At the beginning of my pregnancy, Jason decided to run his 2nd marathon {read about his first marathon here).. It just so happened that the date of the marathon was May 5th, which was supposed to be one week and one day before my due date. We joked that I would go into labor on the side of the road as I cheered for him. And then he’d have to run to the hospital to make it in time for delivery.
I don’t know if you heard, but things didn’t happen normally for us this pregnancy. 🙂
So there we were this past Sunday cheering Jason and his brother Cody along, and in my arms I was holding a ten week old baby. Pretty crazy. It was Liam’s first “outing” other than doctor’s appointments {which don’t really count}, so it was pretty special. Liam and I were definitely very proud of Daddy for running his second marathon. And of Uncle Cody! They both finished and blew us all out of the water! 26.2 miles is no joke, homie.
This first picture is one that Jason’s brother Perry took at the finish line. The second was taken by his cousin Monica. It’s Liam hanging out with me in his baby carrier at mile 19 waiting for Daddy and Cody.
Here’s a picture of my dad and I on our bikes waiting for the boys at mile 4.
And here’s a few more along the way {click to enlarge}:
Well, there’s also been some updates going on with different things that I’ve blogged about, so I’d like to let you know what’s going on with that. This is going to be a long one. Settle in…
First of all, the house.
We’re doing a short sale and then thinking about renting out a friend’s house. Read about the history of this process here , here, here, here, and here. Last week we got a “sales update” saying that the bank and the buyer were down to the final $1,000 of negotiation. Our agent believes we are close to finalizing the process. Once we find out the deal has been made we have about 30 days to move out.
I’ve been packing pretty consistently for the last month or so and feel like we have a good handle on it. I HATE HATE HATE packing and moving, but am believing God for His plan and will for our housing situation and for our finances.
Here’s our struggle. With me not working, our income has been cut in half. My parents have been temporarily helping out during this time. Their commitment was to a season in which I could get healthy and get back on my feet (see the next update on depression). We have fallen in love with the house that our friends are offering to rent to us. Check out the video of my dad showing it to his friend here.
Yes, Frank is excited. And so were we. The whole thing has just been such a blessing. Really, it was the way that Sarah and I first connected at the dentist office. One thing led to another and suddenly we have an invitation from Shane and Sarah to their church and their community group. And this has given us a whole new outlook on our faith, our marriage, our relationships, and God. It has been amazing.
So back to our struggle. With my parents helping us, me not working, and wanting to start a family, we are REALLY praying about where God wants us to live. We both feel like we somewhat rushed into the decision because everything SEEMED to fit so perfectly. However, the price of renting the place is expensive. If we decide to move forward with renting the house we really only have two options: my parents would have to keep helping us. Or Jason would have to get a different job. Option #1 is not an option. We do not want to be depending on my parents. Option #2 is risky in this economy. Right now Jason’s job is secure. He’s got great benefits. He is irreplaceable.
Both of us feel horrible because we do not want to disappoint Shane and Sarah, and we especially do not want to back out a month before he’s planning on moving out.
I can’t even write about it on here because I feel like I’ll just be going back and forth with a list of pros and cons. Bottom line is that we are seeking God on this more than we’ve sought Him on any other decision we’ve ever made. Both of us are repentant of a lifestyle that has been filled with decisions sans God, and are committed to moving forward only in His timing and with His blessing.
The Israelites left slavery and Egypt to follow God into the desert. Before they were led to the promised land, they spent some time in the wilderness. But God was faithful, stayed with them, and led them.
“And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.” -Exodus 13:21-22
This is the theme throughout the first five books of the Bible.
“‘Do not be in dread or afraid of them. The Lord your God who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place.’ Yet in spite of this word you did not believe the Lord your God, who went before you in the way to seek you out a place to pitch your tents, in fire by night and in the cloud by day, to show you by what way you should go.” -Deuteronomy 1:29-33
Like Jen and Greg prayed when they were preparing to move to Texas: “If your presence will not go with us, do not bring us up from here.” (Exodus 33:15) We are trusting God to show us what to do about this house, our finances, a baby, and Jason’s job.
