{Bianca Juarez} my 5 year plan

Believe it or not, I actually went to high school with Bianca.

And through the magic of the worldwide web, we reconnected.

Bianca has a great perspective on life, an amazing faith, and the girl can rock a pair of boots.

You’ll love her.

Promise.

Watch the video.  For reals.

It’s great.

(If you are new to this site, please check out the FAQ‘s and stick around!)

***

At the age of 20 I sat in a booth at International House of Pancakes with four of my closest friends and announced my five-year life plan which included a graduate degree, a husband, one child, an art gallery and a house near the beach (which of course I owned). Within five years my life would be script-worthy and ooze with fabulousness, I said as I ate something rooty-tooty, fresh and fruity.

At the age of 25 I had nothing I hoped for.

See, at the age of eight I swore I’d move out of the ‘hood, lose my 60 pounds of baby fat, and never, ever be considered the stupid, poor kid again. Through sheer determination and God’s providential hand, it came to pass. But at the age of 25 I had nothing I hoped for. I was still in graduate school, living with my parents and unemployed. I was dateless most nights and the professors from school thought I was a fashionably dressed lesbian who found warmth and comfort in the university library chairs and stellar grades.

My life was script-worthy. But not the Hollywood drama I wanted. It was more like a romantic comedy—minus the romance.

To make my quarter life crisis even better, my mother was battling brain cancer and though I lost much of my baby fat, the psychological wounds from mean taunts and jeers made me see the obese adolescent child every time I looked in the mirror. What happened to the determination I had as the hustlin’ brown girl from the ghetto? Did I not try hard enough? Did I disturb the cosmos unknowingly? In a moment of desperation I broke down like every 20something living with their parents and asked for a miracle.

And one happened: I turned 25 and had nothing I hoped for.

I wanted the car, the house, the Italian/Greek model husband, the gorgeous child with green eyes, the career, and the image. But GOD wanted something much more than I could every have hoped for. As a woman who’s driven personality assured her of success, I can attest to being self-sufficient and the hubris that ensues. But when Life is nothing of what you expected and you’re left to rely on someONE bigger than yourself, miracles occur.

In The Name of Love from Bianca Juarez on Vimeo.

Everything happens for a reason. Your life has reason. Your life has meaning. Your life may seem plain and pathetic as a canvas, but what the Master Artist sees is the ability to create a work of art; art which is uniquely beautiful and reflective of the One who created it.

Ask for a miracle. Maybe it’s already in front of you.

***

Bianca has chosen Compassion International as her fundraiser of choice.

Which also happens to be an organization near and dear to my own heart so I’m extra excited about it.

Please consider giving anything you can…even $1…

AND to help make things funner (more fun?)…

for every dollar you donate, you are entered to win  $25 shop credit to The Pleated Poppy!!!

The cuteness is painful.

It’s hard to not want one of everything.

Or buy one of everything.

Which, may, or may not, be the case with me.

Shhh.

You can also enter to win by following my blog.  (1 entry)

This fundraiser and contest will run for two weeks.  :)

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jeannett

I'm a mom to four. A wife to one. I believe in story. I love telling you about mine and would love to hear yours. There's really no sense in wasting our suffering and not sharing in each other's joy. We're all in this together...even if it doesn't always feel like it.

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