Running with Joy

Today was a great running day!

The temperature was perfect. The sun shone bright in a near cloudless sky. My ipod was playing my favorite songs for speed. But best of all, my girls were right there to cheer me on as I ran by them SIXTEEN times!!

To explain why I am even posting this, I am sure I could write another long-winded post to bring folks up to speed with some new running goals I have; one where I include way too many words and a ton of thoughts that ramble on (but if you like that kind of stuff, don’t worry, I will do all that further down). But for the first part, I’ll just try to limit information to bullet points that share what got me to today’s little running experience. Then you blog skimmers out there can ignore the rest of the post at the end : )

*I now have a crazy dream that I want to run the Boston Marathon
*my first marathon time was 4 hours and 4 minutes
*that (sadly) will be a qualifying time for the Boston Marathon when I am 50 years old!
*I would like to run it before I turn 40 : )
*to do this, my qualifying time needs to be run in 3 hours and 45 minutes (or less)
*that means I have to shave 20 minutes off my fastest marathon (or an hour off my slowest)
*ha! not this year!!
*but to do this someday means I need to train to be faster
*according to lots of guides, faster running can come from speed interval training
*an example of interval training is this. run 400 meters (1/4 mile) 8 times really fast
*I have three kids at home with me all day
*to run daily means I have to run in the morning, in the dark before Rob leaves
*because I need to see my watch, I can’t do speed intervals in the dark – drats!
*so I need a time to do intervals during the day, but how? I have kids with me
*there is a remote part of our neighborhood with 1/2 mile stretches
*I could be comfortable leaving my girls a short distance away from me while I run
*200 meters (1/8 mile) is an OK amount
*hmmmmm
*perhaps I could take them with me
*let’s see!

So we tried it out and it was a great success! I loaded up the girls with me and had them bring books to look at in the van while I was going to run. They were very OK with this request and then went above and beyond my expectations for their behavior. I wasn’t expecting to have a cheering squad, but boy did I ever!! I clocked out a 200 meter stretch of road. I told the girls they could stay in the van or right by the van on the sidewalk. They opted for the sidewalk and was I suprised that every time I ran by them (twice to make one interval and I had to run 8 intervals today) they cheered like crazy! It was so motivating and the smile on my face must have been huge. These speed intervals are HARD, but with their encouragement, I endured with much joy. I will definitely be trying this out again and again because I am already convinced of the positive effects it should have on training. And I love this time with the girls. Their excitement certainly lifts my spirits and fills my soul.

well that concludes the ‘short’ part of the post
********************
now on to the extra bit of running information…

This is what I am training for. First, there is the Austin Statesman Capital 10K on April 11th. And I’ll let that race result determine the paces I use to train with for the next marathon I do. There are these race time equivalent calculators on the internet that tell me in what time I need to run a race to reach future goals.

For example:
If I want to run a marathon in less than 4 hours (a 9 minute, 9 second mile) then I need to be able to run a 10K in 51 minutes and 8 seconds (an 8 minute, 14 second mile).

And if I want to go to Boston before I am 40 and run a marathon in 3 hours and 45 minutes (an 8 minute, 35 second mile), then I need to be able to run a 10K in 47 minutes and 56 seconds (a 7 minute, 43 second mile) ——- (you can see that seconds matter big time!!)

So I am going to shoot for my best, now that I am trying to incorporate speed intervals and tempo runs into my training, and see what happens. Then I’ll use those results to plan for the next marathon that I want to do, which is coming up this October in New Braunfels. It is called ‘chosen: marathon for adoption‘. I am certain that I will not be able to meet even a goal of under 4 hours with this one (because of the heat), but I will still follow a training program that gets me ready. It is for such a great cause that I really want to support, so I will gladly forego my vow of never again attempting a marathon in Texas unless it is winter. I had a really negative experience with marathon #2 this last Nov and I attributed my slow pace and my hitting the ‘wall’ at mile 18 to several factors like high temperatures and a sickness the week prior. But if I want to be able to prepare myself for a race with guaranteed high temperatures (for me, high is anything above 65) I need to quit my whining and learn to just push through the heat and fatigue. Last training, I just kind of did some light la la la running during the week and only followed the program when it came to the weekend long runs. And that was not providing me with enough miles, and hence endurance, to be fully ready. So these next 8 months, I’ll be logging up the miles much more and hopefully increasing my speed. Because to be a better runner, I have to run more. And to be a faster runner, well then, I have to learn to run fast.