Second, the antidepressants.
Read about the issue here. Are you ready for the amazing news????! I’m totally off of them. It’s been 8 days, and mentally I am feeling great. I’ve had some side effects (nausea, dizziness, insomnia, exhaustion, bloating, indigestion). But the good news is that I have not had any sadness, heaviness, suicidal thoughts, or hopelessness. Mentally, I feel strong.
God, you are SO faithful. I feel amazing, and am relieved to be off. I am thankful for the advice I got from my therapist and from Jen, and the support I felt from Jason and my family. I am humbled by God’s provision for me, for the healing He has done.
“He sent from on high, he took me; he drew me out of many waters. He rescued me from my strong enemy and from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the LORD was my support. He brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me, because he delighted in me.” -Psalm 18:16-19
Who am I? Seriously. Thank you, Jesus.
Jason and I continue to do our training for the marathon. We’ve run about 75 miles since December 5 and are starting to get into longer runs. This week we will run 18 miles with a 7 mile Saturday run. My knee has been hurting a little, so I’m working on stretching, a knee brace, and icing. I’m praying that the only thing that will prevent me from running this race will be a baby, and not a bum knee! I’ll do a longer post soon with more details on all that we’re learning through this process. We’re totally into it and feeling great.
I had a great 27th birthday. The actual day of Jason and I had breakfast with Shane and Sarah at a gourmet restaurant in Tacoma called Babblin’ Babs Bistro (I know, sounds weird). The food was all fresh and delicious (a tad expensive). They got me a few journals and a Starbucks gift card. It was really sweet. Sarah surprised me with this hilarious card:
"Brains and underwear"
That night Jason had secret plans for dinner. He wouldn’t tell me where we were going all week. Finally the day of he let me start guessing, and I finally figured out that we were going to the Harmon! When we walked in Chris, Jamie, Brett and Amber were sitting there ready to surprise us!!! It was such a fun night and they treated us. Jamie even brought a cake with my name on it and plates and utensils. Those guys are amazing. I felt blessed. Here are some photos:
The next day we had a 24 party for the season premier. The family came over to our place. We all dressed in black, played some games, watched the show and had a great time! I’ll post some pictures as soon as I get them! My mother in law, Linda, made me a blanket and even made a miniature one for Charlie.
I had a ton of sweet messages on Facebook, phone calls, and text messages and was just loved on over the weekend. Then, on Tuesday at Community Group, Paulina made delicious cupcakes and everyone sang for me. I cried. I am just overwhelmed with the people that God has put in my life.
If you think that would be the end of the birthday celebration, you would be thinking wrong! Jason surprised me and got us a Friday night stay at the Grand Hyatt in downtown Seattle! Dude. It was amazing.
Oh, BTW, funny that we happen to have a picture of the mini-bar. So I’ve never been to a super high end hotel with a fancy mini-bar like this one. We get there, and I’m “exploring the room” and see the mini-bar. I open the fridge without reading anything about it, and just start playing with everything in there. I’m pulling out bottles of wine, Grey Goose, candy bars, beer, just looking at everything. Then I start asking Jason to read off the price list as I pull out each thing. $22 for a tiny bottle of wine, $9 for a miniature Grey Goose…you get the idea. I pull out a candy bar and then, as I was putting it back in I noticed there was a lever that I had to push down to replace the bar. Suddenly I panicked. I shut the fridge quickly and read the writing on the outside. “Important: Every item removed from the mini-bar is attached to a sensor and will IMMEDIATELY be charged to your room.” Needless to say, I had to make a pretty humbling phone call to the front desk and apologize for being a 3 year old!!!
Can you see the Space Needle peeking out from behind that building?
Cha Cha Cha
We got there and checked out the hotel, then went out for dinner at Elephant & Castle a few blocks away.
On our way back we stopped at NikeTown and then headed back to the hotel for some hot tub action. We crashed that night and then got up early the next morning to do our six mile run through downtown Seattle and along the waterfront. It was AMAZING! Here’s a photo of the course we ran:
All in all, one of my top birthdays!!!
