All In The Details

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Jeremiah 29:11

The Lord has been proving his all-knowing, incredible power to me and my family over and over recently. 

Knowing that "He is in control" has never been more true to me than it is right now. 

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I prayed so hard for our girls during my whole pregnancy. I knew all along it was a very high risk pregnancy and they would almost certainly be born early and with complications. The Lord held Emily and Madelynn tightly in the womb until the perfect time, letting them develop and grow fully  before being welcomed into this world. We were all so thankful and knew it was a true miracle that they were absolutely perfect.

It hit a little harder when a labor and delivery nurse stopped me in the grocery store while I was shopping with the girls. After I told her the details of their birth, she got tears in her eyes and gently held my arm and told me that "full term mono-di twins born with no complications are so so rare. {They} have only had 2 sets come through their nursery in the 8 years that she worked {at her hospital}."  

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
 Psalm 139: 13

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My dad and sister went on a mission trip to Honduras in late February. My dad had organized the trip for their church and were teaming up with Predisan, a Christian medical group. They set up camps, taught women how to care for their babies and did the dirty work of digging latrines. My dad and Stephanie's group was supposed to head out to the mountains one morning, but instead of going straight there, my dad decided to make a last minute stop to the Predisan office to get some medicine for a man he had seen the previous day. As they were pulling up to the office, my dad had a seizure. Stephanie is a nurse and ran to his aid until the other doctors from the group came to check him out. The Lord directed them to the office to get that medicine for a reason. Had he decided to forgo the medicine and just go straight to the mountains as planned, there is no telling what would have happened. The seizure was a complete freak thing having to do with a very rare side effect between the anti-Malaria medicine and another medication he was taking. It was a very emotional and stressful next few days, but they both made it home healthy and safely {except for a staph infection due to the IV at the hospital}. The Lord had my dad make the stop at the clinic instead of going into the mountains, put a wonderful Predisan doctor with them and took care of all the ambulance and MedJet details to get them home safely and put together so many other tiny details to get them home. 

Originally, Stephanie wasn't even supposed to go, but a spot opened up last minute. We are all so thankful she ended up going to be with Dad as he went through this scary situation on his own. 

Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge.  Psalm 16:1

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This past weekend, Stephanie was running her first ever Boston Marathon. We were all so thrilled an excited for her and her amazing accomplishment. Her boyfriend Trey, Michael,  Mom and Dad went to cheer her on during the race. There were so many tiny details that God put together. 

Steph is an incredible runner {clearly- she qualified for Boston!!}  She had asked Michael to run a couple miles with her in the middle of the race to keep her motivated. Michael jumped in at Heartbreak hill,  mile 17, and noticed she was really struggling. Her stomach hurt and she felt like she sprained her ankle at mile 10. One of Michael's spiritual gifts is definitely encouragement and he spent those few miles encouraging her. He decided to go ahead and run the rest of the race with her and left the course around mile 25 to go find her at the finish line. My parents  had been at mile 22ish to watch them run by and then were getting on the subway to  head over to the finish line. Stephanie finished the race and did amazing!! I was SO proud when I got the text notification that she finished the Boston Marathon!!! 

Shortly after, Michael called and said to call my parents and tell them he's safe at the hotel. He had been at the friends and family meeting area when the bombs went off. At that time he didn't know what had happened, but he knew it wasn't right, so he took off for the hotel. I got a hold of my dad and the first thing he said was he, mom, Steph and Trey were safe, but there were 2 bombings at the finish line. I could hear complete chaos on the other end and it was terrifying. Melony had been staying with me and the kids so we turned on the news and watched in complete shock and awe for the next few hours.

We all spent a lot of time thinking about the little details that happened to keep the family safe.Trey had been standing at the finish line waiting for Steph, leaning up against the building that was bombed right up until she crossed. He tried to get her to come stand over with him after she crossed, but she was so tired he ended up meeting her past the finish line. Thank you, Lord! Michael ended up running much further than expected, encouraging Stephanie to run faster, letting her finish when she did. If she had slowed up more, she could have been crossing when it happened. Thank you, Lord! And even if she had still been running, all the rest of the family would have still been at the finish line. My parents were making their way to the finish line, but their train had been slow and were actually just walking up to the finish line when the bombs went off. They felt the ground shake and saw the smoke and took off running the other way looking for the rest of the family. Thank you, Lord! 

{she's in the middle, in all orange :) }

You, Lord, will keep the needy safe and will protect us forever from the wicked.  Psalm 12:7

They were all leaving the following day, on different flights. Mom and Dad left first. Shortly after, Michael called to say his flight was delayed due to computer problems. He finally made it out, but had a layover in Chicago, so we were still waiting to get him home. It turned out that all of American Airline's computers were completely shut down all over the country. Stephanie and Trey's flight was delayed several hours. Mom and Dads plane got to land at DFW, but had to sit on the runway for hours at a complete stand still. They started letting planes leave Chicago, but were so backed up, they ended up canceling Michael's flight :(

He was set to leave the next morning, but his flight was delayed yet again due to terrible storms. It cleared up a bit and they were off!! He made it home later that afternoon and we were SO happy to have Daddy back at home with us!!

