MARATHONER

So, of course I always start the posts with "I have so much to blog about..." and that still rings true. Unfortunately, I will unlikely ever get the TX/OU or Mexico pics up here. Sorry.

My training coach made a big deal today about journaling your marathon experience. I didn't think much about it. Then, I talked with Kimberly this afternoon and we were trying to recall different parts of the race and realized it's already becoming a blur. So, I need to get this down on paper. Why not the blog?

My marathon. I trained for 6 long months. Felt guilty about missing those weeknight runs on multiple occasions, but felt very prepared going into it. The 22 miler felt good; I could have definitely gone 4 more miles. Watching the news on Saturday and realizing the temperature was going to be in the 60s and 70s was 1 of 2 "worries" I had when I arrived at the AAC Sunday morning. The 2nd was that in all my training runs I ate 3o minutes before running, and still got hungry. I didn't know how to handle 2.5 hours before running....but, I had a plan. (I think it worked--cereal and banana at home, 1/2 cliff bar on drive to Shannon's, gatorade, 1 cliff bar ~30 minutes before race, 2 advil ~30 minutes before race). Shannon was worried if she had eaten enough (I don't think she did). Kimberly was worried about having to stop at the port-a-pottys (only had to go once! I'm so proud of her!). Chelsea was feeling pretty good, noticeably a little nervous, and Dane had a great supportive attitude for it being that early. There was a little pre-race stressor at the port-a-potty line, but that was quickly over once we all found our way to corral B. Butterflies in my stomach as I saw the flyover. It was finally here. This is MY marathon.

Gun goes off...don't hear it. Naked man flashing the crowd on the 10th floor of the Cirque apartments helps with the nerves. Start walking....hit the mat 8+ minutes after the gun goes off. DON'T RUN UNTIL YOU HIT THE MAT. Got it. Feeling good. Hear "Go Julie!" at mile 1....look over, Sterling and Caleb on their bikes. Little did I know how often I would see them and how needed they would become. Pass the handbell choir....very strategically placed early in the race :). It's still very crowded. Miles 2-6 were filled with lots of fans, bands, and excitement. Slapping hands. Making sure to run the tangents. Never had the ipod on, just chatting it up and soaking it all in. We hit the lake at mile 8. No more fans....wondering where my Dad is, as he doesn't know the lake. 1 minute later, Jolie comes out of nowhere, running beside me and handing me 2 Gu's. Hi-5 Dad, nice boost of energy.

Then comes the ipod. Less talking. It's getting windy. It's getting hot. Mile 11ish, my ankle hurts. Shannon's shins hurt. Kimberly's knees hurt. We have to stop and stretch. Keep going. Shannon hits a wall....I don't know how to handle it. She's my running buddy. We ran the half marathon together perfectly. The Tour de Fleurs together perfectly. She's hurting. I can't talk her through it, she's in pain. She says "go on". I go on.....then hate it, as I know she hates running by herself. Mental dilemma. Finally tell Kimberly to go on, I need to talk it out with Shannon. She insists. This happened once in training and later told me she was glad she ran by herself. I trust her and go on. I'm feeling good....pick it up to catch back up with Kimberly.

Those next 5-6 miles are pretty much a blur. Mom was around mile 15 in her burnt orange sweatshirt and ran with me about 2-3 minutes. Nice to have some fresh legs, even if it was my Mom :). The blue mile marker flags were well-welcomed. Kept me going, just a mile at a time. Waterstops were lifesavers--not only did my mouth feel dry, but those waterstations gave me an excuse to tone it down a bit and walk. The Clif Bar/Hooters waterstation at around mile 19 was a very fun, energetic station that gave me a little bit of energy. However, it was at that point that Kimberly and I went from "walking the water stops" to "walking to the trashcan after the water stop" ....and sometimes even 2 or 3 trash cans.

Then the Dolly Partons. We had trained for these. I knew that they were coming at mile 19-20. Winstead repeats, Big Thicket repeats, all helped me train for the Dolly Partons. I had run them once....and they weren't too bad....at mile FOUR. Seeing Caleb and Sterling at the bottom of those hills probably got me through them. I couldn't let Caleb see me WALK up the hill, like about 80% of the other people. Kristina ran them with us. "I did this last year. After the Dolly's it's all downhill". Those could quite possibly be some of the best words I heard all day.

