Embracing 30 and the Birthday Surprise (almost a month later!)

(after much late night laboring I am still unable to get this video to post correctly but if you want to see the full picture just click on the video twice...I can't try to figure it out anymore...my technological skills are very limited!)

Well, it is official. I am 30 years old. Last year when I turned 29 I started thinking about being 30 and I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about it...but now that it is here I have totally embraced this new decade in my life. I love my life and my sweet family. When I look back on my life before Matt and the children I just remember dreaming about getting married and having a family and I have been living out that dream for 8 adventurous years now! Life seems so full of meaning and purpose...and for the first time I feel like I am starting to be exactly who I want to be. I am no longer worried about living up to other people's standards and expectations. I am no longer offended by what others might say or think about our home birthing, home schooling, home churching life style. My heart and my vision is focused on this calling that God has placed within me of being the best wife I can be for Matt and raising these magnificent boys that we have been blessed us with.
All that being said, I must now sing praises to my amazing husband. He was so sneaky and really pulled of a big surprise for my birthday. I started to become suspicious when he insisted on cleaning the kitchen on a Friday night and he told me I was going to have a special guest come and visit me for my birthday. Well, around lunch time on Saturday my parents rolled into the driveway and I was really surprised. I wasn't expecting to see them because they visited the previous weekend for Elijah's birthday. They said they were going to take us out to this awesome restaurant that evening and I thought "ok-this is the surprise". So I actually had a nice dress on at this point because I didn't know who the special guest was going to be, but when I found out it was my parents I decided to put my PJ's back on and I was getting ready to ask Matt if I could take a little nap when all of a sudden the Mosher family walks into the house! This is one of our favorite families ever and were great friends of ours from when we lived in Boone. We hadn't seen them in well over a year and here I stand in my pajamas! So I was totally embarrassed and I ran back to our bedroom and slipped back into my dress just in time before all the other people started rolling in. My in-laws came with a bounty of food and my father-in-law made his famous smoked brisket...my friend Jenny showed up with her family from VA and she made my birthday cake (which, by the way, is the world's best pound cake ever). My brother from Raleigh came with the beautiful Marianne and all the other family members arrived with food and flowers and it ended up being the very best day ever! To top it all off Matt brought his projector home from school and hung a sheet on the wall to display a fabulous slide show (which is what you see above) that he created (along with his very talented brother Dan). The most unique part about the slide show is that he asked our friends and family members to share some thoughts and words about me and he took bits and pieces of what everyone said and put it in the slideshow. It is amazing how words can be so uplifting and encouraging. I don't think I have ever felt as special as I did that day! Matt Mosher said that my Matt earned the "husband of the year" award and he was right! He is a fantastic Mr. Fox.
So I want to say a big thank you to all of our friends and family who helped me welcome 30...it's looking pretty good so far.