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Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Couch Potato to 5K

Yeah, I realize I'm still not caught up on my blogging so here goes.  A couple of weeks ago, my friend Wonder Woman, emails me to tell me that she wants to run and 5K and wants me to run with her. The story is longer than that but that's the meat of this blog post.  I say, "Yeah that'd be great," without really reading about the race that she had ALREADY registered us for...what a friend!!  She knows me too well.  Had she not already registered and paid I could easily back out but because she already did that, I'm stuck.  She knows how I think:)  Anyway, so we're doing the couch potato to 5K running plan. I tried it last summer and got to week 6 or 7 and then quit...don't even remember why.  She made this great play list and told me I had to do it 5 times a week (BTW, the plan says 3).  So, I finished my first week last week and I did it 5 times.  This week started week 2, funny enough, our run song is the theme song of  "Wonder Woman." I've done 3 times so far this week.  I've walked/jogged a total of 18.69 miles.  That's pretty good for me!!  So, I've got to stay on track because the 5K we're doing is in November and it's called the Warrior Dash. Yeah, it's not just a 5K it's a 5K with an obstacle course that only crazy peeps would do.  I guess we're crazy;)  I'll keep you posted on my progress!!

Monday, July 26, 2010

Home Improvement

I go through phases of home improvement energy bursts.  Some bursts lead to action, others just burst.  This last week, I had a burst.   In our kitchen, we have high ceilings and so there is room on the cabinets for stuff.  I'm not a collector of anything so I went to Hobby Lobby & Michaels and scoured for clearance and sales items. I did pretty good.  Then, I got the  knack to put a second coat on our fireplace.  Check.  Then, I thought about painting our hallway, and both bathrooms....no check yet.

The hallway would be pretty simple.  The bathrooms, just a pain with the cutouts. Not sure I'll do it.  Our bathroom is big. I would love to paint it chocolate brown.  I was thinking about how to decorate. I'm not a big fan of wallpaper BUT, I saw this cute animal print wallpaper.  How cute, especially with the bathtubs.  I don't know how much I wound need, probably too much and I don't know that I want to be up sticking wallpaper. I did find cute bath towels to match. And then I could do my bedroom in an animal theme too. Ha...so when I strike it big, I'll do a remodel on the bathroom. :)

Anyway, this summer, I've definitely been trying to spruce up the home & garden areas.  I'd love to do more with the backyard but that's a whole different blog entry!!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Levi to Ghana

My friend, Andrea emailed me last night and in her message asked about Levi.  I thought I'd update all of you by copying my response to her. 

Levi left this morning. It was really hard for me to say goodbye. It felt different for some reason. I think I'm a little scared for his safety. Some people from church had us come to the church last night and they prayed for him and after they prayed he shared. One of the things he shared was something a missionary friend of ours said when she went to Haiti a few months ago, "If my faith isn't worth dying for, is it really worth living for?" It kind of put things in perspective for me but also freaked me out. This journey has been awesome for us and I am so excited to hear what happens there. He got all of his money and then some. We were fully prepared to have to pay a large portion of the trip out of our pockets. We didn't have too. After the his trip was paid for, some of the funding for the "camp" fun stuff fell through. So, we were able to buy t-shirts, soccer balls, and kick balls for the kids. There are actually 2 orphanages there. One is about an hour from the airport so that's the one that everyone visits. The other is about a 12 hours bus ride up into the jungle/forest, whatever. The kids at that orphanage have only heard of people (white people) coming to play with them and have fun. It's a hard trip to make up there but the 12 that are going are young and can make it. I am excited to see what happens to Levi through this. His heart has definitely been stirred and moved to action through Chris, his friend who founded Mercy Project and organized that kick ball game. It's been pretty crazy.

I'll try to blog more while he's gone and give updates!!

Sunday, July 18, 2010

So I gotta blog even if it's backwards.....

I've had lots of blog worthy conversations and thoughts but have lacked the time to type them out. So here goes....I'll start with now and hopefully will be able to back-blog about Nannah, 5K, and Assembly...there might be another random one here or there.

Okay so here goes for today.  I love Catalyst Church. I truly love it. I love our people.  They are true, authentic, genuine (yeah-synonyms i know).  I love Levi and the job he does.  He truly seeks to bring scriptural truth out and to teach it boldly.  And he does and I sit in my chair each week with tears streaming down my face.  Sometimes  it's because  I hurt for others, sometimes it's because I feel like there are things in my life that need work, sometimes it's because I'm filled with joy but a lot of time it's because I'm overwhelmed with such a love for the people around me.  Today, I sat with my friend who is one of our biggest cheerleaders.  She is being transformed by God's love and that is infectious.  I sat in front of another couple that again, I'm just able to journey with and see what God is doing in their lives.  It was overwhelming for me today. 

At the end of the service, Levi called Brendan, our youth intern up and he asked our people to gather around him and pray.  Now, if I"m being totally honest, it freaked me out for a minute.  We don't do the gather around and pray thing very often and I worried about how our peeps would respond to that.  It was just a second because I hopped up to go pray for Brendan as did a bunch of our peeps. My two friends from the previous paragraph did too.  That meant the world to me.  (had they not, it would have been okay too-just to clarify) It was neat to see them supporting the body of Christ in such a way.   I loved that we, as Catalyst, were showing this 20 year old kid that we love him, we support him, and we're on his team.  Ministry is hard and it sucks sometimes, a lot of times for some pastors.  What a cool way to start your first ministry experirence- Catalyst style?? 

