Happy Birthday to Me!!

My poor poor poor neglected blog. I think it's almost time to put this baby to rest. I just haven't had the time or desire to blog. I look at some of my friends' blogs and they blog almost everyday. I just don't do that. I don't have anything to blog about every single day. My life is boring and so I just don't feel the want to blog. So don't be surprised if this turns out to be my last blog. We will see. Who knows? Maybe I'll get a second (or in this case, a 10th) wind and start blogging on a more consistent basis.

July was a busy month for me. We had our FWB National Convention last week and it wore me out. I think it's because I spend every minute at work in the weeks leading up to the convention getting ready for it. Then when you are at the National you are constantly moving...walking to somewhere. You are up early for competition and meetings and you are out late every night because of the nightly services. After the nightly services everyone goes out to eat at nearby restaurants. This year's National was special to me because all of my best friends were there this year. It rarely happens that we all together and this is the first time that we all were together in 2 years. Here is a picture of us all that we took the last morning together. We were all getting ready to head home.

The only ones missing were our friends, Jonathan and Maranda Lieupo. They weren't able to make it this year but we all still managed to have a great time. The guys, of course, made sure they made time for Rook. That was a staple when we all still lived near each other. We all sat together in services and then went out to eat together every night after the service. It was like nothing had changed with us. It was funny because as we were all walking down the street together to get some dinner and one of the guys mentioned how natural it felt for us to be going out to eat. Nothings changed with all of us and you couldn't tell that most of us hadn't seen each other in several years. That's when you know you have a true friendship. I feel so blessed to have such Godly friends and family. I don't know why God decided to bless me with them in my life but I'm so glad that He did. My life would be so lonely without them all.

Every Wednesday night at the National is always the Missions service. They have our International and Home Missions walk down the aisles of the auditorium and walk up on the stage. I love this part always. I guess part of the reason is I used to be apart of that when my parents were missionaries. But since I work for Home Missions now and I know all our missionaries it does something to my heart. When the missionaries started walking down the aisles to get to the stage everyone started clapping and giving them a standing ovation. It was so awesome to see them being honored by our denomination like that. I have a special place in my heart for missions and I was so overwhelmed that I started crying. My sister in law leaned over to me and said, "It's not always about the money. That's why we stay and do what we do." I knew exactly what she was talking about. I've been so discouraged lately with not having enough money to live on and I've contemplated leaving for a higher paying job for the past year. Someone had asked me why I stay at a job that doesn't pay much and I never could put it into words why I would stay. But after that night and after the statement Jenny made. I knew. It's a ministry. Yes, it's a job but it's more than that. It's a ministry. I have a hand in helping this missionaries win souls for Christ. I love our missionaries more than anything and my heart swelled with pride watching them up on that stage making a pledge before God and our denomination that they will fight the good fight and win more souls for Christ. I hope some day that I go into Home Missions again planting a church. If not, I'll keep doing what I'm doing and supporting our hard working missionaries every day here at my job.

The day we were leaving I went with my brother, his family, and youth group to Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. We spent most of our time at the kiddie rides but we had a blast. My brother, his wife, and myself have realized how old we are getting because we only rode one adult ride. The rest of the time we spent riding the kiddie rides with my niece and nephew. It was so wonderful though. My niece and nephews are such daredevils. They will ride anything and they had a blast. I got to ride a couple rides with my 17 month old nephew and he loved them. He would laugh and throw his hands in the air. It was so cute. We were all so exhausted though. After spending a week at the National followed by a day at an amusement park, I'm tired. It's taken several days to recuperate from it.

But! Today's my birthday. I turned the big 3-2 today. It's seems so unreal to be 32. I used to think that was so old, but I don't anymore. I still feel like I'm 12 sometimes. It was so great to get a phone call this morning from my brother and his family and they were all singing happy birthday to me. It was so sweet to hear my 3 year old niece sing that to me. I can't wait to hug and kiss her sweet face next week. I don't know exactly what I'm doing for my birthday today. I'm sure it will be low-key. Tomorrow my office is taking me out and I have no idea where we are going. I have to decide and I'm not good at deciding these things. Then I'm so excited that I'm going out to dinner Friday night with a friend and then to a movie. I finally get to eat Mexican! I haven't had Mexican in forever and so I know that's what I'm eating Friday night.

I still haven't received any presents so my fingers are still crossed for an American Bulldog puppy. I'm not holding my breath but there's always a chance. I'll let you know. :)