My 30th Birthday

My birthday reflection:

I've got a wonderful wife who loves me, two beautiful, smart, well behaved little girls and a boy on the way, an amazing new house that we are closing on, a fun, powerful, feature-rich new car, several great new toys, a well-paying job with coworkers who respect me (and I work with Olga, too). I live in beautiful Sacramento, where we enjoy great weather without the crazy expense of a San Diego.

I've got a great church that inspires me to always be better and try to emulate Jesus Christ, and I'm surrounded by amazing fellow church members who love and support me and who show examples of Christlike lives.

I've been given lots of wonderful talents, which have helped me, and still do help me to make the most out of life, and hopefully to lift others up along the way and leave the world just a little bit better than I found it.

I have two supportive and loving parents who strove and fought to raise me right in a sea of wrong, and who still stand ready to support me in any way. I've been blessed with three brothers who are married to amazing women, and who are wonderful, upstanding people that others look to and respect, and who are, in their own term, raising upstanding families.

I've got extended family members who have always been like good friends to me and who have helped me out whenever they could and who have enriched my life.

I'm lucky that not only do I not hate my in-laws, but I'm blessed that my wife comes from a terrific, smart, supportive family willing to drop everything and help out when needed, whether it be time, effort, or money.

I'm particularly grateful for facebook, which has allowed me to stay in touch with so many wonderful people that I have met in my life who, through my laziness, I would never have stayed in contact with. What a tremendous blessing that has been!

Yeah, you can always move a rung or two up the ladder, and I probably complain more than i should about what is going on in my life, but really, the view from hearer is pretty amazing, and as I look back on my first 29 years and move into the scary 30s, i can't think of too much that I would change (except maybe I'd buy a house next door for Andie and Anna so we could hang out more).

So don't return your birthday gifts just yet - i still want that paisley tie and fancy cheese grater (and that Garbage Plate - I'm looking at you, Brian) - but really, as i blow out my birthday candles this year, there isn't too much for me to wish for.

I always dreamed that I would be further along in life by the time I was 30, but I never imagined that I would be so blessed.

And that is the best gift i could get.

(cross-posted from my facebook profile)

Our House

So we submitted an offer on a beautiful home in this area on October 12th. We FINALLY got our approval this past week! We actually were starting to look at foreclosures and active sales as of a couple of weeks ago, because we were starting to get really worried that maybe there was a reason why our approval was taking so long, but thank goodness it finally came through. I still have no idea what took so long--even our agent said it was taking forever--and I don't think we'll ever know why it was delayed so many times. The only thing I can ascribe it to is that it's the Lord's timing that our move is many weeks later than we had hoped. Who knows why things happen the way they do, but the important thing is that we are closing on a gorgeous home of our own. I never thought I'd be 32 before I owned my own home, but, quite honestly, we just weren't in a place (physically, mentally or financially) to buy a home before this. I'm thrilled that we were able to move down here to a place that we love, that we have been able to make a lot of friends, and now that we are able to give our family the stability that we have never had. We've moved around a LOT since we were married, and while it scares me a little to put down roots since I'm so nomadic, I think it's time for our family to do so, especially for the sake of our kids. Plus, moving gets so much harder every time we do it, because we keep accumulating stuff. I'm excited about this move, but I'm also pretty stressed out. We had hoped to close on our home quickly, but the sellers' circumstances are such that we'll probably be closing about 2 1/2 weeks later than we had wanted. And, really, we do want to be sensitive to their needs, so we will just have to swallow our disappointment. It's funny, I had joked that I'd be 8 months pregnant before we moved...and it looks like I will be about a week away from being just that! It's nervousing because I really won't be able to do much to help move, and I typically do most of the prepwork for moving, so I will have to rely heavily on others for help---something that is really hard for me to do. I just have to have faith that everything will work out! :)

A bit of a rant...

Okay, so I would just like to state for the record that I think the "AVERAGE" pregnancy weight gain stuff that they pull on you at the doctor's office is a load of crap. If you gain only 25-30 lbs per pregnancy, than that's awesome for you, and I applaud you for it...I do wish I could say the same. Maybe my body just needs to gain more weight because I'm naturally pretty thin--I really don't know. What I do know is that I can't find anything I want to eat during pregnancy that is healthy for me!! Add to that the almost inability to exercise and you have weight gain. Can you tell it's a sore spot with me? Anyway, it seems to me that from talking to many other women who have had babies, the average weight gain seems to be higher than 30 lbs and in some cases, much more than that. I'm really just doing the best I can with a body that is not my own right now. Sorry about the rant; like I said, it's a sore spot, and I try to do my best. I'm trying to eat healthier, but eating healthy is something that I struggle with even when I'm not pregnant. I am trying to walk more and get myself and the girls out for some much needed fresh air and exercise, so hopefully that will help.