dream weaver ...

A week ago today a friend and I went out for Chinese food. We enjoyed our hot & sour soup and our entrees and conversation. As usual the fortune cookies came at the end of the meal. Mine read, Organize your life around your dreams - and watch them come true. That coupled with the book I'd been reading, Donald Miller's A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, inspired me to do just that - organize my life around my dreams and to watch them come true. So I've decided to spell out exactly what some of my dreams are so that they're out in the open and can breathe and begin to develop into life. In no real particular order, some of the things I dream about are:

* Hiking the Appalachian Trail. For, I don't know, the better part of 10 years now I've wanted to do this, ever since I read about it on someone's blog or something. While reading Donald Miller's account of hiking the Inca Trail in his book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, this dream was awakened in me. Optimistically, I'd really love to thru-hike it (all in one go) but realistically I'm not sure that will be possible considering it takes an average of 6 months to do that. The trail is 2178 miles and goes from Georgia to Maine or vice versa; most people go from Georgia to Maine, however, starting in March or April. The elevation ranges from 124ft to around 6000 feet over the course of the hike. I would love to plan that in 2 years time, during the summer of 2012, I will be hiking the AT. Or plan that summer I will do half of it and summer of 2013 I will do the other half. I hope to borrow as much gear as possible so that I don't have to fork out the cash to buy it. Obviously, shoes will be where I likely have to spend a good amount of money as I'll need a few new pairs throughout the duration. It's estimated that most hikers save $3000-5000 for their hike to cover all kinds of expenses on the trail (food in town, motel stays periodically, equipment replacement, postage, etc ...). Is anyone interested in planning this with me??? I'd love the company, even if you only come for a fraction of it.

* Finishing my degree/obtaining a Bachelor of Social Welfare. I met with an adviser for KU's 2+2 program with KCKCC. I still have some classes I can take at JCCC so I am hoping to start those this summer, pending some other things work out as hoped. I'd say if I go full time I can be done in 5 semesters probably. It is my hope to go full-time and that will depend on the results of my FAFSA (I submitted it March 1st) and other things.

* Upon finishing my degree and getting licensed, I'd love to work with people of all ages who struggle with self-worth and other things. I'd like to call the program "Bouqets of Roses, Oaks of Righteousness" based on Isaiah 61:1-4 in The Message. Not real sure yet how this program will look but that's my vision so far.

* Opening a bookstore/art gallery/bar in a quiet mountain town somewhere where there are no franchises, only local shops (or in a lovely college town or something like that). I have some ideas on the name of it too but I'll keep that to myself for now.

* Living in the mountains. There's something very personal about the mountains for me. So much more than the ocean. I really can't explain it. It's deep. It's mysterious. It's poignant. It's very personal.

* Living and working on a big ranch or farm in some wide open space somewhere where I can see the sun rise over the hills in the east and set over the hills in the west. I have felt the past few years especially that there would be something deeply moving, romantic even, about me finding satisfaction in working the land. Again, this is something that I can't put into words. I dream that I'll marry a man that has a lot of land and a farm and horses and together we will fall in love with each other more every day as we work the land. Weird? Maybe. But it's something I dream about often. Really I just think that I need wide open spaces, room to breathe and expand and grow into myself. Room for the expanse of Triune God to dwell in and around me.

* Improving the quality of life for people, both in my personal life and professional endeavors. I am on my way to doing this through CASA and some other volunteer opportunities. I'm hoping these volunteer experiences will open doors for me professionally. I really don't want to do for a living what I've been doing for the last 10 years: receptionist and administrative work, UNLESS it's in a social work / nonprofit setting that could allow me to advance in the organization.

* Living simply and cleanly and green. I don't want the weight of a lot of belongings. I want the basics: solid, nice shelter; food; warmth; love; hopefully a bed to sleep on and a table on which to eat; and a fireplace, must have a fireplace. Other than that, I'd like to think that I could find other ways to entertain myself and others than parked in front of a tv or by some other material possession unnecessary for life to thrive. My sister and brother-in-law are in the beginning stages of building a house out in the country, totally off the grid. Their own water, subthermal heating and cooling or whatever it's called, solar panels, windmills, etc ... That's what I want.

* Paying off all of my debt. To be quite candid here I have the following debts. 1. a loan I took out in 2002: around $6000; 2. a school loan from Alaska Christian College: around $4000; 3. backtaxes: around $1500 plus this year's taxes of $500; 4. my dad: don't really remember how generously he has helped me. I feel as though the loan from 2002 and the backtaxes that I owe especially, if not also the school loan, keep me bound and hold me back from living my best life. I feel their weight nearly every day. I've been paying on the loan and the backtaxes but most of the time feel like I'm not making a dent and it's frustrating.

These are my biggest dreams aside from the more obvious: marry a devastatingly handsome and godly man; have a boy and then a girl; raise them well, in the nurture and admonition of Triune; etc ... I want to begin to organize my life around at least a few of them. I want to begin to watch them finally come true. Living in Alaska was a dream realized and what a dream it was! I can only imagine what living a lifetime of dreams will be like. Here we go!