And so…
that is what I am going to do!

Thanks to anyone that read through to the end. I don’t have much in the area of running buddies and wish that I did, because I love to talk running and would love to find folks to have fellow encouragement with. I recently was introduced to a new site called the daily mile, so if you become my friend on this, we could motivate each other with our running : ) It is very much like facebook, but for people posting comments about the miles they logged for the day.

Homeschooling with wine

This week we have been reading about Thomas Jefferson and The Declaration of Independence. One of the activities was to make a quill pen and berry ink so students could try and write like the colonists did. The ingredients for the berry ink called for (not surprisingly) crushed berries, which we had none. But I really try to not let a lack of supplies deter me from completing a task. And when I did a mental checklist of other items we had that might work, I came up with jelly and wine (crushed grapes, right!) Well jelly is just way too clumpy, so I went with the wine.

And it worked pretty well.

Halle has not written out her whole name in awhile. So it was interesting to note the way she thought to write her middle name today, with an apostrophe before the backward ‘s.’ I am not concerned or anything : ) I just thought it was a fun thing to observe. And then a fun thing for me to hear was an inquiry Halle made about Thomas Jefferson. She was reading from one of the books we checked out at the library and had wondered about the title ‘secretary of state.’ The word secretary was new to her and she pronounced it [see-krit -er-ee]. But what was so cool about her comprehension of things and her conclusion about a word that had ‘secret’ in it was how she asked if that meant Thomas Jefferson was a spy for George Washington (last week we had been learning about spies that would bring George Washington important information about the British during the Revolutionary War…) I just love how her little brain processes things like that!

Our Anniversary!

February 21, 2010 marks the 12 year date of our marriage! And praise be to God that we are able to recognize this day with great joy!!!

And although we have now been married 12 years, Rob and I like to throw folks off by telling them it has been the best 3 years (not 12) of our lives. Someday there might be a long story about all that. But for now, I’ll just leave the focus of this post as a celebration of God’s work in our lives and the triumph He has graced us with. When Rob and I finally prayed (after 8 years!) that God would allow our marriage and the attitude of our hearts to bring Him honor, He has truly done victorious things in our relationship!!

So don’t be fooled with the picture below, as it appears to be capturing a young couple deeply in love on their wedding day. Because even though it is a candid photo and the smiles are most sincere, the expression of happiness was not prompted by deep affections for one another. Instead it was a shared sense of humor that we were both appreciating at that moment : ) It had been pointed out that it was our combined families who seemed to be frequenting the open bar at our reception the most (and not the guests). Rob and I laughed and Rob’s sister took the picture.

But now, 12 years later, we do have a sincere affection and love for one another. So I decided to take that old wedding day picture and embellishe it a little. I felt it necessary to add some extra design work and a great verse from the Bible because now, it is true, that ‘I have found the one my heart loves.’ It is sad that it took so many years to find that, but we are thankful that God is still at work in our lives and there are so many wonderful years ahead of us to look forward to!

The Bible has been for us (and is!) the greatest source of wisdom in making a marriage work and on how to love one another. But I wanted to also share these great quotes that I came across many years back that have much insight to offer as well.

