, that Matthew’s seemingly “distant” feel was really to hide any emotions from peeking through about his excitement for what lay ahead!
The rest of the day passed, the most exciting thing being that I ran 4 miles! That afternoon I received a phone call from someone at Lancaster Women & Babies hospital (so I thought) telling me that my birth class this weekend was going to be postponed. I was scheduled to take this last class to finish my doula certification. It struck me as odd that the teacher of the class didn’t call me directly, but just as quickly it left my mind. I found out today that Matt had one of his old co-workers from Starbucks call me from her cell phone, because it has a Lancaster area code, and pretend to be someone from the hospital. He had to have me free for the things he had planned! Then he had his mom call the hospital to let them know I wouldn’t be coming. So funny.
So, Saturday morning dawned gorgeous and bright. Matthew got in early that morning from a lock-in at church. After he woke up, he was pretty laid back and chill as I “made plans” to go into Philly with Rebecca. He had her write me an email the night before to suggest the idea, but then it seemed like I planned it, so didn’t think anything weird about the fact that we were going into the city. After all, my class was cancelled and it was a gorgeous day! We arrived at Rebecca’s apartment and about five minutes later were swiftly ushered OUT of the building with a packet of clues and a sheet of instructions for “Amy’s Amazing Race”. Matthew looked at me and said, “Surprise!” =) I laughed. So, for the next two hours or so we raced all around the city from Ikea, to Reading Terminal Market, to the Ben Franklin Bridge. We found someone who spoke Swahili, took pictures of red dishes, daisies, and a boyscout. I bought a mango, and we ran across the Bridge to Camden NJ and back! That clue told us not to cheat, because they would be watching us! Sure enough, a couple minutes into the run we heard cute little voices waaay below us and we saw our kids with Grandma Weldon, Heidi, Jacob, Rebecca and Hannah all waving madly and cheering us on. So fun! We found someone who ran the Broad Street Run in Philly and got an extra point. The entire day was exhausting and fun. We ended the night by looking at all the pictures and reliving funny moments… like when Matthew drove THROUGH Liberty Park (along the side, but still through it) to cut off 15 minutes of traffic before we got to the Bridge.
THEN, today after church we were taking SO long to leave and I was getting tired and hungry. Then, we locked our keys in the van. So, Matt caught a ride with someone from church, but I thought he was AWFULLY cheerful about it, as I sat in the parking lot with all four kids, getting a little bit grumpier by the minute. I wondered how he would get INTO our house, since it was (I thought) locked, and after all, the keys were what he needed. When he got back and I asked him if he managed to get in the house he answered, “Yep!” so authoritatively that I didn’t even think to ask him how! He was glad he didn’t have to lie, because the truth was, the door was open and there were about 30 people in our house waiting for us! =) So, then he drove the OPPOSITE way to Walmart, where at this point, I swallowed my grumbling words and pulled out my Sodoku puzzle and kept quiet. He told me there was something he wanted to buy me for lunch at Walmart. I thought that odd, since we don’t usually buy lunch at Walmart on Sunday or any day for that matter. I kept quiet though because I was afraid of what nasty things I might say in my low-blood-sugar-level-state. He was stalling for time and I had no clue.
We made it home, where I lingered in the van to finish a really good run I was on in the Sodoku. He called to see if I was coming and so I got out of the van and entered the house where I was bombarded with, “Surprise!” It was very very very unexpected. I shamefully looked at Matthew and repented of all my bad attitudes. It was a delightful day, full of friends old and new.
It’s been a monumental week! Before all of this, Wednesday was Matthew’s last day working at Starbucks. We are looking forward to adjusting to having him back for supper and having more family time. We both signed up for the Broad Street Run in Philly in May. The kids had a full five day week of school, with no snow days, and survived! Jack continues to prepare for his possible future of being a stunt double, by performing dangerous and daring feats throughout the day. Elsie is becoming proficient at changing outfits multiple times a day and putting many words together to express her thoughts and feelings. When words don’t work, she resorts to emotions, which almost never get the hoped for results. So, we continue to work on “our words”… including Mommy!
It’s so exciting to be surprised. I’m thrilled to watch and see how God surprises us this year!
Grow Old With Me 