hello, my name is jessica and i am in my late 20s...

Yesterday was my 27th birthday. Yesterday I officially entered my "late" 20s. 


I hadn't thought about this year being pivotal in any way- not like '16' or '21' was and not like '30' will be, but then a good friend pointed out today at work that I am now in my late 20s. What? I hadn't thought of that! Umm, not sure how I feel about that one... but, I've thought about it a little more and I'm still not phased. Early 20s, mid-20s, no longer in my 20s... whatever. I wake up every day completely in awe that I get to call this life mine and when you're that genuinely filled with joy, age becomes nothing but a label. 


Although it is just a label, that doesn't mean there shouldn't be ample celebration... and we did just that. Dan and I had date night on Saturday and then we spent all day yesterday together as a family- Dan and JP gave me the most beautiful necklace with our names engraved and embedded with Jackson's birthstone, they made me a birthday cake and we spent the day soaking each other up. JP provided unending entertainment as always, the highlight being when he taught himself how to walk backwards. He looks like he's doing the moonwalk and he cracks himself up every single time- hilarious. The perfect little weekend of us- just living, just loving.


That little man of ours. He has no idea that he carries our hearts with him everywhere he goes and I can't help but wonder where he will be and what he will be doing when he is 27. But, more importantly, who will he be at the age I am now. I pray that he'll be in a place where he truly understands the different between happiness and joy... and even better, that he lets that joy shine out of him unfiltered wherever he goes. 


And I'm realizing more and more every day that the best investment I can make today to ensure that he is that person then is to live by example that Jesus and our faith is the only way, that the love that Dan and I have for each other is unconditional and unending and that same loves holds true for him. 


And so I will hold those three priorities closer and more dear to my heart than every before in this 27th year. I will put my relationships with God, Dan and Jackson above all else and I will work every day to be the person that I was meant to be. To work every day at living the life God wrote out in his heart long before I came to this world. A plan that makes me expect miraculous, beautiful, amazing things this year. 


I am on the edge of my seat waiting to see what is in store for us next... whatever it may be, I say bring it on. Bring it all on, any day, because the foundation we have built our family on is stronger that I could have ever planned and that is what gives me complete peace and confidence to say... bring it on, late 20s.