Running With Joy

Recap of the Fall

2011-12-04T16:47:00.000-05:00

Here's a not so quick update on our fall. We've been busy...

Let's start with Labor Day! We went to Ohio to see Hubbie's Mom and extended family. While we were there, we went to "The Farm". Puppy came with us. What is making ripples in the water you ask...that's Puppy. He loves the water.

Just swimming with my stick. The only way we could get him out of the water,was to throw a stick in and have him fetch and bring it back to us. If we just called him, he would just keep swimming around.

Chewing on my stick in the weeds. He was so funny. He had to sit in the weeds. But isn't he just the cutest! Taking puppy to the farm is always so fun. The only down side is you have to keep an eye on him. When you aren't looking, he will head back to the pond to swim around. Sneaky little dog.

An update on Puppy. He is currently at my Mom and Dad's house under surveillance. He was starting to walk really funny and be so lethargic and so I took him to my parents for him to get looked at. We found out that he has some compressed discs in his back. Now he is on some pain meds and being watched to see how he improves. Life at our house just isn't the same since he has been gone, but extremely thankful that my Dad is a vet!

Mid September....

We were invited to go to a UNC football game. Not just any ole seats at the football game. We got to sit in the Blue Zone. Talk about nice! As you can see they were in the end zone. Inside there was a buffet that you could eat from the whole game and then outside we got to sit at these seats with cushy blue roller chairs. Hubbie loved these seats. Not because of the chairs, but because there were these little tv's every two seats so he got to watch the Auburn game. He was living the high life.

Livin the high life!!

Moving on to October...

Hubs got tickets to the Duke Midnight Madness! Yup, we got to to Cameron Indoor. What a sight and a fun night! What a treat to get inside Cameron Indoor too!

The Blue Devils! Not that we favor any team here in the Raleigh - Durham - Chapel Hill area. We are glad to support all three and in fact we have. Just keep reading.

We took a break from sports and one weekend headed to the NC State Fair with Andy's Dad and his wife. This was the winning pumpkin and watermelon. Yup, that does say 522 pounds. Hello!!!!! State fairs are always interesting and you can never leave without eating some of the fair food. We did our share by eating corn dogs and funnel cake. I love funnel cake!!!

Mid-November:

Our friend here in Raleigh invited us to a NC State game. This game was against Clemson and so we were really hoping NC State would win since Clemson beat Auburn, but we weren't holding our breath since Clemson was favored. I don't know if we were good luck, but NC State won!!!! Yeah! Another bonus - Hubbie was able to do a lifelong dream....

Yup, he got to cut a pig that had been smokin all day.

He was so happy that he got to be apart of this!! He could hardly wait for them to start and then he just moved in. I first saw him with just a knife in his hand. I was like how did he get that knife...then he got the tongs and I knew it was all over. It wasn't even his pig!

The evidence!

That pretty much wraps up our fall. In between events, we packed - moved - unpacked. Fought with leaves and acorns. Still fighting with leaves...we have so many!!! At one point I thought they might win, but then we got a second wind! I see a victory in our near future.

Stay tuned for the story of Biscuit! Biscuit - who is that? Well, stay tuned and you will soon find out!

5 Things I'll Miss About Our Apartment!!

2011-10-13T10:22:00.000-04:00

We've Moved!! And yes, while that is exciting!, our house is a pile of boxes that seems to grow rather than vanish. Some of these boxes I haven't opened since I packed them last November when we moved to NC. Kind of makes you wonder if you really need what is in those boxes....but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I just can't part with my moose mugs!! I must have them in my cabinet. Doesn't matter if I haven't seen them in almost a year.

I've digressed from the reason I'm writing this blog. I will miss our little apartment. So as a goodbye gift to that special abode - here is a list of things I will miss.

1. Ability to walk across the street to the grocery store. Talk about convenience!!
2. The easy running routes that were accessible from our complex. I'll miss running in the country club down the street (even though snot rocket man lives there). Such great sidewalks! Can't over appreciate a good sidewalk.
3. The gym at our apartment complex. Convenience again.
4. Our covered patio. You could people watch for hours out there. And since we were hidden in the trees, you couldn't really see us.
5. Some of the people who we have fondly nicknamed: Bearded Man, Mr. Walker, Hut and Tut, AKC and we will miss seeing the ugliest dog known to the planet: Guiness. Oh how we will miss all your snorts. You truly are the ugliest dog I've ever seen. I mean that in the best way possible.

