May 22nd - Dream Home

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It takes literally YEARS

to birth a dream,

whether it's a family, a career, a home, or a lifestyle. 

Dreams extract a price.

Dreams cost money, sweat, frustration, tears, courage, choices, perseverance, and extraordinary patience. 

But birthing a dream requires one more thing.

Love.

Only love can transform 

a houseful of needy, self-centered individuals 

into a loving, close-knit family, 

a passion into a livelihood, 

or a mere dwelling into a home 

that perfectly expresses your authenticity.

Even when money is not a consideration, 

love and time are still necessary to turn a house into a home. 

[Mark Twain described his home as such.]

"It had a heart and a soul, and eyes to see with;

and approvals and solicitudes and deep sympathies;

it was of us, and we were in its confidence and lived in its grace 

and in the peace of its benedictions.

We never came home from an absence that its face did not light up 

and speak out in eloquent welcome 

- and we could not enter it unmoved."

Is there a woman here who doesn't long to live in such a home?

A home that embraces, nurtures, sustains, and inspires?

[But I don't have any money!]

...

Don't look at the problems.

Search for the possibilities...

[But this is not my dream house!]

It may not be your dream but it does shelter your dreams. 

Those dreams can transform it into the home for which you long. 

Love knows how to paint, refinish, plaster, wallpaper, stencil, 

plant, sew, and build, even on a budget. 

Love knows that whatever you lack in your checking account 

can be made up by investing time, creative energy, and emotion...

But before we pick up a hammer, a paintbrush, or the real estate ads, 

we need to daydream...

Give thanks as you sift and sort, simplify, and bring order to the home you have.

Realize that the home of your dreams dwells within. 

End Quote

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Gratitude Journal

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1) Compliments. We were at Lowes the other day, and the person helping us told me I had a nice voice. I didn't even know that I had been singing, I thought he was talking to Robbie (which I thought was odd). It's the little things.

2) It's also the big things. Robbie put up shade cloth in the back yard, hopefully it works! Test run tomorrow.

3) The sunset yesterday that I forgot about.

4) I actually finished a chore today. I vacuumed, and put the vacuum away when I finished. Sure, it took most of the day, but you know...

5) Stories, and good things happening to good people.