Hey, Siestas! We will do our random drawing later today as promised and, if you don’t mind a little delay, post our biography winners within the next forty-eight hours so we can leave time for you to respond to this post. I learned something new about you over the previous post: YOU ARE READERS. And I love that. Get a load of the number of comments to that post! Of course, it makes sense when you think about it. Blog readers usually are…well…readers. I have already ordered several books from your recommendations and others of you mentioned titles that stirred up great memories of biographies past.I am a dyed in the wool book nerd so this totally spoke my love language.
I’ve been thinking about something since AJ’s recent post about stepping back from her LPM job for the sake of her family. In that post and in the one that followed, we hashed over the painful truth that, actually, no one can do everything and, unless our all is Jesus, no one can have everything. We have limited resources of time, energy, and ability. But, I thought it would be fun to list a few things (dreams, if you will) that we’d each do…if only we could. If only we were not limited by time, energy, and ability, or money, for heaven’s sake. How would you complete the sentence, “If I could, I would…?” Here are the ground rules: YOU CAN ONLY NAME THREE THINGS. You have to choose. Keep in mind, these aren’t regrets. (i.e. “If I could, I would…live my whole life again without making that stupid choice.” We all have plenty of those and they’re not likely to encourage others much.) The things we’re listing on this post are wishes! Dreams can say a lot about a person and reshape how we picture one another. For instance, maybe I’ll find out today that Moose Mama secretly wishes she could sky dive, or katiegfromtennessee has a long standing dream of being a zookeeper, or Sister Lynn has always wanted to take tuba lessons. You see, this could change everything. OK, well not everything. Not even much. But, for crying out loud, wouldn’t it at least be a little fun in a grueling week? Here are three of mine:
If I could, I would…
1) Travel to every country on earth.
2) Teach elementary school Sunday School.
3) Learn sign language fluently.
OK, how about you?
1. Move to New England
2. Learn to play the drums
3. Donate my office building to a small start up church
okay, Stephanie and I should totally meet–adopt a girl? on my to do list, too. Log cabin, book, I hadn’t read those when I wrote mine!!!!
If I could, I would…
1) Make a handmade something for everyone on the planet
2) photograph beautiful everyday sights in every country
3) Learn a second language fluently.
If I could, I would:
1. have wings.
2 (or) buy a private jet.
3. fly that new private jet to s. korea to see my mom and friends(at least every month)
If I could I would…
1. Have a hunting ministry for women.
2. Live in a cabin in the woods.
3. Financial help those I see in great need.
Woohoo for your point #1!!! Do you live in Alaska? Sign me up!
That hunting ministry for women is a GREAT idea!!!
1. go to college for biblical studies
2. be available to minister to others instead of working
3. once my kids are grown to travel the world w/o a map or plan doing things like working at a fruitstand in greece for two months or doing farmwork in ireland for 6 weeks in exchange for room and board, rocking orphans to sleep in china, building chicken coops in rwanda, etc. while loving people in Jesus name.
If I could, I would
1) Work at NASA
2) Go to Israel
3) Be the first woman to win the Indy 500
I would…
1. Lead a women’s Bible study group.
2. Take voice lessons and sing at church (that scares me just thinking about it, but I have always LOVED to sing since I was a child and imagined myself on stage someday).
3. Travel to the Ukraine on a mission trip to help the special needs children/orphans.
If I could:
1. I would do a mission trip every six months to a different country.
2. I would get a masters.
3. i would learn to fly a plane.
1. Live near my family
2. Work at a Christian Summer camp
3. Be able to sing on tune
If I could, I would:
1. Play golf 4 x’s a week, scoring under par I might add.
2.Get in my car right now and drive to the mountains in Wyoming, Colorado, or Montana.
3.Move back to TN.
Fun post!!
If I could, I would
1. Pay off my mortgage and other debts, as well as my children’s debts. (Buy two new couches.)
2. If I have any money left over….travel in an RV for awhile.
3. Go to Israel….give more to all worthwhile organizations.
If I could I would:
1. Take singing lessons and learn to do what I enjoy on key.
2. Travel the world for both fun and missions.
3. Learn to speak another language fluently. (Maybe French, because it would be most helpful with #2.)
If I could I would…
1. be a photographer
2. lead the women’s ministries at my church
3. be a stay-at-home grandmother
Okay, first time commenter, long time reader! Couldn’t resist the urge to dream a dream or two just for a few minutes!
