He Will

by sarahmfry, October 11, 2011
Last week I was sitting at the piano, playing the prelude for our revival service.  My mind was whirling with worry.  I was tense and bunchy.   Then God nudged me and said....hey silly, did you pay attention to what you're playing?  It was this song.

Be not dismayed whate’er betide,
God will take care of you;



Beneath His wings of love abide,
God will take care of you.


God will take care of you,
Through every day, o'er all the way;


He will take care of you,


God will take care of you.

Again today, some worries pierced my heart.  I suddenly realized that I was acting as if it were all up to me.  Planning and worrying and crying and ready to take on the world and solve what needs solving with sheer determination....I seemed to forget the one little detail that He's already got the whole world in His hands.  And He worketh all things for our good.  And He loves me more than I love my own babies.  Chillax, Sarah.  He's all over it.

He's got this.


Lyrics:  God Will Take Care of You by Civilla D. Martin
Photos:  Red River Gorge.  Summer 2011



Scenes from the road....May Training

by sarahmfry, October 10, 2011
(Bear with me in this randomness.  I am little by little going back through my monthly picture folders and making sure I have blogged all of the pictures that I want for my 2011 blog book.)

David and I spent many hours this spring training together for our marathon (which was in June).  We did our regular weekday runs separately, but we did our Saturday long runs together.  Saturday afternoons meant dropping the kids off at Grandma's and hitting the streets of Frankfort.  David did a great job mapping out our long runs.  Even with hydration packs, it is difficult to carry enough liquids for the really long runs, so we would drive ahead and leave cold water or powerade bottles in strategic spots along the run.  We would look forward to reaching our next "watering hole" at a certain tree or telephone pole.  There is an art to doing that many miles over and over while keeping the mental strain to a minimum.  We love going other places to run (our favorite being downtown Indy), but we found it much more practical to just stay right here in Frankfort instead of adding extra driving time to our already full Saturdays.

I cannot imagine training for a full marathon alone.  We had a good time logging the miles together.  But Long Runs can get rather - well - long.  So we started taking a camera with us to capture things along the way.   Sometimes we would take a picture at every mile.  It was an interesting way to tick off the miles. Other times we would use it to just capture random beauty that we encountered along the way.  These are some pictures from two different training runs - one was 18  miles and one was 20 miles.


We prefer to finish our run before dark, but sometimes it just didn't work out that way if we couldn't get an early enough start in the afternoon.

What a great sight to get home to - exhausted but happy.


A lady we see often around town as we're running. 

Very welcomed beauty along the way...

A horse rescue farm near our house

This is a barn back behind the Frankfort water treatment plant and behind the manor.



Love this time of night!!!




I love it when we get to this home stretch of a long run.  By this time I'm excited because we're almost done and David is rather cranky-ish.


A rainbow!  A promise that this long run will never again happen to the whole world.  Or something.


I need to say a humongous thank you to my mother-in-law, Rose Fry.  Without her commitment to give up quite a few Saturday afternoons to watch the kids for hours while we trained,  we would never have been able to do this marathon together.  We love you!  You spoil us!

This post was written 10/10/11....Now that it's all over, we really miss those long runs together.....good times.

May - Pictures of Kids

by sarahmfry, October 10, 2011
(Bear with me in this randomness.  I am little by little going back through my monthly picture folders and making sure I have blogged all of the pictures that I want for my 2011 blog book.)

Corin does this for hours - kneeling beside the chair, playing with cars and trucks.

Sunday afternnoon quiet time!

I can't even remember now what busted his lip - but it sure was huge.  Looks like he fell asleep before we even got his face washed.  Sweet baby.

A Sunday Morning at Mom & Dad's house in Cincinnati.

Looks like someone was in a hurry to get dressed to come outside and play - he showed up in cords and a flannel pajama shirt.  In May.  Craziness.

More Sunday Afternoon quiet time....Note Karissa's own decorating above her top bunk...she's always and forever adding stuff to her walls.  Borders.  Pictures.  Calendar pages.  Homemade decorations.  She is going to have a blast if she ever has her very own room to decorate.

