What a 10 year old soccer player eats....

Abby is going to Conditioning Camp this week from 9:00-4:00.    As the name implies, it is a bunch of conditioning activities--lots of running, jumping, push-ups, sit-ups, etc.  Not my idea of fun, but she loves it!!  

That's her doing hurdles.

As you might imagine, she eats an enormous amount of calories during a week like this.  I thought I might show you.  For breakfast she normally eats 2 packets of oatmeal and 2 hard-boil eggs and a glass a milk.  Some mornings she adds a banana to this as well.  As for lunch....

This is her lunch and snacks for the day.  It consists of 1 PB&J sandwich, 4 PB&J roll ups (more on those on a later blog), strawberries, a banana, 2 clementines, snack bag of pistachios, half of a cucumber, 2 yogurt tubes, half of an apple, a chocolate chunk granola bar, a bag of fruit snacks, a cup of applesauce and a pudding cup.  This is in addition to the 32oz of Gatorade, 3L of water and the 2 Kool-Aid bursts she will consume today as well. 

Last night at dinner she consumed 4 bowls of cheese ravioli.  

 

She's eating me out of house and home!!

Let us run....

"Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us" Hebrews 12:1b

I don't run. There are a few occasions that I might run:

1. I was being chased by a ferocious animal or someone who was big and scary
2. My children were hurt or about to be in danger

That's about it. Not a big fan of sweating.

It is for these reasons that I have been and am thoroughly impressed with those athletes that choose the sport of Cross Country Running.

I was thoroughly pleased when my oldest daughter decided that she wanted to try the cross country team when she started middle school. I figured that she needed a little discipline and this was just the sport to get her that.

It has been a tough season for her so far. She wrecked her bike on the team bike ride and ended up in the emergency room (she's fine just lots of bruising and a sprained wrist). She has finished last on her team in every race.

But, she is loving it. She has already met one of her goals. She has decreased her time each and every race. She has found a place to belong which is so very important in middle school. She has done all of this and stayed true to who she is...she runs every race with a beautiful, girly bow in hair.

 Yesterday, I was lucky enough to get to go to one of her meets. If you have never been to a cross country meet, you have to understand that it is not exactly a great spectator sport. There is not a lot to see at a meet unless you run around to different parts of the course which I do not do (see the beginning of this post.) Pretty much parents scream like crazy at the beginning of the race while the runners are still within earshot and then stand around and talk until the first runner comes back into sight at which point screaming and cheering take place again.

I was standing at the finish line anxiously waiting for my daughter to appear at the top of the hill. Many runners have already come through and I have enthusiastically applauded and cheered them on to the finish while looking for my sweet Anna the whole time. All of the sudden, there she is topping the last little hill and has the finish line in sight.

I begin cheering as if my life depends on it. She is the last of our girls to come to the finish line and she is digging hard to pass the girl that is in front of her. She is exhausted and is running as hard as she can with a great look of determination on her face. She has set a goal to finish every race as strong and as fast as she can. That is what I am yelling for her, "Finish strong, Anna! Finish strong!"

Cross Country is not about winning and losing. It is not about first or last place. It is not about the runners around you. It is about overcoming your own hurdles; defeating self-doubt; pushing yourself harder each and every race. It is about getting better and persevering.

She is learning that and I am re-learning important life lessons.

She passes me and I keep yelling. I am caught off guard by the swelling of emotions within me and of the tears forming in my eyes. I have never been prouder of her in my life.

A tension filled relaxing weekend

I spent this past weekend with my sister out in Arizona. It was a lovely weekend filled with sight seeing, relaxation, good food and laughter. Waking up whenever we wanted, sleeping when we wanted, eating when we wanted....things that moms don't ever get to do.

So why was there tension? Definitely not because of any sibling drama!

There was tension within me.

We were in Scottsdale, Arizona. A glitzy, ritzy town. One filled with opulence and overindulgence. We stayed in a resort where everything was done for you. I didn't have to open a door, pour a cup of coffee, pick up a towel, make a bed....

Sounds perfect? It wasn't. Now don't get me wrong. I loved being on vacation...but I can't say that it was perfect.

I got the feeling that the employees of the resort were trying to do their jobs (serving us) while being seen as little as humanly possible. We, the guests, were not suppose to see things appear for us. Little to no eye contact was made, just a slight nod of the head.

I wanted to take their faces in my hands, force them to look me in the eye, and say to them, "You are a beloved child of God. You are not invisible, you are worth the same as all of these you serve! I appreciate you!"

My world was upside down. It quickly righted itself however, when I squeezed into my coach seat on the airplane and was charged $8 for a blanket while the person in front of me got hers free. Life was back to normal.

Moving,...again...

Well, we are moving again. Not happy about it.

But, it has to happen. The seminary decided to revitalize the Beeson scholarship program which is a full-ride doctoral program. We have been living in the Beeson townhomes, thus...we have to leave.

Granted we could have stayed until the end of May but found a suitable and affordable place to live and need to go ahead and move.

I know that Aaron is going into itenerent ministry but this much moving is a little ridiculous. Moved in May of 2008, June of 2009 and now January of 2010.

I guess I just need to put my big girl panties on and deal with it!

Today begins Lent....

