Thirty-four!

I turned 34 yesterday.  Yikes! That means it has been 17 years since I was 17!  !7 years since I entered my last year of highschool.  My last year of my childhood, my last year at ICA and in Africa. (aside from the year I went back to work.)  Some would say that I'll hit middle-age next year, but I disagree!  I plan to live well past 70, so I figure, I won't hit middle-age until I am at least 40.  Maybe 45.  :)  As my husband says, age is just a number.  And, aside from not being in as good of shape as I'd like, I certainly don't feel like I'm in my mid-30's.  I still love to get down on the floor and dance around, being silly with my kids.  I love to make up silly songs and rhymes and make ridiculous faces.  For my birthday, I went to the amusement park!  So, pbbbbbbt to getting older!
I had a wonderful birthday, starting on Saturday night.  Since my sister and I have our birthdays just 4 days apart, we decided to celebrate together with some of our girlfriends.  We had a great time eating chocolate, talking - as moms do, mostly about our kids! - and playing Taboo.  The last people left after 1 am.  That's the latest I've partied in quite a while!  On Sunday, we enjoyed a pancake breakfast at our church.  One of the perks of having my birthday during Stampede week - I can almost always get a free pancake breakfast on my birthday!  Then we went to Calaway Park, our local amusement park.  It's no Disneyworld or Six Flags, but we enjoy it.  It seems Cole is shaping up to be quite the little daredevil!  He loved the rides, even the scarier ones!  He even went on one all by himself! We'll definitely be going back again this summer.  Then we had supper at Moxies, which has my favorite dessert in the whole world, the White Chocolate Brownie.  Mmmmmm!  So, that was my birthday cake! :)  As we were leaving, we got caught in a hailstorm, with marble-sized hailstones!  Poor kids were pretty terrified, getting pelted by the hail as we were trying to get them in the truck!  And we were all soaked!  So, when we got home, we stripped off the wet clothes, dried off, and snuggled in our king-sized bed for a bit to warm up.  Cole and Zach had a blast crawling under the comforter and pretending it was a tent!  I think that might've been their favorite part of the whole day!

I'll close this post with a few pictures, but before I do, I've been reflecting on some of the things that I've done in my 34 years.  So here you go:
I have lived in 4 different countries - Canada, Mali, Niger, and Cote d'Ivoire.
In Canada, I have lived in 4 provinces. 
I have moved 13 times between cities/provinces/countries/continents.  That doesn't include moves between houses in the same city and the numerous moves back and forth between ICA and home.  (Since we had to pack up all our stuff each time we left ICA for vacation, it really was a move.)
I have visited 6 provinces, at least 17 states, (I might be forgetting a couple), and 10 countries. (not including Canada and the US)
I've ridden a camel out to the sand dunes in Timbuktu.  Yes, it is a real place!! It's in Mali.
I've swum in the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Carribean, and the North Sea. (Brrrrrr!)
I have shared a room with at least 2 dozen different people - I can't even count all the roommates I've had!
I've had six different sets of  "parents" - not including my actual parents, of course!
I've lived in dorms, done room and board, lived in a basement suite, lived in 2 apartments, lived with roommates, and owned 3 homes. (none of them by myself though.)
I've jumped out of an airplane- twice!
I've gone skinny-dipping, a few times. ;)
I've eaten goat, camel, frogs-legs, crickets, and flying termites- yes, all on purpose!  Probably several other bugs not on purpose, and likely other meats I'm happy to remain blissfully ignorant that I ate!
I've learned at least 10 words of 6 languages besides English, and greetings in 3-4 more besides that.  The only other one I can actually speak anything resembling fluently though is French.
I've married the love of my life.
I've had 2 wonderful, adorable boys.
There's much more of course, but I don't want to bore you! 
All in all, it's been quite a ride!  I feel so very blessed to have had the life that I have had for these first 34 years, and I look forward to seeing what God is going to hand us over the next 34 - and hopefully more - years!

And now, here are the pictures:
One of our friends, Sara, made us these very lovely and delicious birthday cupcakes!

Cole getting ready to drive his car at Calaway Park.  He loved this ride!

Cole and Jeff flying the airplanes together.  Jeff doesn't do rides, so it was pretty special that he went on one with Cole!

Zach's only ride - the carousel.  He loved it!

Driving the car again with Cadence and Jordan.  You can tell from Cole's face how much he loves this ride!