It's my birthday!

I have been so busy today that I almost forgot to post about my big day....

40
The big 4-0
FORTY!

Wow, that sounds old!
These big birthdays have a way of getting in your head. I have been thinking about turning 40 for a couple of weeks now, and here are my thoughts....

I have had many great jobs over the years, many of which I wouldn't change. I when I was 21 I was a nanny for a wonderful family. I learned so much from them that helped me raise my own family. When Lauren was 7 weeks old I started a home day care. For the first year I just had my niece who was three at the time. She was a great kid, and she loved Lauren. The next year I had Olivia, and added a few more kids. At one point I was feeding 11 kids breakfast in the morning! I then sent 4 of them to school, and played with the other 7 kids all day! Boy were our grocery bills high then! But my days were filled with fun and children's laughter! What greater music is there??

Once my kids were all in school, I kept at the day care for a few more years. I love children and it was a great way for me to still be at home for my kids before and after school.
In the spring of 2005, with the help of my husband's encouragement, I started my own photography studio. There was a lot of learning in that first year! But I discovered that I loved being a photographer. I absolutely love children and babies, and I love capturing their smiles and personalities in photographs that will live on for generations. I love to be able to shoot images of pregnant bellies that mother's can look at for years to come and remember that feeling of life inside of them. I love catching that look of love in a bride's eyes. I love to hold newborn babies, and get the first images of them still curled up from the womb.

I also have been thinking about my family. My husband and I got married on October 3, 1992, and our first child was born on July 3, 1993. (that is exactly 9 months later for the slow!) So we pretty much didn't have any alone time as a couple before we were thrown into parenthood. Then by the time we were married for 3 years and 9 months, we had 3 kids! Crazy! You would have thought that we could have figured it out by at least the second baby! =)

God has truly blessed me with three beautiful children. They all get straight A's every report card, and they are all talented in other areas too. Lauren is the best Macro photographer! She loves to shoot bugs, and rings, and other 'things'. She is a great landscape photographer too! Olivia is so great with kids. All children love her! She is a big help in the studio when I have a child or baby session, and she is a great babysitter. Adam is a great artist (he loves to draw) and write stories (we have some saved that he wrote in second grade and they still make us laugh!). And he is also great at Math! Last year he scored a perfect score in the Math section of the Ohio Achievement Test! We are very proud of him!

So, I have been blessed with an amazing talent and an amazing job! I have three of the best kids! I have a husband that is very patient with me, and who loves me very much!

So turning 40 has been weighing on my mind.....Am I where I thought that I would be? Am I where I hope to be?
I could not have imagined my life as it is now, and I wouldn't change it either. God has richly blessed me and my family!
TTFN! Martha