44

At 44, here are 44 things I want, like, or love.

 1  i like very soft clothes

 2  i love blankets

 3  i want to dance three times a week

 4  i love throwbacks on 103.7

 5  i want to go on dates with my husband every week

 6  i love diving

 7  i want my kids to speak mandarin & have Chinese role models/friends

 8  i want a few more kids

 9  i love being on a beach at dusk

10 i love being anywhere on the water

11 i like clean lines and things put away in pretty containers

12 i love buying my kids toys

13 i love buying my kids art supplies

14 i want to work or volunteer 12-20 hours per week

15 i want to know my kids are in very good hands if i do

16 i want to learn mandarin and fear i'll never do it

17 i want to see my family a lot more

18 i want to be close to all my nieces and nephews

19 i love being a fan (physical, spiritual, or emotional)

20 i love watching football

21 i want to travel somewhere sunnier and warmer every spring 

22 i love my church 

23 i really like playing golf

24 i love wearing shorts, sweatshirts, and flip flops

25 i love shopping at u village

26 i love specialty's chocolate chip cookies straight out of the oven

27 i like decaf mochas from starbucks

28 i love top pot doughnuts

29 i want to be there for other women in some kind of ongoing capacity

30 i love mentoring college students

31 i love watching tv and movies 

32 i love texting

33 i love beautiful photography, especially of people

34 i want to finish my book 

35 i want my book to include the stories of 40 women i know and love

36 i like meeting up at a playground, beach, dance/music venue, or restaurant

37 i like buying people food

38 i like picking people up and driving people around

39 i like moscow mules 

40 i love southeast Asia

41 i want to go back to Fiji and the Philippines with my children

42 i love my husband and feel ridiculously blessed to be married to him

43 i love my in-laws and want to see them more often

44 i want strong & loving support from my close friends and family when life is tough

what do you want? :)

Forgiveness

In my dream world, I would go on at least two spiritual retreats every single year. I love retreats. I love getting away. I love being out in nature. I love sitting cross-legged on the floor in a circle with other women. I love hearing good speakers. I love rooming with my friends and talking late into the night like we did back in college. I love the road trip to and from, the inevitable laughter, and the shared experience that enriches new and old relationships as we move forward together. So I am signing up for a fall retreat with women from my amazing moms group at church and women from churches all over the pacific northwest including some sisters from Canada. My soul is breathing a huge sigh of oh-yeah-i-forgot-i-need-this-in-my-life, and I'm already looking forward to it. Just from the website I can tell that it's going to be good. I've been wanting to get involved with REST (real escape from sexual trafficking), so the fact that there's a breakout session on advocating for victims of abuse just feels like I'm meant to go and listen and learn. And as I clicked down a rabbit hole of links, I found this great article on forgiveness, and it helped me remember what I believe about forgiveness, repentance and reconciliation. I'm a near eternal optimist (no matter how hard I try not to be), so I'm a huge sucker for repentance and reconciliation. I'm pretty sure I'll long for it until I get it in all the broken places of my life. And I'd like it this side of heaven if at all possible. Anyway, this article squares with what I think is both excellent theology and psychology (based on about half of a divinity degree and half a counseling degree, so feel free to take that with a huge grain of salt). May these words speak love to your soul like they do to mine.

A Place for Forgiveness in the Context of Abuse and Violence