15 by 15.. enjoying life now.

If you were asked, "what is the place you want to see more than anything in this world?" or "what is it that you want to learn to do above all else", What would you say, where would you go, or what would you do? Chris and I have a list of things we want to see, things we want to experience, and so many places we want to go. It's kind of like a 15 before 15. There are 15 things on the list that we would so love to mark off before 15 years of marriage. I'm sure I could fit so much more on there but I know I can't do it all.... even though I would try. :)

People ask us, "why the rush to do so much, you have your whole life".... And this is where my reasoning comes in. What is your whole life? Is it 3 years old and dying from cancer, is it 18 or 23 and dying in the war, or is it 98 and living well beyond so many others? .... your WHOLE life. We are NOT promised tomorrow or the next minute. We are NOT promised to live to see our retirement checks nor are we promised to see our kids grow up. The Lord does not promise us any of this but He does promise us a life in Heaven of nothing but pure happiness for all eternity. When He calls us home though... that's totally and completely up to Him.

When Montana was diagnosed with leukemia at 2.5 years old, my ENTIRE life changed and so did the way I viewed it. We had no idea what the outcome was going to be and I remember sitting there thinking.. I have so much I want him to experience, to see, and to do. It was then that my husband I decided we were not going to wait and plan and save for the future... we aren't promised to see it anyway. Our motto... live life with no regrets. Then on Aug. 19, 2009 my life was changed to ways I could never imagine. My brother died while fighting the war in Afghanistan. We had plans together. We were going to go to Colorado when he got back and create such great memories. In the end, it's the memories you remember and not the "things". And yet again, my husband and I decided that the experiences and the memories are what we value most about life and our family. Obviously, we can't do it all and we have to save for trips but when the opportunity arrises, we go! Almost every trip we have done has been on a whim and more times than not, we probably "shouldn't" have gone. But you know what?... we did it, the kids had a great time, we laughed, we played, we created more wonderful memories with our children and that is what we find to be most important. My kids are here TODAY so we're going to enjoy them NOW! Not after we have saved for their colleges and weddings and cars and new houses and all those other materialistic things. We are going to do it like my brother did and "Just Live the Dream"!

I'm sure there are many who don't agree with us and then there are many who do. Everyone chooses to live their lives differently and I guess that's why it's called "your life". Chris and I have just decided we are going to actually live ours now and not later after saving and saving and saving.

Here is our list of 15 by 15

1. visit the Moab Desert in Utah

2. take the kids to Colorado during summer

3. visit Paris, France 

4. visit Venice, Italy

5. go snorkeling on the Napli Coast in Hawaii

6. learn to snowbaord

7. take the kids rafting

8. take the kids to slide rock in North Carolina

9. have our entire family run the St. Jude 8k

10. travel the U.S in an RV

11. teach the kids to surf

12. take the kids to Maine

13. teach all three kids to swim well

14. swim under a waterfall

15. see the Northern Lights

DREAM: Bora Bora, Bali, or Australia... I will definitely go to that side. :) 

So why wait if you have dreams and things you want to conquer? We say... take the kids, pack em up and get out there to enjoy this life that God gave you NOW!