Turning 30!

I turned 30 at the beginning of the month! And, i'm kindof excited about it. The 20s were great. I graduated from WBU with a B.S. degree, got married to my looovvveee, moved to South Carolina, met some lifetime friends in SC, met my best friend Gayla, graduated from USC with a MSPH in Epidemiology, moved back to Texas, had an adorable baby girl, and the 20s rounded out with being pregnant with a handsome baby boy. The 20s also had some very hard times but looking back at it as a "decade" brings more great life events than hardships. So, for all of this that happened I am looking forward to my 30s. And, i've been dreaming a little about it? What will the next 10 years bring? Hopefully more children (adopted and/or biological), hopefully a PhD, hopefully a start of a career, hopefully a start of Mike's career, raising our children...

In all of these dreams and wants and hopes I have, I am reminded that I have no idea what's to come. And, that's ok. Sort of. I am still waiting on PhD applications to come through as admissions or rejections. So, it's definitely hard to wait and trust. It's hard to be patient. But one day at a time, one year at a time, one decade at a time - I truly believe that we serve a God who is so good. And He has been so good to me over the past decade by giving me a great husband to walk through life with, adorable children, great family, great friends and mentors, and great work experiences and training. At the end of my 20s, I was met with lots of thankfulness - Knowing so far He has been so good. And I have a sneaky suspicion that that will continue. Isn't that part of His Character?!? =)

For my birthday, Mike and I were going to drop off Bella and go camping in Houston. wahooo!! I woke up that morning with the sniffles but didn't think too much of it. However, since we were going to spend alot of time in the great outdoors with the lows in the 40s at night, I decided to call my OB. She had me come in and do a quick strep swab "just to make sure". But we both agreed it wasn't strep since I wasn't feeling bad at all, no fever, no sore throat, no classic signs of the diagnosis. We decided to pack and head onto Houston. We dropped Bella off with the grandparents and off we were. 30 minutes out of the campsite the OB called and said, "Well, your test was positive!" What? I didn't feel bad at all! Thankfully she had given me an antiobiotic "just in case". I started on that and we decided that having strep and sleeping in the great outdoors was probably not wise, especially since I was pregnant. Detour!

We were very close to Houston so we decided to make the best of it and go "camping" in the city. I found a great hotel rate on my iphone and booked it, having no idea what to expect! We drove the Galleria area and ended up at the DoubleTree Suites Hotel. Wait, wait. It gets better. Our room was 300 SQUARE FEET of a HUGE bedroom, full kitchen, living room and dining room. Uhm, camping and "roughin' it"? Yes please! hehe!

So, we arrived in our camping attire to this 5 star hotel, got settled, and headed to the Galleria to eat, albeit still in our camping attire. We went to the Cheesecake Factory (yes, roughin' in again), got dessert to go and went back to the hotel since my throat was actually hurting a little by this time. We got a movie in the room and slept in a real bed, instead of on the ground in a sleeping bag.

Remember we had packed to go camping so we had an ice chest packed with food for the weekend. So, the next morning we cooked eggs and pancakes in our kitchen and ate in the dining area. Ha! We did a little shopping in the Galleria, had a great lunch, went to bookstores, and just had a great time of being with one another. Although it wasn't what we had planned, it was a great time of simply being "there". It's amazing what 18 hours will do! After that, we made our way to Houston to spend the night with his parents and go see Bella. The mother-in-love, being her awesome self, made dinner and a cake for me.

Because I had strep, I needed some help in blowing out the candles. Notice Bella's face?
Notice Bella's face again?

Here's my sweet family Notice our attire? Yep, camping gear! I didn't even bring a brush. ha!

And, here's some pictures of sweet Bella.

Here's to the 30s!!!