NEW BLOG DESIGN!!!

Thank you to my fabulous cousins, Amy & April, for an excellent 30th Birthday present! It took several months of being wait-listed, then several weeks of revisions, but I'm very happy with the results! Please take a moment to click out of your blog reader program and actually go to our website www.thedurhamites.blogspot.com to see my site's new blog design! I LOVE IT!

To everyone who's been waiting for updates...they're coming. Training for a triathlon is just taking up way more hours of my day than I would like, but the end is in sight! Thanks to all my silent followers and public ones...I think you are all the best!

I Run: A Reflection-Goal 2!

So, it’s been a while since I’ve written about my running. To be honest, nothing much has changed. Everything I’ve written to date applies pretty much consistently across the board. I cycle through up and down phases of training, but in the end, God always motivates me to complete my goal.

Monday, May 31st at 7:30am, I started goal #2: a 10K race….6.214 miles to be exact. This was so much harder to train for than I expected, so I had serious concerns about actually being able to run this entire race.

(My biggest fan, Joey, accompanied me to the race and took all the glorious pictures you see here=) If it wasn't for his encouragement and coaching, I don't think I'd even have been able to do this. There were so many mornings when he literally would just gently encourage me to get up and go run "just 2 or 3 miles"--"do what you can" he'd always say. Inevitably I would always pound out the 4, 5, or even 6, just because he knew me well enough that if he could prod me to get me up and moving, I'd accomplish my goal. You are more appreciated than you'll ever know, babe. Thanks for always being there for me!)

So, back to the race.....10K, lots of hard training, feeling insecure...

My concerns were only heightened as the rain began to POUR five minutes after the race began. And I mean pour—rain steadily and heavily for the next 35 minutes of the race. For me, that was pretty much the entire first lap. It rained so much that I had issues seeing where I was going and actually breathing because of the amount of water flowing over my face. But, praise God, I never stopped running. I would have been so disappointed if I had.

(I told you I was not a pretty runner...and here is proof!)

So with lap one complete and the rain letting up, I now faced the joy of running in sopping wet tennis shoes and soaked, body-hugging clothing. Now, I won’t lie, I enjoyed the fact that this kept me cool, and I really never broke a sweat. If I did, I couldn’t tell the difference between sweat and excess water run-off=) However, the added weight of wet clothing was a concern and having to spend a little extra energy avoiding large puddles on the road did slow me down a bit.
Nevertheless, 1 hour and 6 minutes later, God got me across the finish line having never stopped running once! It was the best feeling in the world to complete that race. I actually felt like I could have kept going, I had energy to spare, and part of me wished I had kicked my pace up a notch the last mile instead of just the last ¼ of a mile. But no regrets! My goal was always to finish and finish faster than 1 hour and 10 minutes, so I was pleased.

(Joey calls this my "game face"...I was actually determined to sprint across the finish line, thereby passing the elderly gentleman who had managed to stay in front of me the entire race...Ha!)

I wish I could explain, for the benefit of those who read and who are thinking about racing or doing anything that seems difficult or just down right impossible, how amazing it felt to cross that finish line. Yes, the training was miserable. Yes, the training lasted way longer than the actual race, but crossing that finish line!!! There is nothing in this life more satisfying and fulfilling than working hard to meet a goal, making the needed sacrifices to complete a task, beating your body and mind into submission to heed a higher calling.

Nothing is more satisfying.

(And of course, all runners do it for the T-shirt=)

And this applies across the board, across the entire spectrum of life. I keep writing that it’s not just about running. It’s not just about getting my body back in shape. This journey is teaching me about THE Journey. This Journey with Christ. This adventure He has called us to live. Most days of our lives—let’s be honest—are kinda like training. There’s the monotony, the misery, and the “maybe some other time” days. But then there’s the race! The test, the event, the experience that makes it all worth while. The good decision made that reaps great reward, only after countless hours of prayer. The person you were able to help see Christ or encourage in just the right moment, but only because you had been putting in the weeks of steady study in God’s Word. That moment in an argument when you were able to take a deep breath and refocus instead of blowing up in rage, only because for months you’ve been diligently meditating on Christ and His influence on your life.

There just simply is nothing more satisfying.

