Marking my Gratitude...

-


Today was my 35th birthday! WHHHAAATTT???? 35!?! 

Over the past few weeks, as this birthday approached, I've been thinking a lot about where I am in my life and how thankful I am for all that God has done for me. Just a decade ago, when I turned 25, I had zero children, had been married for a few years, was teaching in a pubic school, and had so many dreams about having a family. I found out a couple weeks later that I was pregnant with Dylan. In just 10 years, my family went from a dream to 100% complete. And I'm so incredibly grateful!

 I wanted to do something on this 35th birthday to celebrate all that God has done in the past decade. So, I had a sweet friend of mine design a gorgeous infinity symbol with all of my greatest blessings. My boys and I tell each other every night, "I love you to infinity" while doing the sign language for "love" and then our own made-up sign for infinity....its just our thing...just what we do. 
So I decided to have this very special, meaningful design tattooed on my back. This was definitely out of the norm for me but after having it done today, I absolutely love it! 

I was hoping to show the boys doing the sign language for "I love you to infinity"
but this is the best picture I could get! LOL
Signing the waiver.....

The stencil is on.....

Brent did a great job! It didn't hurt TOOOO bad!
Finished product!

My BFF Valerie was able to go with me!!!
We had a lot of fun and laughed a whole lot!

Today I am grateful for another birthday. Yes, I'm getting older but I'm also ALIVE, which is a huge blessing all by itself! I am also thankful for all that God has blessed me with over the past 10 years. It really blows my mind when I think back to that 25 year old girl....God has done so, so much! He is so good to me. This tattoo is just my way of marking my gratitude for these gifts. At 35 years old, I have everything I've ever wanted and so much more...that I didn't even know I wanted. There are rough days and hard times but at 35 years old I am so blessed, with an infinite love and firm foundation.


Comments

Post a Comment

Please take the time to leave an encouraging message

Popular posts from this blog

Please don't give me a wedgie!

-
Image
 Would you believe me if I told you that life with 3 boys is wild??  You probably would, huh? I'm telling you, just an average Wednesday night in the Shaw household is full of all sorts of craziness! I did hear a first tonight though!  Bryan was wrestling with the boys and suddenly Dylan starts yelling "Please don't give me a wedgie!" Now by those words, you would assume that he didn't want a wedgie but the way he was shaking his booty in front of Bryan and laughing, proved that he really did want a wedgie! HA! Then, of course, Evan and Tyson started saying, "Please don't give me a wedgie!" (One in English, one in toddler language) So we had three little boys running around shaking their tail ends and begging for wedgies.  There. Is. Never. A. Dull. Moment. As you can see from this picture above, they got their wedgies! They thought it was hysterical! And I just had to show you the picture below, just to give you an id
Read more

Psalm 84: 11-12

-
Image
For the  Lord   God is a sun   and shield;      the  Lord  bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold      from those whose walk is blameless.  Lord  Almighty, blessed  is  the one who trusts in you Psalm 84: 11-12 I've been pondering Psalm 84:11-12 for a couple of weeks now. It has become one of my favorite verses. After really digging into this verse on my own and in Bible study this morning, I feel like God speaks volumes through these 38 simple words.  God is a sun and a shield. Like the sun, God provides for us, nourishes us, and is always present. The sun provides hope with each new day, just as God gives hope in even the worst situation. Like a shield, God protects us and gives us security. We can hide behind Him and feel safe. But, a shield does no good just laying near by. It only protects when picked up and used appropriately. The same is true with God. If we don't acknowledge Him, if we don't get to know Him, if we don'
Read more

Beauty from Ashes

-
Image
I have heard the term "beauty from ashes" a thousand times in the past week. It wasn't the first time I 've heard the term but I've always just brushed it off. Since I've heard it so much lately, I decided to pay it some attention.  So here we go... The Bible says in Isaiah that God will give us beauty instead of ashes. In Biblical times it was the custom for people in great times of mourning and difficulty to lay down in ashes. Just imagine this...you’ve got a big problem in your life so you just lay down in a pile of dirty ashes. There is absolutely nothing beautiful about this scenario. So where does the beauty come from? Can ashes really be turned into something beautiful?   Scripture says that God is able to take the situation that burdens you or causes you pain and turn it into beauty. He can pick you up out of the ash pile of life and make something beautiful out of you. The Hebrew word for ashes is epher and the Hebrew word for beauty is pheer. Just m
Read more