The Best of 20...

30. Today I am 30 and I am excited! People warned me that it would be the worst birthday yet, the hardest. A new decade. Officially "gettin up there." So far that is not true at all!

I was initially thinking I'd spend time in this space writing about the lessons of my 20s. The good, bad and ugly. Looking through photos of the last decade (eeps!), I thought instead maybe I'd share some of my favorite memories of my 20s and write a follow up post on my dreams for 30. As I said, I'm excited and oh, so grateful. While I learned many lessons and certainly had tough moments in my 20s I am more eager to remember the most positively life-changing moments, and focus on the hopes and dreams in my heart for the next years....

You are warned, so many photos!!!

At Ave Maria University I fell in love with philosophy and learned what Christian adult friendships look like....I still love these women so much!

After a brief and very difficult time in Vancouver (focusing on the positives here), I moved to LA to live and work. Again, the people I met, the friends I hold dear in my heart forever, are what stay with me. We had so many happy moments together!

In between my time in LA and moving to Dallas to finish my degree I took a pilgrimage to Fatima, Portugal on my own. It was the trip of a lifetime, and certainly life changing.  I want to go back there with our family!

The same summer as Portugal I moved to Dallas. I will never forget how alone and afraid I felt that first night in my new apartment at yet another brand new university. Fast forward a few months and I was so enjoying my studies, going on my first date with a handsome baseball player, and well....the rest is history! My time in Dallas was so very happy. I feel nostalgic for it to this day!

Our first picture together ever :)

The summer before my last year at UD Joe proposed to me. What a moment that was! Our wedding was simple but sacred, and honeymooning in Italy on the Amalfi coast can only be described as a dream. What a blessed and blissful whirlwind that year was!

One month after our honeymoon ended we moved to Australia with a few thousand dollars to our name, no jobs, and no place to live. Joe was going to pursue basketball and I my masters. What a dream it was to see him play a sport he loves so deeply. We lived so simply, we were so so poor, but still the memories of that time make our hearts full. I hope we can take our children back to visit one day!

Becoming a mama and the magical experience of pregnancy was a powerful chapter in my 20s. I will never forget how I felt about the little ones growing in me...how I would spend hours dreaming of them, singing to them, loving them. Life changing to say the least!

38 weeks pregnant with Liliana

Liliana helped us document Judah's growth

The births of both of our children were beautiful and sacred. The experience of birth is so transformative and so incredibly powerful. To see them baptised shortly after their births and then spend these years learning to be their mama has been such a gift. Two little ones, my hearts, walking around outside of my body and making it so that I must overcome my selfishness and ego to love and learn with them. WOW! I am so glad we didn't wait to welcome children into our marriage!

Liliana's birth at a birth centre in Melbourne

Liliana's baptism

Judah's beautiful home waterbirth

Judah's baptism in Calgary

One of my favorite "new mama" photos...Liliana was 6 weeks old. I can just tell how happy I was!

To see my love become the amazing father that he is...breathtaking. His creativity, fierce protection, tender devotion, playfulness, sacrifice have appeared in a new and pronounced way since fatherhood happened. It sounds cliche but I fall in love with him more and more deeply as I witness him loving our wee ones. In a similar way, to see my children be each other's siblings makes my heart want to explode. Oh the gift that a sibling is.

Joe and Liliana in Maui

Witnessing my parents and Joe's parents become grandparents was a highlight of my 20s without a doubt. Not only has their love for my children deepened my love for and relationship with them, but I see the immense gift their love is to my darlings.  Not only this, but I don't know what we'd do without their guidance. 

As my siblings and I grow into adulthood, our friendship grows as well. I am so grateful for the deep friendships I have with them, and the fun we still have together.  I am humbled by the men and women they are and the way they love me. I am excited to see what the decades bring for us.

Last but not least, my 20s would not have been what they were without our many happy family vacations to Maui. Maui is a place where my soul rests and also a place where it soars. The beauty is palpable and turns my heart to better things. It was such a gift to introduce such a place to my Love and our wee ones and to see them revel in its beauty also. I pray we can go back one day.

Joe's first trip to Maui when we were engaged!

Our last trip to Hawaii, Judah was 4 weeks old

Phew! So there you have it. This exercise has been such a lesson for me in gratitude. Would you believe that I initially felt like there had been more hard lessons than joyful lessons in my 20s? Perhaps if I made a list there would be. But when I look at these photos and read this words, I cannot help but feel that I am absolutely undeserving of all the joy these 10 years have held. I am reminded of the idea that it's not happy people who are grateful, it's grateful people who are happy. Hmmm, a theme for 30? Maybe so!

With love,