The Start of a Dream

     I do not want my first post to be one that address finances, because this dream, and desire did not start with a dollar amount. It did not start because I thought that one day it would make me rich; it did not start because I thought it was easy, but it started because I was moved.
     I hope that each one of you reading this, will understand, from personal experience, what it means to be "moved". Have you ever experienced a passion that gained so much momentum in your life, that it in many ways consumed who you were? This is the kind of passion that when your thoughts drift out of reality, they always somehow end up at that desire. If you answered the above question with a "yes", then you have in fact been "moved".
     There have been many times in my life when I have been moved by my faith; when there was nothing else I would rather do then go be by a lake somewhere, and simply sit in the presence of my creator. I have treasured these experiences and still yearn for more and more. Unfortunately, there have only been a few times when I was moved by a cause, or for people. It makes me sad when I reread what I just wrote, because I have always desired to have a heart for others, and I now realize that I have wasted a lot of my life being consumed by my own "issues", or pain. But, it is never too late to make your life count.
     When I went to the Dominican Republic last year, I was "moved". Not the kind of moved you feel, when you see those SPCA commercials with pictures of sad dogs, and Sarah McLachlan singing a ballad. Not the kind of moved you feel when you see a picture of a hungry child that asks you to donate a dollar a day. Please understand that I am not saying any of these foundations are bad, but in America we like to feel movement that lasts for a minute and then passes when we complete some "generous" act that only took a few minutes of our time, and dollars from our pocket. This movement I experienced was life changing for me. For some reason graduating college, and then going on to grad school, and then getting some teaching job that I would do till I retired, wasn't that appealing to me anymore. I wanted to help these people in some way, because they taught me more than any degree ever could. They taught me how to give, how to love, and truly how to do life together.
    I will be going to the Dominican for 9 months come this August. The program I will be a part of will give me the opportunity to learn in a hands on way, what it means to dedicate your life to helping those who live in a different culture. To say that I am excited is an understatement! I have been yearning for this since my week trip to the Dominican last August. I am starting this Blog so that I can share with you all the many stories and lessons that will impact my life forever. The cool thing is that this program is a just a small step towards my ultimate dream of starting a school in a third world country, where education is withheld from certain people, by the government, to keep people enslaved. I am not much of a writer, so please bare with me as I do my best to paint a picture, with words, of the passion growing inside of me. In the next few days I will be rereading my journal that I wrote while I was in the Dominican to share specific stories with you all. Hopefully these stories will help you better understand my excitement in some way. I will also post about my financial journey to this point, because it is pretty amazing how so many people have supported me in huge ways! Thanks for reading, can't wait to share more of how God has literally been blowing my mind!