Goodbye Apartment!

Things that happen while running...

2011-09-20T13:51:00.000-04:00

I can't believe it! I really can't believe it.

I was running the other evening. As I was running, I jumped off the sidewalk to pass this man walking his dog. As I was passing him, he shot a snot rocket!!!! I mean right as I'm almost parallel with him boogers being shot out of his nose in my direction. I'm sure I got hit, but I don't want to think about it. There isn't that much space between the sidewalk and the road. My reaction: I just kept running in disbelief. I did do a quick glance to see if the fellow knew what he had done, but he didn't seem fazed. No expression on his face, like "oh I didn't see you there", etc. Nothing!

So here is my warning to all you runners out there: BEWARE OF THE SNOT ROCKET SHOOTER!!! He walks his dog in the evening and he doesn't care. Just doesn't care if he hits you. If you see him, quickly run in the opposite direction.

U2

2011-08-08T17:33:00.000-04:00

This post is so overdue, but hey better late than never!

For a Christmas present two years ago, my sister and her husband gave Hubbie and I tickets to see U2 with them in Denver at the Broncos Stadium. Isn't that such a cool present? No, I'm not 2 years behind in posting. Bono, whose real name is Paul (how boring after being called Bono your whole life), hurt his back the summer we were supposed to see him and so he canceled his tour and scheduled it for the following summer. So in May, Hubbie and I flew out for the weekend for the concert. It was a once in a lifetime concert. I mean when is the next time you will see U2??

Anyway, I took some pictures with my phone, which I will warn you did not come out well. I think I was just so excited. My favorite part of the whole night was after the opening band (the frey) finished, they turned off all the lights and all you could see were cell phone lights. It was pretty neat.

This was their sound booth. Kind of cool - right?

This is the stage - the spider looking thing.

It was Mid May in Colorado, so it was kind of chilly. Fine with my fleeces. This is Hubbie's new favorite hat. He got it at the Durham Bull's game (the local AAA baseball team in Durham). I think it is also his favorite because it is Auburn colors.

In between the opening band and U2, they would put up all these random facts on the screens. Some were interesting, some depressing.... Later it made for a really neat screen to see U2.

Not a great photo, but this is when they turned off the lights and all the cell phones popped up. You can't get the feel from the photo, but it was really spectacular.

Yup, that's them.....U2.

So, that was the trip. Kudos to my sister and husband for a fabulous Christmas gift. We are always up for more concerts:)

Bailey goes to Camp!!

2011-08-05T14:46:00.000-04:00

This week, the place where I work, hosted a day camp for the kids at the Durham Rescue Mission. They have a shelter for women and children. The children from the shelter came everyday and we did all kinds of fun things with them including a slip and slide on the last day. We also taught them about Jesus! They were so precious and I wanted to take each one of them home! Another fun thing is I got to bring Bailey to work with me!!

Bailey was a huge hit and such a good dog. They loved him!! They hugged on him and combed him, took him on walks and threw the ball to him. Bailey was so tired at the end of the day. He would come home and just sleep the whole time. Usually in the mornings when we get up, Bailey will hear us and come into our bedroom. On the mornings after being at camp, we would have to wake him up.

Here are some pics! Enjoy!

Just adorable!


Puppy getting combed. He loved this! All the attention!

Strawberry Pickin'

2011-05-16T13:25:00.001-04:00

Hubbie and I went Strawberry Picking last weekend at Page Farms (pictured above). It was only about 4 miles from our house and had tons of strawberries. I was so impressed!! Neat and clean and strawberries. What more can I ask for?? It wasn't crowded either. Another plus. Enough people for entertainment and people watching, but no fighting over strawberries, although that would have been fun to watch. My fav are all the kids with the pink all around their mouth from eating strawberries. Right before you get your bucket to pick, there is a sign that says, "Tasting allowed, but please do not graze!" Loved it!

Hubbie picking strawberries. His favorite part about picking strawberries were the the old timers (his term) that were sitting in their lawn chairs when we pulled up wearing overalls and the old time baseball cap. They must have been the owners of the farm observing operations. Anyway, he knew it was going to be a good place after seeing them.