It wasn't downhill. Don Lucas said Monday night that "the marathon is 2 races. It's a 20 miler and a 10K. The 10K will be a lot harder than the 20 miler. It's all mental, you've got to stay strong mentally and you'll get through it". Cue the Kanye song perfectly on the ipod...."that that don't kill me, can only make me stronger...". My legs are really hurting. My feet are hurting. I'm starting to have trouble breathing. Don't think about the pain. Push through it.

Thinking back, I was definitely playing the mental game those last 6 miles. Visually picturing rocking my grandkids someday and telling them about THIS MOMENT.....did I want to tell them that I walked in the last few miles because I was hurting so bad? NO! Keep going. Bible study girls on the corner...Aimee, Laura, and Heather jumping like a crazy woman. I felt her energy vibes. Keep going. See Alison at mile 23....barely get her name out to have her turn around, then keep going. Hear her yelling at me, I can't stop--she's watching. I lose Kimberly at this point, she's cramping and we lose one another. I spend some sweet time asking for the Lord's strength at this point, as I know that's the only way I'll go on. I have no more strength of my own left.

Wearing the blue bib with my name printed on it, the fans know I'm a first timer. "You've got this, Julie". "Julie, only 3 miles left...this is what you trained for". Or, for those of you out there wondering what not to say--"Julie, you're looking great!". That's not motivating because I KNOW you're lying! I appreciate the strangers cheering me on. Pass the Shig Shag "toast"...keep going, just keep going. Swiss Avenue turns into downtown and I KNOW I'm almost there. See Stephen out of the corner of my right eye "Go Julie" and clapping. I appreciated him so much, but I don't think I could even acknowledge he was there. 1 more mile. Visually I was picturing my "easy run" around the block....that's all that's left, and I feel good.

That last mile I didn't stop at the water station. I was in a groove, I was almost done accomplishing this lifetime goal. See the 26 mile flag, .2 more to go. The gates come up on the sides. Balloon arch. Tons of yelling and cheering. The pain for just a nanosecond goes away. See my Bible study girls to my right, my sweet hubby, Chelsea, and Dane to my left, my Dad, Jolie, and brother to my right, outstretch my arms and cross that mat. A marathoner.

Shannon brought this statistic to my attention....I guess I was feeling better than I thought:


From 20mi to Finish
You passed200runners
And 7 passed you
?

I thought I would feel extreme accomplishment and joy.....I really felt relief to be done and lots of pain. I had tears---think they were tears of pain, but possibly a little of joy and accomplishment. Chelsea finished her half almost 3 hours before I finished and she stayed to watch me finish. It meant so much to have her there, as we did all of our training "separate", yet talked about training every week.

I now have a new meaning to the verse in 1 corinthians about running like you're running a race, running for the prize. Finishing was my prize. It was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, but I am so glad I did it. It's bittersweet that's it's done. I'm now heading out to the Luke's training party that will officially mark the end.

I feel like this should now be an Oscar speech....I couldn't have done it without the Lord, keeping me injury-free, healthy, and truly running every step with me...Shannon, my running buddy--I'm sure going to miss those long 2-4 hour chats every week, Caleb-who put up with me being "no fun" on Friday nights, taking naps on Saturdays, and going to bed early Saturday night for 6 months, and cheering me on, making it about me even though he broke his wrist (I'll get to this...) at mile 1; Luke's Locker training program was phenomenal and I couldn't have done it without their encouragement, expertise, and Coach Keri's weekly email encouragements; all my sweet friends and family who asked me on a regular basis how training was going, even though I probably gave you a much longer answer than you anticipated; all the people who came out on race day and waited over an hour, just to see me for a few seconds, it meant so much.

And to my faithful fans, who made race day even more of an adventure....Mom, who wasn't able to make it to the finish line, as she was picked up in an ambulance and in the ER for 8 hoursafter our 2 minute run together, after falling and dislocating her elbow......and Caleb, who fell and broke his wrist at mile 1, but didn't say a word, rode 30+ more miles with a broken wrist, a strong supporter and such an encouragement even 10 minutes after the finish before he even mentioned he hurt his wrist.

What a day. December 14, 2008. Won't forget the day I could finally call myself a marathoner.

