Aint no man like Daddy...

This morning Georgia and I were sitting at the kitchen table for breakfast and she announced, "We're going to play in my room this morning. What game do you want to play, Mommy? Clock or Tea Pot?". Agreeable for curiosity sake I said, "OK, I'll play. How about Tea Pot?". So I followed her downstairs (she wouldn't let me step one foot in front of her) and sat on her bedroom floor. She pulled out the blocks and said, "OK, make a tea pot." I thought, "Holy heck! I'm no architect. All these blocks are square and all the tea pots I've ever seen are round." I sat, dumbfounded but then made an attempt at looking confident and began my building endeavor. Immediately, Georgia informed me that I was not doing it right and I should try again. I tried again. Wrong again. Again. Wrong... Georgia stood up bewildered and said, "I'll get daddy. He knows how to do stuff like this!". She marched upstairs and Chris came down and put the friggin' thing together in under 5 seconds AND it looked like a tea pot!!!! Georgia looked at me and said, "See Mommy, Daddy will teach you how."
After I got over my lack of tea pot building know-how, I felt so thankful that I have a husband that will stop his sprint out to the door to get to work and build a tea pot for Georgia. I also felt very thankful that Georgia didn't call me a stupid-head. That certainly would have hurt my feelings.

Things that make you go ouch...

Call me a masochist but I like to feel things in all their painful glory. I never shy away from pain in order to really experience life. When my grandpa was on his death bed I didn't busy myself with other things but cleared my schedule as much as possible and shared some of the most precious moments with him. Precious but painful. I have story after story like that in my life. It's not conscious and I don't realize I'm doing it again until I come out the other side pain ridden but thankful that I had the opportunity to draw in and soak in the experience and the opportunity for growth.

Tonight as I type I realize I'm doing it again. Drawing near to the ones I love as they experience pain and their pain becomes my pain. Break-ups, cancer, marital troubles, and other things. At the end of a long day my heart aches and my gut feels heavy. I'm close to tears. Even in this moment I wouldn't change my day; my conversations; my aches; my pains; my life. I feel blessed to trudge through life with those that I hold so dear to my aching heart.

Excellence or Perfection?

Living a life of excellence is harder than we as women would like to admit. Or is it? Are we striving for excellence or perfection? I was given an excerpt from a book that really made me think and I'd like to share it with my people. Here's to all the excellent women in my life!

"The Better Way" from Finding a Mentor, Being a Mentor

Excellence is willing to be wrong,

Perfection is being right.

Excellence is risk,

Perfection is fear.

Excellence is powerful,

Perfection is anger and frustration.

Excellence is spontaneous,

Perfection is control.

Excellence is giving,

Perfection is taking.

Excellence is confidence,

Perfection is doubt.

Excellence is flowing,

Perfection is pressure.

Excellence is journey,

Perfection is destination.

The mess of success...

Chris and I have been working on goal setting for the last year or so. We've had many conversations dreaming about our potential life and how lovely it would be to have a little house in Europe, another on a beach and another in the mountains... Matching Hummers (that's Chris!), matching track suits (that's me when I'm slap happy), and for me to have two boobs that match in size and don't droop down to my toes (that's Dr. 90210)!! BUT, this is all a dream. A dream that isn't necessarily realistic to really create the life that we really want; the life that's best for us.

So, after much non-sense we've come down to this one question: How do we define success?

Often, we measure our lives against our upbringing, pop-culture or even, our laziness and tendency to just make it from one day to another. My whole being is desperately fighting against this mentality. I'm tired of just putting one foot in front of the other; I want to drive towards something. Not money, not fame but a life that stands out; a life that digs deep; a life that changes people (including myself); a life that brings meaning to all the difficult times. I want to succeed according to my terms; God's terms.