My Runaversary

One year ago around this time (not sure the exact date, I think it was the 25th of June) I started the Couch to 5K Treadmill training. I ran on the treadmill for 9 weeks. Then I started running outside around September 3. So I thought this would be a good time to look back over the year and see what has changed and what hasn't. 

What started me running? A friend signed up for a 5K. Believe it or not, it sounded delicious, the Hot Chocolate 5K. That was a little less than eight months away and I had not been training at all, or running at all, or even walking. I started the Couch to 5K treadmill and the journey began. It was easy to do because it started me off slowly. I did more walking than running until at the end of the nine weeks I was running the whole time except five minutes warm up and five minutes cool down. I decided I better take it outside since I had heard it was far different than running ON a treadmill. That is the truth. 

For a couple of months I was running in the mornings before 6 a.m. That was really hard on me but I had to be back at home for work by 7. My husband was going with me. He wasn't a runner then, he was mostly walking but started running a little bit here and there each time we went. (He is now a full out runner, runs up to 5 miles at a time.) After that I started going a little later in the morning by myself or in the afternoons. The cooler weather was a challenge because the mornings were cooler than later in the day. But if I covered my ears the cold didn't bother me after I started running. 

My first 5K was in early February. It was pretty cold that day but I didn't feel it until way after I was finished running. The feeling I got during the race was like nothing else I had ever felt. I actually ran faster during the race than I normally do. I managed to keep running the whole way with only two 5-10 seconds where I slowed down to a fast walk for a drink. I felt amazing. There is just something about running with a bunch of people even though a LOT of them were only walking. 

Right after that race I decided I needed to find my next race so that I would not quit. I had to have something to work towards. My older daughter and I signed up for the Color Run in early April. I had two months to keep training, it was still a 5K. I knew I could slack off and not keep running if I wasn't diligent. There were days I didn't run that I was supposed to. When the second race day came I was super excited again and my daughter was even more so. It was so much fun. We enjoyed the before "party" and the after "party". 

My third 5K was one that our family did to support the purchase of Bibles for a mission group. It was in May, Mother's Day weekend. I didn't run as much as I should have in the month between those races and it really showed in my performance. I did finish but I stopped more than I did in other races. And there weren't as many runners as in the big races so I think that had something to do with it. Maybe the big crowds of runners help motivate me. 

I am signed up for the Hot Chocolate 5K again in February. I plan on signing up for a night run in September but haven't yet. I know that I need to sign up for at least two races between now and February. Maybe more. I feel wonderful after a run and after a race. Somewhere along the line I forgot that I WANT to run and got it in my head that I HAVE to run. Sometimes our minds don't allow us to do the things we THINK we HAVE to do. Time to readjust my thinking. I WANT to run because it makes me feel great and because it is good for me; heart, mind and soul. 

After a year where am I physically? I have lost some weight, but mostly I have built muscle that weighs as much as I did before. I am in a little smaller clothes on good days. I managed to NOT be bothered by asthma during my winter runs, which I thought was amazing. My heart palpitations were almost nonexistent. Sadly because I have not been running regularly over the past couple of months I can no longer say that. Another great reason to get back into it. Some of the weight (fat) has come back because of my lack of running. Fat isn't healthy, that is why I want it gone. It isn't about a number on a scale or a number on my clothes. It is about taking care of my body because it is a temple. I am getting rid of my scales (putting them away). I am going to focus on doing things that make me feel good about myself and improve my health. That includes eating even better and working out when I am able. 

I am looking forward to seeing where I am at my next runaversary. I am going to work on a list of goals and will post them this weekend. 

Changing my life one day at a time.  

Summer Break

Our summer break started the beginning of June, with summer camp. We have a great time at camp each year. This was her last year at Children's Camp. We got to spend time with good friends while we were there. (I went to camp with her as a 7th grade leader.) Next year she will be going to youth camp. How can that be? The elementary school years have passed so quickly. She spent so much time in the pool that she got a bit too much sun on her nose. She did the swim test this year so she got to jump off the board. She also did the zipline for the first time. She was so scared. But she LOVED it. I am so proud of her for facing some of her fears. 