We chose the small bucket. Those strawberries were so red and so good! I went to work on Monday and they asked what we did over the weekend. I told them and they asked what I made with the strawberries. Much to their sadness, I said just a pie and then gave some to some friends where we ate dinner. Their response, no jam, no freezing, nothing else. Jokingly they said, somebody got the LB this weekend. Unfamiliar with what LB meant, I proceeded to ask what that was. They said, "Lazy Bug". Yeah, I didn't feel like doing a lot. Just wanted to pick and eat and then be done. So, maybe next year I'll jam it up. I did end up making 2 pies since we had so many strawberries and then we just had some plain sliced . I tell ya, I forgot how good my grandma's strawberry pie is. Just yummy! I'll give you the secret ingredient: 7Up! Who knew people still drank 7Up, but they still sell it in the stores.

Strawberries, Strawberries, Strawberries. They were everywhere and so many and so red and beautiful. Hubbie gets the award for finding the biggest strawberry. I had a picture, but it didn't turn out. Too many shadows.


More of the farm. It was a great day. Not hot, just perfect.

Stanky Leg

2011-05-11T20:58:00.000-04:00

This is hilarious. Hubbie and I laughed so hard.

I know it is long, but be patient! If you can't wait, then scroll to around the 2 minute mark. You will be rolling...

Holla to all my Memphis friends...doin the stanky leg!!

Thirteen.One

2011-04-19T18:00:00.002-04:00

First and foremost, I must take my hat off to all those who have run a marathon. You should get a medal (if didn't - you got cheated...go ask for one)! After running a half, I can't imagine what running another 13.1 miles would feel like.

Now that I have that out of the way and off my chest, in January, my sister called me and asked me if I wanted to run a half marathon with her in April. At the time, I didn't have a job and so of course thought it was a great idea! I had all the time in the world to train - what else was I going to do besides look for a job. Thus the training began.

I was pretty disciplined in my training and even spent a week training in Colorado to do some altitude training. Just kidding, that isn't the real reason I went to Colorado. I was there visiting my sister and still needed to train. That weekend was a 9 mile run - the hardest run of my life. My 10 mile run the next week was a piece of cake compared to that.

I want go give a shout out to Hubbie for a few things regarding the half:

taking the photos
driving us to the start on Sunday morning at 6:45am, when he could have been snoozing
running the last few miles with me on some of my longer training runs
And the BIGGEST SACRIFICE OF ALL...missing some of the Masters on Sunday. We drove back Sunday afternoon and so he missed some of the Masters...you know the tradition unlike any other or whatever their slogan is. We couldn't even get it on the radio so I was giving him leaderboard updates every ten minutes via my snaz phone. I do have the best Hubbie!

Here are the photos...

Yes, the name was the Flying Pirate Half Marathon and was in the Outer Banks, NC. They even shot off a canon when the race began. Hubbie was fascinated with that. Arrrghh you ready to run???

One of the fun things about running in a race are all the people. I am a huge people watcher and so lots of excitement for me. A lot of people were dressed as pirates, patch and all. Some women were wearing black and red tutu's. Not my preferred running attire, but whatever gets you to the finish line.

Here we are before the race, walking to the starting line. Note to all you who want to run a race: the port a potty line will be long...make sure you arrive early if you need to go. Props again to Hubbie for finding a set of porties without a line. You da best!! It was maybe 50 degrees when we began the race. Chilly...
I think we are wondering what have we gotten ourselves into at this point. It was too late to back out...they had our money!

Right before the race. Off went the fleece...go time!! We were in Corral #2, the black bibs. I felt like a bunch of cattle in those corrals. Couldn't they have given it another name. There were 4 corrals total, so we felt good being in the second one. Each Corral started a few minutes behind the other, I guess this helps spread out the runners and allows the fasties (what I called anyone wearing a red bib since they were in the first group) room so they wouldn't have to pass so many people. Don't we look so excited to run 13.1 miles!!!

There we are in the pink! I have my hands raised. This is between mile 8 and 9. My sister now has shed her yellow shirt and has on a pink one too. We didn't even plan it! Hubbie and my parents were here to cheer us at this spectator point.

There I am in the pink behind the lady with the blue/turquoise shorts on. Hubbie said she got in the way at the last second. The last 3/4 mile was up and down hills on mulch (horrible running surface). But I really felt great. On my training runs, there was a hill at the end and so I think that helped prepare me.

Hey, there'z my peeps!!! Confession time: You may be wondering why sister is not in the finish photos with me. Fact: I am still competitive. Just when I thought I was doing so well. The story is there was this lady wearing a pink jacket and earlier on the race, I made my sister speed up so we could pass her...I really wanted to pass her. Then she passed us later in the race. She was slowing on the hills and so saw my chance to take her. I took it and in the meantime left my sister (whose knees were hurting her) so I could beat her. I did this after I told her I that it was okay that she passed us and I would stay with her. Horrible sister am I to leave her. Well, good news is our time difference was only seconds and so way to stay with it SIS and still pleading for forgiveness for leaving. I just had to beat her....

