#30

I have been dreading turning 30 for the past few years- probably after I turned 25.  But for the past 6 months I've dreaded the day.  However, over the past 7 days I have come to terms with my new age.  My name is Mary Taylor Setliff and I am 30 years old!  

I am thankful for the 30 years I've been blessed with- for my family, friends, co-workers, schools, etc.  God has gifted me wonderful memories and I am excited for what will come in my 30's.  I've heard from many, many people that my 30's will be my favorite decade- my most defining decade.  And I look forward to that.

Thank you all for following me on this journey.  It has truly been a blessing to be able to blog about my life experience and people who have shaped me.  

I'm ready for this next leg of life- bring it on 30's!

birthday surprises continued (#29)

I remember late last year when I looked ahead to my birthday for this year and realized that it fell on a Sunday- I really wasn't that excited to spend this big birthday with the church.  Nothing against my church (because from my previous blogs, you know I love Maple Springs) but I wasn't sure I wanted to celebrate turning 30 with 400 friends:)  Boy was I wrong!

What a gift it was to get up this morning and go to one of my favorite places!  I enjoyed sitting through the 8:45 worship service and hearing from our lay leader, Dr. Michael Boyles.  He closed his sermon saying that when he filled out his spiritual gifts inventory he said he put down 0 for public speaking, but he nailed him.  I don't get to sit through a service often, but I sure did enjoy hearing what he had to share.

I headed into Sunday school excited to spend some time with the kids.  Some of my leaders had some tricks up their sleeves.  They had been collecting letters from kids and their families for a couple weeks.  All of my kids gathered together and presented me with the box of letters as well as sweet gifts to help me be creative.  They read some sweet notes to me and really loved on me.

So thankful for all of these sweet faces.

I am so thankful that this year's birthday was on a Sunday- what a blessing it was to be in the presence of our faith community at Maple Springs.  I'm blessed!

sweet surprises (#28)

My husband managed to surprise me Friday evening- like really surprise me.  He told me mid-week that we were going to have my birthday dinner with my family Friday evening because Fridays worked better (which is true- with my sister and I both being church workers).  Thursday evening Annie texted me and asked where we were eating and what time- I said I didn't know because Drew was in charge.  My Mom came Friday morning and we had lunch with Drew where I thought we decided we would eat at 7:45 at Filling Station.  And I was excited.

Mom and I shopped Friday afternoon and had a great time.  As we finished shopping, we both declared it nap time.  When we arrived home, she refused to nap and I did too, while I went on with my afternoon nap.  Drew arrived home early from work and said he wanted to leave early for dinner so we were not late- which if you eat with us (cough, cough Sam and Corey Jackson) you know we are often late.  What should have clued me in that he was up to something was when he asked me "are you going to wear that tonight"?  Drew never, ever cares what I have on.  I just took it all in stride and changed my outfit (like I had planned to).

We stopped to put gas in Mom's car (15 minutes from home) and Mom screamed (in her Linda fashion) because she had grabbed the wrong purse.  She demanded we go home to get her wallet because she was buying this birthday dinner.  Despite my arguing, Drew listened to my mother and drove home.  We pulled in the driveway and Mom said "would you go get my purse? It is next to the desk".  I came in the house to a room full of my friends and family- what a gift.

I am so thankful to each person who made the party happen- to Drew, Mom, Annie, Marci, and others.  What a gift it was to see so many sweet faces!

Here are a few pics from the sweet evening:

Captures our personalities perfectly....

DYW....enough said...

Thankful for sweet Marci and for all she does for the children of Maple Springs.
But even more I'm thankful for what a faithful friend she is.

Drew ordered a delicious cake!

My sister got me a walker- only my baby sister.  You just wait until you turn 30....

Sweet friends.  Thankful for each of you!

I love this man- to the moon and back.
He worked so hard to make this happen and put so much thought into it.
It is a night I will never forget.  I love you the most!

the Ya's (#27)

I am very thankful for 3 of my closest college friends.  Oh the memories- the laughter, the tears shared.  There are days when I drive to work (just 1/2 mile from Wake's campus) that I can remember our days there like it was just yesterday.  Hard to believe we've already been out for 7 years.  Where has the time gone….