*”If you treat the wrong person like the right person, you could well end up having married the right person after all. On the other hand, if you marry the right person and treat that person wrong, you certainly will have ended up marrying the wrong person. I also know that it is far more important to be the right kind of person than it is to marry the right person. In short, whether you married the right or wrong person is primarily up to you.” Zig Ziglar

*The Beauty of Love: The question is asked, “Is there anything more beautiful in life than a young couple clasping hands and pure hearts in the path of marriage? Can there be anything more beautiful than young love?” And the answer is given. “Yes, there is a more beautiful thing. It is the spectacle of an old man and an old woman finishing their journey together on that path. Their hands are gnarled, but still clasped; their faces are seamed, but still radiant; their hearts are physically bowed and tired, but still strong with love and devotion for one another. Yes, there is a more beautiful thing than young love. Old love.” Unknown

*The divorce rate would be lower if instead of marrying for better or worse people would marry for good. Ruby Dee

*What counts in making a happy marriage is not so much how compatible you are, but how you deal with incompatibility. Leo Tolstoy

*It is not your love that sustains the marriage, but from now on, the marriage that sustains your love.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, writing to a young bride and groom from his prison cell in Nazi Germany in 1943

*All those “and they lived happily ever after” fairy tale endings need to be changed to “and they began the very hard work of making their marriages happy.” Linda Miles, coauthor of The New Marriage

*Marriage, families, all relationships are more a process of learning the dance rather than finding the right dancer. Paul Pearsall

*They say it takes a village to raise a child. That may be the case, but the truth is that it takes a lot of solid, stable marriages to create a village. Diane Sollee, smartmarriages.com

*One advantage of marriage, it seems to me, is that when you fall out of love with each other, it keeps you together until maybe you fall in again. Judith Viorst

*If the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence, it’s because they take better care of it. Cecil Selig

*Chains do not hold a marriage together. It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads, which sew people together through the years. Simone Signoret

*Loves seems the swiftest, but it is the slowest of all growths. No man or woman really knows what perfect love is until they have been married a quarter of a century. Mark Twain

*Love one another and you will be happy. It’s as simple and as difficult as that. Michael Leunig

*Love is a feeling, Marriage is a contract, and a Relationship is work. Lori Gordon

*A magnificent marriage begins not with knowing one another but with knowing God. Gary Ricucci

*Any fool can have a trophy wife. It takes a real man to have a trophy marriage. Diane Sollee

*Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get, it’s what you are expected to give – which is everything. Source Unknown

*Happy marriages begin when we marry the ones we love, and they blossom when we love the ones we marry. Tom Mullen

‘mmm’ is for marriage

This post is two fold.

The 1st is a plug for this great reading program , ‘Teach your child to read in a 100 easy lessons.’
I started going through this book with Halle when she turned 4 and was I ever amazed that she breezed right through it in about 3 months (she would actually read ahead & cover future lessons on her own!) Know that Halle’s propensity for reading was her main advantage here (and it was not something Rob and I did to equip her with), it was just something innate within her. And although I don’t think this book can afford all children turning 4 the ability to read, I do believe it offers very effective tools and methods to teach reading. So that when kids are ready, parents can work with them in a program that turns them into beginning readers. I just often wonder how early in life was Halle ready? Could I have started sooner???

Children reading at three would be amazing, but that is something I was certain wasn’t in the mental capacity for Dee and Gracie : ) They are so different from Halle (and from each other) and I didn’t think they were ready to start even when they turned 4, back in July. It wasn’t until this December that I pulled the book out for them, to get a feel for their readiness and desire. And because they both seemed intrigued, I decided to begin. With some areas of education, I think the girls can learn in a group setting. But with reading, I really see the effectiveness of working individually with them. So (like I did with Halle) I have been going through the lessons one on one with each of them before their nap time. And I let them set the pace; if it is ever not fun, we put the book aside and just read stories together. It is a very different experience with each one of them, and I am aware that Dee and Gracie (and Halle) have very different learning styles, but I love that I get to share this with them! That same feeling of elation I felt when I saw my children roll over for the first time or take their first steps is what I also get to experience when the girls are learning new sounds and then words! There is much delight to see their faces light up when they get it!!!

