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Erica Roman Blog

I write so that my healing may bring healing to others.

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Tag: dreams

5 Posts

Impossible Adventures

December 5, 2016 — 0 Comments

Who I Am

July 17, 2016 — 2 Comments

When God Speaks Tolkien

May 22, 2016 — 11 Comments

A life without music

May 15, 2016 — 4 Comments

Dreams

May 9, 2016 — 2 Comments

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I remember what it was like to be lost, swirling in a vortex of pain and confusion. When every day was a struggle just to stay above water. Every night going to sleep with the weary wish that I would not wake up. . I remember staring into the darkness and wondering if there would ever be light again for me. Was there a point to my struggle? Should I just give up? . I wish I could go back to that broken Erica and hold her. I wish I could swear to her that on the other side of the darkness there is light. There is happiness. There is love. . I wish I could tell her that life would someday be more than struggling survival. That life would one day be an amazing adventure. One day that broken Erica would rise up and then turn around to reach out to the broken. . She would build a wonderful new life with a man who loves her. She would soon shake hands with a president and hug three different celebrities. That she would get to build her own home with her own hands and her children would be happy and thriving. . I can’t tell her those things, but I can tell you. There. Is. Light. I promise. There is an end to the darkness and the thick fog that chokes your lungs. . There is happiness. There is love. There is joy. There is peace. But in order to find them you MUST hold on to hope. It’s a tiny flickering thing but you cannot let it go. . Scream at the darkness if you must, weep on the ground if you need to, but don’t stop moving forward. Walk, crawl.. claw your way forward if that’s all you can do but whatever you do, don’t give up. Don’t you dare give up. . Don’t resign yourself to building a home in the darkness. You may have been thrown into it or you might even have been born in to it.. but you were not created for it. You were created for light. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:5) . #ericaroman #grief #hope #dontgiveup #depression #love #widow #youngwidow #remarriedwidow . Photo credits : @angelademsickphotography @charislauren

Final Habitat post, I promise! But I would be amiss if I failed to take the time to thank the amazing volunteers who came out to work on my home and the sponsors who helped make the build possible. . The Carter Work Project is a bit different than most Habitat builds in that the homeowners don’t have to recruit their own volunteers. Volunteers at the CWP come from all over and pay up to $2,000 for the privilege of a week of hard labor.. and they do it with a smile. . Many of the volunteers on our house use their vacation time each year to build houses with Habitat. There were about 700 volunteers building on the 21 homes each day.. and I was told that there was a waiting list of volunteers who wanted to come. . It was so humbling to know that some of our volunteers flew in from out of state to work, some for just one day on our house. . I was equally undone by the generosity of our sponsors. The businesses and organizations that sponsored this build donated between 25k and a million dollars towards the 21 houses that were build last week. . Each sponsor was assigned a specific home to build on. Our two sponsors were @loweshomeimprovement and @hunterdouglas. . Both of those companies not only sent their regular employees to volunteer on our home, but the executives and other higher ups came to build too. In fact, the owner/CEO of Hunter Douglass came himself to build. . This week the volunteers and sponsors who worked on my home showed me what our news stations do not: our Humanity is alive and well. . #habitatforhumanity #habitatnashville #habitatcwp #habitatcwp2019 #lowes #hunterdouglas #volunteer #build

For those of you who have asked.. yes we were able to meet briefly with the Carters and Garth & Trisha. We took a photo with them during lunch one afternoon and after our speech Friday night we got hugs and handshakes from everyone. ❤️

Friday night I spoke on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry in front of an audience larger than any other I’ve spoken in front of so far. . On the front row sat a former president & First Lady along with two famous country singers. . It was only a 7 minute speech and Neil and I split that time. But that almost made it more difficult than speaking for 30-45 minutes. I had to be incredibly intentional and efficient with my words. . I was so nervous but at the same time I felt comfortable, as if I was meant to be there. . Since the beginning I’ve wanted to transform my story and my pain into other people’s hope and healing. . It began with writing and that’s still my primary vehicle for sharing. When I’m not writing a blog or social media post I’m working on my book. I’m over 30k words into it now and I’m hoping to be able to finish it after we get through the craziness of this fall. . But the idea of speaking has started to creep to the forefront of my dreams. The thing is.. I don’t know exactly how to make that happen except to keep walking through the doors that open for me. . I’ve already shared at a handful of churches but when Habitat asked Neil and I to speak at the closing ceremony there was something weighty to it. And now that I’ve done it it’s created a hunger for more. . I remember my first roller coaster ride. I was absolutely terrified when they buckled me in, but the second I stepped off the ride I was like, “Let’s do that again!!!” . That’s how I feel right now. I don’t know when I will get another chance to speak, but my heart is already anticipating the next ride. . . #ericaroman #speak

I might be smiling as I hold up one of the exterior walls of my home but that doesn’t mean working for my Habitat home has been easy. . One of the biggest misconceptions out there about Habitat for Humanity is that they give away homes. That is not at all true. . We will have a mortgage for the full value of our home.. we just won’t have to pay any interest. And if you do the math.. the interest you would pay for an average home over 30 years practically costs you a second home. . Neil and I have been busting our butts in order to earn this interest free home. Habitat requires their homeowners to fulfill around 200 hours of “sweat equity”. . That includes volunteering in their Restore store, taking financial, home maintenance, insurance and many other classes, and of course physically building your home. We also have to pay our own closing costs. . Habitat provides people like me a path to a safe, affordable home, but we have to work for it. I encourage anyone who needs relief from the ever rising housing costs to check to see if there is a Habitat for Humanity in your city... and if you’re looking for a place to serve or support.. I can’t think of a more worthy organization. . . #ericaroman #habitatforhumanity #habitatnashville #Habitatcwp #sweatequity #habitatcwp2019 @habitatforhumanity @habitatnashville

It’s been such a long process that I don’t remember if I’ve publicly announced it.. but if you watch my stories you‘ll know that this week Neil and I are building our brand new Habitat for Humanity home! . It’s an especially great honor that not only will be building our home this week, but building it as part of the Carter Work Project. . . Over the next several days, I’ll be posting about what it’s like to build a home with Habitat. But for now.. I’ve got to get back to work! . . . #ericaroman #habitatforhumanity #habitatnashville #carterworkproject #habitatcwp #habitatcwp2019

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© Erica Roman, 2017. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Erica Roman and Erica Roman Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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