Birthday Blessing

I've been blessed with a birthday buddy.

Well, to be honest, I have many, many birthday buddies, some of whom I actually know. With only 365 days in a year, there aren't a lot of choices for making our debut, right? We're bound to hit somebody else's birthday.

But this birthday buddy is special because I gave birth to this buddy.

Emily Susanne:

17 years ago today.

It's not MY day. It's YOUR day. It's OUR day. Before God created the world, He knew exactly which day you would arrive...and I would arrive. It just so happened that He chose those days to be exactly the same.

Thank you for sharing your special day with me. I love you even more for it!

.......................

I remember turning 17. I remember being 17. Wow! How can I be a mom of someone that age?

So much -- good and bad -- is happening in your life. So many exciting -- and daunting -- changes lay ahead. So much excitement. Be glad. Feel blessed. God has given you a gift!

Here is a poem (one of my very favorites) by Minnie Louise Haskins that might help you as you embark on this new age:

God Knows

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”

And he replied: “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”

So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night. And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.

So heart be still:
What need our little life
Our human life to know,
If God hath comprehension?
In all the dizzy strife
Of things both high and low,
God hideth His intention.

God knows. His will
Is best. The stretch of years
Which wind ahead, so dim
To our imperfect vision,
Are clear to God. Our fears
Are premature; In Him,
All time hath full provision.

Then rest: until
God moves to lift the veil
From our impatient eyes,
When, as the sweeter features
Of Life’s stern face we hail,
Fair beyond all surmise
God’s thought around His creatures
Our mind shall fill.

Throwback Thursday

So, since today is often #tbt (throwback Thursday), I decided to find an old photo of Stuart and me to share.

This one comes from 1992. I had gone back to England to see Stuart during my Christmas break at uni. We were sitting in a country pub, enjoying some drinks with another couple. We were 22.

22?!?

Twenty-two!!! 

We just hit double that age this year.

That cold winter night seems an eternity ago. The pub was warm and loud and friendly. There was a fire in a big fireplace. And I remember there was freezing fog outside -- something I'd never heard of before, even though I'd lived in England only two year earlier.

Sigh.

Emily realized she's nearly the same age as Stuart and me when we met.

Sur-real!!

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What "throwback memories" do you remember when you see old photos? I'd love to hear about them!

Wordless Wednesday