My Favorite Song

Labeling any song as your "favorite" is very difficult. But this song has consistently been in my top five for the last two years, since I first discovered it. The song is entitled "Gabriel's Oboe" and my recording was performed by the violinist Jenny Oaks Baker. A friend of mine recently introduced me to a version I love even more. This one is performed by Yo-Yo Ma.



This song is so many things to me. It's the song I chose to listen to on the top of the sacred Mount Tai in Shandong, China. It's the song I shared with my first true love. It fills me with emotion every time. To me it's come to represent life and spiritual growth - struggles and victories.

And sometimes...it represents my relationship with a special person.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

The Tangled List

I guess most people call this a "Bucket List," but I'm not a fan of the term. I'll call it my "Tangled" list, after one of my favorite qoutes from the new Disney movie. I don't need to do all these things before I die, I just thought I'd write down ideas of things I'd like to do! It's a work in progress...

Tangled - Find a Dream/Always have a Goal
Rapunzel: I've been looking out of a window for eighteen years, dreaming about what I might feel like when those lights rise in the sky. What if it's not everything I dreamed it would be?
Flynn Rider: It will be.
Rapunzel: And what if it is? What do I do then?
Flynn Rider: Well, that's the good part I guess. You get to go find a new dream.

- Take a photography class
- Go to the beach and take silhouette pictures in front of the sunset
- Make one of those really expensive/fancy cooking show recipes I've always wanted to make
- Make a dance video with my friends
- Dance alone in a mirrored dance studio to my favorite songs
- Take more ballroom dancing
- Teach my children how to finger paint (or vice versa)
- Write a book
- Sing "Pie Jesu" from Requiem on a stage
- Have a reunion cruise with my college friends
- Hike somewhere unchartered in the mountains
- Paint a wall mural
- Be a EFY counselor
- Spend a summer in England working as summer camp couselor
- Study how wedding rings are designed and made. Design a ring and have it made one day
- Go camping with my kids
- Make a pinata with my kids
- Teach my kids the finer points of crazy dancing :)
- Wake my future husband up in the middle of the night to drive somewhere new and share the sunrise with him
- Visit the East coast again
- Read the Entire Bible, cover to cover
- Work with English Language Learning students
- Return to China with my future husband
- Make shaped/face pancakes for my kids
- Take my kids to concerts and museums
- Make myself a dress
- Have nieces/nephews/cousin parties at my house
- Volunteer in a foreign country with kids again
- Read Harry Potter to children who have never read it or seen the movies
- Help my students believe in their dreams
- See a Broadway play
- See the Broadway or London Theater version of "Les Miserables"
- Learn another Language...yet to be determined. Probably either Spanish, French, or Chinese
- Find my 3rd grade teacher's address so I can send her a thank you letter. Thank you Michelle Atkins! You believed in me
- See one of my friends embrace the gospel
- Practice piano again, long enough to learn a piece I love
- Be part of engaging choir
- Serve a mission with my husband
- Decorate my home. I love interior design!
- Have a two story library in my home. Cover the walls with the faded script of my favorite quotes...
- Marry my best friend (once we become best friends lol)
- Take my children to a third world country and teach them to serve others
- Give meaningful service in my church
- Learn to love the kind of people I'm afraid to love
- Make a difference in the life of a friend
- Inspire a student
- Create amazing engaging lessons
- read. Read. READ!
- Teach my children to cook
- Continue my family Christmas traditions with my own family
- Use my Elementary Education degree to branch out into other fields. philanthropy, international relations, history, language acquisition, pre-service teacher education, teaching seminary, etc.
- Help a Young Woman who struggles like I did in High School
- Live near my brothers and their children
- Play classical music in my house weekly ( maybe an awesome sound system in my house? cause dance parties are good too!)
- Visit Alaska
- Read more Shakespeare. See more Shakespeare plays
- Read all of C.S. Lewis
- Read all of Antoine de Saint - Exupery
- Collect more music. Itunes, I love you.
- Visit Jerusalem
- Keep a blog/journal
- Devote my life to my family and the Lord

etc. I LOVE LIFE