Thriving

Two days into my 4th decade (holy buckets!) and so far so good. We celebrated with a bang (really poor pun intended) by going out to the trap shooting range. This was my first time out, and it was so obvious. The kick back nearly knocked me over the first time, there are pictures of me with my front foot off the ground following the shot, and my shoulder is bruised from the butt of the shotgun. That, and I missed every clay the first round. It took Kelly telling us--after hitting about 5 out of her first 6--that you're just supposed to line up the sights with the clay. Oh, of course! Why didn't we think of that! After that my hit rate got much higher and my foot started staying on the ground. Overall I'd call it a success.

The family that shoots together...

Not the best form, but I got better as I went along

Before that we had thoroughly embarrassed ourselves on the tennis courts, and I have yet another thing to work on the next 30 years of my life.

And after that we had a Zapapas-style dinner and board games. The "Zapapas" version involves interruptions during grace, lots of cheese and sour cream, craft beer being spit out laughing (cough, Michelle, cough), multiple dessert options, and cheating at Mexican train (cough, Kelly, cough).

Birthday cupcakes!

Regardless of my age, I know that my life has been very blessed, and I'm grateful for the occasion to reflect on that. I can't even tell you how I've seen God's hand in my life over the years, and I know that He has great plans for the future, so I'm looking forward to it. And looking forward to the real celebration--IRELAND! More posts to follow when I get back.