“What do you want to do for your birthday, Mom?”  With Robert typically gone to Texas and Oklahoma for the first two weeks of January, my kids are usually left with the burden responsibility of “making mom’s birthday special” on their own. I kind of hate that. I love special days and gifts, but I enjoy giving them more than receiving them. And not because I’m super selfless like that.  It probably has more to do with my unrealistic expectations that all gifts given to me will perfectly match my temperament and desires, reflecting that I am truly known and loved, yet somehow they usually fall short of that expectation.

Hard to believe, I know.

The sad thing is that if you had asked me what gift would be THE perfect birthday gift for me this year, I would not have been able to come up with anything. And if I can’t come up with anything, how in the world would anyone else be able to?

I do love the gifts the two kids left at home gave me: bowls.

I love bowls. I gave away bowls filled with goodies myself this Christmas. I’m guessing what happened is that Cooper and Kayla went to TJ Maxx to get me gifts. Kayla probably informed Cooper that I like bowls. (I could be wrong here. Sometimes he surprises me with his gift giving.) She got me a large white bowl with pretty ridges, and he got me a small white chip and dip bowl with the price tag still on it.  Hers had French macarons, a candle, and a coloring book inside.  He included a Starbucks gift card inside the Anniversary card which he edited to make a Birthday card to accompany his bowl. Both of them wrote me sweet (and funny) notes.  I loved it.

(Side note: Speaking of gifts, here’s one of my favorites from Christmas…

“Hmmmm…maybe we can make a couple of special deliveries for my birthday? Maybe hand out some Dunkin Donuts gift cards to strangers like we planned to do with Sarah and Jessica a couple of weeks ago? Maybe take some food to some of the homeless folks downtown?” was my reply to Kayla’s efforts to plan a special day, and she seemed to really like the idea. If you’ve read Ann Voskamp’s new book, The Broken Way, you may recognize this birthday plan. Thoughts I’d had before, she’d actually put into practice, and so I was encouraged to be bold.

“It’s all like a small match to me that could start an explosion. Could there be a better way to celebrate another birthday, than to break through the anxiety that keeps a life bound and small?


…learning the art of living is learning the art of giving…


For God so loved that He gave…


…For God so loved that He gave…Is there any word more powerful than giving? Thanksgiving. Forgiving. Care-giving. Life-giving. Everything that matters in living comes down to giving.


Giving is the true having,” is what Spurgeon said.” (p. 67)

The Sunday birthday approached quickly, and we really didn’t have a set plan. A couple of prayers for ideas and opened doors for giving were lifted up on Friday and Saturday. For open eyes and hearts to see the answers, too.

Prayers the Lord answers quickly and specifically. I’m learning.

We pulled up to church at 8:30am, because Kayla has communion and kid duty, only to find Cindy, our worship leader stuck at the bottom of the incline to the parking lot.  She’d not been able to make it up due to snow and ice, and now her car is stalled and she’s blocking traffic and calling AAA and there’s a newborn in her back seat. So, God allowed us to give the gift of a baby transported to a warm spot and a mama with one less thing to worry about in the moment.

Up the church steps with baby we go, through the…snow.

Snow? Snow on the side church steps. Snow on the front church steps. Snow on the front walkway and sidewalk. 3 inches or so and not the way things are supposed to go.

Oh, but I prayed for this. Yeah, I prayed for gift giving opportunities.

And so now…the gift of snow removal is given to a congregation arriving any moment. First by two hastily recruited, yet very willing volunteers. Then given by me and the one who overheard me worry that the town gets upset about that front walk not being shoveled, not to mention our neighbors, and… “I’ll take care of it,” Brett said.

Him at one end. Me at the other. (Despite his protests.) We meet in the middle with a high five and grab the sand bucket so no one else slides down the incline and needs AAA.

There was…More baby holding. More communion cup filling. Diaper changing. Rides home.

All gifts we got to give on my birthday.

“Just what you wanted to do on your birthday…shovel snow.” Jenna laughs.

“And change diapers,” Cindy chimes in.

“Actually…” I say, “It kind of was…”

No, not kind of. It was what I wanted to do. I’d actually hoped, prayed, and planned for this.

And the answers just kept coming.

We got to give several other gifts that day, and I’ll tell you about the rest of them on Friday.

They were a little scary, but so worth the small risk. Life changing, really.

“…there is no life worth living without generosity because generosity is a function of abundance mentality. And abundance mentality is a function of identity and intimacy.  When you know you are loved enough…you have abundantly enough to generously give enough. And that moves you into the enoughness of an even more intimate communion.” (p. 68-69)

Yes.  Thanks, Ann.

Happy Birthday to me!

(Oh, and maybe on Friday, I’ll have a better pic of those cute Topo Chico glasses!)