This morning, I got an email from my aunt saying the Chicago got over 5'' of rain and much of the city is flooded. We are so thankful he got out when he did!!

God is so faithful.

Thank you, Lord, for the details. 

Run, Daddy, Run!!

Michael finished his 2nd marthon on Sunday!! Not only did he finish, he blew his old personal record out of the water!! WooWoo!

Gretchen, Bryson and I woke up bright and early to go cheer on my sister, Stephanie, and Alicia cross the finish line for the Half Marathon. By the way, Steph is quite amazing heself, and finished the half (13.1 miles) in 1:54!! In case you're wondering, that is AWESOME!!

We hung out for a while, tried to warm up a bit because it was FREEZING outside. Bryson loves being outside, but 4 hours in that kind of weather is just way too long. The finish line was at Fair Park, so we sat inside of the building where the car show is during the fair. Kinda weird to see it completely empty!

Daddy crossed the finish line and we got to pose for a few pictures before the runners realized they were STARVING!!

Jonathan and Michael were so dedicated to their training this year. Their ultimate goal for the next couple years is to qualify for and run the Boston Marathon. :)

We're all so proud of you, Michael for your dedication and passion for everything you do.

Michael has done tons of races in the past, but never for a certain cause. This time, he ran for World Vision. Our church is raising money to get running water for a villiage in Uganda. I don't know about you, but I just can't imagine life without running water. Michael and I have sponsored a precious little boy for over 4 years now and it thrills my heart to think that his villiage could soon have water at the tip of their fingers instead of walking hours to bring it back to their village.

This is "our little boy" several years ago:

They send us pictures and updates quarterly and Vincent even draws pictures for us. We reciprocate and send letter and pictures of family. It's a special connection :)

Run, Run As Fast As You Can

My sister, Stephanie and Michael ran the Dallas Running Club Half Marathon on Sunday morning and I went out to cheer them on. I camped out around mile 7 and waited for them to come by. I knew what time the race started, so based on their normal pace, I figured out time they would probably be running by my mile marker. I was soo wrong about the time! They ran by so much sooner than I expected...I almost completely missed seeing them!

BUT, I got in my car and jumped ahead to mile 9

They look like they just started running...not 9 miles into the race!!

They crossed the finish line and Steph set a new personal record....by 20 minutes!!

Way to go Michael and Steph!!! Y'all are awesome!!  :)

He Tri'd...and He Succeeded!!

Michael did his second triathlon on Sunday. He considers the first one just a practice since it was so short and all indoor, but shoot, he did it and I'd count it! Michael still says this was his first. :)

Anyway, he did AWESOME!! I am so proud of his hard work and dedication to working out. For the past couple months he would go to work, go straight to class (until 9:30) and then stay and swim/bike/run at the SMU campus. He's so dedicated to everything he puts his mind to.

First was the swim... (If you look close...really really really close, you can see him in the water. Can't see him? Eh, me either. We can pretend though :-) )

He finished the swim so quickly I almost missed him transition to the bike

Just finished with the 12 mile bike ride

And he's in the home stretch....finish line is in sight....

YAY!! Congratulations Baby on finishing the triathlon!!! I wanted to run and jump on him and hug him to death, but I think I would have broken him if I did. So, instead, I stood next to him and smiled like a super proud wife and patted him on the shoulder :)

Next was Ray's turn to cross the finish line! YAY Ray!

Their friend Dustin did the triathlon as well. Way to go boys!!

*** So, at one point I ran down and back up a hill pretty quickly to take a picture of Michael transitioning from his bike to the run. I got the picture and then ran back down and up the hill to find Alicia again. I was so stinkin' exhausted and out of breath that I could barely talk. I felt slightly bad for saying I was tired after that.... and my husband was in the middle of a triathlon! Heheh :)

We defeated the hills of the Bearathon!!

We did it! It's done. We defeated the discustingly huge hills of the Bearathon!

My advice to anyone signing up for a race is to check the elevation map of your course BEFORE signing up. Steph and I had no idea what we were getting ourselves into until a couple weeks ago when some friends let us in on the wonderful adventure we were about to embark on.

First of all, I must say that I think I am cursed with freezing weather no matter when/where I run. I'm actually pretty convinced that if I signed up for a race in the middle of July, somehow an arctic cold front would come through the night before race day just so I have to run in 30 something degree weather! All week the temperature was forcasted to be in the 50-60s. I was so excited...no running tights, no gloves, no long sleeve shirt. Yes! Race day morning: 35 degrees. What!? I didn't even pack the right stuff!! Fortunately I had random gloves in my car and a long sleeve shirt in my bag "just in case".

The race started. We ran. A lot. Up hill. Up the hill, Up the hill, down the hill. Up the hill, up the hill, up the hill even more. Talk yourself into running more. Up the hill. Cross the finish line!! (That's pretty much the gist.) Oh... Steph and I looked up the elevation map of the course AFTER we ran the race. There was an elevation difference of 260 feet! That's absolutely CRAZY! The 1/2 at White Rock changes 180 ish.

