Brave Heart, Brave Soul. She who is brave is free.

Celebrating 21 Years as Mr. And Mrs. O "I wasn't looking when I met you. But you turned out to be everything I was looking for." ~ Unknown That's exactly how I feel about my hubby. I wasn't interested in a relationship, much less marriage when he came walking into my life wearing his boots, cowboy hat and wranglers. The night he pulled me out on to the dance floor, I was breathless. Johnny was everything I wanted and nothing I expected. He was a man's man, confident, and yet he was sweet and humble. That night some 23 years ago, my baby swept me off my feet and I have yet to land on them again. To think I was just 22 years old when I met Johnny. I was seriously a baby. When I think of today's standards, I was barely out of the cradle. To be honest I had no idea what I was doing whatsoever. All I knew was I loved the man standing in front of me and I wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of my life waking up beside him. I may have...

Have you ever seen the movie Up by Disney/Pixar? It’s another one of our favorite movies around here. Of course maybe that's because our family has this sense of adventure deep in our souls. The line, “Adventure is out there” pretty much sums up my childhood. Heck it sums up my parents life together since the beginning. Pretty much as soon as my parents married they were off and running around the world. They have lived, visited, traveled and taken me along to so many amazing and exotic places I can’t keep count. Combined together our family has scene Vietnam, Panama, Germany, England, Scotland, Sweden, Italy, France, Switzerland, Austria, Korea and most recently Ecuador. Honestly our international itineraries are a lot bigger than just those named above and if you add in most of the continental U.S. you might just begin to get the picture of our lives.  As a child I was blessed to walk through castles, take cruises down famous rivers of the world, cross the English Channel on...

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to walk through a wardrobe and come out into a snow filled world? Or have a painting pull you into an ocean on the other side of the frame? What if we could transform from the ordinary to the extraordinary? The words of the new Carrie Underwood song from The Narnia Movie, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, begin with these words: “There is a place out there for us, where your heart is free and hope comes back to life”. As a little girl my mother read the entire Narnia series to me. I loved every minute of these powerful, books, and the storytelling of C.S. Lewis. I was captivated, and I imagined myself on many adventures in this strange, yet very fascinating world.So last weekend after seeing, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, a very moving, emotional and adventure filled movie I did what I never do in public: I broke down in tears for my whole family to witness. I could not even talk for a while. I honestly could not help myself. As I struggled to e...