36

Well, here it is...my first post.  At least, the first published post.  I have finally decided to stop being afraid, stop worrying about if it's good enough, and to just put it out there.  This is all happening at an eye opening time for me.  Yesterday (April 9) was my 36th birthday.  Just a number, right?  Well, I decided it was more than that for me, it was the start of a new year of my life!  A new year.  I have a very blessed life with my amazing best friend and husband Bobby and our four adorable and definitely insane children:  Jack, Wyatt, Elijah, and Piper.  I have recently (February 5) started my own business (LuLaRoe) and I am trying to figure out what it all means.

I just got home from LuLaRoe's Inspire Tour and Training. This, being my birthday weekend, was the perfect time for me to be inspired and do some soul searching.  At this training, I let myself in...I allowed myself to be open, I stopped rolling my eyes at all the impossibles.  You guys, I "drank the kool-aid" and it was delicious.  Friends, let me tell you, not only was it delicious, but it was life changing!  

My husband is a dreamer.  He has lots of great ideas, big dreams, and crazy plans.  He often comes to me with new dreams for our family.  Bobby has a great job and he is great at it.  He goes to work everyday to support us.  We made the decision when we had children that I would be a stay-at-home mom.  He has been the sole financial support of this family for nine years.  He has dreams...So many times he comes to me with ideas and plans (actual, doable plans) to live out these dreams and so many times I talk about how we have 4 kids, a mortgage, student loans, blah, blah.  He has lovingly nicknamed me "DC...Dream Crusher."  But I'm just being realistic and practical, right?  I mean something will come up and dreams are just dreams...not reality. 

At this Inspire Tour we were asked to write down our dreams.  It even went further and we were supposed to write down our dreams if money wasn't an issue...you know, OUR BIGGEST DREAMS we could dream.  We were given markers to write these dreams on sheets of paper on the walls of this conference.  The sad news.  I drew a blank.  Of course I want the obvious things most people want...health, happiness, security for our kids, but when it came to great big dreams, I just drew a blank.  This made me so very sad.  Had I spent so much of my life being "realistic and practical" that I had forgotten how to dream?  Why would God put me on this earth and bless me with this amazing family?  What is my purpose, what is my dream?  As I watched these women frantically writing their dreams on the conference room walls, I. Had. Nothing.  

When I started LuLaRoe, I was challenged to think of my "why."  What was my motivator in this business?  Well, that was easy for me.  My family was at the core of it all.  My husband and my kids are the reason that I get up each day and they are the reason I want to do extra to give them extra opportunities.  After the dream exercise, I realized my "why" was so much more than that.  My "why" was to find my dreams again, to show my children how to really, truly, follow their dreams, to dream big, not to lose themselves in the practical reality, but to be more like their dad...always dreaming.  

God has blessed me beyond measure in this life and I am certain that I will be taken care of, even when if the tough gets going.   I know where my faith is and where I fix my eyes...  So why not dream?  Why not take a chance on me?  Why not try my hardest in this new opportunity?  I will always be responsible but I am creating new dreams and setting new goals to reach those dreams.  I want to inspire our children to always dream.  Deciding our dreams are too big before we try to reach them is the surest way to be defeated.  So friends, I am all in, I am dreaming big and reaching up and giving it all I have. Praying 36 will be my best year yet!  
Hugs, Raissa