There were tons of people around the course with motivational signs, which is always nice to see. There was one in particular around mile 11 that really helped me finish strong. We were on our way up one of the biggest hills and at the base of it, a girl was holding up a sign that said "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." That was exactly what I needed! He put the perfect sign in the perfect spot just for me. :)

Now, everytime I move, I am very aware of every muscle in my body. It feels so good to know that you have just accomplished something so big, and with my sister!

Sunday

Michael ran a 1/2 marathon Sunday morning. It was the 1st ever Rock to Victory Race and he was a part of it. So cool! He ran it with a friend from work who is also an avid runner. He is actually the one who has put the triathalon idea into Michael's head. Thanks Jonathan :)

Michael set a new personal record with a time of 1:57:54!!!! I was so so excited for him! Way to go Hubby!!!

Thank you Ray and Alicia for coming to support Michael! And for the amazing sign! I wouldn't be surprised if he wants to frame it. :)

We went to eat with Jonathan and his wife and Ray and Alicia after the race. I lost my appetite very quickly when Jonathan and Gretchen started talking about how terribly hard the Bearathon course is. I wanted the cry after hearing how hard the run is. They have run marathons and they think the course is hard, mind you. I might die next weekend in Waco :( My sister and I are braving the 13.1 miles of hills and torture in exchange for a finisher t-shirt and medal. Is it really even worth it?? I'm beginning to have doubts.

An Eventful Weekend

Saturday

We Dashed Down Greenville in the St. Patty's Day 5K fun run. I have never seen so much green in one place!


It was tons of fun, but very crazy and hectic at the same time. Most of the 4,000 people were just there for the parade and fun of the St. Pattrick's Day parade, but some meant business. One guy was pushing a stroller and was obviously trying to set a personal record beause he felt it necessary to run over ankles and small children with his stroller. On the other hand, he might have just been in a hurry to get to the aid stations. It was the only race I've been to that served beer at the aid stations instead of water or gatorade. :)


Third Monday

Since we moved to McKinney, I have heard people talking about Third Monday Trade Days, which is just like Canton, just much closer and a little smaller. I have wanted to go for the past few months, but we have always had plans. Not this month! I finally got to go and it was a lot of fun! Most of the booths had home decor that you would find at Hobby Lobby or Kirklands for much less. Like I mentioned a while ago, I am in love with the shops in Downton McKinney. They're just a little too expensive to furnish our house with. Well, there were very similar things there this weekend and I definitely took advantage of the prices. I got some huge (3 feet tall) candle sticks, lots of little crosses to put on candles, and a big outdoor cross to put in our backyard. I love knowing that I'm saving money. I am excited about going again to find more great bargains! You know you want to go, too!

Cowtown

A little window into the past year:
Michael and I decided our New Year's Resolution for 2008 was going to train for a Half Marathon for me and a Full Marathon for him. Two of our best friends joined us in this year long adventure!! :-) We found a great training program and ran at least 4 days a week for nearly the whole year in preparation for the White Rock Marathon in December. I was really somewhat obsessed with running. If I had an extra 30 minutes before dinner, I would rather go run than to sit and watch T.V. (Like I said, I tend to go into things 100% full force...) Well, the week before the long anticipated race, I got really sick and realized my year's worth of dedication wasn't going to happen. I went to White Rock to support my husband, Ray and Alicia as they ran and FINISHED the race!! I was SO proud of them! I was heartbroken that I couldn't run with Alicia after all of our blood, sweat and tears we shared while training. BUT...

I still had a Half Marathon to run! So all four of us signed up for the Cowtown Half Marathon in Ft Worth on Saturday.

Let me just start out by reminding you of the weather this past week. On Wednesday and Thursday, it was a beautiful, warm sunny day, and 80 degrees outside.
I watched the weather all week to try to prepare myself for the cold front that was coming through on Saturday. Nothing short of wearing my ski gear could have prepared me for how FREEZING it was on race day!

We left our house at 5:00A.M. to pick up our race bib and packet. We had lots of time to kill until the 7:30 race start, so Alicia and I pretty much huddled together drinking coffee in a tent by the starting line until 7:27 and then headed out.

We started running with the sea of people into the freezing wind. I honestly could not feel any of my fingers or toes thoughout almost the whole race. Typically, you start to warm yourself up after a couple miles or so; I kept waiting for it, but it never happened for me. It was miserable and very painful. Regardless of the pain, we started off pretty strong! We were even infront of Michael and Ray for the first 2 miles...but that didn't last long. :) Alicia was a great motivator and we pushed though and finished the 13.1 miles!! YAY us!

Michael and I after the run

The Fab Four

I don't know if I mentioned it or not, but it was SO cold Saturday morning!! :)Michael acually looked up the weather for the morning and at 7:30, it was 32 degrees, with a wind chill of 19 and winds at 22 mph. BRRRRR!!!

What great memories with great friends!! :-)