Youth camp was directly after Children's Camp. He had a GREAT time, as always. He spends a lot of time doing things on the waterfront and at the pool. He didn't burn much but did get darker. He did some really crazy "boy" things at camp that make a mom say "what?". He came home alive so I suppose that is what matters. While us girls were at camp his dad bought him a bow and arrow set. He has really been wanting to work on those skills. It is a really nice set. We just need to find him a nice quiver to hold the arrows. He will be doing a few home improvement projects with his dad over the summer and the coming year. 

I am working on a list of things I want to teach my kids this coming year and through high school. We are working on his high school plan right now, since he enters 9th grade this fall. I am working on some things for her, as well, since she starts junior high. It is so hard for me to think about there only being 4 and 6 more years to teach my kids the things they need to be healthy, successful adults. 

I am going to try to post some great stuff from summer on here. Also, keep a better blog record of school from now on. We are super excited to start a new curriculum, Easy Peasy All In One Homeschool. The awesome thing is that it's all online and it's all FREE. Yep, you read that right, FREE. Of course, they accept donations and we will donate yearly, sometimes more often, to help keep this great program available to those that want and need it. Please check it out if it is something you might be interested in. It goes all the way from PreK to high school. She is working on the high school classes now. She hopes to be finished with 9th grade by fall, yay. 

That is our progress report for today. Thanks for stopping by. 

Our Mission Church: Fuller Street Fellowship

This is our mission church, Fuller Street Fellowship. We started out in an apartment but someone donated this church building, a mission house and a house, since fall of 2012. We now meet here each week, three times a week. The mission house in the middle is used by visiting missionaries. The house on the end is used by the family we have served with for the past 7 years. 

Behind all three buildings is a large play area. We have fellowships out there but the kids also go outside after the lesson when the adults aren't finished yet. The whole thing is fenced off. 

The little girl in the picture has been a part of our mission church since she was about 18 months old. Many of the families from the old apartment church followed us to our church building. It is great to have old families and new families joined together to worship the Lord and learn more about Him. 

This is a view of the mission house and the other house. As you can see, the fence goes around the whole property. 

This is the inside of the big room in the church. We sing songs in Spanish and then the children go into separate rooms for Bible study and then outside to play. 

The younger elementary and older preschoolers go in one room. (There are rooms for the even younger children, too. On Wednesday nights there are more families that come so the amount of children and rooms needed is larger.) Our other co-teacher, Mr. Ed teaches that group. 

John and I are in the room with the older elementary kids. Sometimes we stay in and do puzzles and color but most of the time they kids like to go outside after we are done with the story. 

On Monday nights there is an ESL class that John teaches. It is a big class and they are enjoying it a lot. Jennifer goes and helps with the kids.  

Blazing A New Trail

I am super excited to add another type of exercise/fitness to my list. It makes life more interesting and "working out" more fun. In March we bought mountain bikes. We took them on our vacation over spring break and actually got to ride them for a short time, maybe 45 minutes, at this really big park in Memphis, TN. We didn't time it or the distance then. We didn't ride longer than that because we had spent the morning at the Memphis Zoo, which is quite large. 

Today we took our bikes out to ride a trail John found. You ride to the end of the trail then turn around and ride back, for a total of 11.7 miles. We stopped for a few minutes here and there but for the most part we rode straight through. JC was the first one back to the Jeep. We reached the Jeep after about one hour and 45 minutes. I actually came in second because John stayed behind with Jenni on the return ride. She and I were in the back on the way there, laughing and having a great time. She had a hard time on the way back because it got harder. I found there was more uphill parts on the way back, almost the whole way. I struggled a bit but pushed myself as hard as I could. I wanted to make sure I made it to the stopping point before my phone died since I was tracking the miles and using it for music. 

The weather was perfect, sunny and a cool breeze. It is my hope that we can do this often, maybe even every Saturday. Next Saturday we have a 5K to run. I am not sure how easy going the kids will be about it but I hope they will be willing to go with us every time, or most of the time. I hope we can find new trails to ride on to keep it interesting. 

