Birthday Blessings

My birthday was Friday, September 11th. If I'm being real, I would have to admit, that birthdays are hard for me. I know it's because I'm not quite where I'd thought I'd be by the age of 32. I'm happy with my career and feel, for all intended purposes, that I could say I was successful. However, by 32 I thought I'd already be married with 2 or 3 kids. Funny how life works, huh? One my good friends made a very thought provoking comment this week. She said, "Tams, you live in the future." She was speaking in terms of things at work, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized it's true about other areas, too. I'm always thinking about what's next and 9 times out of 10 this leads to fear and worry. Most of the sermons I've heard lately have been about faith. (Yes, Lord, I'm listening.) I haven't been living by faith in this area of my life and after Sunday, I was determined to do a better job of living by faith and living for today. With this new resolve, I had a fabulous birthday! One of the best I've had in awhile.

At school, Leslie surprised me with one of my favorite "Leslie specialities", peanut butter treats. Yum-my! They were so, so good!! (Les, I've been sharing them with my family and enjoying them all weekend. I'm pretty sure they're the gift that keeps giving as I'll be working them off for quite a while! Ha!) Then, my mom brought me lunch from McAlisters. Another delicious treat! We split my favorite, the turkey melt and I had a great, big glass of sweet tea. We had a great time laughing and enjoying the time with Leslie and Kelly, too.

That evening I went to the newcomers dinner at church. A sweet, sweet lady at the dinner met me at the door to greet me, get my information, and pretty much just make sure I felt welcome. She couldn't have known how sensitive I am about being single and how hard it is to go to things alone, but she asked, "Is it just you? Are you all alone tonight?" Ugh. Knife right to the heart. I would be dishonest if I told I didn't want to run out that very second, and cry my eyes out, but I felt the Lord with me telling me that I'm never alone as He is always with me. About 15 minutes later, I was able to tell the devil to take a hike. I'm believing that God has a plan for my future, plans for my good, not for evil! The rest of the dinner was great and I was so glad I went.

After that, I headed to Mom and Dad's for cake and presents. All of my grandparents were there as was my Aunt, cousin, sisters, and all my nephews and niece. At that moment, I felt like the most loved and blessed person in the world! I have much to be thankful for.About a month ago my mom told me that Dad had picked out my birthday present this year. I was immediately intrigued and have been looking forward to knowing what it was. I was NOT prepared for the lavish gift that I received. I opened the gift, feeling as went, knowing that it was a picture frame of some kind. I turned it over to find a picture of me and Stormy. Next to the picture was his registered papers. My mom and dad gave me Stormy! There was nothing I could do but cry. I was blown away and speechless. You see, they could easily sell him for thousands of dollars, but instead gifted him to me. I still can't believe it. I still have no words to describe how precious this gift is. GayeAnn and Hannah, I SO enjoyed visiting with you until the wee hours of the morning! (2:30 a.m. to be exact.) I just don't get to see you enough. It was great to catch up and just talk!

I received so many wonderful birthday wishes and gifts from friends and family. Thank you all so much! I felt God loving on me through you and a day I've been dreading turned out to be truly wonderful!!