Yay!!! We are done and have our medals and others goods they give you after the race. I must confess what I was really looking for was a donut. I ran a 10 mile race several years ago and they had this big tent full of food at the end and they had Krispy Kreme donuts. Yummm!!

Couldn't resist this photo with the pirates. They were the greeters into the after race party.
We are just missing our bandana and patch! That one pirate might want to be careful that he doesn't do any drastic moves or he might pop one of
those buttons.

Little fact, there were over 2000 runners and i think something like 65% were women. GO LADIES!!

Well, it was fun! Thanks again to SIS, Hubbie and my parents!!! We'll do it again soon!!!!

One more Hunter Quote

2011-03-08T16:05:00.000-05:00

Just one more Hunter quote that came to me today as I was driving...

One day it snowed. There were a couple of inches of snow on the road and so as I was taking Hunter to the bus stop I was traveling slow. They live on a mountain and you have to go down the mountain to the bus stop.

Hunter: "We are going human speed slow. I think you can go faster."

Thanks Hunter for your wise counsel on driving in the snow...And just for the record, I wasn't going that slow, but that hill is steep.

Colorado

2011-03-04T13:16:00.003-05:00

I've just spent that last 10 days in Colorado with my sister and her boys. What fun!!

While I was there, I spent a lot of time with Hunter (my oldest

nephew who is 6). These are some of the funny things he said to me. Warning: they may not be that funny to you, but they were funny to me so context may be important.

Here are some quotes from my time there (in no particular order).

1. "Heather, why do you look younger than Mom?"

(for those of you that don't know, my sister that lives in Colorado is older than I am.)

2. "Don't forget to pick me up at the bus stop today."

(One of my duties while there was to pick Hunter up fro

m the bus stop each day. He would say this numerous times as we are driving our short distance to the bus stop.)

3. "I was afraid you had forgot to pick me up."

(This is what he said as he got off the bus.)

4. "It's okay this time, but Mommy and Daddy usually get out of the car when I get off the bus." (Oh, I didn't know there was a proper way to pick up kids from the bus stop.)

5. "Schmeather"

(What he calls me sometimes. To which I respond, Schmunte

r.)

6. "Can I keep this dough in my room?"

(We made cookies and were making shapes out of the dough - kind of like playdough, but with cookie dough. He wanted to make one that looked like a fire truck. After he made it, he wanted to keep it in his room. You forget kids don't understand that some things have to be refrigerated and can't just "sit" in your room and rot and have bugs crawl on it.)

7. From Hunter's friend as I'm picking him up from school, "Can Hunter and I battle? I taught myself karate and I want to try it out on someone who kno

ws karate?"

(Ummm, no - you can't just beat up on someone who is 2 years younger than you just because you want to try out your karate moves. Hunter does take Tae Kwon Do lessons, but not sure if after school is the place to try out your moves. I did respond in a nicer way for those of you thinking I said this to a 2nd grader.)

8. I went to Hunter's class for show and tell one day. As he is introducing me, he is patting my head like a dog, "This is my Mom's younger sister." His introduction wasn't the funny part, the fact that he was stroking my head like a dog was funny. He must have had this thing with me being the younger sibling. Maybe since he has a younger sibli

ng he was making a strange connection, but nonetheless...younger sister who I pet like a dog and comes when commanded.

9. During his show and tell, kids from his class are allowed to ask questions about the show and tell. One of the kids asked a question that Hunter had answered in his presentation, so when this girl asked it, this was his response, "Actually I already answered that. Do you have another question.?" So business like.

10. "While you put Colton (his younger brother) in his car seat, is it

okay if a do booty and head slides in the bank?"

(It snowed while I was there and we went sledding. Not sure why I think this is funny. Maybe because I was like, sure go ahead...Do a booty and head slide into the snow bank. Or maybe it was because he used the word booty. It could also be that I just let him do head dives into a snow bank. He had on a helmet so I guess I didn't think he could do that much harm to himself. Guess you had to be there.)

Picture of the nephews who I will miss until I get to hang out with them again...Until then, I need to brush up on my monster truck tricks and jumps...

Note: this picture was not taken while I was there. Come on, would I remember to bring a camera and take a picture. You must not know me...