This is what Gracie read yesterday:

_{by the way, after she read this, I did let Gracie know that it is never appropriate to call a mom ‘fat’ never! : )}

With Dee and Gracie, I know I need to supplement a bit more activities with these lessons to help them truly understand the sounds we are learning and then how they are grouped together for words. It challenges me to make these lessons fun and engaging for the girls (in ways I did not need to do for Halle) so that they are excited about learning. With Halle, a daily 10 minute lesson was all she needed; and what she learned one day remained in her understanding permanently. But with Dee and Gracie, we take longer to go through the lessons and they don’t always remember the sounds we have gone over in previous lessons. Since math flash cards are an effective way Halle and I go over addition and subtraction concepts, I thought it might be fun to have some sound flashcards for Dee and Gracie to help with their reading.

Yesterday at the table, I started writing the sounds we have covered on individual index cards (the book follows the Distar program for reading where the focus is much on the concept of sounds -not on letters). We then talked about also adding a picture of something that starts with that same sound onto the cards, to help them visually. I loved that they all wanted to help draw pictures on the cards – they were being very creative with the images they came up with.

this is the ‘sss’ sound like in ‘sun’

this is the ‘ththth’ sound like in ‘three’

But my biggest joy (and the main reason for this post) came when Halle told me she had a surprise for me and the ‘mmm’ sound.
This was her card

I love it! And it was particularly special to me because this Sunday, Rob and I are celebrating our 12 year wedding anniversary. Halle showed me such honor by choosing to draw Rob and me getting married for our little ‘mmm’ flash card – truly wonderful!

Valentine’s Day – Remembering the One who 1st Loved us…

last year’s card had pictures of the girls. But this year, I used pictures the girls made themselves. A friend of ours had sent out a Valentine card using her children’s heart art work; I just loved that idea (and her template as well)!! So thanks, Jara (if you get to see this) for being the main influence of this year’s card!

Meet the Fosters

The foster parents, that is!!

yep – as of January 26, 2010 The Department of Protective and Regulatory Services has licensed us for foster/adopt/respite child care services! We are official – finally!!!

The start of this journey really began a couple years ago; it was when Rob and I lived in San Antonio that a desire for adoption began to grow in our hearts. We were introduced to a dear couple at our church that was a true advocate for the orphan, and through their ministry Hope for Orphans, we saw adoption in a whole new way. Being a part of several workshops and sermons, we were allowed to see God’s heart for adoption and how it really is a powerful picture of our own salvation. We felt strongly that we should be fans of adoption because we ourselves were children that had been adopted into God’s family, through Jesus Christ. I love how The Message paraphrases the words of Ephesians 1:3-6 in regards to this. “How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.”

And then in John 14:18 Jesus says, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” Wow! As believers, that verse offers us much hope about a loving Father that will care for us; and it just further hits home the thought that we can turn around and offer that same sense of hope and care and love to another child without a home. And with this new perspective, we definitely felt the burden to adopt. But we didn’t know what that looked like or where to start. Many of the families we knew that adopted had felt passionate about taking in a child from a specific country. There were friends of ours that felt the conviction to adopt from Russia, from China, from Ethiopia – but what about us, where was our conviction? We were without a country of our own that we were drawn to and we didn’t feel God’s leading in any particular direction. So we didn’t take any action and we didn’t pursue anything. But the desire remained strong and I knew God was still at work in our hearts in this matter.

It was when we moved to Austin that we became very much aware of the great number of orphans and children in need of foster care that are state-side (I have recently read statistics that say there are approximately 500,000 children in foster care in the US and that 130,000 of those children in foster care are waiting and available for adoption). Hearing information along those lines, from several different unrelated sources, our hearts turned to our own country and we started looking into the foster-to-adopt option. We wanted to learn more about how we could play a part in the lives of children awaiting homes in Texas.