Who are those kids?

Sarah, Meredith and Alexis were the very best friends I could have ever asked for during college.  We all pledged Kappa Delta sorority January of our freshman year.   Meredith and I lived on the same hall our sophomore year.  We bonded very quickly.  And lived side by side the following year.  Lex and Meredith had been good friends freshman year and I was brought into the fold our sophomore year.  I will never forget that Fall break sophomore year when we all rented a house in the mountains.  We thought we were so old….little did we know.  Sarah (or Kuhn as we called her) served as one of the vice-presidents when I was president of our sorority (our junior year).  She was my right hand.  She always had the right words and wasn't afraid to tackle what needed to be done.

We were so young-
M.Taylor and A.Taylor before Toga our senior year.

The night Wake beat FSU 30-30!  We didn't just roll the quad with TP….

Sarah and I after the big win- after lots of the campus played in the mud on the Quad.

I have not been the best at staying connected with these 3, I'm not that great at long distance.  But as I approach this milestone birthday, I make a promise to do better.  I will do better than that, I will not just be better (because that wouldn't take much) but I will be my old self:)

One of the greatest gifts is that Mere and I live in the same town!  What a blessing.

The Ya's on my bachelorette weekend in October of 2010.

Our 5 year reunion- 2 years since we've all been together.

I am thankful for each of you- for what you did for me in college, for what you've done after, and what you'll do in the years to come.  What a gift each of you are!

AOT,
Mary Taylor

the Cities (#26)

I would be remiss to reflect on my 29 years of life and not reflect on the blessing of two of my dearest friends- Hunter and Catherine.  Hunter and Catherine were on staff together at Carolina Cross Connection in 2005- the summer I took a year off.  I served as the camp cook at their camp for two weeks that summer (this was also the summer I first met Drew).

Hunter's wedding weekend!

We refer to ourselves as 'the Cities' because when we first became friends we lived in 3 cities (we do now as well).  Our friendship blossomed their senior year (Hunter was at State and Catherine was at UNC) and my junior year.  I burned interstate 40 up going to go visit them.  I think we saw each other at least twice a month.

I have had the blessing of living in the same city as them in various points of my life.  Catherine and I were roommates in Charlotte right after college.  And when I moved to Winston-Salem two years later, Hunter was here.  

Catherine and I anxiously awaiting the birth of baby Will-
we waited late into the night (well, morning).

I love the fact that we can go 6 months (or longer) without seeing each other but we pick up right where we dropped off.  I love celebrating life with them and I am so thankful that God brought them into my life almost 10 years ago.  I'm excited for the memories we will make during these next 30 years. 

This is probably my favorite picture of the 3 of us ever taken.
Love you both more than you'll ever know.

I love you Hunter and Catherine!

30 things…. (#25)

…..I love and need to remember to be thankful for:

1. for this abundant life God has blessed me with!
2. My husband
3. My Mom
4. My sweet sister, Annie Hughes 
5. My in-loves (Bobbie and Rob)
6. the memories of my grandparents
7. all my brothers (Tripp, Luke, Isaac, Noah and Misha)
8. my sister in loves (and those who will eventually be)
9. my job
10. Pastors Bev and Jeff Coppley
11. Wake Forest
12. the team of volunteers I work with at Maple Springs
13. the Cities (Hunter and Catherine)
14. My YaYa's (Meredith, Alexis and Sarah)
15. football season
16. FALL (my favorite season)
17. snow
18. the mountains
19. the beach
20. my extended family (Stephanie, Jillian and families)
21. my Winston family
22. my home
23. snow ski season!
24. my animals (Miles, Lady and Charlie)
25. Maple Springs UMC
26. Woodmont UMC
27. small town Reidsville
28. the people I serve with in Distinguished Young Women
29. Fondue on Valentine's with Drew
30. Setliff tradition of selecting a Christmas tree

my #mcm (#24)

It's not Monday but I thought the title was appropriate.  I am beyond blessed by my sweet husband.  Drew is the ying to my yang, the peanut to my butter, he's the frosting to my cake.