I have been doing the Squat Challenge, the Plank Challenge and added a Crunch Challenge to it. I have done the workout video once, but plan on doing it more next week. I didn't run this week at all. I will have to get out there and run this week twice before our 5K on Saturday. Working on my diet, too. I need to get all the junk out of the house FAST! I ordered more drinks so I can do another cleanse. I think I will do that after I get back from Children's Camp because that is always a hard week when it comes to food and exercise. 

If you are unsure of what to do as far as getting your body moving so you can be healthier, just move. Go for a walk daily, do the Couch to 5K training, get on a bike and go for a ride, do one of the challenges. Just DO something, anything. And the more days you do something the more you will enjoy doing it. I love being an active person now. As I get closer to turning 50 years old the more I understand the need for my health to be as good as I can get it. I need to be active and I need to get my eating habits in line with how God intended me to eat. When I do, I feel amazing. But I know I can't go over board. I have to make sure I am not doing too much. It isn't about pushing yourself OVER the limit. It is about pushing yourself to the limit you are supposed to reach. If you push past that you can injure yourself and that stops your progress altogether. So take it slow and listen to your body. The better you eat, the better you will feel and the more you can do in time. 

Changing my life one day at a time. 

Color Run Dallas 2013

On Saturday, April 6, 2013 I ran my second 5K. It was called The Color Run. What a blast I had.  Part of the reason I had so much fun was that my oldest daughter ran with me. It is always fun to do things with other people who are excited about it as you are. My last 5K was in early February so I had two whole months between races. I have to admit I didn't run as consistently as I should have. I ran 15 times between races. That is about half of what I should have done, in my opinion. I am glad I ran what I did. I tend to run more as a race approaches. The week before the race I could feel the excitement building. The night before was typical of my first race, I slept little. I got up in a good frame of mind and got ready for the race. My daughter and I had some fun things to wear for our run, a bandanna, sun glasses and tattoo on our cheek. We left pretty early after the traffic we experienced in February. But there wasn't any traffic that day. I think we just beat it because shortly after we parked the line of cars started piling into the lot. 

We found out that they had a before party going with music and dancing. We joined right in. It was so much fun. Since we got there at 7 we had awhile before the race began to warm up. We got in the big start area around 7:45. The excitement was building again as we waited our turn to start running. My *pandora wasn't working so I didn't have any music to listen to except at certain spots where they had their music playing loudly. I didn't let that stop me. I listened to the conversations of the walkers and just kept moving forward. The first mile seemed to pass very quickly. They didn't have any color stops during that one. Right after that they had one set up. You have to slow down and/or stop to get color thrown on you. My time for the first mile was really the only accurate time I have, which was 12.40. There were so many people is wasn't always easy to run around someone in my path. And there were a ton of walkers not always staying on the right side of the path so that the runners could run on the left.

At the end of the race they gathered as a group in front of the stage (the one we had the before party) and every so often they did a color throw. We stayed in that area through about 5 throws so that we had plenty of color on us. We took lots of fun photos. 

One of the things I am going to do with my race memorabilia is make a running scrapbook. I'm super excited about that. I can't wait to fill it up with things for the different races I am planning on doing. 

My next 5K is May 11. We are running to support the purchase of Bibles for the group, Equip Disciples, that we went to Kenya with the summer of 2011. All of us are doing the 5K for this. I have a couple planned for summer, one in the fall and then at least one at the beginning of the new year. I am only signed up for the one next month and the Hot Chocolate in February so far. But there are deadlines for some that I want to do so I might go ahead and sign up pretty quickly.

That is the update on the latest race. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. There are more in my fb page if you are my "friend" on there. 

Changing my life one day at a time. 

Our Mission Story

My husband and I have been serving the Lord together since before we got married. We worked with the other youth in our small town church by putting on puppet shows and helping with Vacation Bible School. Over the course of our marriage our ministries have taken on many new aspects. We worked in the children's department of our church for many years together while also serving in other areas separately. For the past 14 years we have worked with Mission Arlington in apartment ministries. We pastor an apartment church that met on Sunday mornings at 11 a.m. for many years. 