And it was rather convenient that near this time, Arrow Child and Family Ministries offered to provide foster training sessions during our church’s Sunday evening services! That was back in May when we started going through the 32 hours of training and all the paperwork and requirements to get certified for foster care and to adopt through the state of Texas. And over the course of that training, our hearts have been even more open to the idea of just basic foster care, when it most likely won’t lead to adoption. We had loved the idea of taking in a child (or more) permanently into our home and adopting them into our family (and that is still one of our intents) but we also discovered that there is a great blessing you can give to a child while they are removed from their homes temporarily, while their parental guardians are desperately trying to get things in order in their lives. Those children in the foster care are without homes (even if only for a little while) and need to be thought of as well when considering the verse, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress… (James 1:27)”

And listening to other families that we have come in contact with through the foster agency, we have seen how fostering can provide a great way to do ministry as a family. As a mother with young kids of my own, I have found it very difficult to find service opportunities where we can all participate together. But when you take in a foster child and care for them in your home, you are providing your own children with a wonderful way to serve! And best of all, you are doing it together, side by side, and you can most effectively help encourage your own children how to love on others. It just seems to provide excellent occasions to instill in your own kids’ hearts a desire to care for others. And foster care opens up a world of outreach opportunities to share the love of Christ with others, too. You get to be a consistent light to the foster child, to the foster child’s parents, and to any of the many other persons involved with foster care arrangement (CPS, therapists, case workers…) as they will all get to see how you can genuinely serve and minister with the love and joy of Christ.

I am so thrilled that our church is on board with promoting a heart for the orphan and providing opportunities to get involved in this ministry. And for any of you Austin Stone attenders, in case you didn’t know, they are offering a Get Trained class for the fall that will help folks get through the certification process (see details here)

And even if you don’t feel the specific call to adoption or to be foster parents at present, there are still other ways to serve with the orphan in mind. These are just a few of the many opportunities that are out there, that I found posted on our church’s website here.

*Foster Care Relief/Babysitting
While children are in the foster care system, they must always be in the care of someone who is certified or licensed by a foster care agency. Many foster families are in need of families willing to babysit or watch their foster children for an afternoon or evening. In order to serve foster families by babysitting their children for less than 8 hours at a time, a person must be CPR and First Aid certified and must complete the appropriate paperwork provided by the foster care agency. The Austin Stone will be hosting a CPR/First Aid training and overview of the babysitting process in January or February. You can sign up on the website to receive information. (*We really hope other families in the Austin area will being doing this certification. The need for babysitters certainly exists when fostering and we will need to know who we can call on to help!)

*Respite Care:
Many foster families are in need of families willing to babysit or watch their foster children for a few days or even a few weeks. In order to leave foster children with someone for this extended length of time (more than 72 hours), the babysitter must have gone through the entire foster care training and be a licensed foster care.

*Pathway Hospital Visitor:
Pathways, a local 501(c)3 foster care agency, is looking for people willing to spend time with foster children who are currently hospitalized. The visitors are assigned in shifts of varying lengths, usually a few hours at a time, and are asked to take a few short notes as they befriend the child. A background check and a short over-the-phone orientation are required

I have much excitement and hope and anticipation to watch families and individuals seek to discover how God might be leading them to serve the orphan!!

Halle’s Robin Hood Party

The choosing of Halle’s birthday theme each year is always something to look forward to! She has a very imaginative mind and thinks way outside the box with her ideas (part of me thinks she just doesn’t realize there is a box to think inside of!) Anyways, last year she announced that she wanted a school party (that post here) which did require conjuring up some serious cleverness to pull something like that off. And even though we could not find access to the use of a real school bus, she was very satisfied with the outcome; and therefore didn’t hesitate putting her trust in me again for this year’s party. I do love that she has faith in me – because when she decided a Robin Hood party would be her preferred way of celebration, I knew we would once again be faced with a challenge (but a fun challenge!)