What a gift God gave me when he put Drew in my life.  There is no doubt in my mind that God hand picked Drew Setliff for me, not one single doubt.  Drew and I met the summer of 2005 and then spent the entire summer of 2007 together.  That summer I was the oldest on staff and he was the youngest (just a difference of 3 years).  That summer he was my rock and not much has changed in the past 7 years.

(Well I guess some things have changed, he doesn't dress like this on Wednesdays anymore)

We were oh so young!

He is the calming presence in our marriage.  I tend to kind of get 'over excited' about small things and Drew tends to remain calm.  He is the one who worries, I am the one that knows it will all work out.  We both liked to be right- he's still working on that 'yes dear'- haha.

I look forward to having him by my side during my 30's.  These will be the years that we will become parents, the years that I get to witness him be a father- oh I cannot wait.

I am thankful for the past 7 years that he has been by my side and I anxiously await the journey that is to come.  There isn't anyone else I'd want by my side in the years to come.  I love you the most!

Giving thanks (#23)

I am having a hard time with even how to begin this post but I know this blog 

will be good for me.  Good for me to write.  

Earlier this week, I received a text message from one of my DYW girls at Wake telling me my other DYW girl had been carried out of cheer practice on a stretcher.  When I read her text, I screamed.  Drew watched me go into panic mode and calmed me down a I went on my way out the door to the hospital.  As I drove, I prayed and prayed and prayed.  As I pulled into the hospital parking lot I told myself I had to remain calm (which if you know me, you know it's not my nature).  I prayed God would calm my heart and my spirit so I could be a calming presence to Corey. 

I will not go into the details of Corey's injury but what I will say is how thankful I am that God protected her in the way that He did.  She had an accident that could have left her without feeling in her arms or legs, but she's fine.  You read that right, she's fine.  As we left the hospital Wednesday afternoon, she WALKED out.  I walked behind her in amazement.  I was simply stunned.  

I think what amazed me the most throughout the entire ordeal was Corey's calm, collected presence.  When I first saw her in the ER, I was comforted by her attitude.  For those of you who know Corey, you know what I'm speaking of.  As nurses and doctors came into check on her throughout her time in the hospital, they'd ask how she was and her response was always, always "I'm great. How are you?"  I would kind of giggle every time and the nurses and doctors would kind of give me a look like 'is she serious?' Throughout the evening (and next day), she never wavered in her faith and never lost her positive outlook.  Of course there were tears, concerns, but she never doubted that God would be faithful.  Not once!

I cannot wait to hug you like this in a couple months!

Corey Jo- thank you for helping me to grow more in my faith.  Your faith helped my roots to grow deeper.  I love you sweet girl and I am beyond thankful for God's protection over you.  

I will continue to enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise!

heart of a child (#22)

I had little sleep last night in anticipation of worship this morning.  You see, my church kids helped lead both of our worship services.  I was super excited but also very anxious.  I get kind of anxious when it comes to making sure all the i's are dotted and t's are crossed, especially when it comes to worship.

But even with only 5 hours of sleep, I saw God move in a BIG way through my kids.  Today we celebrated Children's Sabbath at church.  Our focus was thanking our church for all they do to make children's ministries possible.  I think the kids got the point across.  With the help of Ellen Coppley we had an awesome video of our kids talking about their favorite things at church.  And it ended with this video:

I am thankful for the way that my kids 'stepped up their game today' and led the church in worship.  It is beautiful thing to be led in worship by children.  Our children's choir sang at both services and our kids led the welcoming, prayers and the reading of the scripture.

I am thankful for the heart of the children at Maple Springs.  Today their hearts shined through.  I am so blessed to be able to work with them and to continuously learn through them.  They are one of the greatest gifts God has given me during my 29 years.

continuing to learn new things (#21)

In this past year, I have been picking up some new hobbies- and I love it!  For a while there I think I got 'stuck'.  I was doing the same old, same old and didn't try anything new. 

Let me just say for those of you who know my Mom and my sister, you know they're UBER crafty.  And well, I'm just not.  I've never been gifted in anything related to crafts.  Like for real!  I think that is what has stopped me from wanting to pursue any new hobbies.  That is until this year.  

