Even Better...

Wow - I feel like I've had a whirlwind of emotions the last couple of days. It all began Thursday when I started worrying about our adoption fundraising - God quickly used MK and her scripture memory to remind me of His faithfulness to provide for our needs.

That same day, we had requested that Louisville Orphan Care Initiative (LOCI) reconsider our matching grant application. We were not approved when we first applied back in April of this year. I knew it would a total miracle for them to reconsider us and actual approve us. Once again, I began praying and had called a few friends and asked them to pray also. (I am so thankful for great friends who I can pray with - what a blessing).

As I was packing the girls in the van this morning to run a few errands, I got a call on my cell phone. I looked down and it was an out of town number. I knew it was Lifesong for Orphans calling. I thought to myself, this response is way to quick, i'm sure they were unable to reconsider our application and the answer is no. I answered the call and just about fell over with what she had to say.

LOCI approved us for a $1500 matching grant!! (We raise $1500, they give $1500) Unbelievable. I began to cry as I told Christi the entire story about MK's Bible verse, praying for God's provision and what a HUGE blessing this grant is to our growing family. Our fundraising deadline is December 22, 2009. We prayed and sent out 30 fundraising letters to friends yesterday. We're excited to see the response.

God continues to teach me about His faithfulness and how He cares for those who follow after Him. The journey He has our family on is truly an adventure.

Unbelievable...

This afternoon, I experiences the goodness of God is a way I never thought possible - bringing me to tears. As we continue with our adoption, we are still $5,000 away from our $13,000 fundraising goal. I know the Lord always provides when He calls us to do something way bigger than ourselves, like the cost of an Ethiopian adoption.

I was just standing in the kitchen, adding up what we still needed for our adoption fund to be complete when out of nowhere - and I mean nowhere - MK ran into the kitchen yelling, "MOM, do you want to hear my Bible verse I learned at school today." This is very rare that she tells me anything about school, so of course I said yes. Then she said this, "Mom, my Bible verse is Philippians 4:19, My God shall supply all your needs." I about fell over in wonder of how God used my sweet little Makenzie May, only 3 years old, to speak TRUTH into my life and that yes, God will supply all our needs. I cannot wait to see how He chooses to provide for our adoption and am thankful for Highview East Campus Mother's Day Out and MK's teacher, Mrs. Diedra.

Here is a video I took of MK saying the verse, to make sure you all know how awesome our God is and how He can use our little ones! God is GOOD!

We Finished!!

Praise the Lord - we finished the race and had an amazing time. We appreciate so much everyone's prayers and encouragement and especially all the donations toward our adoption. We didn't quite make our fundraising goal, but we know the Lord will continue to provide as we proceed with our adoption.

For those of you wondering about the race - it went great! The weather was FREEZING - literally. Despite the very cold weather, I had a PR, 3:43:07 - finishing 12 minutes faster than my last marathon in 2008. I sadly missed qualifying for the Boston Marathon by a little 2 minutes and 8 seconds. Bummer - but I had a great race. Dustin is trying to convince me to run the Memphis Marathon in December to try to qualify again - I'll keep you posted. He's promised to be my "coach" and get me through the last 4 - 6 miles, the most mentally challenging part of the race for me.

Dustin and I had so much fun having a night away. We did some outlet mall shopping and got some new clothes, had a yummy dinner at Outback, made our way through the Indy ghetto (i don't think we've ever been out of town where at some point we get slightly lost and end up needing to get gas while driving through a "rough" part of town - ha), and had a blast running the race.

We're currently in recovery stage and getting ready for a weekend of camping - yes camping. It's our new favorite adventure as a family. We're going with another family from church this time which should be interesting. We'll have 5 kids, 5 years old and under. I'm sure this will be hilarious. We'll take lots of pictures and try to post them after we return.

Thanks again, really, for all your prayers and encouragement!

Less Than a Week - Hooray!

I cannot hardly believe it - we are less than 1 week away from our MARATHON day! Hooray!

First, I am so proud of Dustin who somehow manages work, family, PhD research (should graduate May 2010) and training for a marathon. Unbelievable. Just a true testament to the saying that says, "you make time for what you WANT to make time for." I'll say it again, I AM SO PROUD OF HIM.

On a personal note, this has been a challenging training season for me. I've had a few tough run, but have learned so much as I've struggled through. D and I have done the majority of our longest runs on our own which is a challenge in itself because there is no one to cheer you on or tell you to keep going , you can make it. Instead, it is very quiet, just the sound of my feet hitting the pavement, for hours. With that said, running continues to teach me so much about my faith and walk with the Lord. I give God all the glory for my success and am so thankful for this great gift He has given me in running. As strange as it sounds, God uses my runs (especially long ones) as a way to empty myself and rely on Him. I'm so thankful for time alone to pray, think and listen to a sermon or two. God really uses this time to grow me, stretch me and trust Him my all my cares and struggles.

We are excited to be leaving on Friday (a day early) to enjoy some free time together - not something we experience too often these days. The race is Saturday morning and the weather forecast is COLD with a high of 43 - but at race time, the weather will be in the 30's. This is great running weather, if you've been training in it. We'll have to see how our bodies respond to the cold.

I must also give a quick "shout out" to some of my favorite running friends and Highview members who are also running in the race - Josh and Shannon Albertsen and Jimmy and Rachel Tipton. Couples that run are few and far between it seems, so we're thankful for these friends who love the Lord, their families and running!

I'll post again soon - probably right after the race if we survive and don't turn into human popsicles - ha!

If you remember, please pray for us!!

