Birthday #31

September 16, 2008: All week long, I have been celebrating being alive for yet another year. #31 - closer to 40 than I've EVER been before but still close enough to my 20's that I don't feel like I have left them behind :)



The best word I could come up with to describe my actual birthday when someone asked me how it had been was 'interesting'. It was definitely a day filled with a rollercoaster ride of ups and downs as well as a range of emotions from sky high to borderline low. Started things out by leaving the house for work. In all of the years that I have been working, I don't EVER remember having to work on my birthday because I always took the day off but since I have only been where I'm at for a little over a month -- I didn't want to use my ONLY personal day that I've earned so far for something like my birthday.. Soo, I went to work. One of my co-workers had baked me a cake (Lemon Pound with powdered sugar on top) so we had a mini office b-day party and all ate a piece by the water cooler (literally). Granted, it was no "Cake By Anita" by ANY MEANS but still the thoughtfulness was what I was most impressed with. These people have known me for a little over a month and they put this little party together without me really knowing anything about it. Cool stuff, if you asked me.



I had decided at the beginning of the day that I was going to treat myself to a lunch of some sort so when it came time - Beth (my co-worker) and I headed down to McDonalds (aka the BEST restaurant EVER!) Keep in mind that I have been eating extremely healthy for the past 4 weeks now -- salads/sandwiches/crackers/tuna etc for lunch... drinking mostly water & tea and diet sodas -- but I was CRAVING a Big Mac and some french fries. It was good when I ate it but as the afternoon went on and my body realized that it wasn't used to having that much fat/calories in one sitting -- I started to feel a little ill -- not to the point of barfing all over the place but that hamburger definitely sat in my stomach for a good long while. I didn't even eat dinner because of it -- I just didn't feel up to it. And LORD knows there is no telling what I will weigh this week when I get on that scale on Friday. So much for progress, huh?



After work, I headed home (traffic still sucks so keep praying for me!) to change clothes and go spend my 40% off coupon that I got from Borders. I bought Will and Grace: Season 8 since thanks to my friend Dusty, season 7 should be here by Monday. Then I got on the road to Denton for Bible study.

The more I drove though and sat in traffic and did everything I could to think a positive thought - the more negative it got on my car. Just some background on Tuesday nights -- my BFF Erica and I are supposed to go to Bible Study (Titus 2) together on Tuesday nights BUT for the past 2 weeks Erica has been busy/behind on her homework/sick and hasn't been able to go with me. The same is true for last night ~ so here I am, driving to Denton (from Plano) ON MY BIRTHDAY to a Bible study where I don't know very many people and you better believe I am sitting there asking "WHY" the whole way there. "You know, I could just turn back around, go home, put on some Will & Grace: Season 8 and pass the night away in a highly vegitative state" But I kept on and got to Bible study -- I really was glad that I did.



When I walked in, a woman who I had only met 1 week before comes up to me with a bag and says "You know, you reached out to me on facebook last week...."

Before I go on, let me insert this side note ** This will make some of you who know me as the "myspace/facebook STALKER" laugh -- BUT, at Bible study whenever we breakup into groups to pray, I ALWAYS make it a point of writing down the people in my group's names (with a big class of around 30 people, I have yet to be in the same group with the same people) so that I will remember them but then I go one step further & take their email addresses and see if they are on facebook - just another way for me to get to know people & for us to correspond throughout the week (if they want to) -- OK, back to the story..**

This woman, whom I had only met the week before says: "You know, you reached out to me on facebook last week and I noticed something about you.. it's your birthday today!" She hands me the bag which has a plate of cookies in it & says "Come on, we're going to go pass these out to the class and have them sing.." I was completely and totally FLOORED!! I teared up... OK, I cried a little... - to think that I had such a bad attitude about driving and traffic and Erica's absence etc. and wanted to turnaround and go home but God kept me going because HE KNEW what was going to be waiting for me when I got there. I'm telling you guys, that is the depth of His love for us -- He sees the other side when we can't even see 2 steps in front of us.

Anyhow, that's been my week and as the time goes on, God continues to show me that there IS a purpose for everything that's happening even when I don't see it. I have another story about this morning (Thursday) but it will have to wait because I just got 5 files put back on my desk at work today so it's time to get started.