I always struggle with Lenten sacrifices. I never know what to give up or add to my daily life. Not because I think I am perfect. It's actually just the opposite. Once I start thinking about the sacrifice that Jesus made for me, nothing seem adequate and I decide to give up a whole bunch of things that I know I will not follow through on. So then, I decide I do not want to make a mockery of the notion of a Lenten sacrifice which then leads me to decide that I just want do anything. Because, of course, if you can't do something right, you shouldn't do it at all, right?? I know...flawed logic...

So, today is Ash Wednesday and I once again am contemplating...what do I give up? Caffeine? Meat? TV? Internet? I've done all of those before. Is it enough?

What is it that stands between me and a deeper relationship with God? (Like there is just one thing...) I keep coming back to pride. Pride is my great pitfall--especially the idea of self-sufficiency.

Please give me a little grace while I explain myself a little....

As a young child, I was diagnosed with Juvenile Onset Rheumatoid Arthritis. I had to learn to be resilient and tough. I had to learn to push through pain and find creative ways to do some normal,everyday tasks. I am grateful for this. I learned to be stubborn, to not give up easily and developed a very, very strong will.

However, that is my weakness. I have a hard time accepting help.

Let me just tell you, God has worked on me in this area. He has called me into different ministries and situations that have required me to learn to accept help. I have come to realize that God made none of us to have the ability to live a true Christian walk without the assistance of others. He made us not to be self-sufficient but to need community. It is impossible to go it alone.

Which brings me back to my Lenten sacrifice...

For the forty days of Lent, I am not giving something up (ya'll can all breathe a sigh of relief, I will continue to have caffeine!) but I am going to focus on the people in my life that have helped me in some way. I have been incredibly blessed by the generosity, love and support of so many people. My life has been impacted and changed by more than I can count. God has worked on my heart to allow me to open up my eyes to the impact that so many have made upon me.

I am going to use the forty days to express my thanks to at least forty people who have somehow impacted my life. Want to join me?

We have had a time with a little girl in Abby's class. This is probably a good time to state this disclaimer: I know that I am only getting one side of the story. I know that there are always more facts that what is shared with the mom. I know that my child may be exaggerating and may very well be part of the problem.

Now, I don't like to judge anyone, especially little kids, but I am just not sure she is a very nice kid. Abby has complained about this little girl mistreating her since August. We have exchanged numerous emails with Abby's teacher and guidance counselor and have had two parent teacher conferences.

This past week, the situation was pretty bad. (I will spare you all the details because this is not what the point of this blog is all about.) It was so bad, that Abby wrote me a letter while at school concerning her situation with this young girl. Not only did she just write me a letter, she had several of the other little girls in her class sign the letter in support of her statements.

Needless to say, I emailed the teacher once again. We were pretty desperate for some help as Abby was pretty miserable. The next day, Abby returned home in a much better mood. We asked her how her day went and she proceeded to tell us that her teacher had taken care of the situation. (Again, I'll spare you the details)

I asked her if she felt better about it. Her response was, "Well, ya know mom, it is pretty easy to be nice to everyone on the day you have to see the principal. I will let you know how she does this time next week." How true is that? I was shocked. How profound a statement from such a little girl.

As we were driving home from our Valentine's Dinner, I asked her if she had finished filling out her valentines for her class party the next day. She assured me that she had. I asked her if she addressed one to the little girl who had been bothering her. She said, "Of course I did." She wanted to know why I would ask that question. I told her that sometimes, it is hard to give someone a nice thing when they have been mean to you.

She said to me, "You know Mom, Valentine's Day is all about love and grace. That's why I addressed a valentine to her." I was in a slight state of shock. She proceeded to tell me that "God loves everyone. He gives grace to everyone, even if they are a mean little girl." I said told her she was exactly right. Her next statement floored me once again. "Mom," she started, "God is able to love everyone like that because He is perfect. I'm not perfect, but I want to try to love them too."

What a moment. We may have difficult moments as parents but there are times when we know that we are doing a good job. This was one of those for me.

Storm of 2009

What a week it has been. I have never seen so much ice on everything. Nothing was spared the coating of the slick, cold stuff! Although the trees looked pretty while they glistened on Tuesday, by that evening, the limbs starting breaking and trees started uprooting.

I did not sleep much that night. It was unnerving to hear very loud POPs and then crashes throughout the night. We lost many branches out of our trees in our yard. Everywhere you look in town, there is damage to be seen. It will take us weeks to clean it up.

We lost our electricity on Wednesday a little bit before noon. We had just come in from a lovely walk in the thickly falling snow. We expected the lights to be out a little while--it was out five days total. Before it was all said and done, there would over 1 million people that would love electricity service at some point during the storm.

Although we were out of power for many days, we were much more fortunate than most. We had heat (somewhat), the ability to cook on the stovetop, and hot water. We also had a host of friends who offered warm homes, washing machines and shared their electricity.

Many, many folks inquired to know what we needed and how they could help. It was comforting to know that help was just a phone call away--even from those we didn't know.

Many memories were formed--some we would like to forget and some that we will cherish! Bailing out the sump pumps at all hours of the day and night, playing Jenga by candlelight, eating up the last of the ice cream, sledding down the BIG hill, the girls realizing that you can survive without TV, cooking by flashlight and attempting to walk on ice.

What I will cherish the most is the love and spirit of cooperation that we saw. People being neighborly. Knowing that through it all, being out of electricity is a minor inconvenience. Realizing what all we take for granted.