Dance Fever

Okay, so here's the low down on the party. It was FANTASTIC!

Here are my top 5 moments at my over-the-top, super-fun 35th (yikes!) birthday bash:

5. Walking in before everyone arrived to find that a few of my friends had already set out their beautiful desserts, gorgeous center pieces, and candles. It looked fabulous and made me feel so loved. And all of my anxiety about how the party would go immediately melted away.

4. Watching all of my friends walk in looking dapper or beautiful and excited for a night of fun and then learning to waltz and rumba together (Dancing with the Stars, here we come!).

3. Listening to my friend Andrea sing like the song bird that she is with a little band that she put together at the last minute. I felt like I stepped into a 1940's night club. Andrea was up on stage crooning the way God made her to as her husband accompanied on trumpet, it was beautiful. Here's a little sampling:

2. My brother and sister-in-law and Joel's brother and sister-in-law coming down for the big event made it even more special as we danced the night away together. I especially appreciated them sticking it out when some country songs came on and everyone else cleared the floor - apparently blood is thicker than water. And then when my all time favorite early 90's new wave music came on and we hummed along to I Melt with You, I was so thankful to have them out there with me bouncing up and down like a bunch of lunatics - as all late 80's/early 90's dancers were taught to do. I was laughing so hard I started crying.

1. Getting to dance with my hunka hunka burning love all night long. He's still the best looking man I ever laid eyes on and the fact that he was willing to throw me this party and dance the night away, even though he is not, shall we say, rhythmically inclined, meant everything to me.

After the party I sat up taking it all in for several hours. It was one of the most incredible nights of my life. I feel so blessed to have friends and family that would help to make it happen.
Thank you!

In conclusion, I'd like to quote Footloose and Ecclesiastes simultaneously, "There is a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance..." This was my time to dance, and it was awesome!


**This is me...joyful>>>>>
Thanks to Jayne (j.ro photography) for capturing some awesome images.

Mattering

You matter to God. You MATTER to God. YOU matter to God. You matter to GOD.

I can picture it in my head, the woman on stage at Willow Creek Community Church pantomiming the words, pointing at me, clutching her hands to her chest and then pointing up to the sky while the words "you matter to God" reverberated through the auditorium. It was the crux of Bill Hybels evangelistic message, and I thought I knew it already.

Anyone who believes in the creator God knows that we matter, why else would he have taken the time to form us? But have you ever learned something that you thought you already knew? I seem to be doing this a lot lately. Things as simple as "God loves me" have become deep and profound and new, like I never really got it before. That I am forgiven and covered by grace, not just for the big things that I gave up long ago, but also for the little things that add up day after day and make me feel inadequate to call myself a Christian has made grace new and shiny and deep as I dive into its depths again and again and again.

And now in the last few weeks, these words: "You matter to God," have struck their mark. I knew that my body, my gifts, my talents, my obedience, my soul all mattered to God. But now I see more.

The other day my husband and I were talking about my lifelong desire to own a dog. My whole life (except for three brief years) having a dog has been too messy, inconvenient, expensive or impractical. My pleading, my tears, my overwhelming desire did not matter in comparison to these. But as I lay in bed the other night my husband looked into my eyes and said, "Leah, if you need a dog, I'll get you a dog tomorrow."

My heart was overwhelmed. (I remembered that it is good to marry well.) And I thought how amazing it is that my heart's desires matter to somebody.

I felt silly, too. Clearly I don't need a dog. But I want one and I desperately want my children to have one as they grow up, as well. I began a search online for the perfect puppy, and low and behold, I found it!

She is part labrador retriever and part golden retriever and she is sweet and beautiful, and as my 7-year-old says, she has made life better, "life is just better with a dog."

I know that just because I have a desire, does not mean that God or my husband will meet it, but this year I'm feeling pretty spoiled, and maybe that's okay.

God communicates with each of us in different ways, and this year He's given me a puppy and a crazy dance party with (almost) all of my favorite friends, just to let me know that I matter to Him.
Pretty cool.

Just in case there was any doubt, you matter to Him, too.:)

Counting Down (and Up)

Well, the countdown has begun! Only 15 shopping days until my birthday.

My mom has already taken me shopping for my birthday and it was no small miracle that I found three pairs of capris that fit perfectly. We agreed that we must buy them all, as this may not occur again until the next passing of Hailey's comet.

But I must say this birthday feels like a big one to me. It's not the looming 4-0 and I've already passed the momentous 3-0, but getting to the midpoint between the two seems significant. It means that I am getting older. . . still. Does it seem odd to anyone else that time never stops, never even slows down for us? I keep expecting it to, especially when my kids hit phases that I really love. But, in fact, it feels like time speeds up a little bit more every year.

I was doing some figuring in my head the other day, and if my math is correct, I will be turning 50 in just fifteen short years. That is a scary thought. I miss the days when fifteen was a lifetime (back when I was a 15 year-old). Of course, the reverse is that just fifteen years ago I was 20 - unmarried, childless and 20. It's clear that a lot can happen in 15 years, but the problem is that it is going by too quickly now.

To a 15 year-old, fifteen years is a lifetime, but as a thirty-something it goes by in a blink. I'm afraid that I will go to bed one night and wake up to find my nine-year-old towering over me and telling me he's found the love of his life - because he's become a 24 year-old man. And then I'll look in the mirror and see my sagging face and wonder what exactly happened while I slept.

I don't intend to turn into Rumpelstiltskin or anything, I just wish I could push the pause button on my life and take the time to really enjoy it.

I guess that's why I feel the need to have a huge party for my birthday this year. We are going way over the top, and I think it's because I need to remember that life is meant to be lived and celebrated and treasured, not just muddled through, cleaned up and survived. I can't make time stop, but for one night I can gather all of my friends, get dressed to the nine's, turn up the tunes and dance the night away.

And if I wake up the next day to realize that my life is half over and my kids are growing foot by foot, at least I'll know that I've taken the time to live.

**This has been deep thoughts with Leah, thanks for stopping by.**