Celebrating!

I turned 30 yesterday.

Actually, yes, it does feel a little different. Not sure how exactly, but I do find myself taking stock of where I'm at in life and whether or not I'm good with it. I'm pretty sure I am. We have a lot going on and a lot to be thankful for.

I have an incredible husband who loves God and loves me. He is someone I admire and am in awe of all of the time, incredibly talented and incredibly fun to be around.

I live in a place I never thought I would, Wisconsin, and am surprised all the time by how much adventure there is for us here.

We've been a part of launching the most fun church around, meeting great people, learning new ways to serve God.

I'm pregnant, which is an adventure in itself.

Yes, at 30, I love my life and have a lot to be thankful for.

I shared my birthday this year with some new beginnings for Great Lakes Church. We had a grand opening for our new "Video Venue" where we made more room for many new guests. We launched a brand new series called Q&A where Pastor Dave is taking questions both live via text message and via email throughout the week. There was this really fun sense of unpredictability and still we were able to walk away hearing a great message about God's love. We also released our Fall Growth Group Catalog. If you'd like to know how I feel about Growth Groups and how much I love them, please take a look at some of our past entries. It was a great Sunday, lots of energy and lots of new faces and families. In the end, we had over 600 people with us! Incredible!

Here are a couple of Tony's latest video creations that were shown during service yesterday, just to help you feel like you were there...

For my birthday, Tony planned a small dinner at our place with a few friends. He had an incredible spread of tapas... marinated pork skewers, parmesan & sweet pea risotto, lemon & pine nut green beans, cheese plates... Getting hungry? It was nice and relaxed and I loved looking around the table to see faces I have grown to love after being here nearly a year. Hard to believe we've made such good friends already.

My big birthday present was finding out what kind of baby we're having. We are excited to announce...


Tony has known since our ultrasound last week and has been carrying around this little secret ever since. I was honestly very surprised. He did a great job keeping his lips sealed and sending me off the trail to figuring it out on my own. Now we have the task of deciding on a name!

We hope you all are well and that you sense God's love in your own lives and are celebrating in your own ways.