Bows and arrows, green hats with feathers, Maid Marian, gold coins, castles, forests… were all parts of this theme that Halle and I started talking about. And with those things to consider, we were able to come up with the makings of a Robin Hood party that she enjoyed!

Lots of green and brown streamers and balloons and a castle/forest mural welcomed the guests when they arrived. And they were able to choose a Robin Hood or Maid Marian hat to help get them in a renaissance mood (I think I made 20 felt green hats and 10 princess hats with toile to make sure we had enough).

The game that was the biggest hit was the one that required kids to stomp on and pop balloons to get out the gold coins hidden inside. It was crazy and super fun – especially because some of the adults that were there had to help pop those very sturdy balloons. The gold coins were then used for another game and sent home as party favors.

The cake was a very simple one; just a round cookie cake decorated like an archery target with some candles that looked like arrows. I had to tell Halle that it would be rather impossible to go with her original idea of having a full-sized little john cake with a sword (sorry Hal…)

And in keeping with the theme and remembering the motto ‘rob from the rich to give to the poor’ Halle and I talked about having her birthday somehow benefit others that were less fortunate than her. We asked that no one bring gifts, but instead (if they felt they just couldn’t come to a kid’s party without something) to give their money to support another ministry out there. It was a sweet thing to see her get excited when folks let her know money was given to purchase toys for Austin Life Care, for Haiti ministries, and also for this refugee apartment the girls and I work at. Halle’s family blesses her so much with their gifts to her, so this wasn’t a complete sacrifice of birthday gifts on her part. But I was so touched that she wanted to go without friend-gifts so that others could receive something instead. Bless her sweet heart!

and you can click here for a link to more pics on Picasa

OMG!!

Please don’t be concerned or offended by the title I have used here; you have to know that the acronym above is not for anything of a blasphemous nature…

No, in my exclamation OMG is short for Oh My Grains!!!

Heard that one before? Probably not, it was a new one for me too. But it came out of my mouth because I was just so thrilled that I actually had a great success with a first-time undertaking at something (which rarely happens!) and it involved the use of grains.

This was an earlier post describing my first bread-baking attempts; I talked about the why of using freshly milled wheat as my flour source and I also shared some disappointing pictures of the first loaves that resulted in that endeavor. Since then, I have gained so much more confidence in my bread baking abilities using our grain mill. So I thought it was about time to experiment with a new type of grain and a new recipe.

At central market the other day, I picked up some rye berries in the bulk section and then followed a bread recipe that used a combination of rye and whole wheat flour. And oh my – was I pleased with the results!! The bread tasted mouth-watering incredible!! And with that first bite, my praise to grains naturally came forth.

The bread recipes I follow make between 4 and 6 loaves of bread (depending on the pan size) and I normally share a loaf each time I go through our milling/baking process. But this time I decided not to pass one along to a friend. And no, it wasn’t because I was being selfish and wanting to keep all the yummy bread to myself (well, maybe that could be an underlying factor in there… maybe…) The main reason was because I am hesitant about the ingredients I used. The rye bread recipe called for caraway seeds and the jar I had was from a spice rack that Rob and I received as a wedding gift – 12 years ago!!! When I pried off the lid, it still had a bit of aroma that was not unpleasing, so I thought – why not? I also needed to use molasses; and the bottle I found in my pantry had most certainly been in there, half used, for years (I know for a fact that it was one of our food items that came with us when we moved from San Antonio). Being unsure abut the health hazards of aged caraway seed and molasses, I wanted to keep these loaves for ourselves. And I will “selflessly” put myself at risk as I eat this batch of bread, daily with breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Fortunately for the “safety” of my girls, they thought the taste a bit odd at first and presently don’t want to eat any. Which is a good thing because it means more for me they are kept free from potential harm.

So if any of you Austin readers out there are fans of rye bread, let me know. I’ll be sure to add you to a delivery list for the future times that I make this bread : ) Then you too can cry out OMG!!