{"id":289,"date":"2013-08-24T15:08:25","date_gmt":"2013-08-24T14:08:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/?p=289"},"modified":"2013-08-24T15:12:31","modified_gmt":"2013-08-24T14:12:31","slug":"nowthatim30","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/nowthatim30\/","title":{"rendered":"Now that I’m 30"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saturday, August 24, 2013<\/p>\n

It\u2019s official.\u00a0 I have spent 1 month in my 30\u2019s!\u00a0 I have been excited to turn 30 for a while, and now it\u2019s here.\u00a0 Not that I thought I would feel older, and in case you were wondering, I don\u2019t!\u00a0 I was recently reflecting on the last year, and remembering all the goals I had made for myself, on my \u201c30 before 30 list<\/a>\u201d blog!\u00a0 I accomplished a lot of them, but not all of them.\u00a0 I guess I will have to add one more thing to my list and make it 31 things to do before I turn 31!\u00a0 Haha.<\/p>\n

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\"P1000263\"<\/p>\n

Picture on bottom: My 80’s surprise party!<\/p>\n

Picture on top: The actual day of my birthday! \u00a0Tacos, chips, salsa and guacamole! \u00a0YUM!<\/p>\n

Although I didn\u2019t accomplish everything on my list, I still feel like I accomplished a lot.\u00a0 Even\u00a0things I didn\u2019t have on the list.\u00a0 Blake and I made 2 new international moves, I now do all of my cooking by charcoal, although, I still haven\u2019t killed my own chicken, but I have grown, and changed and learned and reflected and know the Lord is still changing me in many other ways.\u00a0 I did cross many other things off my list and wanted to use this blog to post pictures of my accomplishments!<\/p>\n

I think its safe to say I have finally learned to actually swim.\u00a0 I still may not be a really strong swimmer, but I am no longer afraid to swim with people, and have a race with Blake (he beats me every time), but still, I have technique, and consider myself a \u201cswimmer\u201d.<\/p>\n

I had a goal to Fluently Speak French.\u00a0 I would say I could add French as my second language.\u00a0 I can listen to and understand most everything in a conversation.\u00a0 I still have a lot to learn, but overall I am doing a pretty good job.\u00a0 I recently went to the market with 2 friends that only speak French, and successfully communicated all of my needs, requests, and had a very successful language day!\u00a0 After that trip, I ended my day knowing I can start to have deep friendships with non-English speakers, because we have reached that level of communication.\"P1000202\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Me with my French teacher Domie, in Kinshasa.<\/p>\n

I wanted to take up running, and run a marathon (let\u2019s be honest the marathon will likely never happen for me), but I have taken up running.\u00a0 I ran my first and second 5k\u2019s last summer, and I continue to improve my running habits, and abilities here.\u00a0 I feel healthy, I have something that clears my head, and I have learned to really enjoy running.\u00a0 Which was the point to making that goal for myself.\u00a0 I\u2019d say, I am now officially a runner!\u00a0 Thanks Heather!<\/p>\n

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My first EVER 5K!<\/p>\n

I have not finished reading my Bible all the way through, but I am still working on it.\u00a0 It has been a blessing in disguise in so many ways reading my Bible so diligently.\u00a0 And the Lord has been\u00a0working on my heart, mind and changing my faith.\u00a0 I look forward to finishing that goal this year.<\/p>\n

\"P1000022\"<\/p>\n

One final goal I\u2019d like to make note of, is making a quilt.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t actually made one, but I have really leaned to sew.\u00a0 I have made a pillow, placemats, curtains, reversible purses, and stockings.\u00a0 I have also learned how to make a quilt, and am working my way through accomplishing this task completely!\u00a0 Plus, I am learning to sew on a hand and foot powered machine instead of an electric machine, which I would say is a HUGE accomplishment.<\/p>\n

My first set of curtains! \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to the things I have written about I have improved my cooking abilities, and I continue to try and be creative with the few items we have here.\u00a0 And I look forward to adding more new recipes to my repertoire.<\/p>\n

The reason I made this list was for myself.\u00a0 I never set goals, and when I do I never stick with them.\u00a0 This past year, has taught me a lot about my habits, my discipline, and myself.\u00a0 I still plan to work my way through the rest of the list, but more importantly, I continue to improve myself in a lot of ways.\u00a0 I know how strong I am, I know my weakness and limitations, and have learned how to use my strengths to improve my weaknesses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saturday, August 24, 2013 It\u2019s official.\u00a0 I have spent 1 month in my 30\u2019s!\u00a0 I have been excited to turn 30 for a while, and now it\u2019s here.\u00a0 Not that I thought I would feel older, and in case you were wondering, I don\u2019t!\u00a0 I was recently reflecting on the last year, and remembering all the goals I had made…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3,9,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-drc","category-gemena","category-kinshasa","category-missionary"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":293,"href":"http:\/\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289\/revisions\/293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.berry1.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}