Monday, July 12, 2010

Parents

are in town for  few days so I am NOT on the computer....we are out and about enjoying them.  Just wanted to let you know why I'm MIA.

Have a great week!!

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Oooh Ooooh Ooooh

So...gotta tell you a quick story. Last night, we had leftovers and after dinner, we decided to make a Sam's and Braums run.  LOVE both of those places.  We were pulling at of Sam's on our way to get our dessert and this lady flags us down.  We can see there is a car with the hazards on blocking the exit.  Levi stops and asks if she's okay.  She tells him she has run out of gas and only has $1 on her card.  I told him, let's go to Walmart and get a can and bring it back.  So, he relays the message.  We pull off and he tells me to get her a $10 giftcard too.  Okay, so reminder, this is my blog, I'm not trying to pat my own back but just sharing life and I don't want to have to sensor because I'm afraid of what you'll think.  This is part of my processing and just journaling if you will.  Okay back to story.... $10 is so not a lot, especially in gas language but it would help.  So, I run into Walmart and get the can (that is kind of expensive for a plastic can-it is environmentally friendly) and the gift card.  We rush back over to Sam's to put the gas in can only to find out that Sam's gas closes when the club does....oops!  So, we tell her we'll go across the street and Levi tells me to give her $10 (since the $10 walmart card for gas would be useless to her for gas).  We rush back over, she lights up.  I watch Levi in the rear view mirror open her tank and fill it with the gas and see him hand her the $10.  Ok, she lit up like a Christmas tree and proceeded to hug him, it was a HUGE hug (I wasn't jealous).  Then, she RUNS over to me. I get out and she gives me the same HUGE hug.  She tells me how thankful she is and how that my kids are beautiful and lucky.  I told her that we would want someone to help us if we were in the same situation. She told me again that our kids were fortunate because of us.  I told her that so many times we get it wrong, hopefully this time we got it right.  You would have thought we gave her $100.  As she finished talking to the kids and thanking me, she headed back to Levi who was finishing with the gas, my eyes welled up with tears and I began to cry.  I realized that it wasn't the gallon we put in her car or the $10 to fill it up a little more, it was the act of kindess that lit that lady up.  It was the fact that of all the cars that looked the other way as they had to go out of their way to get around her, we stopped.  I wondered how many times I have driven past people in need whether intentional or unintentional.  How many times have I missed an opportunity to serve others because I'm too wrapped up in myself and I don't want to be bothered?  That's kind of a scary thought.  Levi and I talked about that lady for a while on the ride home.  He said that he told her that if our daughter ran out of gas that he hoped someone would be kind enough to stop and help her.  AL asked me why I hugged that lady? I told her because she was my sister in Christ.  That totally confused her b/c then she asked if Nana was also my sister in Christ which kind of stumped me.  I moved on and let Levi take it from there in the car.  We explained that we do nice things for people because we want to be like God.  I've been challenged this week in my thinking that if I am a friend of God, my character needs to line up with His character.  I don't always get it right.  Some of you have heard me complaining about mowing our neighbor's yard. We're at it again, and it's okay.  As I was mowing this week, I started getting upset about it.  The song, "I am a Friend of God" came in my head, which I haven't heard in forever by the way.  I immediately thought if I'm a friend of God and want the character of God, my actions and attitudes have to line up with that.  My pride sometimes gets in the way, I want to be thanked and appreciated.  That's not what is important.  I want to be okay serving and helping without thanks or appreciation. I want to do things because they're the right things to do, not so that I'll get attention or praise out of it.  So, there's where I am.
BTW, we still made it to Braums and I had my junior rocky road in a cone but to go and a bit later. It felt good to do a good deed. I want to be that kind of example for my kids.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Catch Up

It's been a while since I've just caught you up so let's do that:)

Life is good right now.  I had a moment of panic today though because I realized that my parents are visiting this weekend, then we have a church conference, then we have a few days and Levi goes to Ghana.  Then, it's August and then my baby starts school. I am not sure I'm ready for that.

Thus my moment of panic.

I'm okay now.  We had a reunion of sorts tonight.  We had some friends over and just had a blast.  I feel very blessed in the area of friends (not just in that area).  I truly have made wonderful relationships and feel like I can just be me....however crazy, uncooth- as my hubs pointed out tonight, and silly oh yeah and imperfect. I love that!  I realize at times it bites me in the butt but (ha) sometimes it's worth that risk.  So thankful for ALL my friends.  That reminds me...I need to blog about my YoYo's!!

On another note, Levi is rockin' the Ghana fundraising, thank you if you gave.  We will send a note when he returns with pictures and tell you all about his trip.  I am so excited and trying not to think about the dangers of the trip...there are none, right????

The kids are doing great.  I can't believe how big they are getting.  K man dressed himself today, shorts backwards but who cares, they were on and I didn't help:)  AL is quite the biggie herself, so proud of her.

I think that's the catch up for me. I'm going to add some pics but will do that in another blog.

Levi is

kicking my tail in blog visits.  Honestly, I'm totally okay with that. I love that people are engaging in his blog. I love the stories he shares.  Check his newest post out about our Catalyst Coffee Table Books...they're awesome!!

I need to get busy blogging....it's been a while!!