1. Learn how to throw on a pottery wheel!
2. Go to Europe w/ my darling husband.
3. Design and build our dream house.
If I could, I would …
Cure cancer
(And now, the fun things)
Eat mexican food for every last stinkin meal
play the drums while skydiving all over the world in size 6 jeans with long luxurious hair.
Ooooh, I like the Mexican food, oh if only! I could live on it if only I could afford too! I love it soooo much. But I like my feet planted firmly on planet earth, so skydiving is out! We definitely can’t agree on that one!
If I could I would:
1. Have a house full of children!
2. Open a knitting store and offer lessons to young women free of charge.
3. Take the next plane to Italy and spend a month visiting Rome, Venice & Florence!
If I could I would:
1. Take over the care totally for my mom who is four years into dementia/Alzheimer’s, instead of just a few hours here and there…. 🙁
2. Have more extended periods of time at home by myself, so I could linger over my time with the Lord, more reflective prayer-time, stay up on my gardening, and home improvement projects (like painting)….:)
3. Have enough time and energy to have one date-night each week with my husband! I miss talking to him during the hectic week…
Yes, it seems we are in a busy season in my house…I will be thankful for it, and keep trying to hold down the mania! haha
Jen N. from Ohio
If I could I would –
1. Raise companion/helper dogs
2. Spend the summers RV traveling the U.S. with family.
3. Learn the languages of the Bible – Hebrew & Greek
1. Travel to Ireland
2. Sing with “the group” on the Gaither Homecomings.
3. Read 24/7!!
1. be smart enough to get a college degree and have a job–if I wanted one or needed to get one
2. be loving, kind, and compassionate to those I come in contact with
3. move to a house without so many stairs — the knees aren’t what they used to be
Learn to play the violin!
Hand over retirement keys to my husband !
Become an FBI fingerprint expert!
If I could, I would:
1) Be a stay at home Mom
2) Teach the Bible to other women (after I have time to finally spend time studying)
3) Volunteer at my church
If I could, I would:
1. Run a marathon
2. Own a B&B
3. Travel to Greece
Oh, I want to own a B&B too! And take my guests on little day trips around Central Kentucky and serve them french toast for breakfast every day!
1) I would be an architect.
2) Adopt several children from different countries.
3) Own a brownstone here in Manhattan that was walking distance from church.
If I could, I would…
1. Find a cure for cancer
2. Finance or fund completely the needs of children’s ministries locally and nationally
3. Travel all over the world
devote 8 hours a day to writing
pay for fifty kids to go to a christian school in the DR
If I could, I would…..
1. Provide a partner for my hubby’s OB/GYN practice so he could have a break….he’s the ONLY one in our town…which means he is on-call 24/7!!!!
2. Play a round of golf with a score under 90!!!
3. Meet Barry Manilow and have him sing just to me for 3 hours…..ah, the bliss, I can’t even tell you!!!!
I LOVE Barry Manilow too!
I love Barry Manilow too!!! That is an awesome dream!
If I could I would
1~ Write a children’s book
2~ Take my family on a missions trip to Mexico
(just waiting for the kids to get a bit older!)
3~ Take a big vacation with my family every summer
1. Live in one or more different countries for a while,so I could truly get to know other cultures but also so I can fall in love with our country all over again.
2. Own a small little bookstore, like to one Meg Ryan owned in You’ve Got Mail, that absolutely has a coffee/tea bar in it 🙂
3. Learn how to swim really well – like those people who make it look so easy!
1. Travel the world over
2. Spend a week in a monastery
3. Learn to surf
Where do you live? We let people come make retreat at out monastery!
1. Learn to play every stringed instrument (violin, cello, guitar, etc.).
2. Be an exotic animal veterinarian.
3. Sing like an angel.
If I could, I would:
1) Get the FBI moving on my year-and-a-half-loooooong fingerprint holdup so I could ADOPT ME SOME KIDS ALREADY.
2) Go to Africa to meet my Compassion kids. And take the currently nonexistent adopted kids with me. 🙂
3) Homeschool. And travel the country — hey, the world! — with the kids.
1. I would buy an old farm house (squeaky screen door included) and have horses and any animal my children wanted! Our picture of “ahhhhh!”