Welcome 2011 and Welcome to Raleigh!

2011-01-17T14:33:00.002-05:00

Hello! Happy New Year!! (even though we have been in the new year for a couple of weeks!)

Here is a little update on us:

1. Where did we spend December:

In Raleigh (in a hotel for a week as we got a few things settled).
Went to the mountains of Western North Carolina and stayed in a friend's cabin for a couple of days. It snowed!! Yeah! We almost lost our car (okay almost might be an exaggeration), but as I watched it slide down the hill with a sharp drop off to the left I kept yelling for Hubbie to bail. All I could picture was the car sliding off the road down the steep hill. Good news! We made it down!
Went to see Hubbie's Dad in Charlotte.
Went to see my family in Virginia. While we were there it snowed 13 inches. Hello, we never get snow in VA much less 13 inches. We actually stay with my sister who lives 30 minutes away and then come to my parents house each day. Well, we drove in the snow twice before staying at my parents house. Testing out the 4 wheel drive on the Ford I guess. I don't think VA owns a snow plow. We drove in some nasty weather. Again...as Hubbie drove, I would sit in the passenger seat, heart beating fast, wondering if we would ever see a plow and hoping someone wouldn't hit us! Puppy loved running in the field and even caught some kind of animal while we were walking.
My sister and her family came from Colorado and stayed at my parents house, so we got in some great family time, especially with the snow. Not to mention, there were 6 dogs at my parents house (including puppy). It was crazy at times, but a good time.

2. We are finally in Raleigh in our apartment in the beginning of January! Love our apartment, don't love having to keep puppy on a leash every time we take him outside.

2. Watched Auburn win the National Championship with some other Auburn fans in the area!! War Eagle. "It's great to be an Auburn Tiger (even if I married in!). It is amazing that everywhere we go we find Auburn friends. It is a bitter sweet now that the season is over. Bitter because it was so fun to watch Auburn win, Sweet because now I will no longer have that feeling like I'm going to have a heart attack watching them play games. I swear years have been taken off my life being a fan.

3. I read 3 books in December. That is what happens when you don't have a job! I read, count sheep, read more, count more sheep.

My life in France: an autobiography of Julia Childs. Love that woman! What spunk!!
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: This book is a collection of letters between folks post World War II. They talk about life during the German invasion of the island and its effect on people. (Okay so that is not a great summary, but it was a great book.) I learned that in the English Channel there are islands. Didn't know that before. Guess I need to brush up on my geography.
The Forgotten Garden: Since I'm so good at giving book reviews, the one is about a grandmother and granddaughter's search for where the grandmother was born. She was put on a ship in the 1913 and landed in Australia by herself. So the book tells of how the grandmother searched for her past and how her granddaughter helped. Fascinating book. Can't wait to read another book by this author.

4. Now we are looking for jobs and learning about the area we live in. This past weekend we drove through the Duke Campus. Bea-u-ti-ful!! Hello, can you say prestige!! Don't love looking for a job, but that comes with the territory of moving to a new area!

That's a brief update on us! I'll send pictures....maybe!

On the Road Again

2010-12-13T09:57:00.003-05:00

We are on the road again! We sold our cute little house in Memphis and loaded the Penske and headed out to Raleigh, NC. What an adventure the last few months have been!! Our move was motivated to be closer to our family. So here we are in Raleigh, well kind of. We can't move into our apartment until January so we are a bit nomadic these days.

The trip to Raleigh was pretty uneventful. Andy drove the big Penske truck and pulled out car behind it. Amazing that they just let you drive those things without any questions or driving classes. I think when all said and done with the car trailer attached he was longer than an 18 wheeler. I drove the explorer and had puppy as my faithful companion. This drive was a bit similar to the drive we did when we drove from New York to Memphis, but this time we had cell phones. A bit different to be able to communicate. I have two funny stories from the trip:

1. We drove to Knoxville the first day and then spent the night to break up the driving and so we could watch the SEC Championship (War Eagle!). We woke up early the next day to get a jump on driving. After I showered and was getting ready, the electricity went out. It was 6:00 in the morning! What a weird feeling! All those thrilling movies come to your head and you think someone is going to bust into your room and kill you. Hubbie and I just sat there for a moment. What just happened! After we got over the shock and realized that no one was going to break in and attack us, we tried to gather our things and get ready to leave. I mean you want to get out of those places. Hubbie still needed to shower and so it was quite the challenge to gather our things, have Hubbie shower without light. So with our cell phones and the light of the computer screen we gathered our things. It really was quite comical! We come downstairs to find out that the electricity was out on the whole area. We sat down to have some breakfast and while eating the electricity came on. Yeah!! The front desk staff didn't know what happened, but I didn't care. I just glad to get out of that place!