Sarah Palin Runs with a BOB

For those of you who know me, you know I love BOB running strollers. I should really be a retailer out of my home - ha - considering I've helped a few handfuls of people get theirs. I was reading in my Runner's World magazine today about Sarah Palin being a runner, even doing a sub 4 marathon a few years ago. Even better though is a picture of her, Trig and yes, a BOB Ironman stroller. Here she is and a great article that is the most read article, ever, for Runner's World. Pretty cool!


Sarah with her BOB Ironman

This Will Make You Think...

I love this blog post from a fellow blogger - I know it will challenge you to reconsider this passage of scripture and see it in a new light.

Here is the post copied from Tom Davis' Blog.

"An Orphan's Faith"

"We have a great team in Uganda right now, led by Greg McElheny and Vince Giordano. I just received an email from one of our team members, Ben Savage, from Cincinnati Ohio. I had to share it with you. Please join me in prayer for this team as they visit carepoints throughout the Teso Region over the next few days. I hope to update you with more stories as they come to me.

"Today I walked into a world unlike any other that I have experienced.
I arrived two days ago with a team from Children’s HopeChest to visit
orphan communities in the hopes of creating connections between our
world of plenty and their world of want. As we drove through the
towns, I witnessed a bizarre mixture of beauty, despair and hope. The
landscape was truly astounding. There were many imaginative and
hardworking people who had used what little resources that could
muster to create businesses that were showing signs of success. The
next sight I would see would be a child naked, in a ramshackle mud hut
with no one to care for them.

In this strange stew of images we pulled into Rapha Community School,
a community that is sponsored by a church in Florida through
Children’s HopeChest. We were greeted by 150 children in white shirts
and orange smocks. The children were not exactly what I expected.
True, their situation was more dire than any I’ve seen, but the
children shone like the sun. Their smiles were bright and filled with
pride and dignity. The children greeted us individually and thanked
us for coming. I only wish my children acted this respectfully.
After we toured the community, we were escorted to their schoolroom.
The room consisted of a small map of the world, a few old posters and
rough hewn benches.

The children sang a welcome to us. They danced and recited Gods words
to us. I was challenged and changed by all of this. And then there
was Sarah, who read Matthew 6 aloud. Sarah, who, from all earthly
perspectives should be disabled with despair for her future spoke of
faith. She is an orphan who has depended on God to deliver food,
shelter and all other earthly needs. She had suffered loss and pain
that people in my community would have spent countless dollars on
therapy to recover from, but today Sarah spoke to me of faith. She
read

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will

eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more
important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at
the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns,
and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more
valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to
his life?
"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field
grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon
in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God
clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is
thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of
little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What
shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all
these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But
seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things
will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow,
for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of
its own.” Matthew 6:25-34

To hear a lovely child of God with a gleaming face recite those words
to me was the high point and most devastating moment for me. The
thought that Sarah, who has good reason to worry about tomorrow would
unassumingly speak those challenging words to us fairly contented and
well fed Americans destroyed me. That we worry more about the news
from Hollywood than the desperation found around the world was nothing
short of life changing. While our culture is so consumed with anxiety
and fear, here was little Sarah exemplifying faith and courage. She
read the words but I could see that she felt them too and that she
felt them deeply.

I have always loved that passage and thought about it as a cute
phrasing of my simple faith. But today I heard it as a life mantra
that was spoken from the core of this small framed girl. It was the
throwing down of the gauntlet. And the question that confronts me now
as I sit in my Ugandan hotel and Sarah sleeps in her mud hut is “What
will I do to respond?” I have been blessed - not so much that I am
rich in my own community necessarily, but I am insanely rich in a
global context. I have also been exposed to enough of the
difficulties that these communities face that I can no longer hide
behind ignorance. Do I truly believe that these children are more
valuable than my cable television? I am the “I want my MTV”
generation. As Africa burns I live in comfort and ease while I CAN
make a difference in the lives of others but will I choose to? What
sacrifice have I been willing to make to help fulfill God’s promise of
care to others? I will live differently from this day forward.
Have mercy on me God, though I truly don’t deserve it. I have for too
long ignored your call to love those who are broken and abused. Help
me capture and hold onto the conviction, sorrow, and joy reflected in
Sarah’s eyes today. And thank you for showing me a picture of your
heart through these broken but not forgotten children in Rapha. I am
devastated and changed. Thank you, sweet Lord."

Adding Up the Miles

Well friends, believe it or not, we're up to 17 miles this coming weekend on our marathon training. All is going well - really well to our surprise! No injuries, only a few blisters and D has lost a toenail or two (maybe that is too much info - but hey, that's part of it). After this weekend, we only have 2 more major long runs left, a 20 mile and a 23 mile - all of our other runs will be 10 or under.














D and I spent yesterday at the Louisville Ford IRONMAN which was AMAZING to say the least. There are a few pictures below. We worked 2 volunteer shifts, the first as bike catchers and the second as finish line catchers. Our first shift was spent taking bikes from racer, encouraging them and getting their bikes to their proper bike rack location. Our second shift was spent at the finish line. It was like nothing I have ever experienced. We got to meet racers at the finish line, put their IRONMAN metal around their neck, get them a drink, medical help (if needed), their picture taken, a t-shirt and hat and get them to the convention center 2 blocks away. Now tell someone who just finished an IRONMAN to walk 2 more blocks - ha!

I had the opportunity to meet some great people from around the world - along with their families and support teams. Everyone has a story of how they got there and why an IRONMAN. One man, from Quebec, broke his skull last year after a accident on the bike portion - he came back to finish what he started last year. His trauma nurse from University Hospital that had taken care of him the year before was there to cheer him on! I met many moms and dads who were cheered on by their spouses and children. Just ordinary people who wanted to accomplish what seems to be the impossible - a 2.4 miles swim, 112 mile bike and a 26.2 run.

I LOVE IT!