I love the energy at the beginning of a race.  Everyone is pumped up, ready to go.....from the lean, mean, 3-hour marathoners (26.2 miles)  to the half marathon (13.1 miles) walkers.  About 12,000 runners.  I love watching groups of classy, grown men dressed in bright knee-length compression socks and acting like kids as they high five and hoot and holler with their running buddies.  And adorable little old ladies with their fanny packs dancing in place to the music.  It's cold and dark.  The music is blasting.  We've miles and miles to go and there's sure to be some pain somewhere along the way.  We all share the port-o-pots.  We're all in this together.  It's a great feeling.

  

Got his game face on.

It just occurred to me from the nose-enhancing perspective of this picture that our children should have perfect noses.  Between his Roman ski-jump nose and my squashed-wide  pug, it seems like the medium result should be nose perfection.

This race had a great route through one of our favorit-est cities...and starting practically right under the ArtsGarden.

Wasn't it nice of the Colts cheerleaders to come out in their sparkly sweatsuits and watch us as we passed the stadium? I kinda cracked up when they gave my 5-year-old son signed picture cards at the running expo the night before.  I made him give them back.

The first water station was right by the stadium. (See all the volunteers in their waterproof space suits as they hand out water? Cute.) We hadn't trained very hard for this race, and only got up to 10 mile long run in recent weeks, so we took it extremely slow (over 30 minutes slower than our last half marathon) and took walk breaks.  We weren't after any PR this time - just getting out there and keeping our rears in gear.  It's actually nice to not be pushing for a time goal, just keep moving and enjoy the scenery.

Daylight finally breaks. There was this totally wonderful older man who showed up like 6 or 7 times along our 13-mile route and cheered us on.  He was awesome.  He had shortcut routes planned so he could beat us to his next  spot and be there with his little bell when we ran by.  He was obviously a runner and in good shape.  We all wanted to hug him.  It's amazing how much a good cheering section helps.  You can actually feel a surge of physical energy when you hit a cheering section.  It's amazing. Makes me want to cheer more for my kids and husband on a daily basis.

Looks like we're gonna need those sunglasses after all!!

As we cruised through Mass Ave, I couldn't help but remember the awesome cupcake we shared at this notorious bakery "The Flying Cupcake" on a downtown date night.  I felt like a traitor or a hypocrite or something to even be thinking about a cupcake at a time like that.   But it was a really, really good cupcake.

At the finish!  Right after we finished, this intense, mysterious pain came suddenly out of nowhere and attacked my right foot.  I seriously could hardly walk.  But I hobbled over and got some of the free chili served by Steak & Shake.  Hit the spot.   In case you're wondering, the space blankets really are helpful.  As your body temp quickly cools down in your sweaty clothes it is easy to really start chilling.  It's a miserable feeling.  The space blanket holds your body heat in so that you can cool down without chilling. It was really a great race.  It provided the inspiration we needed to keep on moving!  Good times.

I will admit again that sometimes I find myself re-struggling with the balance of love and respect for my career as a homekeeper/wife/mother.  I do love it.  I do respect it.  But I sometimes have to remind myself -- when more degrees and fulfilling opportunities blink temptingly at me -- that I have chosen this particular career/ministry ON PURPOSE.  Not because I'm stuck with a bunch of  "oops" children and can't afford childcare. (David and I both almost chose careers where paying for a full-time nanny could have been normal part of our world.)  But because we have planned and embraced and accepted family as our biggest ministry in life.  Period.  I really love the way this blogger communicates the balance we need as full-time moms. (This not a rant on mothers working or on using hired help...I say bring on the hired help if you can afford it. : )

I just simply needed to hear this today. 

I am also excited about the blog where I found it.  And the book this blogger wrote, which is on my rather-extensive-and-ever-growing book wishlist.

I love it when I find someone who elevates homekeeping to the place of honor and purpose that it deserves.  And so.....ONWARD! FORWARD!  I will put those groceries away and get on with today's list with fresh focus.

I really don't even have time this busy morning to be reading blogs, but I decided to zoom through the latest posts while I drank my Starbucks coffee sent to me by my wonderful, thoughtful friend...  But I'm oh-so-glad I did.....Maybe it will help you too.

Guilt or Motivation?

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.

(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.

(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.

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

 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?