Posts Tagged ‘Donald Miller’

Season of Firsts

I have heard it said that there is a first time for everything. There have been a lot of firsts around here lately!

While it is not really a first, a couple of weeks ago I the chance to drive to Fort Worth to see my favorite author, Donald Miller. You may remember my previous post detailing my excitement about his newest book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. A couple of friends joined me, and we drove to Fort Worth to have dinner with a few of my favorite former students turned friends, and then on to see Don. Let me just tell you that it was more than worth the hour and a half drive and the $15 ticket. After Donald finished speaking we had the chance to wait for autographs. Kelcy, a student who joined the trip, remembered to bring her book however, I left mine on the kitchen table. We waited in line for her to get her book signed, and I got the chance to meet Don in a moment of awkwardness and awe. Highlights of our 30 second conversation include that he called me “nice” twice. Ahhhh. . . . Here’s a photo of me and Don.
Me and Don
Also recently I tried a new vegetable- acorn squash. I have seen them in the grocery, but never tried it before. My friend Steph posted a link on her blog with a simple recipe so I decided to try it. I must admit, acorn squash was very yummy! You should check out Steph’s blog for yummy recipes.
Acorn Squash

Tuck recently had a big first. In preparing for Thanksgiving, I felt really guilty about leaving him with other people so often this year. So, since Southwest Airlines recently changed their policy regarding pets, allowing animals aboard flights, I decided Tuck would come along for Thanksgiving. For the first time in his life (that I know of at least), Tuck got to spend lots of time in a crate and flew. The flight out was relatively uneventful, minus the three times Tuck busted out of the cage and decided to try to wander around. Luckily the people sitting around me thought he was cute and wanted to play with him. He was much happier when we got in the car with his grand-people.

Tuck iN Kennel

May you have a happy Thanksgiving filled with a few firsts!

Anxious Anticipation. . .

I just pre-ordered this:



And I cannot wait for it to show up in my mailbox on September 30th! Donald Miller is hands down one of my favorite authors.

He’s most famous for Blue Like Jazz

But my favorite is Through Painted Deserts. This book came out my Junior year of college and Donald Miller came to speak at Belmont. Because I knew the right people, I got to hear him (it was a Freshman only event) and meet him afterwards (to autograph my books). Aside from falling in almost-love, I was moved to tears to hear him read from this book. There’s a section where it talks about how there is a time where we all need to leave home, to find life. I re-read that section often and his voice still rings in my ears. Here is a brief sampling from Through Painted Deserts:





It is always the simple things that change our lives. And these things never happen when you are looking for them to happen. Life will reveal answers at the pace life wishes to do so. You feel like running, but life is on a stroll. This is how God does things.


Everybody, every person, has to leave, has to change like seasons; they have to or they die. … Everybody has to leave, everybody has to leave their home and come back so they can love it again for all new reasons.


No, life cannot be understood flat on a page. It has to be lived; a person has to get out of his head, has to fall in love, has to memorize poems, has to jump off bridges into rivers, has to stand in an empty desert and whisper sonnets under his breath… We get one story, you and I, and one story alone. God has established the elements, the setting and the climax and resolution. It would be a crime not to venture out, wouldn’t it?


Oh, so good. You should read it. And then Read A Million Miles in a Thousand Years with me starting September 29th.