Happy 12th Birthday Jourdyn!

March 23rd is a special day for me! It is the anniversary of the birth of my first baby, Jourdyn! On March 22nd, 12 years ago I spent the entire day in labor, experiencing what was the most painful day of my life, all because of the hope and new life that was promised to me. What a blessing Jourdyn was those two days (she held out until the 23rd). In the moment if you had asked me if I thought that pain was a blessing, I probably would have thrown something at you. It wasn't until it was over, until that new hope and new life was placed in my arms that I was able to praise God for what he had walked me through, to thank Him for holding my hand through the pain and blessing me in ways that I never thought imaginable through the gift of new life. God's faithfulness has overcome the pain that I felt that day.

God has just given me a beautiful picture of what he does for us in our lives daily and even for what he has done for my church. Romans 8:28 says, "We know that in ALL things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." The promise is that ALL things, even the pain, even the sorrow, the sunny days and the gloomiest of days - God is there and He is using those moments for his glory. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

I worked really hard this year at planning Jourdyn's Birthday. This is the first year that her party was strictly a friends party! And because March weekends are just jam-packed with fun! Her party had to be on her birthday after school! We invited 11 friends plus her which made 12 for her 12th birthday. However, only 7 were able to go! So we had 8 girls! None of them, including Jourdyn had any clue where we were going for the party! They guessed bowling or skating, and then I told them we were going over the border, so they moved onto guessing gambling. Everything we drove by Rob and I made fun. We drove past the mall, and said, "hey, here's a clue, we're close." We drove past a pet groomers, slowed down and told them "We're here, I thought you guys would like to work with pets and learn how to groom them." We drove past a golf course, again slowed down and said "No really we arranged private golf lessons for each one of you." They protested a bit. They wanted to just drive golf carts and skip the lessons. But hey, they had no clue! And we ended up at Paint Your Masterpiece.

It was a total shocker! And they all loved it! Only a couple had ever done this before and it had been on vacation, not something for a birthday party! I had asked Jourdyn if I had planned it right and if she had fun and she said that she couldn't think of anything better to do! So I guess I did! We dropped all the girls off at either their homes or their volleyball game and then headed home where she opened her gift from us and grandpa and played the Wii with daddy until bedtime!

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