This boy is seriously kissable.

And full of it.

Caiden was doing the celery experiment

Riding his bike on Grandma Fry's deck.



Caiden's 1st Day of Kindergarten (Sep. 6)

by sarahmfry, October 10, 2011


"World, take my child by the hand- he starts school today!

It is all going to be strange and new to him for a while, and I wish you would sort of treat him gently. You see, up to now, he has been the king of the roost. He has been the boss of the backyard. I have always been around to repair his wounds, and I have always been handy to soothe his feelings.

But now things are going to be different. This morning he is going to walk down the front steps, wave his hand and start on a great adventure that probably will include tragedy, sorrow and hurt.

To live in this world will require faith and love and courage. So, World, I wish you would sort of take him by his young hand and teach him the things he will have to know. Teach him –but gently, if you can.

He will have to learn, I know, that all people are not just –that all men and women are not true. Teach him that for every scoundrel, there is a hero; that for every enemy, there is a friend. Let him learn early that the bullies are the easiest people to beat.

Teach him the wonder of books. Give him quiet time to ponder the eternal mystery of birds in the sky and the flowers on green hill. Teach him that it is far more honourable to fail than to cheat. Teach him to have faith in his own ideas, even if everyone tells him they are wrong.

Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd when everyone else is getting on the bandwagon. Teach him to listen to others, but to filter all he hears on a screen of truth and to take only the good that comes through.

Teach him never to put a price tag on his heart and soul. Teach him to close his ears on the howling mob- and to stand and fight if he thinks he is right. Teach him gently, World, but do not coddle him, because only the test of fire makes fine steel.

This is a big order, World, but see what you can do. He's such a fine litttle fellow."

                                                                                                                            ~Abe Lincoln



I got home from seeing Caiden off for his first day of school and was doing just fine, knowing he is excited and in good hands.  Then Jody called and told me that Travis had posted Abe Lincoln's thoughts.....so I stole the quote from Travis's facebook note....




We have Internet!!!

by sarahmfry, October 03, 2011
It has been some long weeks for us.  Our internet service comes from a router in our church next door.  Apparently the router got old and died.  David and I are not tech savvy, but our brilliantly professional techy friend Jeff Waggoner has installed a new router and restored e-life to us!  Thanks, Jeff, for doing what is not your responsibility and making us one very happy family!  And thanks, Mom Fry, for taking the initiative and buying us a new router.  We are officially spoiled.

It is always interesting to me to evaluate things after one of these extended internet outages that we seem to have.  One thing that always kindof shocks me is that the internet isn't what makes keeping a home challenging.  Sometimes we mommies think...well if I'd just work harder and stay off the internet things would be a breeze around here.  And although I don't doubt one bit that time is wasted on the computer that could be spent folding laundry or washing dishes, I am again amazed/pleased/dismayed that getting the evil internet out of our home doesn't make it any easier.  It is still constant work.  Although I do think that not being able to check my email or blog makes it easier to maximize my mornings.  My schedule has had lots of happy highlighted pink.  That's good.  But several times I have looked back at the day and thought...wow.  I worked my tail off all day.  Wasn't on the internet for one second.  And I'm still exhausted and didn't get everything done.  That's all I'm saying. It's about balance and priorities.  Lord, give me big doses of both with lots of wisdom sprinkled in!

I have missed that feeling of being connected to the entire universe at the touch of a button.  But I found that when I had a moment at my in-law's to check email or facebook, there wasn't really anything too exciting to do.  I could quickly check my email.  And having been absent from facebook made it easier to not be drawn in, I guess.

I very, very, very much missed the business side of internet!  I use google for so much.  I use online recipes.  We pay our bills online. I order books from the library and check my due dates and keep track of our reading lists.  I use the internet for my music lessons and church music.  We buy gifts online.   We use internet for our wedding photography uploads...We check schedules and due dates and driving directions and phone numbers and hours of operation and EVERYTHING online!  Not having all of that has been the biggest challenge.

