Links & Things: Living out of a Suitcase Edition

Wish you Were Here

May has been a busy month for our family. Our travels have taken us to: San Francisco, The Ranch, Captiva and then took off for the Dominican Republic to continue our work on Hope Academy —the school we are building in the Dominican Republic.

Although this has been an extremely busy season for our family, I’m seeing the blessings and embracing the moments as they come. I know I will look back at this time in wonder and so I’m willing myself to remember it well…and take naps!
Sunset in Captiva |A Grateful Life

There have been so many inspiring things I’ve read and wanted to share with you this week. But the first one is Edie Wadsworth’s new podcast that I really encourage you to subscribe to. I’m already addicted after episode one!

Why the woman who “has it all” doesn’t really exist | Glamour

“Feminism was meant to remove a fixed set of expectations; instead, we now interpret it as a route to personal perfection. Because we can do anything, we feel as if we have to do everything.”

Zosia Mamet on why she won’t lean in, thanks |Glamour

“We are so obsessed with “making it” these days we’ve lost sight of what it means to be successful on our own terms. As women we have internalized the idea that every morning we wake up, we have to go for the f–king gold. You can’t just jog; you have to run a triathlon. Having a cup of coffee, reading the paper, and heading to work isn’t enough—that’s settling, that’s giving in, that’s letting them win. You have to wake up, have a cup of coffee, conquer France, bake a perfect cake, take a boxing class, and figure out how you are going to get that corner office or become district supervisor, while also looking damn sexy—but not too sexy, because cleavage is degrading—all before lunchtime.”

Four things to do when bringing home a child from hard places | Verge Network

“I’m a grown woman, I know I need to keep loving this child because he is my son. But if I’m completely honest with you, there were some dark days in there when I didn’t want to love him anymore. I was tired. I was exhausted from giving and giving and giving and getting nothing in return. I saw so much ugliness in my heart that I never knew was there and I was full of shame and guilt for the things I thought about my child that I truly did love so much. He pushed every single button I had. I also developed new buttons, and he pushed the heck out of those as well.”

These people are nothing like me |Chookooloonks

“Blogs can connect and educate about what’s different — not simply amplify what’s the same. And frankly, I think that if you’re only following people on blogs who are very much like you, well, honestly, you’re missing out.”

The Transition we Traveler’s rarely talk about| Lola Akinmade

“Exploring place is just one part of my “Why?” Writing about place – no matter where you are is what it’s about for me. Whether I’m in Nigeria, the Balkans, Lapland, Peru, off to the Seychelles, or sitting at home in Stockholm, that innate curiosity is what gets me digging deeper into a place. In other words, redirecting those energies into my own backyard when I can’t direct them outwards.”

On Traveling with a blunt object (thank-you)| Girl’s Gone Child

“We must find the thing that makes us feel estranged from our community and live in it in order to find our story,” I heard myself tell David. “The things that we believe set us apart from our friends and family, audience, and mates are actually the things that will ultimately bring us together, because, here we are, a billion different variations on the same idea. Snowflakes R Us.”

Why your home is already perfect| Fieldstone Hill

“There was a day when I would have seen these things as signs of imperfection. And I must not lie, I still struggle on many days with the messes and the dings and the spills and the things that get “torn up.” But my irritation lasts for only a little while, until I remember how fleeting it all is. These things. These Most Beautiful Parts of my Home. I look at these things and I smile. A deep, soul-warming, smile that comes from the gut. Because these things are already perfect to me. It does NOT have to be perfect to be beautiful. And as a slowly-recovering perfectionist, I can say with faith, the imperfect IS the perfect. It is just as it is supposed to be.”

Step One| Momastery

“Twelve years ago I fought my way out of the world of alcoholism and food addiction. I was on the straight and narrow for a while. I woke up every morning and found all of my worth from just BEING. Just Being was a miracle to me. I listened to my inner voice and the voices of people who loved me and knew me. I felt myself beloved on this Earth. Now I wake up every morning and I run to social media to find my worth. I give it away each day. I do not ask God or myself if I am loved. I ask Facebook if I am loved. I ask for the opinion/voices of a million strangers before I check in with the quiet.”