In 2009 we participated in a study called Perspectives On The World Christian Movement at our church. It was during those four months that we began to feel the call to cross cultural work beyond our city. We had been working cross culturally for the past 8 years. But we understood that the "fields are white unto harvest but the workers are few" so we took the next step in that commitment.

In 2010-2011 we began another type of cross cultural training that took a year to complete. Our Panorama group met each Thursday night and we studied many different aspects of living and working cross culturally. We completed this training in August of 2011.

We began to look for areas of ministry that we could serve and something that came up for my husband was low cost water well drilling. He grew up in the oil field and it just seemed to call to him. The ministry that he found is Water for All International. He began talking to these gentlemen and learning the process by watching videos online and actually going out in a local area and doing some test wells. In March of 2011 we went to West Texas to train for a week with the WFA leaders and 5 others from all over the globe that came to get this wonderful training.

After our return home we were approached by a member of our church. They had heard about our training in the low cost water well drilling and wanted us to be a part of their group that went to East Africa in June of 2011. We were able to go for the three weeks in June, along with our two youngest children. We were blessed beyond measure.

When we returned the doors closed for us in all of these areas. We were unsure why but knew God must have a plan. We continued to work with our apartment church. We were moved to another apartment that had a larger ministry in 2012. During the summer of 2012 a church building was given to Mission Arlington and they moved our congregation into it. We not only meet on Sunday mornings, we now meet on Wednesday nights. John started an ESL class on Monday nights since the congregations only speaks Spanish and they have a desire to learn English.

We will continue to serve where we are planted and will try to share with you about the things going on at Fuller Street. If you even want to help our ministry you can always donate to Mission Arlington and address it for Fuller Street Ministry. I am sure they will get it into the correct hands to help our congregation.

We appreciate all of your prayer support. Keep them coming!

Until next time...blessings to you.

What is my Legacy?

As I was running today the word legacy came to my mind. That may sound really strange but it makes perfect sense to me. I was watching my husband and two younger children running/walking the track while I ran. My children are training to run a 5K. As I ran and pondered that word I decided to look into it a little deeper. 

Legacy: anything handed down from the past, as from an ancestor or predecessor. 

As a mom, I am concerned about the legacy I leave for my children. But I started to think about what type of legacy I received from my ancestors. The most significant legacy that comes to mind all comes from my grandmother. She gave me so much of herself that I am proud of and gladly carry forward to my children.

The most important thing she gave me is my faith in Christ. She was the daughter of a Baptist pastor and the granddaughter of a missionary. She made sure I was in church three days a week and for all the extra activities in the children's department. It went much farther than that. Some of my bed time stories were from the Bible. My favorite as a child was Samson. She led by example and practiced what she preached. She wasn't perfect by any means but my grandmother always tried to live the way Christ taught. As I watched her as a leader in the church, head of the WMU and the like, I also saw her compassion for those who had less than we did and her desire to share the Word with them because she knew what truly would enrich their lives. I am unsure what type of family my grandfather came from but I think my grandmother had a stronger faith than they did, if any. She was the driving force behind her husband and children attending church. 

Grandma gave me a sense of great love and support towards my children and others. She was my champion! If ever she felt I had been wronged before I was old enough to take care of it myself, she was there fixing it. After I was older she was there to encourage me in how to handle things the right way. She was a listening ear to my every life detail. Oh, how I miss those days. She shared my joys and my sorrows. She didn't focus on her sorrows, although she had plenty of her own through her long life. She taught me not to dwell on mine, either. She would tell me about things but only when we were having long deep conversations about the past as a way for her to tell me "her story". 

I grew up in a home that was totally southern, fried just about everything! When I was a young teenager my grandmother decided that being healthier was important. At the time I called her a "health food nut". (Sorry, Gram!) She started cooking with healthier things and not frying so much. She also started exercises more. She already played golf almost everyday. The "in thing" was a fitness center. So she and I went and worked out together. 