Matchmaker!

So, I'm bad at blogging....and I'll get over it eventually. I had high hopes of great photo blogs of Puerto Vallarta with the girls and a fabulous TX/OU weekend....but those pics are still on my camera and not uploaded to the computer. So, they will (hopefully!) come. Until then....this happens to be my week of playing matchmaker.

#1: My friend from grad school and Caleb's friend from ultimate....date #2 in 2 days tonight! Now, I do have a reputation for setting friends up who have 2 dates and then it's over.....so, we shall see. I just love playing matchmaker, so I'm probably as excited as she is :).

#2: My doorbell rings last night during Bible study at our house. It's a girl's Mom....there may be a 13 year old girl in the Escalade, who knows? Anyway, a balloon bouquet, card, and ice cream treat were given to me and asked to take over to Brandon, the boy turning 13 today, in about 5 minutes. So....I did. Brandon's Mom answered, took the stuff, and all was good. I did my friendly neighborly duty. 3 minutes later the doorbell rings....it's Brandon. In his awkward, lanky, braces on his huge smiling face asks me to "tell him anything"....what was she wearing? what was her Mom driving? what did she look like? I promised not to tell. So, that sweet boy left with the biggest smile, thinking some girl is his secret admirer. I sure hope so for Brandon. It left me with a big smile, remembering those awkward middle school years....

Chicago

We went to Chicago last weekend for a little vacay/ultimate frisbee tournament. It was so nice to get away. We didn't have a whole lot planned, which I've decided is the best way to vacation.

THURSDAY:
We landed at 8 am, so we had the whole day in Chicago. I quickly realized why it's called "the windy city", as my umbrella broke from the wind after about 10 minutes. I was very happy the hotel let us check in at 9 am, as well as providing a complimentary umbrella :).

We had lunch at Gino's, a local joint, for Chicago-style deep dish:

Did a little exploring in the rain.... Relaxed at the hotel and decided at about 7 pm to go find some sort of theatre. A local recommended a local theatre show, but it was booked, so we ended up going to the Oriental theatre to see Wicked, the Broadway musical. It definitely exceeded our expecations! I'm still singing :).

FRIDAY:I had been looking forward to sleeping in and getting to watch the "Today" show for weeks, so I loved sipping my coffee and having a lazy morning. We then had a full tourist filled day, with helpful hints from our "Chicago for Dummies" book...A riverboat tour of the city, pointing out all of the architectural landmarks. Although it was very interesting, I will not bore you with the 45+ pics of buildings that Caleb snapped (and this post is long enough as is!). Here's us on the boat:

Played in Millenium Park:

Had a Chicago-style hotdog picnic lunch:

Explored the Navy Pier. Caleb thought it was like a fair, so he wasn't a big fan, except for the mirrors outside the fun house
I enjoyed people watching, as well as the gorgeous view of the city:

We went to Kaminsky Park to watch the White Sox/Angels game Friday night. Just a side note, I'm not typically one to make stereotypes. However, just think for a moment of the type of people that typicallly wear White Sox paraphernalia.....that's right. So, let's just say, it was a pretty "rough" crowd and I was glad that the subway was packed on the way back to downtown :). We bought our tickets from a scalper and as Caleb was trying to "wheel and deal" I was just thinking "just give him what he wants and let's get out of here!" as I think it was an illegal practice to scalp, as these people were the emblem of SHADY :). Thankfully, our tickets weren't fake and we made it into the stadium safely...


We had a great time at the game :). Hot dog #2 of the day:
White Sox win! We are so COLD here (see how pale I am...I mean, I'm normally pale, but...) .....we are still loving vacation!SATURDAY AND SUNDAY:
After a little drama with subway constuction and trying to rent a car, we made it to Naperville, IL in time for Caleb to warm up and start playing in the "Chicago Heavyweights" ultimate tournament. Although the team didn't do as well as they hoped, they played and hung in with the best of 'em. I enjoyed getting to watch a full tournament, as I typically only go out for a couple of games due to the extreme heat that is Texas :). In this tournament, I was actually wearing mine and Caleb's jacket at some points :). The weather was GREAT!

