dreamers and dream doers

It's the eve before Christmas Eve, and I'm enjoying a nice cup of peppermint hot cocoa, a good book (obviously not at this very moment), and a quiet house.  This week has gone a little differently than I had planned.  I wound up feeling super sick Tuesday night, which turned into being super sick Wednesday and Thursday.  What a start to Christmas break... Anyway, I'm highly optimistic that the next two days will be grand, and that I WILL feel better.  Optimism.

Enough mumbo jumbo; let's get down to brass tacks, shall we? A great and wise friend of mine recently sent me a copy of a book called, "The Alchemist."  I'm not too terribly far into it yet, but I am far enough to know that it's going to be a thinker of a book for me.  And I need that.  Tonight I read a bit as I attempted to sweat out my fever on the bike.  I won't recap the entire chapter, but I'm compelled to paint a brief picture for you.

Two characters emerge:  one, an old merchant/shopkeeper, the other a young shepherd on a quest to follow his dreams.  The old merchant has owned his crystal shop for thirty years, working hard to make his fortune and find success in his village.  The young boy has just sold his flock after a prompting from an old wise man, who encouraged him to follow his dream of seeking the pyramids, no matter the cost.  Crossing the desert would be perilous, tiring, and cost the young boy nearly everything; but his heart is determined to accomplish his dream of reaching the pyramids.  After some prompting from the young shepherd, the old merchant divulges his dream of completing a pilgrimage to Mecca.  He confides in the boy that he opened his shop with the intentions of compiling a fortune large enough to send him comfortably on his journey.  Yet with each passing year, the aging merchant continued to push aside his dream, just outside his grasp, with excuse after excuse.  At one point, the shepherd boy challenges the shopkeeper.

"Well, why don't you go to Mecca now?"  asked the boy.


"Because it's the thought of Mecca that keeps me alive.  That's what helps me face these days that are    all the same.... I'm afraid that if my dream is realized, I'll have no reason to go on living.  You dream about your sheep and the Pyramids, but you're different from me because you want to realize your dreams.  I just want to dream about Mecca. ...I'm afraid that it would all be a disappointment, so I prefer just to dream about it." 

The old merchant's response is so poignant to me.  His fear completely paralyzed him and prevented him from realizing his dream.  Not only that, but his fear changed his personality; it branded him simply a dreamer rather than a dream doer.

And this all got me thinking:  which am I?  Am I simply a dreamer?  Or am I actually realizing dreams?  I'm not so sure that I'm okay with settling for simply dreaming.  I'm not so sure that my soul can actually rest if I fail to at least pursue the realization of dreams.  I don't think that God places dreams in our hearts simply to taunt us with what could be;  something about His character tells me He places dreams in our hearts to be pursued and realized, if only we will trust Him enough to do so.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths."   Proverbs 3:5-6

As many times as I've heard/read this verse, it's finally beginning to make more sense to me.  So what about you?  Are you content to just dream, or are you committed to pursuing the realization of the dreams that the Lord has placed in your heart?  I dare you not to settle.

And that's all I've got for you tonight, fine blogging buddies.  Rest well and enjoy this season of celebration.

A Merriest Christmas to you!

baking blitz

What a whirlwind of a weekend, seriously!  Back-to-back-to-back Christmas parties kept this girl up to her elbows in sprinkles and terribly lacking on the sleep scale.  It was such a fun weekend though, full of plenty of laughs and lots of yummy food.

Thursday night began my baking craze and it honestly didn't end until tonight, when I rushed home from  work to decorate some cookies, bake some of my new fave muffins, and put together little treat packets for some special people and some lovely neighbors.  Confession:  I've lived in my house for nearly 3 years and I have yet to meet several of my neighbors.  Embarrassing, I know.  But I figured Christmas would be as good a time as any to show up with a smile and some sugary treats, and exchange introductions and Christmas greetings, right?  At least I hope so...we'll see.  :)

Given all the partying that I've done (partying--ha!) recently and the amounts of goodies that I wanted to share, I baked extensively more than I have in years past.  And I'm thoroughly tired.

The goods:
-Cherry Mash
-Magic Bars
-Pretzels
-Sugar Cookies
-Oreo Truffles
-Pretzels
-Cranberry Almond muffins
-Pretzels
-And more pretzels
-Russian Tea Cakes (I helped my momma with these...definitely a fam tradition!)

The ever important baking supplies...yes I often buy off brand :)

Best muffins of my life.

Sugar cookies waiting for some icing love

Most of the goods turned out wonderfully, but I kind of got off to a rough start with the Cherry Mash and Magic Bars for some reason.  I couldn't get the chocolate to melt right to save my life.  Seriously, it took me 3 batches of chocolate, peanut butter, and evaporated milk to get it to work and I still didn't get it right.  Hmph.  Needless to say, the Cherry Mash is going nowhere.  And then the Magic Bars were supposed to have a graham cracker crust, but apparently, the graham crackers enjoyed too much being stuck to the bottom of the pan.  Is it too late for me to ask Santa for new baking pans?  Hmm..

Anyway, all in all it was a fab weekend.  I have all of my Christmas baking and shopping done.  All that's left to do is deliver the goodies and wrap the remaining gifts.  Oh and then celebrate, of course!  I really do just love Christmas!  Are you all ready for Christmas?  Only 6 more days... :)

I feel like...

...the world's worst blogger.  Seriously.  It's not that I haven't thought about blogging lately.  Oh I've thought about it.  And I've wanted to blog.  But I haven't really had anything super cohesive or life-altering to blog about.  Add to that the fact that I haven't had a whole lot of downtime lately and, thus, we have a sadly unattended blog.  Erg.

So, in case you couldn't tell, this is strictly an obligatory post.  My deepest apologies.  To keep things [somewhat] interesting, I'll share some photos from the last month of my life, which mostly includes birthday happenings and Thanksgiving gatherings.  Do enjoy.

my bday with my sisters <3

pops, me, & momma

the fam

a surprise bday party from some amazing students

cousins scouring black friday ads

grandma & me on thanksgiving/bday

gma & mom: two amazing women

silly cousins & gma

grandma & her girls

carpenter fam

love her smiley eyes

my newly 3-year-old friend 

Well, that's a brief pictorial recap of the recent happenings in my life.  Soon I will write--not just blog, but write.  I promise.  Soon.  Meanwhile, the insides of my eyelids currently beckon.  Until next time.