The last little bit of information is about my grandmother. She’s 94, you know, and has been sick since the summer. Just to rewind a bit, this past summer she was struggling with pneumonia and has had shingles for years now. She’s been back and forth to the hospital since then, and my parents have been taking incredible care of her. There were a few scares we’ve had with her since then, and I really wasn’t even sure if she was going to make it to Thanksgiving when we were going to be going home. She made it, alright! And we had a really special time together. Here are a few photos.
Pretty hip for 94, huh?
She LOVED Charlie and since we’ve left someone has bought her a stuffed animal dog that she calls “Charlie” and she keeps him with her everywhere she goes.
The best, and most precious story happened about two weeks ago. She was at the nursing home when she felt like she was no longer able to breathe. She got really scared and as time passed, she was certain she was going to die. She began to pray. In her words: “I started to pray to God, but then I thought I probably better put my teeth in so He could understand me.” Isn’t that just pure sweetness? I laughed and it blessed my heart to the core. She really did think she was going to die, so the next thing she did was start to pray for all of us. Pretty cool. She ended up being just fine, and for the time being continues to recooperate. She’s an amazingly strong woman, and I adore her.
That’s all for now folks. It’s been a long morning of blogging and trying to catch up. Maybe later or tomorrow I’ll catch you up on what God’s been teaching me about submission, marathons, and things that have been going on at Mars Hill.
Well, since there really isn’t that many people reading this blog on a daily basis (as in zero, I think), I’ve done a pretty sucky job of writing and keeping up to date on life.
There have been lots of exciting developments. We have continued to do our marathon training and are into week 7 of that. This week has been the first week of running mileage. We run every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. This week we run 3 miles, 4 miles, 3 miles, and 5 miles. Then it keeps going up and up until we’re running 10, 11, 12, 20 miles, etc. The Saturday runs are all the longest. I’m very excited about it, and we’ve been pretty dang faithful with it. My body is feeling good and strong, and we’re committed. We have been really excited to use the Nike Running website. It not only tracks our runs, our pace per mile, our distance, and our calories burned, but helps us set goals, join groups with other runners, and map runs anywhere in the US! It’s an amazing resource and I love coming back from my runs and plugging in my iTouch to see data from my run. Wahoo!
I think the one challenging thing with the marathon is that I’m not sure if we’re going to get pregnant before then. We’re going to be trying, especially now that I’m weaning off of my medicine (more about that in a minute). So technically, I could find out that I’m pregnant before race day which would mean that I wouldn’t be able to do a marathon this time around. I don’t know how I feel about that. It’s hard. I’ve never done a marathon, and I really want to do it, and I know that when I have kids it will be harder. At the same time, I really want to be open to God’s will regarding conception and starting a family. So as of right now, Jason and I feel that we’ll best serve God by continuing to prepare for the race as if I’m running it, and playing it by ear. The benefit is that if and when I DO get pregnant, I’ll be in great shape from all the running and can continue running while pregnant (they say it helps during labor)!
Anywho…I’m three days into the lower dosage of my meds and in four more days, I should be off of them all together. I’m excited to see how that works out, and very excited to be off of the medication all together. I’ve been focusing on eating healthy, working out, and spending time in the Word. I am confident that God will make it clear to me one way or another whether it’s time to be off of the antidepressants. It’s been just a little over six months, and I think this is a wise time to see if they are still needed. I will keep you updated. Additionally, being off the medicine before I get pregnant is what Jason and I were praying about.
About three weeks ago I had a total physical meltdown (while my parents were here for Christmas) as my teeth absolutely exploded in my head. I ended up having to get in for an emergency appointment only to find out that I needed two root canals. I cannot describe the pain to you, but Sarah helped me get in quickly and I was able to get right in and get the problem taken care of. It was almost INSTANT relief. I go back in a week for the permanent crowns and then I should be all set for a while! Yikes. It’s been a tough road. Word to the wise: DO NOT GO 4 YEARS WITHOUT A DENTIST APPOINTMENT! Lesson learned.
