30 things on my 30th birthday

In no particular order of importance or relevance:

1. Jesus is everything I thought He would / could be and so much more. And I’ve only scratched the surface in 21 years of being His.
2. I became a mom unsure how it would be, how I would be, but now I learn all the time while being thankful and joyful that I was made to do this.
3. If unhindered I would spend all my personal money at Able, Carly Jean Los Angeles, or on books, pens and Moleskine journals.
4. I realize how much life, conversations, friendships and experiences can and should happen without me. It’s okay (even good) to not be in all the things with all my people all the time.
5. 10 years into being with John and the days get better and sweeter and richer as we go.
6. I agree wholeheartedly with Ashlee Gadd: “Every time I visit a food blog, I feel like I am going to have a stroke. The pop-up ads. The auto-playing videos. It takes 17 minutes to get to the actual recipe. I just … cannot.” New goal: find a few cookbooks and enjoy the heck out of them.
7. I’m on a journey of simplicity and minimalism and stewardship I never thought I would be.
8. I think I can call myself a *healthy* enneagram 2 now.
9. I LOVE keeping up our home.
10. My #1 priority in life is relationships, but where there was a lot of restlessness and anxiety before, God is steadily maturing and teaching me how to hold it for His glory and not my own.
11. I love writing and designing and creating more than ever. And I’m really thankful for the lack of burnout or discontentment in my chosen profession and given passions.
12. These words from Dallas Willard taped to our fridge for the last 2 years are still impacting me: “The first and most basic thing we can and must do is to keep God before our minds… This is the fundamental secret of caring for our souls. Our part in thus practicing the presence of God is to direct and redirect our minds constantly to Him.”
13. I’m a grown woman and I could still happily eat some form of peanut butter every day.
14. The decision to step away from Facebook & Instagram certainly has its drawbacks, but my soul and life has never felt so breathable and peaceful. And it’s marvelous.
15. I’ve learned that I don’t like to stack books horizontal on top of vertical-standing books. Sooo… I either must stop buying paper books or buy another tall shelf or make peace with the horizontal stacking.
16. I have never been closer to the Lord as I am today, and I attribute a lot of that reorienting to His grace but also to becoming a mom. Motherhood for me is a series of continual surrenderings and learning how trust works in real, ordinary, gritty, chaotic, beautiful life. On we go.
17. The high school and college girls I minister to / serve with are some of my favorite people to be around.
18. The small things never meant as much to me as they do now — a walk up the driveway after dinner, a long conversation with John over cereal with Anna playing around us, taking a drive to the post office with the windows down, a long shower after a longer day, etc.
19. I’m more settled and at peace than ever thus far with how God made me and who He’s forming me to be.
20. I asked for a book of poetry for my birthday this year, and that feels as unique and new and different for me as almost anything else, ha!
21. I’m particularly thankful for the friendships in my life right now. They are the deepest and sweetest I have ever had.
22. I started this decade not interested in anything audio that wasn’t music. I end it enjoying either an audiobook, podcast or the Dwell app almost daily.
23. It’s comical how excited I am to start driving a minivan that will arrive at the end of the summer.
24. I never in a million years thought I would do a podcast, but it’s been one of the coolest projects of my creative life to date.
25. St. Martin de Porres wrote that “everything, even sweeping, scraping vegetables, weeding a garden and waiting on the sick could be a prayer, if it were offered to God.” How often am I offering the puzzle-working, strawberry-slicing, house maintenance, repetitive instruction to God, vs. wondering when my children can do for themselves or go to bed so I can do something more productive or meaningful? This is a lesson in abundance and contentment and life with God and I’m glad to be learning it.
26. I started out my 20s part of a Division 1 university track and field program, running miles and miles every week while working with a stubborn broken bone. I end my 20s not running anymore but prioritizing flexibility, strength-building and walking because of a separate injury.
27. Writing still keeps me sane, helps me figure out how I feel about something and keeps me grateful. I love that God made me a writer-journaler-jotter-pen-and-paper gal.
28. Never thought I would be an indoor plant person, and while I’m stumbling through it and only have 3, I really dig it.
29. While perfection is never the expectation or the standard, I have experienced enough of God to know that He and His way is always the best choice and I’ll never regret choosing Him. So I do.
30. I would love for my 30s to be marked by unhurriedness. That is my prayer for this decade. Not not busy, but an unhurried soul and life.

Hello to my 30s, I am happy and grateful to be here.