The pictures are absolutely amazing. Some friends of ours just moved to Asia for a little while and I would easily add their location to my list of places I'd love to see. Do you have a list? A bucket list of things you hope to check off seeing or doing before you 'kick the bucket'? At the end of our swift life here on earth, I think we all hope to look back over our life and see a remarkable tale. We want to check off and experience all that God has created. We want to live our life to the fullest!
We tend take one of these two roads: 1) Set out in search of adventure. Travel. Roam. See. Taste. Do. Repeat. Or 2) Believe the lie that our day to day lives working a 9-5, supporting and raising a family, living in suburbia setting roots are anything less than extraordinary.
Nothing wrong with packing a bag and seeing more of the world! I'd love to see more! We desire that which is exciting and fresh! But how do we find the adventure in our day-to-day lives?
Today I turn thirty-one years old. My legs will never run in the Olympics, as I had dreamt. My eyes will never see the Northern Lights swirling across the sky. I won't taste Belgium chocolate in Belgium. I won't dance the salsa in Cuba. I mean, probably not...
However,
Every morning and night I kiss a man I love even more today than the day we married nine years ago tomorrow, (that's right - we went for the birthday-anniversary double). Love between a man and wife that grows despite differences, times of sorrow, and raising children is a remarkable adventure, indeed!
Each day I teach, talk with, laugh with, pray with and grow with three children that my body grew from the tiniest little spec, (two of them inside me at the same time!) Watching life that began within me, walking the world along side me, is nothing short of a miracle. This experience of being a mother has been one of the greatest wonders of this world as I know it.
I watch from my kitchen window the cocky fox eyeing prey out of his reach, the baby squirrels chasing each other around the trunk of their home, the male cardinal calling for his beloved mate, and the misses filling herself at our feeder. Our own yard; a magnificent, and often humorous, world.
From our first breath to our last, when our long awaited forever begins, all that day-to-day in between is nothing less than extraordinary. Whether you have bravely moved away from home to a new place where you don't know a soul, or you are stringing together a life for you and your family on a shoestring budget, or you are investing of yourself and your time into other's so that they may have hope, even if it's speaking encouragement and kind words to the cashier at the grocery store -- your life is of huge value to our Creator. You are the twinkle in His eye; the one He has paid a high price to spend forever with.
In my 31st year of life, I went no place far nor saw anything that many would check off their bucket list. But my heart beat an average of 115,200 times a day, I raised two kids from 4 to 5yrs and one from 3 to 4yrs, I watched my patient husband teach our kids to ride bikes without training wheels, Amazing-Cate and I began StyleMutt Home, (and soon after I learned how to drink red wine lol), and I spent a lot of precious time with family. It was an incredible year, indeed!
Interested in living more fully right where you are? One Thousand Gifts, (a New York Times Bestseller), is full of Truth and intentionality; a Christ centered focus on perspective and gratitude. I'm so excited to offer one as a gift today! If interested please leave a comment below and I'll have one of the kids pick a random name from a hat. We'll announce the winner on Thursday!
Thank you all for stopping by! Back to business tomorrow with a fresh kitchen reveal, (including why our first go with chalk paint wasn't right for us, what products we used this time, and how a simple formula has given us our dream kitchen fit for this house)!
