Africa, Walden, an Orange Jumpsuit, and Max Lucado

What do these three things have in common? My husband.
Today he donned a bright orange jumpsuit to head out to his new job at a refinery. He was hilariously frustrated - animatedly talking about how you can't sneak around cause you're, in his words, "all orange".
Amid the comedy routine he said sincerely, "I'm better than this." I knew just what he meant. Not that he's too good to wear the orange jumper, or too good to work menial labor, but that he was created for better things. He had talents and gifts and yet for some reason he had no idea what to do with them.
Then today I was reading from "Cure for the Common Life" by Max Lucado. I don't usually like these "churchy" books - but I read an unschoolish quote that drew me in. This book is talking about exactly the point of struggle my husband is having. If God imprinted in each of us a destiny for greatness - a specific design - how do we tap into it? I am only on chapter 3 - so I'll let you know how that comes out.
Last night I was listening to Walden on Librivox and heard this quote that sums this up:

The finest qualities of our nature like the bloom on fruits can be preserved only by the most delicate handling; yet we do not treat ourselves or one another thus tenderly.

Somewhere along the way, life has beaten the spark for excellence out of this talented, creative, funny, intelligent man. Instead of pushing him deeper into the orange jumpsuit, I am going to be praying more that God would help him find a way to harness who he was made to be.
Oh yeah, and Africa. He got a call tonight about a possible job there. It might last 4-6 months. He is seriously considering it. I hope he won't have to wear the orange jumpsuit. Orange is definitely not his color!

Some Linky Love

I have stumbled on some awesome websites lately - and thought I would share them with you!
With election energy rising, and conversations about candidates around every corner, it is important to decide which issues are most important to you. If you are like me, no one candidate is an exact match, but with Glassbooth you can get pretty close. What I liked most about this "candidate match" site is that it allowed you to assign weight to certain issues. I was surprised to see which candidate that I matched with, and yet, while I wouldn't let this influence my vote, I find that it was the direction I was already leaning. Very cool.
On a homeschool group, someone recently shared the Librivox site. It is amazing. It is an audio book library. The files are from the public domain. The readers are not professional actors as you find usually, but everyday people. Kendra and Kaitlyn are reading Metamorphosis by Frank Kapfka and we found it on this site. I started listening to Walden by Henry David Thoreau. I do not live in a "quiet" house - so I am hoping I will find a chance to listen to it in parts - here and there.
On the pages of World magazine, I saw this neat new site called Worldmap.org. My husband and kids all love Google Earth so I am excited to check this out with them later. This is a map tool used to show you the red and yellow, black and white of God's world. If you have a heart for missions, this is a website that encompasses all the current information that I used to find in Operation World.
I hope that you'll enjoy some of these sites.