Catch and Release : Fears, Fish, and Sugar Cookies

This is my little sister.  She has a secret wish and an enormous talent.

She makes the most amazing and beautiful cakes and cookies (like her own wedding cake!).  Then she goes and teaches people in her community how to do the same.  Then – my gosh – people just fall in love with her sincere heart.

She secretly wants to make cake + cookie making and teaching her career.

There are so many questions in her mind.  Can I really do this?  Will people love this?  Where do I start?  Those are huge, fearful doubts that we all have.  As women, it is SO EASY to put our hearts and passion aside in an effort to please and take care of everyone else.

Fears come splashing and banging into the room.  And if we’re not careful, we let them win.  We take the easy swim.

But my sister and I decided we’re not going to let them win.  She’s my biggest Gadanke cheerleader.  And I want to be exactly the same for her because that’s what sisters do.  It doesn’t matter how many miles apart we might be (usually in the thousands) – we can fight those fears that say we’re not good enough.  We all can.

So this weekend, we released our fears.

We were filled with hesitations.  But we let them all go.

Okay – maybe it didn’t quite go like that.  The fish cookie actually jumped out of my sister’s hand and right into the lake where it proceeded to “swim” away.  Maybe it was trying to tell us something.

Can you all do me a favor?  Will you help me cheer for this special young woman?  She and her husband are moving from their college town to take on “the real world”.  It’s my best friend, and I just want to help her follow her heart as YOU have helped me to do.  What are some fresh-out-of-college, follow-your-heart bits of wisdom you can share?

Don’t forget… you’ve got to try these homemade marshmallows and graham crackers my sister and I made last year.  She brought them to the lake this year and oh-my-gosh!

And wowzers – here’s a flickr collection of just some of her sweet projects.