its no secret that i read a lot of blogs of people who i've never met. it's crazy the connections that i feel towards certain bloggers, or specific posts. one blogger had me at the first picture i came across. then i started to read, and i was hooked. Kelle Hampton has a little ol' blog affectionately titled "Enjoying the Small Things". all i can say is, girl can write. her posts and photos make me want to be a better mother, a better friend, a better wife, a better me.
she announced that she had written a book, and i am pretty sure i squealed. being a book nerd lover at heart, i knew it would be a must read for me. she announced a pre-book offer, and i reserved my book immediately. on April 3 it appeared in my nook reader, and i was so excited.
i'm so glad i did. this book resonated with me. weather you are a mom, or a sister, or a friend, there will be a part(s) of this book that will have you totally nodding your head in agreement. i found myself highlighting parts that i wanted to save and re-read. quotes. words that had an "ah-ha" effect. words that for me, were extremely powerful.
“I was inspired…inspired to face challenges and leave my comfort zone and go through hard things because that is what turns the screenplays of our lives from boring to Oscar-Worthy.”
“I am learning the older I get to stop pretending I think something just because its right. Real is sometimes better than right.”
“A sister. I was going to give her a best friend. Someday they would know each other’s thoughts from just a look, and one day, they would have each other on speed dial to complain about kids mouthing off and husbands who don’t pick up after themselves.”
“It’s knowing that life is short, and the moments we choose to fill our cup with should be purposeful and rich. That we should be present for life, that we should drink deeply. And that’s perfection.”
“Sometimes, you get a Get-Out-of-Adulthood-Free card and you can, for a moment, wave your card and wait for your mom to come running. And she’ll help you fix it.”
“But it was in this beautiful mess of my former self that true potential dwelled – potential to be molded and shaped by a grand defining moment. And when there is potential…there is greatness.”
“Confidence doesn’t always come in surges. Sometimes – lots of times – it brews unbeknownst to us, building during the times we feel the least confident – through the tears, the questioning, the self-doubt, the begging God to make it better. Confidence, like contentment, is earned, paved stone by stone until you finally turn back and realize it has been pieced together to create something strong. Confidence is a process.”
“Words are merely words – meaningless unless given power to affect us. It does sting, however, to know that the world is full of pain – pain that people harbor inside and last out, projecting their hurts onto the undeserving.”
“Pain has a way of pulling you forward to a surprising place of “I didn’t know I had it in me,” and while you think there is no way you will ever make it through in the beginning, you do.”
*all quotes are from Bloom: Finding Beauty In the Unexpected by Kelle Hampton.
