Dare to Dream

When people ask me if I meant to have nine children, I always shake my head with a look of dismay and say, “No, actually I meant to have 10 and I just couldn’t get that 10th one to “materialize”! In hindsight, I have realized that nine is fine! 

I came from a small family of three children, all of whom were hard to come by. My marvelous mom was 38 when she married my handsome farmer Dad who had lost his wife to cancer and was 13 years her senior. After two years with no sign of children, they adopted a darling little five-year-old from an orphanage and then….bang! Within months my mom was pregnant and gave birth to me when she was 41 and one year later my sister came by the same route when she was 42. Dad was 55. Their dream had come true!

I’m not sure exactly when my dream of a big family formulated but I knew by the time my dating relationship with Richard was getting serious that if he wanted to marry me, a big family would be on order (whether or not the order would be filled was yet to be determined).  He actually agreed and we started dreaming about fun parenting ideas long before our wedding day.

Dreams are what propels us into the future with faith and hope. Even if dreams may not turn out exactly as we had envisioned, they help us accomplish things that we could never have done without them. And we learn so much in the process!

Forty two years have passed since our wedding day and even though the number of children seemed important at the time and I knew it would be a daring adventure, I had absolutely no idea what that number meant!  Now as I look back, I realize that dream was the guiding light that has led me to more joy, more heartache, more fun, more hand-wringing, more excitement, more inspiration, more self-discovery and more treasure than I could have ever have imagined, even in my wildest dreams! 

Below is my dream come true and in living color:

 

Our brilliant friend Whitney Johnson has just launched a new book titled Dare, Dream, Do: Remarkable Things Happen When You Dare to Dream, which is available at bookstores nationwide and at all major online retailers, including Amazon, B&N, Indiebound and others.

Whitney, a stellar dreamer in her own right, has gathered inspiring stories of those who have dared to dream and have accomplished their goals in fascinating ways with stimulating ideas. We are thrilled that she was kind enough to include contributions of the “dreams” of three of our daughters, Saren, Shawni and Saydi as well as our semi-adopted Bulgarian daughter Eva Koleva Timothy. 

We are excited to send several of her books to our friends and family for Mother’s Day. To have a book or books sent to your door, or to the mothers in your life. click here.