Good morning! So, I just finished my first noteworthy book that I wanted to share on my blog. Ad I'm on a blogging kick besides to make up for lost time. :) I just finished Donald Miller's newest book "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years." He's the author of several other books, including Blue Like Jazz and Through Painted Desserts. Although I have loved every one of his books, this one was probably my most favorite.
In the book, he goes through him editing his life in order to make a screenplay and the lessons he learns along the way about story and creating a meaningful story with your life. Very funny read but also very inspiring at the same time. Makes me reflect on my life and look at what parts of it are truly memorable and how I can move my life in a direction so as to create more meaning and memories in my life.
So, here are a few quotes from the book that I really enjoyed:
"Somehow we realize that great stories are told in conflict, but we are unwilling to embrace the potential greatness of the story we are actually in. We think God is unjust, rather than a master storyteller."
"We were designed to live through something rather than to attain something, and the thing we were meant to live through was designed to change us. The point of a story is the character arc, the change."
"So as I was writing my novel, and as my characters did what he wanted, I became more and more ware that somebody was writing me. So I started listening to the Voice, or rather, I started calling it the Voice and admitting there was a Writer. I admitted something other than me was showing a better way. And when I did this, I realized the Voice, the Writer who was not e, was trying to make a better story, a more meaningful series of experiences I could live through."
"People fear change. Though their situations may be terrible, at least they have a sense of control; at least they know what to expect. Change presents a world of variables that are largely out of their control." There is a fear of choosing a better story, because although the current situation is not ideal, it is comfortable and familiar. So we stay.
"The most often repeated commandment in the Bible is "Do not fear." It's in there over two hundred times. That means a couple of things, if you think about it. It means we are going to be afraid, and it means we shouldn't let fear boss us around. Before I realized we were supposed to fight fear, I thought of fear as a subtle suggestion in our subconscious designed to keep us safe, or more important, keep us from getting huiliated. And I guess it serves that purpose. But fear isn't only a guide to keep us safe; it's also a manipulative emotion that can trick us into living a boring life."
"Its true that while ambition creates fear, it also creates the story. But it's a good trade, because as soon as you point toward a horizon, life no longer feels meaningless."
"A good movie has memorable scenes, and so does a good life"
"We live in a world where bad stories are told, stories that teach us life doesn't mean anything and that humanity has no great purpose. It's a good calling, then to speak a better story. How brightly a better story shines. How easily the world looks to it in wonder. How grateful we are to hear these stories, and how happy it makes us to repeat them."
So, those are a few of the quotes I found especially inspiring. If it sounds interesting at all to you, I'd encourage you to grab the book and give it a read. And let me know what you think when you do. This book has got me thinking a ot about my own life and the memorable scenes that I have lived, but also looking forward as to how I can make more room in my life for God to create within it meaningful scenes. I'm in a time of change and there is a lot that is unknown and the thought often invokes fear of many different kinds. But excitement as well, knowing that this can be used and formed into something great. Not even just the end product, but the process in getting there, which is essentially even more important. As I've oft heard, "the goal is the process". How true.
Think about actions you can take that you may not have otherwise taken that can make your life more meaningful today and be sure to take time to remember the meaningful parts from the past and celebrate them!
And my disclaimer here is that my hair doesn't look like that normally.. haha I did it for the show! :) 
Today I'm getting new flooring in my bedroom and on the stairs and tomorrow I'm getting new laminate in the two rooms I just painted-can't wait! (well i have to wait because they still haven't arrived-haha).. Anyway, once the floorings in and the furniture is back in, I will post pictures of the final product!! Pretty excited! :) 
And so ends our two day stint in Whistler. I know these pictures are all back dated but I figure I have catch up to do on blogging, so I figure I will post the pictures now. Sorry if my sudden posting madness is too much!
Although it had been quite stormy, it was good that we had nice weather for the time when we were there! All the fall colors and leaves everywhere was stunning! :) 
We went to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch after which I didn't need to eat dinner.. or early the next day either!! haha.. SO good!! :) 
So all in all a fabulous weekend away and definitely a blessing to walk around and chat about life and God, etc. Very encouraging and inspiring indeed! And that picture is of a monster salad that Alisha had!! haha
The next weekend, I had a hotel booked because I had bought my mom tickets to the Billy Joel/Elton John concert in Seattle that weekend which was unfortunately postponed but i was left with my hotel! My mom was going away so opted out of going, so my friend Theresa said she was able to come which was fantastic! The view from our hotel was stunning!! It was funny though because the hotel we were in was so "structurally sound" that it sways when it's windy. haha. So all night we could hear the walls creaking which in actuality was the hotel moving. I could not stop laughing every time the walls creaked even though it felt like our hotel might fall apart!!
It took us awhile to get out of the hotel back to the parkade on the evening we were going out. So we found the basement with all the danger signs posted. We decided it was picture worthy of course. :) We left the hotel, drove around, realized it would be far easier to just walk there and drove back to the parkade and walked. hahahaha
All in all, another wonderul getaway to Seattle! Nice and relaxing and just fun to get away with people I don't normally go away with!