2. I would take my husband on a vacation to Colorado in winter so he can ski and enjoy the snow.
3. I would bless Mercy Ministries with an awesome financial gift as a way of saying “THANK YOU!” for what they have done for my daughter.
If I could I would:
1) be a mom
2) open a bakery (KK’s Bow-Tique & Bakery)
3) take a long vacation to Bora Bora (or, I’d be fine living there, too!)
1. I would explore every nook & cranny of Alaska like I have dreamed of doing for years.
2. I would live on the edge of a lake.
3. I would spend an afternoon with you, Beth Moore. I am a beginning speaker and would love to pick your brain for wisdom in ministry.
1. Go on a mission trip to every country in the world.
2. Stop the trafficking of people, especially the children.
3. Know that my children and grandchildren will come to God/come back to God.
I guess my biggest things are about children. I was a stay-at-home mom, I shopped all kinds of garage sales, we went without things we really did not need anyway, all the important things were covered by the Master. My three things are, I would build free day care centers for all those Moms who have to work, I would find a way for all the homeless children to have a home-there are 347,000 homesless children in Georgia alone, and I would make higher education free to anybody that wanted to go. I guess I am a dreamer but it bothers me as lucky as I have been-not rich, not poor, but lucky that I want all children to have what mine sometimes took or take for granted.
If I could, I would…
1)Learn Hebrew
2)Travel to every country on earth
3)Share Jesus with Everyone so none are left behind
If I had unlimited time and finances I would…
1. Homeschool my kids by taking them anywhere and everywhere they needed to go to learn and experience.
2. Write and publish tons of curriculum for churches and parents to use for the spiritual education of their children.
3. Would go out with friends to fabulous places anytime I wanted to.
and I would buy what you published on your point #2!
Oh my what fun it is to dream!!!
1. Own a quilt shop and teach women to quilt.
2. Have a womens speaking ministry and teach women the Bible.
3. Have all my children live close to me so I could visit more often.
Have my own food truck and sell cupcakes and other deserts.
Have an art studio
Live in the country in an older Texas white rock house.
Be normal and married like other people I know.
1. Call my mom, who passed away four years ago, just to chat about life, see what she thinks about some ideas I have, and ask her questions.
2. Own my very own boutique.
3. Design and build my dream home, so I can paint the walls and have a craft room. 🙂
ok, my list may not seem fun to you but it would be fun to me…..:)
Hmmm…great question!
1. Travel incessantly – locally, internationally, with my husband mostly, grown kids often and girlfriends – fun!
2. Learn to be a fabulous cook – and cook for friends, family and neighbors often.
3. Become a lactation consultant. Weird, huh? Even though it’s been over 20 years, I loved breastfeeding I’m a big advocate.
1)Take an extended trip to Asia – exploring China, Japan, Mongolia, and some others….maybe throw in Egypt, Russia, and Italy while I’m at it.
2)Go back to college – I MISS school – and was almost jealous of my kids getting to start kindergarten – they get to go for SO many years!!! I love learning and reading 🙂
3)Move all the people I love and the job my husband loves with me to Portland or somewhere else with much cooler temps! (We live in suburb of Houston)
I LOVE this post!!!!
If I could I would:
1. Go to Israel, with my Bible and my journal and just take in all in. Walking where my Savior walked and just being in a Holy Land. One day I’ll go
2. Be Beth Moore’s personal assistant (Hey a girl can dream right!!)
3. Open and run a home for broken, hurting teen girls who are addicted to drugs, pregnant with no where to go, living on the streets, basically the cast off’s. I was one of these girls once and moved into a home like this and now it’s my desire to open one up here in Colorado. To pour the love of Jesus into them and show them grace. This is the one I pray God has for me.
Thanks Mama Beth for having us do this.
You’re so fun!! I loved your #2!
I want to get in line with all of you who would like to work for Beth!
If I could, I would…
1. Run an orphanage in China
2. live in the same country as my parents and grandparents
3. join a handbell choir
If I could I would…
1. Travel to a new country every year. (My outlook on life has been changed with my trips to Italy, South Africa, and Ireland.)
2. Make every female realize her beauty (inside and out).
3. To be greeted at all times with a smile and direct eye contact. Robbie(:
I’d love to . . .
1. Live for a year in the British Isles.
2. Study at Oxford.
3. Take art lessons.