I Have a Dream

I just returned from our church's annual retreat weekend. This weekend is one that my family values and appreciates. However, it is NOT a "retreat" of relaxation. I am exhausted from my head to my toes.
This year's theme was "I have a dream" as this was the anniversary weekend of Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous speech. Prior to the retreat, I was asked to share during a group session, my "Top 30 dreams." A "dream" was defined as either a nighttime dream, daydream or wish/hope for myself or others and each dream was to be less than 10 words long. I said "yes" I would share, so, I had to get up in front of my friends, acquaintances and others to share, out loud, my list. This, in itself, is a sort of "bad dream" to me, as it is hard for me to share personally without lots of emotion (tears). However, I did this, and decided I would also share this list here.


I have a dream that my children's dad will see them graduate from college,
that I will grow so many tomatoes I will have to beg others to take them,
that ice cream will be the new health food

At night I dream of houses with many unexplored rooms
of my mom
of my dad

I dream of what color to paint my bedroom
and my kitchen
and my living room

I dream of an entire day without tears, from anyone, anywhere

I dream of a world where mediation is chosen as the norm, not court

I dream of an entire day to myself
or an afternoon
or an hour
or five minutes

I dream of reading a really good book which is the first in a series

I dream of long hikes in the woods
of sitting on the beach reading a novel
of camping in the great outdoors

I dream of my kids doing their chores without being asked
and without complaining
and then asking what more they can do to help
(If you're going to dream, you might as well dream big!)

I dream of a cure for childhood cancer
and for brain tumors
and for pancreatic cancer
and for non-hodgkins lymphoma
and for prostate cancer
...the list goes on

and I dream of a world where anyone with any of these diseases has access to the same excellent health care that my family has received

So, most of all, I dream of hope.


Now that I am done with this "assignment," I find that I am constantly coming up with more "dreams" that I did not include. I invite you to take some time and do this excercise for yourself. If nothing else, it may help you decide what it is you prioritize and whether or not that is where you are truly expending your energy.

I'm Back (I think)

So, here I go (again!). It has been a long time since my last post. A VERY long time (8 months, actually). A lot has happened. Some I want to talk about and process, possibly through this blog. Some I do not. In a nutshell, three major life events have taken place including my loving husband going on disability due to his brain tumor, my father being diagnosed and dying of pancreatic cancer within four months time and my loving husband having a recurrence of his tumor, thus needing surgery and follow-up treatment.



Ok, now that is out there. I am NOT blogging about it right now.



Instead, I want to blog (i.e. brag) about my kids. You don't have to read it if you don't want to, but I am going to write it because this is my blog and I can. And I really only want to say one thing about each kid and then I will be done.



My two year old learns new things constantly, so we really have to be careful what we say and do around him. I keep gum in the desk drawer and my 6 year old was asking for a piece. As I gave her a piece, Jedrek (the two year old) asked for some gum as well (it came out as "dum," but we were smart enough to figure out what he wanted.) Well, he would simply swallow any gum he was given, so instead I distracted him by pulling out several coins and giving him a bank to play with by putting the coins through the slot. Now he often opens the drawer and pulls out "gum" (money) to play with. It is just too cute to correct.

The six year old has just completed her reading lesson book "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons." The next day she started reading chapter books. Specifically, she wants books with many, many words and NO pictures. I don't think she is completely understanding that reading level, however, because when I ask her what the book is about, she gives answers like "Well, there is this boy and he has a brother whose name is Justin, but the rest is just too hard to explain!"

And my ten year old. This is a boy with perseverance (and a memory!). When he was just 5 years old and began receiving an allowance for the first time ($1.00 per week), he saved his complete allowance for 20 weeks in order to buy a metal detector he had been wanting. So, it should be no surprise to us that when we went to the local fair last year and saw exhibits of legos, and we just happened to mention that "maybe next year you could build something for the fair" that this suggestion would stick with him. This June he began building a lego house. With many hours of building and remodeling (two stories went to three stories, a garage was added, various dormers and finally a balcony), his house was finished well in time for entering it into the fair. So, with all that thinking, planning and hard work, it was nice to see that my son reaped the reward (literally) of receiving a first place ribbon for his work.

Ok, that's all. It wasn't so bad, was it? It was actually kind of cute, right? Anyway, in order to get back into this blog, I knew I had to do something that I thought was fun, so thanks for putting up with that. So I guess I'm back. I can't guarantee anything because of my continually crazy life, but I am going to try to blog a little more consistently. The next time I might write about my garden, or cooking, or cleaning and how good it makes me feel when things are in order, or homeschooling and why our family continues to choose to do this in spite of (or actually because of) the craziness of our lives, or maybe, just maybe I will blog about some of the "yuck" that seems to keep happening to us. That takes more energy, though, so don't count on it anytime soon. Thanks for checking back in!