39 and My Two-Minute Warning

As I stand on the doorsteps of 40, I'm "enjoying" turning 39 as best I can today.

Krissy greeted me with breakfast in bed - a gluten-free meal of waffles, apples, scrambled eggs with spinach & herbs and a glass of juice.  That was a surprise!  Then, after Anthem and Alex woke up, we, together, woke up Kaden who was greeted with "Kadie!!" by Anthem as she climbed all over him to wake him up.  (The boys were up late last night watching 'Toy Story').


Omi called just after that as the boys and Krissy prepared something downstairs for me.  My grandmother, who is now a healthy 91 years young, greeted me so sweetly with good wishes for my birthday.  I couldn't help thinking how thankful I was to have her and to be able to still speak with her.  I enjoy so much being able to speak with her - we usually talk about once a week.  She only speaks German so it helps me keep my second language in somewhat decent form.  We usually have longer conversations, but this time, the kids were calling me from downstairs.

As I came downstairs, Krissy was video taping me and this is what they had ready for me...



I couldn't be more thankful for my wife and kids that they would surprise me in this way.  I am a blessed man - more thankful than I can ever express to God to have been entrusted with such a special family.

I am thankful today for life.  I can't help thinking about 40 just around the corner.  I think of it as halftime.  39 is my 2-minute warning.  I plan to make the most of this last year in my 30's.  Look for more posts to come this year about how I plan to celebrate it.  I keep feeling the nudge to make it about giving.  More to come on that...

For today, I will try not to work too much and enjoy my time with the boys.  We're going out tonight and one more night to sleep on the "Birthday Pillow" we all in our family get to sleep on when it's our birthdays.  It's time to begin my 2-minute drill...I've had 39 years to prepare for this.