Inspire Me! Monday... Doing What You Dream of!

Personally, I have a several different dreams for my life.  The first one is really simple.  I have always wanted to be a mom.  It's what I was made for.  Even among my friends, they always called me the "mom" of the group.  Constantly worried for others safety, convinced we would get caught if we ever did anything slightly different than what our parents wanted (this lasted till college) and compassionate toward others' problems, I definitely earned my reputation as extremely mom-like.  In elementary school, I dressed up as a "professional babysitter" for career day.  (I wore a long skirt, a cardigan sweater and carried a baby doll.)  I have always known that I LOVE children- even when I was one.

Today's "Inspire Me!" Monday post is dedicated to doing what you love.

Are you currently doing what you love?

Being a mom and a wife is my #1 purpose (and on most days I really love that).  But since I was seven or eight, I have also always loved ballet.  I'm not sure what it is about dancing (and particularly ballet), but it has always "hit the spot" in a way that no other activity could.  The French language and experiencing Francophone cultures is another one of my passions.  Above everything though, is my desire to know God's plan for my life.  Following that has always come completely first- irregardless of what other things I enjoy.

In my life, I have gotten married when part of me was longing to live overseas; I have worked when I would rather have been caring for my family and my home; I have lived in a small town when I longed to live in a city; and I spent many years without any connection to dance while I longed to return to something that made me so happy to do.  I have always tried to choose God's plan over my own, and for a long time that did not include doing certain things that I really wanted to.

Now, I'm not complaining at all.  I am just saying that for everything there is a time and a place and a season. 

Like now- I am loving teaching dance part time and choreographing part of our Christmas show this year.  Working with students and putting on a production fills me in a way that nothing else can, and I am thankful for the green light I have gotten from God and my family to dedicate a limited portion of my life to a local dance studio.

Writing on this blog is even like that too (but of course it always come second to my family, which is why I am a bit on again off again around here).  Another creative outlet that allows me to work on another passion (writing and staying connected with others).

I think that it is amazing that for a time, I lived in a situation where a lot of my personal dreams were put on hold and now, years later, I have an outlet for several of them.

What dreams are on hold for you today?  What dreams are you getting to live out?

Now, in the midst of me being really thankful that I get to live some of my dreams out, I could totally try to tell you that if you are in a season where you are waiting on fulfilling those dreams, then you should just be patient.  I could probably get away with telling you that God will honor your season of waiting with a season of fulfillment.  But I don't believe that is a guarantee.  God is good, though.  And I can guarantee you that trusting God with your head and your heart completely is always the best choice for your life one way or another.  When I trusted God with my dreams, it didn't have anything to do with thinking that one day I would get to fulfill them.  Instead it had to do with trusting a bigger God.  A higher being.  Someone better than me at planning my own life.  God does create people with a purpose and (ultimately good) plans for their lives.  So living that out can be more exhilarating than anything we could possibly plan on our own.

So those are my thoughts on living out our dreams, God's plans and finding fulfillment in your role in life.  Here are some more thoughts on living your dreams in true Inspire Me! Monday fashion...

Being a Mom- AND following your God Given Dreams

The Right Fit (and a little pixie dust)

And here's a post that goes along with what I was talking about yesterday...

Reader Raid: A Happy Homeschool

And here's one that is just plain funny...

I was Snape.

Please pray for those of us toward the East coast waiting as hurricane/tropical storm Sandy hits.

I hope you found Inpsire Me! Monday refreshing to return to today!

Prayers for all of us!

Rachel

Finally...a playroom

Our family has some exciting news for the blog world that I haven't shared yet here on Common to Moms... we are expecting!

Furthermore... we are expecting TWINS. 

Our 20 week ultrasound tells us that we are expecting ONE BOY and ONE GIRL.  :)

We are beyond thrilled!

That being said... there are some major changes that will take place in our home over the next few months.

1. Melody and our foster baby, "Peanut," will move from separate rooms to sharing a room.

2. We will create a new nursery for our twins. 

3. Our home office is going bye-bye to make room for a kids-only playroom and learning space.

4. We plan to reclaim our living room as an adult-friendly space (no longer half and half). :)

Getting our house ready for this transition is going to be intense.  We are about to have four children under the age of 3 in our little, humble abode.  A friend of mine put this link on my facebook to give me some ideas for catering to kids in a small space.  This post is FULL of awesome ideas to help you create a kid-friendly play/learning space, so consider this an "Inspire Me! Monday" link on Saturday night. ;-)

In honor of reading this post, here is a list of things that will be put in our play space after we clear out all remnants of adulthood.

- A 9 block cubby holder/book case for toys,books, etc
- A play kitchen
- Probably a glider/rocker for nursing & possibly a baby gate contraption around it to keep kids away from poking newborn babies while I nurse
- Baby swings
- A pack-n-play to give Peanut a safe place to play while I nurse

Other things I don't have, but might like to make/get for the play space

- Lots of pillows for a reading space on the floor
- An arts and crafts type storage area with learning boxes and activities
- A table for drawing/coloring, etc
- Cozy kid chairs or bean bags, maybe like these but without the names on them
- Artwork displayed across the window with a line and clothespins
- Pictures of my kids on at least one wall

I am so looking forward to finally having the motivation to turn a room in our house into a complete kid-friendly space.  The only non-kid stuff that will have to remain in that room is our washer and dryer... The room we have been using as our home office is actually our laundry/bonus room.  So I will also be looking for ways to kid-proof the area in front of our washer and dryer, so kids can't mess with knobs, etc.  I am sensing the need for a closet to be built around them... but we will see. 

And of course, there is LOTS of work to be done in that room before we can even begin to really make it into a kid space... clearing out the adult junk, fixing a problem window and priming and painting it.  Luckily, I've had one or two people volunteer to help me with this project and I am definitely itching to get started on it.  It might take a little more time to start on it though, since I am still backed up from the first trimester blues... which honestly lasted until the last week or two.  The morning sickness, tiredness, etc are still not gone, but they are definitely not holding me hostage anymore and I can eat now, so things are definitely on the upswing. 

It feels so good to be back on the blog, telling you what's going on in my head.  Hope to see you again soon! :)

Love,
Rachel


-