Humbled into 30

I know many of our friends already know how Jeremy completely shocked me for my 30th birthday last month... He absolutely shocked me.

It all started when about 5 years ago I dreamed up a dream that in my idealist of ideals... I would be in Paris for my 30th birthday.

Well... two kids later, a mortgage and a startup business on the cuffs of reality... I let go of that dream without a second thought. Without a broken heart.  Without resentment.

Because my heart was FULL.

Full of a husband who is beyond my hearts wildest expectations.  Full of a daughter who makes me see life in sparkles.  Full of a son who shows me what love is without limitations.  Full of blessings from a Father who has bestowed, his once wondering daughter, much more than she can conceive.

But there I was... just days before my birthday.

And my husband's love started flowing out... like a stream at first.  And then like an ocean.

He brought our dear friends Josh and Jordan into town to celebrate.  Hosted a surprise, intimate dinner party I will never forget as long as I live...

(A party that was French themed... how I didn't put any of it together, I'll never know)

And then I opened my birthday card from him that said: We leave for Paris on Sunday!

I literally have tears in my eyes right now as I write.  How could a man, my husband, love ME this much?  This boldly?  This audaciously?  To go to such lengths, such intentionality to celebrate ME...

I floated through the preparation process, through the travel, through the first few hours we were in Paris.  Not actually believing it could be anything more than a dream.

And then it hit me.  Over and over again as I walked down old cobble stone streets.  Sometimes hitting me with such emotion that I almost felt my body would jerk with a sob at any given moment.

My husband is Jesus' truest and most real form of His love for me here on earth... I am so humbled by his selfless, unabandoned and intentional love for me.

Thank you baby for loving me in such a beautiful and unapologetic way.  I LOVE how you dream even bigger than I do.  How you live every. single. second to the fullest.  How love oozes out of you in such a way people (especially our kids) will never be able to miss it.

Because of you baby, 30 is looking incredible to me!

A morning of reading and writing in a local cafe.

Oh the crepes!

Our new found cold weather favorite = hot wine ;)

There's just something special about that metal tower...