When Caleb get's on the ultimate field, he is oh so serious!
Caleb says he's "not a handler" (interpretation: better at defense), so although I do have pics of him throwing and catching the disc, he wanted me to represent his great defense:

(They were grey on Sunday, red on Saturday)

And, that was it! We caught our flight at O'hare and hit reality on Monday.

PS- I now realize I am so bad at blogging because I make these posts so complicated! Plan on a simple post next time....

After many requests....

and a 3+ month blog hiatus, we are back! Or, Julie is back :). We're really enjoying the house. We had friends stay the night this week and I said "we moved in not too long ago, so we're still getting settled" and quickly realized it's been 3 months since we've moved in! So even though I can't really say that we just moved in anymore, we really are still getting settled. Maybe it was all the decision making with remodeling, but we just haven't gotten the decorating bug quite yet. I want decorating to be fun, and not a compulsion to "get things done" so we're just chillin' until that bug bites :). We're having a blast in the house, and not letting the undecoration (is that even a word?) keep us from having people over to enjoy it with us! Here's a few pics..

Guys grilling out in the backyard. We bought the grill Memorial Day weekend, and we've enjoyed grilling out LOTS this summer!

The spread after grilling out. This is just to show how our wet bar really is functional now!
Wii tournament!

I'm really not sure what I'm doing in this pic, but it just gives a good, finished view of the kitchen for those of you who have yet to see it :).

Happy 77th birthday, Mamie! We had Mamie and Grandaddy over (and Stephen graced us with his presence...) and had a little family birthday party.

We've also planted grass in the front yard x2. The first time didn't work out so well, but Caleb has done an awesome job with the yard and it looks REALLY good right now. Especially for being August! We got an 8 foot fence in the backyard, so we no longer have the open feel to the backyard as the previous owners had hoped. We've bought a good amount of furniture for downstairs and hope to get the bottom half of our entertainment center (long story) here next weekend, just in time for college football season to begin!!! So, all in all, we feel settled. We love having people come over and I really hope and pray that this home is a place where people feel welcome and feel God's love. That sounds so cheesy, but there really are some homes that I stay at that just have that warm, welcoming feeling where I know the Lord is loved and central in that home. That's what I want.

So, friends, that was my last "house" post. Since January, that has been the subject of most blogs (well, Jan-May). I will of course keep you updated with any new additions, but I'm going to get back to posting about life. Instead of an attempt to update on where we 've been since May (that's just overwhelming), I'll attempt to update from here on and give a back story when needed. It feels kinda nice to get back to blogging again....

Picture Post

We are frantically trying to get everything ready for move in on Saturday, but after multiple requests for a picture update, here ya go:

Up close pic of cabinets, backsplash, and granite:

Wet bar area, minus the "wet". Sink to be installed manana:
View from the living room:
Painting is going to get finished up today/tomorrow, appliances are installed tomorrow, and light fixtures/final touch ups will occur Tues and Wed, and then we should be good to go!

Edil, our brother-in-law is doing an amazing job getting the place ready for move in. The living room is painted, the hardwood floors are stained, and the kitchen is caulked and ready for painting! We picked out a *fun* faucet tonight (I'm serious, yall are wondering how a faucet could be fun, but you just wait to use the guest bath downstairs!) and the remodeling of the downstairs bathroom is happening later this week!

This time next week we'll be in our house! CAN'T WAIT!

There is singing in our house!

Quick post, but the marvelous bed mentioned a few posts ago arrived today! We took pics, but I will add later.....
Caleb and I decided (after watching home videos from 20+ years ago, where our parents have the same furniture now that they had 20+ years ago) that the bed we love so much is worth it. It is worth the target nightstands that we've had for 4 years and are falling apart until we can afford matching ones. It's worth having mismatched furniture throughout the rest of the house for a while. It's worth it because everynight when we go to sleep we will be in our dream bed. Not just an "okay, this will do for now" bed, but a "our kids and grandkids (and great grandkids for that matter!) will crawl up in this bed and make many memories here" bed. So, thanks to all the sweet people who offered to buy my baked goods. And thanks, especially, to my sweet husband who is spoiling me rotten with my new, magic, angels singing over it bed. I love it.