And Odyssey.  Oh, how we've missed our daily dose of free Odyssey episodes.....And Pandora.

But I guess it's kinda like running water.  You think you can't live without it.  And it really is a challenge to try.  But you can do it.  Our family of six humans and 3 dogs spent a week at our cabin without running water during Spring Break.  And we survived that beautifully - as we also survived about 3 weeks without internet.  But all in all, I'd prefer not to be a pioneer woman.  Bring on the google and the running water any day for me!!

It is  oh-so-good to be back.  I am oveflowing with blogginess.  I have summer pictures and Hawaii pictures and Wedding pictures and Autumn pictures....all sitting in folders waiting to be "blogbooked".  But my schedule doesn't have a stitch of pink on it yet this morning. The clothes need switched to the dryer.  I'm missing a perfectly quiet time to do my run while the baby naps.  There are still Morning Waffle Remains lying about the kitchen.  I couldn't resist a quick blog or two...but now I'd better get the highlighter out and get busy!

(I just  have to laugh...after my talk about how internet isn't evil, I finished my little blog post.....and I'm STILL on here and haven't got my work done!  I'm remembering....wow.  So THIS is what happens if you don't time yourself on this crazy thing.  The morning disappears! Good grief! But I had blogs to catch up on and THINGS to look up!  Maybe it is evil, after all. Bad, internet, bad. I'm going now.  For real. It may be weeks before I'm back.  Just kidding.)

Hiking at sunrise - Red River Gorge

Arriving in Hawaii
Neville-Hutchison Wedding

Family fun at a 5K
Fall fun at the Labor Day Picnic

Remembering Mississippi

by sarahmfry, October 03, 2011




 I was just going through my posts, deleting old drafts and tidying up a bit.  I decided not to delete this one but to keep it...it brings back a lot of fond memories.  This is David's study at our house in Jackson, Mississippi.  It's fun to look back at those busy but good years.  David was working on his Master's at Wesley Biblical Seminary.  We rented a house in Jackson where we lived half the week.  Then we would pack up our minivan and go back to the parsonage where we pastored in Brent, Alabama.  David was gone a lot and studied even more, but I filled my Mississippi days with taking care of Kayla (hard to imagine there was ever a time when there was only one baby around here), then Karissa, and keeping two fully furnished houses.  We took a lot of walks and discovered a great museum and park in Jackson.  I took a job driving for a family for awhile, picking their kids up from school and staying with them a bit.  I also enjoyed singing with the Mississippi Chorus.  That was a treat.

I'm not going to take the time to look up the picture now, but there is an image sealed into my brain of Kayla during these years.  She was almost one when we moved here, and she would sit for hours in her room by herself - looking at books.  It's so fun to see how that has turned into one of the biggest loves of her life - she still retreats to her room and reads for hours!  Actually, as I recall, Karissa had the curious habit of emptying out dresser drawers.  Now she's the one (at 7 yrs old) who tries on 5 outfits and changes clothes multiple times before going out to play in the yard. : ) 
 
It's been fun reminiscing. David still sits for hours - reading and studying and taking notes on his laptop. We still have stacks of books everywhere, but a lot of his dissertation reading these days is rare books and is done on his Kindle.  How times change.  But one thing we don't have which seems like an artifact!  A landline! I actually see a real phone with a cord in this picture.  My kids hardly even know that there are still phones with cords!

One thing these years of education & moving have taught me....that it makes sense to find the things I love about wherever I may live and to enjoy those things to the fullest.  Because at every stage of the last 10 years together we have known there was a move coming before too long - from Ohio to Mississippi to Alabama to Indiana and beyond - I have had the opportunity to prepare for each change.  In that preparation time is sometimes when I realize that there is always something I will miss. There is something to cherish and enjoy about each stage and location.  Even if it is Jackson, Mississippi (which we have been known to affectionately call the armpit of America.)   I have left out some of the more challenging memories.  But overall, I remember it with great warmth.  We learned so many things.  We were happy and together.  We had books and food.  What more could you want?
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