first 5k finished!.. my time was 31:25 ... just seconds behind Janessa's 22:33 :)
Sunday, April 15
Thursday, April 12
I just watched an episode of the Biggest Loser where Michelle Obama told one of the contestants a line something like this "you deserve the best in life.. all the happiness in the world!"
Wait.. what? Why do we hear this and believe it? Why do we find ourselves saying it? Are we liars?
Cause, honestly, the truth is "you deserve death"
And, I'm not saying this to be morbid. I'm saying this as a reminder to count my blessings. I get so caught up in the mindset that things going right is the norm, getting my way is the norm.
No. Things going wrong should be the norm. A bad day should be typical.
Do we even realize how blessed we are?
I don't deserve anything.... yet I've come to expect so much.
Wait.. what? Why do we hear this and believe it? Why do we find ourselves saying it? Are we liars?
Cause, honestly, the truth is "you deserve death"
And, I'm not saying this to be morbid. I'm saying this as a reminder to count my blessings. I get so caught up in the mindset that things going right is the norm, getting my way is the norm.
No. Things going wrong should be the norm. A bad day should be typical.
Do we even realize how blessed we are?
I don't deserve anything.... yet I've come to expect so much.
Wednesday, April 11
I guess this is a post for checking in! And.. to mention, I'm not sure if I like the new Blogger layout.. but I'm sure I'll get used to it in no time (just like everyone complains about new Facebook layouts and then it doesn't even matter a week later).
So I went to Jacksonville, Fl, the middle of February to visit Amanda. It was super relaxing! and I ate a lot of super, delicious food! From Florida, I headed to volunteer in Cullman, Alabama with ACWR. After a week there, I came home for a week and a half.. and then headed back to Cullman with the PYG. Although my two trips to Cullman were different.. both were a blessing :) ... and, of course, like any mission trip.. I can't really sum up the adventure of being there for you.. you had to be there! And even if you were there, you could've had a completely different experience than me.
Annnd now, its back to business. The problem being... knowing exactly what that business is. Ha. I'm running my first 5k Saturday which could be interesting as I've hated running the past 3 days (meaning, I haven't ran). So here's to hoping my fickle passion for running returns by the weekend!
So I went to Jacksonville, Fl, the middle of February to visit Amanda. It was super relaxing! and I ate a lot of super, delicious food! From Florida, I headed to volunteer in Cullman, Alabama with ACWR. After a week there, I came home for a week and a half.. and then headed back to Cullman with the PYG. Although my two trips to Cullman were different.. both were a blessing :) ... and, of course, like any mission trip.. I can't really sum up the adventure of being there for you.. you had to be there! And even if you were there, you could've had a completely different experience than me.
Annnd now, its back to business. The problem being... knowing exactly what that business is. Ha. I'm running my first 5k Saturday which could be interesting as I've hated running the past 3 days (meaning, I haven't ran). So here's to hoping my fickle passion for running returns by the weekend!
Thursday, March 1
As I was driving home from Alabama.. I stopped to get gas in Tennessee (about 96 miles South of Nashville). The clouds were dark, low and stormy... and the sky was an eerie shade of green. Of course the instant I stepped out to pump gas, the wind whipped into me and tornado sirens began to wail.
How ironic would that be? I'm heading home from a work project where we're rebuilding homes destroyed in tornadoes.. and I get carried off by a tornado??
I grabbed my camera to capture the storm... just in case a tornado hit and I could be famous for turning in photos to the nearest news station. Then, I ordered a 6 inch veggie at Subway as I continued to watch the storm roll menacingly over.
Oh my... there better not be a tornado... or hail. There better not be hail! It'll damage my car! And my macs in my car.. and my rebel.. and my lumix. Agh! My car better not get swept away!
Ridiculous. I mean, there was a positive. I wasn't worried about myself being destroyed. If I was swept away, it wouldn't matter what happened to my car or computer or cameras. But, I suddenly realized how attached I was to my earthly belongings.
Even though there are many reasons it made sense... I'm poor. I have things saved on my computer I wouldn't want to re-create. I have photos on camera cards that could be lost. There's Alabama dirt on the shoes in my car!
But still, 35 tornado reports Tues-Weds... and I know the destruction was devastating to some. But the material devastation should amount to little compared to the lives lost.. especially if the lives were unsaved.
Sunday, January 29
Years ago at the farm progress show (noticed the rhyme.. ha), we heard a southern family play some gospel with (roots dipped in bluegrass). This past Christmas Janessa was looking up Christmas music on Youtube when we came across the family. It was cool to see how'd they'd grown and changed as a group.. so I looked them up on Google, Facebook, etc too... and then, of course, using Twitter, I tweeted the one son Emmett about how'd we heard them years ago.. stumbled across them again.. yada yada yada....
He tweeted back... and I pretended he was more of a celebrity so I felt cool getting the Tweet... but then, the next day there was some clean wash on my bed, and one of the items was a shirt with "Got Emmett?"
WHAT! I knew it wasn't from Emmett Franz... but the timing was hilarious! Mom and Janessa had no clue where the shirt had came from... so I asked Luke.. he didn't know either. I assumed one of Luke's friends had left the shirt... and by random coincidence the timing had been hilarious!!
Fast forward a few weeks... I'm sitting talking to my dad as he's heading out the door to work... as he walks by, hes like "Got Emmett? Hey, that's my shirt"
A new guy started working at Caterpillar named Emmett (not the family band Emmett:) ... and he wasn't fitting in the group and feeling out of place. So the team he worked with all decided to get "Got Emmett?" shirts and wear them to work on the same day! Thus, the reason my dad had the shirt and the reason it ended up in my room!
Ah.. hahaha... so funny how the timing played out... well, I'm off to listen to bluegrass... :)
He tweeted back... and I pretended he was more of a celebrity so I felt cool getting the Tweet... but then, the next day there was some clean wash on my bed, and one of the items was a shirt with "Got Emmett?"
WHAT! I knew it wasn't from Emmett Franz... but the timing was hilarious! Mom and Janessa had no clue where the shirt had came from... so I asked Luke.. he didn't know either. I assumed one of Luke's friends had left the shirt... and by random coincidence the timing had been hilarious!!
Fast forward a few weeks... I'm sitting talking to my dad as he's heading out the door to work... as he walks by, hes like "Got Emmett? Hey, that's my shirt"
A new guy started working at Caterpillar named Emmett (not the family band Emmett:) ... and he wasn't fitting in the group and feeling out of place. So the team he worked with all decided to get "Got Emmett?" shirts and wear them to work on the same day! Thus, the reason my dad had the shirt and the reason it ended up in my room!
Ah.. hahaha... so funny how the timing played out... well, I'm off to listen to bluegrass... :)
Friday, January 20
first off, the color run.. definitely want to do this!
and look at these climbing spaces in St. Louis (below)
St. Louis City Museum.. what an adventureland!
what kind of awesome water slide is this?! (no clue where this is..)
