MTV just wrapped up its first season of a show called the Buried Life. The whole premises of the show is : What do you want to do before you die? These 4 guys drive around on their bus from city to city crossing off rather large dreams off of their bucket list. Things such as: Play basketball will Obama, tell a joke on late night TV, go to a party at the Play Boy mansion. Then for every dream that they meet, and even the few that they don’t meet, they help someone else achieve what they want to do before they die. The whole point is that we have a whole life to live now, so we might as well live it.
This has me inspired. As a wife and a mom of 2 young kids, I doubt that I would be able to reach any major dreams off of my list, but the least I can do is make a list, and let it grow as my family and I grow. I have already crossed off a few things off of my dream list that I had made mentally when I was younger, and I imagine that I would be able to cross more off in the future. Things on my list have included:
1. Fall in love – check!
2. Marry the man of my dreams – check!
3. Find a job that I love and do it well – check!
4. Make some babies with the man of my dreams – check! (and we did that very well if you ask me!)
5. Stay at home to raise my kids to be a lady and a gentleman with hearts that yearn for Christ – I am working on that, and with a lot of prayer and guidance I have faith that this will be checked off eventually!
6. Record a song and be paid for it – check! (And Justin thought I was doing him a favor!)
7. Lead worship – check, and I hope to continue to check this one off for years to come. Whether I be on stage with a mic, or in a congregation, I pray that through my worship, others would feel compelled to also worship the One who created the stars, sun, moon, and yet still took the time to create my beautiful children and husband for me.
There are more things that I want to achieve than just these though, even though I believe these were worth while goals. I would like to add:
8. Be a really good friend. - this isn’t something that I have the power to really cross off of my list, but it depends on what my friends think.
9. Inspire my children to be all that they can be
10. Graduate high school. - I am 3 credits shy of any type of course I choose to take. I really just need to go take some class to finish.
11. Travel Europe for at least 4 weeks with my family when our kids are a little older. I would love to back pack or even just rent a car and see everything with my kids and husband. I think that would be such a fantastic experience for each of us.
12. If I never get the chance to spend 4 weeks in Europe with my kids, I would love to at least take them to Austria to show them where their Dad and I started really falling in love.
13. Visit an orphanage and make a difference in the kid’s lives. We already have supported a few different orphanages, but I would love to visit one some day. It wouldn’t even necessarily have to be an orphanage that we have supported.
14. Surprise my husband with a trip for just the two of us. I would love to take him on a romantic trip where he would be shocked, and thrilled. (Keeping in mind that if I want to make it romantic for him, I would have to go somewhere with a car show… maybe Geneva…)
15. Take a trip with my entire family – meaning my parents, John, Tonya and their girls, Shauna and Dwayne, Steph and Graham and their kids. It wouldn’t have to be something crazy and elaborate, just time where we all had the chance to hang out together.
16. Take a trip with my mom, sisters and a couple of friends.
17. Do my best to ensure that Meg gets the wedding of her dreams! We just need Tyler to hurry up and complete step one… 
Wow apparently I want to travel. Most things on my list are pretty self-centered. I just really want to experience life, and to do so with friends and family. There are many other things that I would love to do, but dreams like buying every one in my family a house, or paying off their mortgages would be a little too large of a dream than I expect to be able to fulfill. If I ever come into huge amounts of cash, then those would be added for sure. Until then, this is my list. I expect to add more as my kids get older and begin to develope dreams based more in reality than being a princess when Jenna grows up.
