Finding Adventure

4:30 am wake up and get husband out the door for work.

5:00 am shower and get ready.

5:45 am quiet time with Jesus.

7:00 am wake kids up and make breakfast as the kids get ready.

8:00 am clean house, do laundry, take care of kids, homeschool, ministry work as I can.

12:00 pm make lunch.

12:30 pm continue to clean house, do laundry, take care of kids, homeschool, ministry work as I can.

4:30 pm prepare dinner.

5:00 pm eat dinner

5:30 pm clean up dinner and kitchen.

6:00 pm go to church or kids' sports event (depending on the day and season)

8:30 pm everyone get ready for bed.

9:30 pm bed

4:30 am wake up and do it all again.

A glimpse into my day.

No glamour. No adventure. Nothing spectacular. Nothing special.

Every day when my husband comes home from work we ask each other how our day was. He always tells me something little about his day on the job, which I love hearing about. But I always tell him the same thing, "It was a day." My response doesn't mean it was a bad day, though I do have those, and doesn't always mean it was a good day, though I often have those. It just wasn't anything big, it was a normal day. It was just a day.

Our family is greatly blessed to take a big beach vacation every summer. I often find myself living for that vacation. Dreaming of it. Closing my eyes and pretending I'm there. Looking at pictures of the beach and reading all I can just to feel close to it. Sometimes I live for it even only a week after coming home from the beach. It's my adventure and glamour for the whole year. Just surviving until I make it back next year.

My heart daily longs for the enchantment the beach offers. I long to have sand between my toes and the sun beating down as I listen to the waves crash against the shore. To breath in the salty air and hear the laughter of my kids as they boogie board in the surf. Instead, I open my eyes to piles of laundry and dishes, barking dogs and kids arguing. The every day mundane.

Sarah Mae shares of similar longings in her new book Longing for Paris. Just as I long for the beach, Sarah longs for Paris. Unlike my yearly visit to the beach, Sarah has not yet had the privilege of visiting Paris. She says, "I was made for Tuscany. I was made for Paris. I was made for all the beauty in the world, because I was made for Heaven."

I love the beach because I was made to enjoy the vastness and beauty because I was made for Heaven. We were made to enjoy beautiful things because we were made to enjoy Heaven. Heaven has so much beauty that we can't even begin to imagine!

Sarah reminds us that God cares about our dreams and longings simply because He cares for us. God gives us longings and dreams, so of course He cares!

In Longing for Paris, Sarah teaches us to find adventure and beauty in our every day. We don't have to travel to Paris or even the ocean to find something amazing. God puts the amazing in our every single day, we just have to look for it.

When I stop and intentionally listen, I can hear the laughter and joy of my children just as I hear when we are at the beach. When I stop and intentionally look, I can see beauty all around me in the birds and flowers just as I find beauty at the beach. When I stop and intentionally seek, I can see the vastness of life in the clouds above me just as I see in the ocean.

Beauty is everywhere. We just need to be aware. Adventure is everywhere if we seek it. If you are feeling tired of the every day mundane, if your heart is longing for something more, look to the One who created it all.

Check out Sarah's new book Longing for Paris. Sarah will help you find adventure, beauty and joy all around you. She will encourage you to seek God above all else. She will remind you that dreaming is not just okay, but good.