Now me. Am I leaving behind a legacy for my children to carry on to theirs and beyond? I know that I am doing what I can with my children. But children don't always go down the path you wish they would or believe and live the things they have been taught. At least not right away. I make sure my children attend church and know their Bible. They do all the extra fun activities at church. We even went a step farther, kind of along the lines of my great-great grandmother, we teach at a mission church and have for the past 15 years. Our children are a part of that ministry. We have even taken the two youngest on a mission trip to Africa! We live out our faith daily. Even through hard times we look to the Lord. That isn't to say we never have times of doubt and discouragement. But we do our best not to stay in those depths too long. We know that isn't where Christ wants us to live. 

I married a man who did not come from a Christian background. He started coming to church when we started dating. As young parents I felt the need to make sure that our daughter was in church so we started going. After we had our second child and had been married for 9 years I realized something was missing. I wanted a way to be closer to my husband and I thought if we did a Bible study together that we would grow closer. I was still under the impression that my husband had a personal relationship with Christ. But he didn't. About a year after we started doing a Bible study called Precept (there are different topics under that heading) he accepted Christ as his Savior. As part of his testimony he tells people that I was the one who insisted we go to church. I suppose I carried out my grandmother's legacy in that area for sure. 

Several years ago I read a book called The Maker's Diet. I learned so much about the things in this world that are bad for you and the things that are good for you. At first I tried to do a complete change and met some resistance but not as much as you would think. As the years have progressed we have made real changes to our diet. We still have some things we need to work on but I feel good about a lot of them. 

My husband has always been great about working out and staying in shape. I on the other hand have gone up and down on the scales. I can attribute some of that to being pregnant seven times with four full term births. (I only have four living children) I have been sporadic in my workouts. I tend to lack consistency for large periods of time. I will work out for several months and then nothing for a very long time, sometimes years. A year ago in November I reached my highest non-pregnancy weight and it was like a RED LIGHT shinning in my face. STOP NOW! So I decided to make some real changes in my exercise and hopefully my eating habits. I started doing some workout videos again and did those for about eleven weeks and stopped again. I had lost 10 pounds at that point but let life get in my way. Plus, I admit I was discouraged that the weight wasn't coming off faster.  In June several things changed. I got back on Weight Watchers and signed up to run a 5K in February. The WW I had done before. But running? NOPE! I did the training on the treadmill for nine weeks. Then I needed to take it outside. My husband was going walking in the mornings before the preschoolers got there so I asked him if I could run while he walked because running in the park alone was not a good idea for me. He started running a mile or two here and there and then walking a lot of it. Pretty soon he was running the three miles and really enjoying himself. I haven't gotten him to sign up for a race yet but I'm working on it. 

My oldest daughter was the one who told me how much she loved to run. She had gotten so busy with work and hadn't run in a long time. She is struggling to gain a healthier lifestyle so running hasn't been something she thought she could do. I took up running because she told me how good it was and because I wanted something we could do together, have in common. She has started training for a 5K in April that we will run together! I am super excited about that. It will take some time to work up to it but I know that it is going to have a life changing effect on her. She will be able to do something she loves again. My younger two children are now doing the Couch to 5K training. I know I want all of them to sign up for next years Hot Chocolate 5K in February (I want to make that a yearly family thing). But I'm not sure if the kids or my husband will run with me any other time before then. I sure hope so. 

So my legacy...am I carrying it forward? I have to believe that I am. In a good way. I saw an example in my grandmother and have tried to live that example for my family, sometimes without even realizing it. I thought a lot about it while I was watching my family run this evening at the park. I do a lot of thinking and talking to the Lord during my runs. He gives me insight on many things and clears my head of things that don't need to be there. 

I'm not perfect and would never pretend to be. I am a work in progress. But like my grandmother, I get back up when I fall down and keep on heading the direction the Lord is guiding me. It is really the only thing I can do. I will never stop growing and learning as long as I am on this earth. So I will keep my eyes on the Lord so that my children will see my example. I am prayerful that they will gain the legacy that I am trying to pass on to them. 

Thanks for letting me share. What are your legacy's? The ones you received and the ones you are passing on? 

Until next time...blessings to you.