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perspective

A fresh perspective

Oddly, we’ve had several discussions about money over Spring Break this year.  The boys and I stayed up late one night calculating the amount of money they’ll need to save to pay for their part of a car when they turn 16, if they decide they want one.  We broke that down into an annual, monthly and hourly rate.

They were astonished. 

It turned out that they really needed to get to work, and soon.  As a result, they asked how they could earn money around the house.  I asked them to make a list of jobs and what they thought those jobs were worth.  It was quite a humorous exercise, but in the end, we came up with a list of jobs that would actually help the family beyond their usual responsibilities.  Things like: washing windows, sweeping the garage, washing the car, removing and cleaning the wasp nests etc. . .

We …

by Crystal Gornto Inspiration Priorities The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat
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Rejoice over the roses

Just a heads up, if you see a strange woman in your yard, with a twitch in her eye, taking pictures of your shrubs. . . carry on.  It won’t take me long.  I’ll be in your neighbor’s yard soon enough.

This is simply what my weekends have been reduced to.  

The process of building a home has been nothing short of all-consuming for me at times.  I want to enjoy the process, I really do.  It’s such a privilege and a blessing, but it’s also just. so. much.  There are so many decisions.

Things I’ve never pondered in my life, have now surfaced as “do or die” verdicts. 

This weekend, it was the listing appointment for our current home, a walk-through of the new home and trying to finalize landscape choices.  It may not sound like much, and we’re not even doing very much with the landscaping, but seriously.  How should we …

by Crystal Gornto Girl's Night Out Inspirational Words Love In Action Priorities Roadblocks in Life The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat
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What will you see today? 

A cold front whipped through Texas over the weekend.  We woke up to freezing temperatures with a sleetish/snowish combination developing on Saturday morning.  Of course, to me, that sounds like the perfect time to cozy up on the couch with a cup of tea and a blanket.  But to the boys, it was the perfect time to RUN outside, barely clothed, in bare feet, to explore it all.

The exploring quickly turned into jumping on the trampoline. 

That jumping almost instantly became doing their own unique version of a glitter jump, watching the icy snow fly up, each time they bounced down.  They were wide-eyed and bushy-tailed, like this was the best thing they’d done in years.  They wanted to make sure I was watching it all, through the window, from my cozy spot on the couch.  They needed to be sure I didn’t miss a single stunt, flip or roll through the …

by Crystal Gornto Inspirational Words Love In Action Motherhood Priorities Purpose The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat
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A lifetime of little choices

I grew up on a set of books called “ValueTales”.  They’re a collection of stories published in the 70’s retelling the stories of famous people from the perspective of a little voice inside their heads, or “invisible friend”.   Their little friends are of course, a bit corny, but the stories themselves are solid portrayals of the values built into their character by struggling through the moment by moment decisions of real life.  They break down the larger accomplishments of these iconic people, who changed the world, into themes of consistent choices that shaped the people they became and ultimately, the way they impacted the world.

Over the years, those stories randomly pop in my mind as I encounter difficult circumstances.

They filled my little girl head with hope and curiosity and perspective.  In the middle of struggles I never knew I’d face, or could even really comprehend, some of these characters and …

by Crystal Gornto Female Social Entrepreneurs Inspirational Leaders Inspirational Women Love In Action Loving Others Loving Yourself The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat
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A clear vision makes all the difference

Isn’t it funny how sometimes the thing you swore you’d never do becomes the exact thing you do?  I would have sworn on my life, that Scott and I would never build a house.  Seriously.  I just didn’t think our fiery strong-willed individual selves could withstand that type of pressure cooker situation, together.  But after seven years of house hunting, here we are.

We’re six months in to building a house and still alive (and mostly sane)!

It’s been more time-consuming than I ever dreamed possible.  There are more details that go into deciding where every light bulb, plug and switch should go than one would ever even want to imagine.  For this girl, who is generally a care-free, “fly by the seat of my pants” kind of person, there’s this annoying little dash of obsessive attention to detail that emerges at times when you least expect it.  (Like every single time I …

by Crystal Gornto Girl's Night Out Inspiration Inspirational Words Love In Action Priorities Purpose Roadblocks in Life The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat
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You’re an Edgedancer

Over the past couple of days, in between all my “regular” work, I’ve been taking Tara Gentile’s new class about hiring on Creative Live.  Tara is my business hero, have I mentioned that?  She’s my hero for many reasons, but mostly because she’s doing the courageous work of sharing her story while growing her own stand out business.  As soon as she crosses into new frontiers, she teaches a class about what she learned along the way.  She doesn’t wait until she’s the most experienced, best-selling expert on the subject.

She jumps right in to share what she’s learned.  

That makes all the difference.  Because if she waited to become the acclaimed expert, I would still be waiting.  Thousands of people like me would still be waiting.  Sure, there are other people who could teach a live course on hiring, but there’s no one who can teach it like Tara.  There’s no one …

by Crystal Gornto Female Social Entrepreneurs Inspirational Women Inspirational Words Love In Action Loving Yourself Purpose Roadblocks in Life Leave a comment chat
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