Back in January, Cheryl Oliver encouraged me to take a pottery class at Sawtooth Arts Center here in Winston-Salem.  The first couple weeks I was not enjoying it, but after that, I loved it.  The class met once a week for 2.5 hours- that was a big commitment for me.  My first pieces looks like 'they were made with love' but sweet Cheryl always encouraged me.  She always saw the good in my pieces- such a gift.   I so enjoyed working with my hands and making creations with clay- designing whatever my heart desired.  My pieces were not works of art by any means, but what I took away from that class was that 'an old dog can learn new tricks.'  I think  my 'successes' (I should use that word loosely) in that class inspired me to try other new things as well.  

A trinket box I made and a dice! Wahoo.

One of my trays:)

Back in July, Pastor Bev put a feeler out in our congregation to see if some ladies might be interested in a sewing group.  My initial response was that's not for me.  But somehow I ended up attending the interest meeting and I thought "I can do this".  This group is lead on one of the most servant-hearted people I've ever met, Ms. Martha Coscarart.  Martha is more patient than anyone I know.  She helps those of us (like me) who don't  have a clue.  I have so enjoyed being a part of the Material Girls group and learning how to sew.  My first project was making a 'pillowcase dress'.  We mailed those to little girls in Haiti.  Since then I've made myself a couple skirts and recently made a good amount of decorative pumpkins (I think I may have gotten a little carried away with that).  

Some of the dresses our group made!
(I Made the blue with flowers and pink ribbon)

One of my MANY pumpkins.

Martha (in the middle) made these pumpkin costumes for our pumpkin patch-
now you probably understand why she leads Material Girls.

What I've learned this year is that it is always good to try new things, we are never too old to learn or pick up new hobbies.  I am thankful for ladies (especially Cheryl and Martha) who've inspired me and had the patience to teach me.  

a song that touches my heart (#20)

I believe God speaks to us in many ways- through scripture, people, songs, our surroundings, etc.  Yesterday, God spoke to me in many ways.  It was a rough day of being faced with the reality of my grandmother being gone.  We had our Hughes family reunion where they honored her memory.  And our family (my Mom, sister, Aunt Lynn, Uncle Tom, and I) visited my grandmother's grave.  It was an emotional day.  

As I was driving home to Winston this David Crowder song came on the radio and it spoke volumes to me.  The song is Come As You Are.  The opening goes like this:

Come out of sadness 

From wherever you’ve been

Come broken hearted

Let rescue begin

Come find your mercy

Oh sinner come kneel

Earth has no sorrow

That heaven can’t heal

Earth has no sorrow

That heaven can’t heal

As it came on, I sobbed.  And then I continued to hear over and over Earth has no sorrow that Heaven can't heal.  What a gift that truly is.  Take a listen to the song- I promise it will be worth it.

the value of family (#19)

I am thankful that Drew and I share the value of placing our families as high priority.  Most weekends you will find us with one of our families and sometimes both.  We are blessed to live less than an hour from my Mom and just over an hour from his parents.  I am most thankful to our parents for modeling the importance of family to us over the years.  Mom, Rob and Bobbie place their families above all else and that is something I wouldn't trade for the world.

It is a blessing to be married to someone who values my family as much as his own, and I hope he feels the same.  This weekend was an odd one for us- families called us in opposite directions but we both went where we were needed. I think this value will be crucial to the next 30 years of my journey and beyond.  Family are the ones who support you in all ages and stages of life.

Mom and her boys.

Love this pic of the four of us.

The Trio.

I am thankful for all those God has placed by our sides- for my Mom, Rob, Bobbie, Annie, Misha, Tripp, Erika, Luke, Isaac, Noah and all the others.  It's a blessing to have so many who love us and care for us in such a big way.

Noah and I when he came to Old Salem for a field trip. 

Rob and Bobbie at Gran's birthday party with their nieces!
 

All of the boys
(Noah, Drew, Isaac, Luke, Tripp)

my second family (#18)

I officially became a Setliff on December 11, 2010 but I've been a Setliff since probably December 2008.  

Drew and I began dating in August of 2008 and spent a lot of time, right off the bat, with both of our families.  It was a great way for our to families to get to know us.  You see- Drew and I knew each other pretty well from a summer on staff together.  We knew after 2 months of dating that we were going to get married.

