My "Dirty Thirty" was not so dirty AND I LOVED every second of it.

What is a Dirty Thirty anyway? A plan to get drunk and forget what it feels like to close a decade of you life. Now I am not judging those who have enthusiastically celebrated their 30th birthday (that is my disclaimer)!

All I know is I am so HAPPY with the way my 30th birthday was spent. First off I haven't slept in days, that whole sick kiddo (includes hubby) thing is really cramping my style. So, the one thing I asked for was sleep.... lol! Yes, sleep! I was able to take a nap in the morning and in the afternoon. It rocks I know. First of all I was blessed to get up to three crazy little girls who are recovering from the stomach flu and be greeted by cinnamon rolls (my favorite) with 29 candles and a lovely little card. The only one who refused to pretend I wasn't 30 is my dear Julia, she is just way to honest for her own good. She won't even lie about my age to help me!!! what a little cutie pie. Today was pajama day at my house so there will be no pictures of me celebrating with my naps but they were fabulous.

My Birthday Card

Now its only taken four-years and nearly three years of marriage but Hubby finally got it right in the gift department. Yes ladies and gentleman I get to shop for my birthday, I knew he was going to give me X amount of dollars to spend for my birthday but this darling little card had some extra cash in it too. He gets better and better each day! He actually had it all planned out with the girls and it was so cute. While I got to be snuggled up in my RH fur blanket (I carry this thing around like a blankie) I was sung Happy Birthday, shared delicious bakery cinnamon rolls and opened up my card. Madalyn reassured me I wasn't old. Olivia just jumped on me and Julia told me the candles were wrong that I am indeed 30! We all sat wrapped up together with my happy birthday plates and shared our sugar packed delicious breakfast. All the while Hubby made sure the girls knew mommy needed to sleep today and that's what she wants for her birthday. They even cleaned up the mess....

Love notes from my family. 

So on top of naps today God brought me birthday blessings too. As I shared with all of you in a previous post an old friend reached out to me to start studying the Gospel. I have not been able to send her a Book of Mormon to her because of sick kiddos so I directed her to the app I love so much with all our scriptures and tools. I also let her know in on a little secret, you can listen to it too. She asked if I could tell her where to start and in fact I had to ask myself the same question, where did I start? I did it backwards and read the whole Book before I ever spoke to someone. So I asked God to help direct me to direct her. My prayers were answered and he first directed me to our Thirteen Articles of faith. I felt it would be good for her to know the basic principles of the Faith. She responded by saying it really helped clarify it all for her. She then asked what was next and I felt compelled to start with the book, Gospel Principles. Since I like doing things in chronological order (silly I know since it does not work that way with the Bible at all)! It seemed the best to me because Chapter One starts with the foundation of it all, our Heavenly Father. After all what is religion or faith without a good solid foundation. So I assigned Alma Chapter 7, Alma Chapter 34, 3 Nephi Chapter 9 and Mormon Chapter 3. Gospel Principles only refers to verses but I felt when I studied I really grasped what I was reading when I just read the whole chapter. I applied the same principle to my very first pupil. What a blessing to get share this all with her on this day. I am opening a new decade of my life and she is opening her hear to a new faith. I was able to help her receive a testimony that there is a God and he is in all things of our lives.

My second gift from God of the day was speaking to another old friend. We shared our experiences past and current. I shared with him my struggle with PTSD in the hopes that he could help understand what someone in his life is suffering throug. He is a religious man of a different faith but I was able to share scriptures with him in relation to building a great foundation for your faith, life and relationship. I let him know about my favorite scripture (just in case you forgot Ether 4:15) He asked  me to share it with him as he happened to have a Book of Mormon at home. We were able to talk further and share a few more scriptures. He said it helped and I know that it was such a blessing for me to be able to share my faith and love with these people. They made my day feel meaningful. Now for the rest of my life I have a great story to write and share about my 30th birthday.

Now the icing on the cake was this evening when I received a text message from my girlfriend who is studying at 10:51pm and it said, "Reading what you gave me really sunk in and put me at peace with God. Thank you for the readings and the study. Its an un-explainable feeling I felt." WOW! I want to thank her for that. I want to thank her for reaching out to me. I want to thank her for allowing me to be blessed in helping her in her search to find God and our Savior. But most of all for sharing such a deep and intimate personal experience. What a powerful moment for her and what a wonderful gift for my birthday that she shared it with me.

I certainly don't feel like I am missing out by not experiencing the stereotypical 30th birthday. I am so blessed and pleased with my simple day it could not have been more perfect. I want to thank all of you who shared in the day with me and made it such an amazing and powerful birthday.

Love -N