And much later...

...either I am a very bad blogger or I am much too busy with more important things. I choose the second.


The wedding is coming together. Landon continually tells me we are nearly done and lists off what we've completed so far, and I counter with a list of my own that sends me into a panic. Breathe, Maria. It is just one day. One stinking important day, but only one day none the less.

I just finished reading, Wired that Way by Marita Littauer. I'm no embracing my Phlegmatic self...Easy Going. Check. Peaceful and agreeable. Check. Avoids Conflict. Double check. I enjoy the list of dread on strengths much better then my list of weaknesses. I should work on that.

My Honey Do is about a thousand pages long...I'm off to work....

Yesterday I finished reading “The Traveler’s Gift” by Andy Andrews. It was an interesting blend of self-help advice and historical novel and I found it very easy to dive in and relate to the jobless (haha) hero David Ponder who was arriving at the desperate believe that his life was beyond hope for himself or his family.

David travels though time, meeting along the way the likes of King Solomon, Christopher Columbus, Anne Frank, and others, who each teach him a valuable lesson about living in such a way that he could not only better the quality of his life, but also the lives of those around him and for generations to come. 
 In a nut shell, David learns:

1. The buck stops here. I am responsible for my past and my future.
2. I will seek wisdom. I will be a servant to others.
3. I am a person of action. I seize the moment. I choose now.
4. I have a decided heart. My destiny is assured.
5. Today I choose to be happy. I am the possessor of a grateful heart.
6. I will greet this day with a forgiving spirit. I will forgive myself. 
7. I will persist without exception. I am a person of great faith.  
   
   (Andres, Andy. The Traveler’s Gift. Thomas Nelson, Inc:
   Nashville, 2002. p. 204.)
   
   
   I love reading books like this. I love KNOWING that there is so much potential in me and in those around me. That it is ok that I want a life of excitement and adventure and learning and influencing others. That is ok that I don’t want to just settle into a ‘normal’ life. I want more. That is ok. Better than ok. :)
   That being said…time to wash dishes. Wink!
   PS. The roof stopped leaking after a work crew arrived at 7:30 yesterday morning to dig out all the ice….they will be back this afternoon to start patching things together!
   
   
   And….My eyes! My eyes!! The burning!!! ;) Suns finally out!!!
   

Uncommon Sense

I love reading. Usually I have three or four books going at one time. Right now I have more, I think…..I’m not even sure how many! But I can knock one of my list, which turned out to be one of the best, most inspiring books I’ve read in a long time. It was “Sense of the World: How a Blind Man Became History’s Greatest Travelers” by Jason Roberts.

I read and reread Robert’s words:
“As best as can be reconstructed, by October of 1846, when Holman stepped off the Channel packet, his travels totaled no less than a quarter of a million miles…Alone, sightless, with no prior command of native languages and with only a wisp of funds, he has forged a path equivalent to wandering to the moon.”

It is easy for me, and most, I assume, to make excuses for why we are not creating the life we truly want or are living up to the potential that God has placed in us. Most people don’t, I believe. So why should I be any different? Why take incredible steps to live an inspired, creative, world-changing life? All of us have a matter of chips against us. That is just how things are.

But…

There are some people who simple take excuses away. James Holman was one such person. He had dozes of reasons to settle into a sheltered, simple, conventional life. Valid reasons! Poverty. Illness. No family. Interrupted Education. Loss of full sight at the age of 25!! But he ignored social stigma and common sense and created a life he could only imagine and a life that continues to inspire.

What will I do today to achieve my dreams?