A quick house update:
We have our brother in law up all this week and next week working on getting the house ready for move in on the 17th! We sure are keeping him busy! We gave him a list about 300+ items long, but he doesn't seem too overwhelmed :). I talked with him tonight and it appears that he'll be able to texture and paint all of downstairs, remove the huge built in entertainment center, repair the walls, rip out the vanity and tile in the downstairs bath and remodel that bathroom, AND stain the hardwood floors. I'm telling you, he is GOOD. Too bad though, he doesn't live in Dallas, so we're so thankful to his sweet wife for letting us borrow him for 12 days!

The kitchen guys didn't show up today. Hmm.....done by Monday? We will see. The tile is in and the electricity is all fixed. We are now just waiting on the countertops, backsplash, and installation of lights and appliances. Not too much I guess. We love the kitchen and are still amazed and how open it is everytime we go over there. So, even if it takes them longer, we are so happy with the outcome :).

I know it's easy for me to get so overwhelmed with the details of all the remodeling, but looking at the big picture, the Lord has totally provided and blessed this project. I know that this house will be used for His glory....and if a wall is not painted or the popcorn ceilings are still on upstairs, He can and will use us and this house to reach out to others and glorify His name. This is just a reminder for myself that I need to physically see. It's not about me. It's not about the house. It's not about the to-do lists and the budget. It's about Him.

More pics to come....

Pictures!

As promised, here are some renovation pics! We are loving going to the house on a daily basis to see the changes of the day, and then driving back home to our clean apartment to sleep! Sheesh, it's such a mess over there, but we wouldn't change a thing we're doing. We are SO happy we decided to remodel the kitchen (before we move in!) We did have our first little mix up yesterday, as the kitchen bar should be more of an island than a bar and the texture is a "troll" rather than a "monterrey" as we had requested. No fretting, Caleb got it all fixed this morning and we are rollin'! Here is just a glimpse (I think we have over 200 pics) of what this renovation has looked like thus far:

BEFORE:
A typical "galley" kitchen with an enclosed wet bar to the right.

This is the pic with all of the previous owners' stuff in it:

And the empty kitchen, looking from the laundry room area, through the kitchen, into the wet bar (that small doorway on the left at the end of the kitchen)

DEMOLITION AND SHEETROCKING: (yay! an open kitchen!)

Wet bar area:

Kitchen area, looking into laundry room (door opening at end)

Wetbar moved out, built back up, and sheetrocked:

CABINETS!
In boxes that filled our dining room...

To Julie's handy installation (haha, that drill was definitely just sitting there perfect to pick up for this pic)

Wet bar: it's functional!!!!!!

Kitchen cabinets! How pretty!

Up Next: Appliances! They delivered them yesterday and are filling our garage up :). Then the granite, tile, lights, and painting :). I think we're about 10 days out to having it complete!

My Dad and Jolie also came up this past weekend and helped us get our yard spruced up for spring! I hate to admit it, but I actually really enjoyed it! Caleb also is determined he will grow tomatoes and jalepenos after planting them, so we'll see. Man, we really are becoming "old" homewoners :). Here are a few after pics:

Hope you enjoyed my picture post :). Will attempt to add again BEFORE everything is completed, but we'll see!

Do you hear singing?!

Okay, so I'm lazy and I haven't downloaded the demolition pics onto the computer. I also have some very cute pics from Hayden's 4th birthday. So, those are to come.....I promise! I WILL get to it. (Sidenote: Demo went great. Everything is out, sheetrocking everything back up this week, and cabinet installation on Monday! ) Even though I'm not getting those pics posted, I just needed to blog...and vent...:) I used to love furniture shopping, just browsing through stores and dreaming of someday when I have a house and I get to buy furniture. Well, that day has come. It's GREAT to have a house. It's just so darn expensive! Our main goal, as far as furniture, is to get our bedroom furniture before we move in. We have our new king size mattress (W hotel brand, what?! what?!), but no bed! So, I was telling a friend at work today that I secretly wish I never would have seen this one bed. THE bed. The one that you look at and magically you hear angels singing around it. You hear them? Haha, maybe that's a little too much. Seriously though, if we had not seen the ONE bed that is of course, the most expensive bed in all of Weir's furniture, we would be so happy with all the others that are in our price range. But, no. We see the ones we can afford and compare them to magic dream bed and they just don't compare. So, my friends, here it is: my current nemesis (correct usage of that word? hmm...not so sure) that I am secretly (but not so secretly) in love with. Please just sit and stare for a while. Let me know if you will buy my baked goods so that I can fundraise to afford this bed :).

