I’m going to jump ahead a little bit on my list to the topic of turning 30.  As today is my birthday and I am turning 30 it’s make sense.

I am in Chiclayo, about 3 hours south of Piura.  It’s not a particularly beautiful city but I didn’t really want to go far, travelling with Nina can be hard.  However, just out of Chiclayo there is a pretty impressive tomb that is about 1800 years old that we visited today.  They found about 16 graves buried there og lords, priests and warriors buried with numerous impressive ceramics and jewellries not to mention sacrifices.  It was pretty fascinating.  We also splashed out a little bit on the hotel to mark the occasion .  The room even has a spa bath which I enjoyed bathing in tonight as well relaxing with the welcome drink on the balcony.

I have to say it’s quite a big deal turning 30 and I am glad we have been able to get away, relax and do something special to acknowledge the ocaasion.  Of course thirty is not old but once you are thirty you are not youth either.  I have the feeling that if I am not fully living my life by now I better start.

I have a real sense of sadness to be saying farewell to my twenties.  I have loved my twenties.  I hated my teens but the twenties were great, filled with lots of adventures, fun, visions, idealism and friendship (I will especially remember the friendships of this time).  As well as lots of learning.  While I still have a lot more to learn I do like myself a lot more now than I did when I turned 20.

However, I have lived my twenties a little bit in the future.  Always planning the next step,  eg when I was at uni what I would do when I finished.  I have especially thought about this move to Peru and what we do when we got here.  I regret that a little bit.  I wish I had been a bit more present.

That is one of my hopes for my thirties.  That I will be much more present.  My other hope is that I will be a lot more stable.  I have moved around a lot during my twenties – Hornsby, Peru, Enmore, Glebe, Alice Springs and now Peru again.  It’s been a great experience but I am finally ready to settle a little, I guess it is fairly normal for this to coincide with turning 30 although probably more to do with having a baby.  As we will be heading back to Australia at the end of the year and probably settling in Alice for awhile with no particular thoughts about the next step I am hoping it won’t be to hard to achieve these two goals.  Although right now I am really trying to be very present in this place too.  I have dreamed about it a lot and I want to cherish every moment.

In saying that I hope I don’t settle so much that I will lose all the idealism and values of community, simplicity and risk of my twenties.  I hope I will not become closed to any challenges that God may call us to in the future.  I am lucky to have my community around me to hold me accountable I suppose.