Finally, we are expecting to be moving to Shane’s place in the next 45-60 days. The bank is in the final stages of negotiation with the buyer, and it looks like we’ll have a deal very soon. God has been so gracious to us, and the timeline has been working out perfectly with Shane and Sarah as they try to buy their house and are preparing to get married.
Oh! And Sarah asked me to read the Scripture at their wedding. I of course said yes and am really honored that they wanted me to be a part of their special day in that way. We’re also invited to the rehearsal dinner and I’ll be going to the shower and bachelorette party. She’s been a really big blessing to me. So have all of the other amazing CG women. Tiffany, Eve, Leah, Tammy, Paulina, Katie, Stevie, Jenny, and a few other really fun women who come and go. God has blessed us with amazing friends. Jason started going to a Tuesday morning men’s group called band of brothers, and I continue to do my Friday morning girls group as we go through Barbara Hughes’ book “Disciplines of a Godly Woman.” I’ve also been blessed for the last 4 weeks going through “The Power of a Praying Wife” with Salena. It’s been so cool memorizing Scripture together, praying for our husbands, and focusing on being the godly wives He’s called us to be. I see such a change in the two of us, as well as in our husbands. It’s been a blessing all around!
We are loving Mars Hill. I cannot believe how much I am learning and how fortunate we are to be so close to a church that preaches truth so boldly. Mark is a dedicated teacher and is blessed with such wisdom. We are thankful.
Charlie continues to be a blessing to us every day. He’s loyal and absolutely a snuggle bug. I cannot believe how much I love this little puppy. He’s a stud muffin.
So those are the updates for now. I’m going to try and do a better job keeping up with life on here. It doesn’t need to be read to be important. This is supposed to be a chronicle of our family’s faith journey, and God is certainly doing amazing things for us and through us and in us, and I want to make sure to keep track of what He’s been doing.
So I’ve not really been taking care of myself health-wise. I’ve gained about 20 pounds and have just been feeling gross in my clothes and unhealthy over all. My eating habits are terrible and I have been stress eating. Everything else in my life seems to be getting on track and I’m moving forward in every area of my life other than my physical health.
God’s really been doing a work in my heart convicting me about my obsession with food. It really has become an idol to me as I deal with problems. I run to junk food to calm me down and make me feel better. I have fluctuated in weight and been obsessed about it for all the wrong reasons for years. I feel like this is finally an opportunity that God is giving me to set some exciting and healthy goals to get myself back in shape.
While talking to my friend Molly last night, I was really inspired. She is running a marathon in 10 days in North Carolina. She’s been training for a while. Not only does she look and feel great, but it’s been boosting her overall confidence as well. She’s so impressed with what the body and mind are able to do and it has been a life-changing experience for her. That was last night. Tonight Jason and I were watching The Biggest Loser and they had their marathon episode tonight. For the last two seasons I’ve watched that episode and just been so inspired. But I’ve always thought it was never something I could do.
Well, I couldn’t fall asleep tonight, and I started just surfing the internet for running plans. At first I was looking at 10k training plans to get ready for the Bolder Boulder (it will be the 32nd year and my 6th time running-Years 25, 27, 29, 30, 31, now 32) on Memorial Day Weekend 2010.
But then I thought about looking for a half-marathon in the area. And then as I continued looking, I saw that the Tacoma City Marathon is on May 2, and saw that there would be enough time for me to train.
So I’m going to start tomorrow. I’ve never set a goal like this for myself. It’s a huge commitment to train for something like this. It requires 4 days of running a week at increasing distances and demands increasing amounts of time, energy, strength and stamina. But I think I have it in me. And I think it’s going to be something that is going to end up being very spiritually rewarding for me as well as God is teaching me perseverance, and about running the race He’s marked out for me.
So my prayer is that I would honor Him by throwing off everything that so easily entangles and run with perseverance not only this race, but the race called “life” so that I can bring Him honor, and glory, and make Him proud.
So I surrender my body, my mind, and my will to Him and to this training process for the next 5 months. God, please give me the strength to really do this. Your will be done!
M C M I R A C L E 