Demolition has begun!

Even though we haven't seen it, per our contractor, demolition on the kitchen started yesterday. I'll take some pics tonight! Yay!

Is running my "thing"?!

So, ultimate frisbee is obviously Caleb's "thing". Anytime that he has free time, he loves to play ultimate frisbee. Our NCAA bracket "bet" this year if he won was for me to go and watch him play ultimate frisbee. He LOVES it. Just see this look of absolute joy right before the game:

Now, I have yet to find my "thing" that I just always LOVE to do and can't get enough of. Don't get me wrong....there are a lot of things that I like to do on a regular basis, but I still don't have that "thing", that "passion" like ultimate is to Caleb. Like cooking is to Chelsea (like that, Chels?!). But....I feel like I'm getting a little closer. I never would have thought that I would really enjoy running. I like the idea of running. But, training for and completing this half marathon really pumped me up about running. I'm still on a "runners high" from Sunday. I had a blast. Granted, Shannon was a great running buddy and I don't know if it would have been near as fun (and I know I wouldn't have run near as fast!) without her. But, peeps, I'm thinking about doing another one. Soon. So, we'll see if this keeps up, but maybe, just maybe, I found my thing. Atleast for April of 2008. It may fizzle by May and then, my friends, I don't think it will count as my thing. And, I'll have to attempt new endeavors. But for now, I'm still excited about running and I'll share some pics from this weekend. Thank you, Caleb, for supporting me and being a faithful fan for my half marathon. You are a better person than me :). For those of you who have not heard the story, Caleb ran a half about 6 weeks into our dating (back in early 2000!) and I didn't know I was supposed to go watch. Granted, I was at a church retreat. But, I will never live down that he was there for me at mine, while I slept through his! Onto the pics...

This pic is at mile 8ish, we were so happy to see our fans!And here we are with our "finisher" medals! Woo hoo!

Overwhelmed!

So, my faithful readers, I apologize now for this short post after over a month of not posting. I just need to get this post over with, per my type A personality, because there is so much I should have blogged about in the past month and I'm overwhelmed with it all! So, here is a quick synopsis of our life:

-we bought the house, closed on February 29th
-we love our house! we say this everytime we drive up :)
-picked a contractor (this week!) to remodel the kitchen, demolition should start in a week or so :)
-our brother in law did a fabulous job remodeling our bedroom and bathroom
-I will be posting before/after pics, please don't worry :)...that's just a longer post at a later time!
-I absolutely love my job. I started my own rotation and now independently provide all speech therapy needs to 3 floors of the hospital (GI floor and 2 general peds floors). LOVE IT!
-Ultimate frisbee ended for Caleb the first week of March. No worries, he still has goaltimate on Wednesdays, ultimate on Tuesdays, and practices starting up again in May for Dallas United (his club team). Oh yeah, and basketball on Wednesdays. Man, I have a fit hubby!
-We got a Wii. Enough said. Chances are if you hang out with us on a regular basis, you will become familiar with the nightly Wii Wood competition.
-Caleb is beating me bad in our march madness brackets. Looks like I will be playing disc golf on my new few saturdays off....
-My 1/2 marathon is this Sunday (like, less than a week!). I'm nervous, but I ran 11ish miles this week and know I can do 13 :). It's more mental than physical, right?!
-I'm not pregnant. Don't plan to get pregnant anytime soon, but Caleb did tell me that when I think I'm ready, he'll set the alarm for me to wake up every 2 hours and hold a flour sack for 30 minutes. When I've done this for 2 weeks, we'll talk about getting off birth control! Haha, this is random, but I don't want to forget our quirky conversations :).
-I'm still practicing slowing down and living an unhurried lifestyle. It's going much better. Now, if only Caleb could be okay with my unhurried lifestyle when we're running late :).
-we're picking out our granite, cabinets, and tile this week.....in 2 hours! can you imagine us, the most picky, thoughtful, cant-make-a-decision-in 2 weeks-forget-2-hours type people? whew, I'm overwhelmed just thinking about it. Pray for us from 3-5 on Thursday if you think about it :)

Allright, so it wasn't a short post, it was a long, rambling post. I feel better now. That's what it was about. This blog was a guilty burden on my shoulder that has now been lifted. Whew! Off to meet with my fabulous decorator friend at the new house! Oh yeah, we plan on moving in late May, so hopefully pics before then!