As a young child, I always wondered what it would be like to have a big family and I always talked about wanting lots of children (still do).  Little did I know that I would marry into a BIG family!  Drew is one of 5 boys, his father is one of 4, and his mother is one of 3- it truly is a big family! And I love it.

I am so thankful for the family I married into.  Rob and Bobbie are a great blessing to me.  I will never forget the day Drew and I got engaged.  Rob called me and said "I couldn't have picked out a better daughter-in-law"- of course, I cried.  I am so thankful for the way they love me and encourage me.  Bobbie and I can sit in the kitchen and talk for hours (while the boys watch football of course).  

Some of the family at Luke and Leeann's graduation party!

Gaining four brothers has been a great gift too.  I have learned that brothers are a lot different than sisters- boys are louder and a lot more rough.  When we are all at the table eating a meal, I cannot hear myself think- but I wouldn't have it any other way.  Knowing I have 4 brother-in-laws makes me feel quite protected. I love being around Tripp, Luke, Isaac and Noah.  In addition to the 4 boys, I have 1 sister-in-law and 2 girls that are not quite sister-in-laws.  Those ladies are sweet additions to my life.

The night I officially became a Setliff.

I am thankful for my second family and the love that we share.  What a blessing it is to be a Setliff. 

some things cannot be taught (#17)

We all know there are things in life that simply cannot be taught- there are some things that we just have to learn on our own.  There are many things that cannot be learned in a lesson form. 

This year at Maple Springs we started a small group for our kindergartners through 3rd graders called "Kid's Club".  We started the first Wednesday in September.  Wednesdays are now my favorite day of the week.  We begin by spending time hanging out- we play Connect 4, play with play dough, coloring pictures, playing Jenga, etc.  I love watching the kids trickle in as our time begins.  They all take time to chat- catching up with others about how their week is going.  One of my favorite times of our evenings is dinner time- a time when the kids break bread together and have time for real conversations.  It is precious.

We call our Wednesdays for kids "Dirt: Good Soil for a Full Life".  Each week we focus on a particular scripture (right now we are focusing on parables) and really dig into it- like digging in the dirt;)  

There is something they've already figured in the first few weeks, something that cannot be taught and that is how to be the church.  Watching this happen has been a blessing.  Our kids know the importance of valuing all of their friends.  They appear to sincerely care about each member in the group.  A couple of weeks ago we celebrated one of our 1st graders birthdays.  When he came into the room the kids loved on him like the church should.  They celebrated him in a big way.  And just this week they demonstrated that they know how to mourn.  They wrote a sweet card to two of our girls who lost their grandmother- each one taking plenty of time to write or draw just the write thing.

They truly know what it means to be the Church!

You see these kids know what it means to be the church.  They get what it means to be an Acts 2 church.  I'm thankful that they get this at such a young age- what a blessing they will be for our church today and in the years to come.  

remembering to unplug (#16)

It is amazing to me how times have changed since I was a little girl.  I can remember when my Mom first got her 'car phone'.  That bag phone was huge.  It simply stayed in the car and was rarely used- it truly was for emergencies.

Similar to what my Mom used to have.

I got my first phone when I was 16 (I think) and it was used to make calls.  There wasn't this thing called texting and we sure didn't have internet on our phones.  Even my first summer at Carolina Cross Connection (2004) my phone wasn't that important.  I served at a camp and that had ZERO service within the county.  I rarely left that county and didn't use my phone much.

Fast forward to the present day- my phone is on me at all times.  I'm able to be reached at all times whether through phone call, text, email, Facebook, FaceTime, etc.  It is crazy.  

A sweet reminder from our Church Retreat this past year. 

And now, more than ever, I think it is important for me (and all of us) to remember to unplug.  I rarely do it but when I do, it feels great.

This past weekend the Setliff camping trip was a time to unplug.  When Drew and I got close to our campsite we put our phones on airplane mode and to be honest, I felt relieved.  I needed those 40 hours without my phone attached to me.  I used my phone to take pictures but other than that, it stayed off.  

As I begin this next year, I hope I will take more time to unplug from my phone and more time to plug into those around me.  I hereby challenge myself and you too.