So where do I go from here? Bring on the Sprint Triathlon, baby! I am pumped about this! August 8th the majority of the women in my family will hopefully join me to complete the PT Solutions Acworth Women’s Sprint Tri at Lake Altoona. (Ladies who read, if you're interested, sign up and come swim, bike, run with us!!!!) Then again on September 18th, Joey and I will complete our first Sprint Tri together in Gainesville, GA. After that, well, I’m signing up for the Disney Half Marathon, but I’m not fully committed to how much will actually get run—only time and training will tell=)

Never be afraid to take the next step toward the next goal. Even if you don’t complete it—and 99% of the time you will—remember you’re in the majority just for trying.

Nothing is more satisfying…I promise=)

The Kiddos

So I have quite a few thoughts on my mind…I’ll probably be posting for a few days=) But let’s get started!

(Love, love, love! This picture=) These first two great pics compliments of my good friend and employer, Dezirae, with Sugar Snap Photography!)

First the kiddos because that’s all anyone really wants to hear about, right? Savannah is as active and talkative as ever!!! She’s really hit her stride, and I do believe she might actually think she’s an adult already! The things she says are hilarious and so mature for her age. It’s actually the WAY she says things that are particularly funny. It really is like she’s an adult in a child’s body—like the way she holds her hands up to either side and cocks her head when she says, “But mommy, I’s jus getting some juice.” Or the way she says so cautiously, “Watch your step now.”—with her voice rising slightly at the end. I love it! I love everything about her. She’s grown up too fast, yet there’s not a moment gone by that I would trade for anything.

Our conversation right before bed last night went something like this: "Savannah get your paci and pick out a book, it's time for bed." "Uhhhg (this is the slight grunting/groan sound some of us make when we are having to do something we don't want to do), come on Mommy. Seriously? (Hands held out to either side of her face and head cocked.) Come on, Mommy." I really shouldn't laugh in her face when she does this, but it's such a mirror of my own comments and inflection that I usually can't help myself=)

(Spicy Chicken Sandwich is a BIG celebration in the Durham house!)

Weston, well Weston has become a little ball of activity. In all his frustration, he finally figured out how to start crawling, and hasn’t stopped yet! I fully expect him to be pulling up very soon onto things, then I’m sure cruising the couch won’t be far behind. The down side is he’s a silent creeper. Unlike Savannah, he never makes a peep, so I’ll be busy doing something, then look around and he’s gone! This has been to my detriment as he’s already fallen off his changing table and tumbled down our stairs. Both of these were HUGE fears of mine with Savannah, so I thank God every day that children are so resilient and so far, Weston in particular, can take a pretty good lickin’ and keep on kickin’. I’m pretty sure I cried longer after his tumble down the stairs than he did.

He has the best smile!!! It just lights up his entire face. And now, he is definitely hooked on solid foods. I hate this stage because it makes such a mess and there’s only so many foods you can cook that they can actually manage to eat on their own, but he’s so happy to do it! We’re working on drinking from a cup, but in the meantime, he has finally started to hold a small (4oz.) bottle on his own. The bigger 8oz. is still a challenge, but it’s fun to watch him try as he buries his face in the nipple and tries to drink it like a straw, unable to actually lift it up=)
After four months of ear infections that never healed, we finally decided to have the tubes put in his ears. The amount of snot that followed flowing out of his head for five days was enough to convince us we had made the right decision. I’ve never seen anything like it! No wonder his pour little ears could never heal!

So now with summer in full swing, I look forward to posting pictures of summer fun to come. Stay busy and on the go…that’s my motto with this crew. Hanging around the house just ends up being disastrous for all parties involved, especially when Savannah gets bored…nobody wants to deal with that! So far we’ve be to Centennial Olympic Park to play in the water fountain, we head to White Oak Park for playdates on Tuesdays, Wednesdays we head to Aunt Debbie’s pool, and I’m hoping to add a visit to my friend Bekah’s pool in there somewhere every other week, and we have White Water season passes, so that should be fun!

Weston has actually already had his first pool day, and I have no pictures to share=( Bad mommy! But who can take pictures when you’re trying to keep one from falling out of a float and the other from clinging to you like a dying animal? Biggest kid prayer request: That Savannah relearns how to like the water again. This I’m-scared-of-everything phase is for the birds=)

#32 for relatives with a lake house where we can go to chill

#33 modern medicine

#34 reflections of yourself--good & bad--in a small child

#35 a husband who recognizes the importance of investing in his family

#36 a little girl who tires you just watching her

#37 a little boy who just wants to be loved

#38 a God who provides it all