Slowing Down

Well, I guess the honeymoon period of blogging is over, as judged by my past month of blogless days. I am determined to keep it up, but I haven't pulled out the camera lately, so this post will being a no pic post :(.

Quick update on the Wood's. As one of Caleb's coworkers put it we're "really grown ups now", as the house looks like it will be ours on February 28th! We are very excited! Caleb has done a great job of doing the paperwork, getting homeowners insurance, and setting up everything else that I don't really even know about, but I'm -oh- so- glad- he's doing it and I get to just sign on the line with my name under it ! It's become more real to me, but it's still crazy that in less than a month we will own a beautiful, 4 bedroom house! It's such a blessing, and I just pray that throughout this process and as we move in/remodel/decorate, I will maintain this perspective of blessing and contentment vs. "I need" or "I want". I totally see that coming.

Work is going really well. I'm starting to get the hang of time mgmt so that it's not so crazy busy everyday. The past 2 weeks I was just running around, not able to get everything done, and doing a 1/2way job on some things which left me feeling defeated. I'm really figuring out priorities, terminology, etc and this week I've been learning that it's not all going to get done. It's not going to be perfect. And that's okay! Now, if I can just keep this perspective...

Speaking of, last night in Bible study we talked about Moses and the burning bush...and that he had to "turn aside"-go over and look at the bush-- and THEN the Lord spoke. It wasn't like he was just tending his flock and poof, the Lord knocked him down and made him pay attention. It reads: "Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought "I will go over and see this strange sight--why the bush does not burn up" (Exodus 3). This was a good challenge and reminder to me to slow down....at work, at home, with Caleb, with my friends....and not just go go go. I honestly don't know if the Lord put a "burning bush" in my life if I would turn aside. I'm trying to slow down, so that I can take advantage of those meet with God/burning bush moments.

Ultimate frisbee continues to consume our weekends. Which I'm sure will be replaced with house stuff come March. That's about all the update I have in me right now :).

Working=less blogging

I am honored that so many people have asked me to update the blog recently. I love to have loyal readers :). So, here's a quick update on our life:

1) Caleb now works for K&L Gates. It's actually the same people he worked with before, they just merged. So, he now officially has 1500+ attorney coworkers over 3 continents. Sounds big time, but he continues to sit at a desk to do document review for the same cases :). They pay good though....which helps us.....

PUT AN OFFER ON A HOUSE! Yes, if you would have told us this time last week we would be putting an offer on a house today, we would think you were crazy. I wanted to start looking in March, Caleb in December. But, the Lord just opens our eyes when we least expect it! So, we're still waiting and trusting the Lord. But, here's a sneak peek:

I will keep you updated,blogworld.

Everyone knows that Caleb is a man of talents....I mean seriously, in the past week he has 1) played the best game of ultimate frisbee he has ever played 2) played the worst game of ultimate frisbee he has ever played (right after his best, now that's a talent!), 3) calmed down Charlie, the 3 month old inconsolable- to -any- grandmother baby in the church nursery 4) worked 50+ hours doing discovery (well, maybe that's not that exciting) 5) learned real estate! Yes, Caleb spent MLK day at the office as our own personal realtor filling out forms and figuring things out so we could be all "official" with our offer. I'm impressed. You should be too.

As far as me, I love my job! I'm finally becoming independent and having my own patients. It's a really fast pace, which I currently love. I mean, the day just flies by. It also gives me such perspective....just today, I treated a 16 year old that just got out of the ICU after pretty intense chemo. Can't talk. Can't eat. Totally neurologically normal. So sad, but also such a rewarding job, just thinking I may make her life a little easier.

So, that's our life update in a nutshell. I will leave you with pictures of our Saturday night entertainment: dodgeball and kickball with community group. AFTER 4+ hours of ultimate frisbee (hence, why Caleb is wearing running tights and I'm in a long sleeve shirt) . Who's walking funny today from soreness in weird places? It's me! It's me!

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