2. When we came out of the hotel in Knoxville, it was flurry. Not a big deal at all. It was actually quite nice to see some flurries. As we drove toward the Smokies, it started to snow a little bit. As we traveled through the mountains of western Carolina, there was snow on the highway. I getting a little nervous. Not necessarily for me, as we have had practice driving in the snow in New York and I was in the explorer that had 4 wheel drive if I needed to use it. My main concern was for Hubbie in that big truck. We are slowly making our way through the curvy road and going through tunnels. It was really pretty. To see the mountains and the snow. Oh how we have missed them both! Then craziness starts to happen. Hubbie pulls into the totally covered snow lane and starts to pass some cars that were traveling a little too slow for him. I guess he was feeling confident and maybe driving such a big truck like that gives you the "I can conquer anything" complex. Meanwhile, I am freaked out and start yelling, "What are you doing?!?!? Get out of that lane! What are you thinking?!?." I was astonished! In my mind I see flashes of the Penske truck with all our belongings sliding off the road and crashing. As I'm hysterical in my car (I only know so because all the carrying on aroused puppy to sit up and move around), I follow him over. What am I doing?? Needless to say, we both passed the slow cars safely and moved back over. Don't worry, I made a phone call to the driver of the Penske to tell him I just had a heart attack and to stop killing me!!

After we arrived in Raleigh, we moved our stuff from the Penske to a storage unit in our apartment complex until we can move in. What are we doing now? Well, great question. We stayed in a hotel for a couple of days to take care of a couple of odds and ends here and then we went to Western Carolina back to the mountains to stay in a friend's cabin. What a treat! While there, we went on a hike. Another treat as we haven't hiked anything in 3 years. We passed by a couple of waterfalls, pictured below. Aren't they pretty!

I love the ice on the walkway below. We weren't able to venture down due to ice.

This was our first hiking experience with puppy. He was so cute! It was funny to see him navigate ice. The first couple of times, he just pranced right on and then would do the trying to catch my balance dance. Which was hilarious! While on top of the mountain, we kept puppy on the leash as I didn't trust him to not wander off the cliff. For the rest of it, we let him go. He was in his element and loved it! Sniffed everything! It was really refreshing to be out in nature again. This is a picture of me and the pup. He didn't want cooperate taking the picture. Too much to see and sniff!

I'll keep everyone updated on our travels this month. We are now back in Raleigh as Hubbie has an interview.

The Silence has ended

2010-05-20T18:10:00.003-04:00

How do you begin blogging again after a 5 month silence? Does anyone even check this anymore?

Well, I think I have found the answer. I found this on a friend's blog (even though I don't blog I still do read others). Hubbie thought it was hilarious, genius and I think he loved it because it is a song/advertisement about a minivan. He doesn't talk about minivans as much as when we first were married. Now he is more interested in a truck - not that we are in the hunt for a new auto, this is just in his "if I could have any car I want" world.

Anyways, I loved it and think it's an appropriate way to join the blog world again. Enjoy!

Bring the beat back....

Happy New Year!!

2009-12-31T11:31:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year Everyone! With the coming New Year, I have made a resolution to actually blog (this does come with some kind and loving encouragement (prodding) from family and friends). So, you have my word. You will hear more from me soon. Until then, I will leave you with a cute picture of puppy. Isn't he just the cutest...

Our First 5K

2009-09-27T21:13:00.002-04:00

Believe it or not, Hubbie and I ran our first 5K together at the end July. First a note on how over due this post is since I'm blogging about something that happened in July - I'm a little behind. But nevertheless, a noteworthy occasion. After six years of marriage, we decided it was a good idea. Many factors come into play on why this was our first after so many years of marriage, but I don't think any interesting enough to note here. Of course with everything I find myself doing with Hubbie, we have a story.

It was a cool July day. I think the temperature was in the low 90's that morning...maybe high 80's. Crazy to think that we paid money to run in this kind of heat, but we did. We start in the middle of the pack at the starting line. The first mile is pretty uneventful. Soon after the first mile, Hubbie starts talking about passing people. I don't know what brought on this competitive nature all of a sudden, maybe because we were naturally passing people who started sprinting in the beginning but soon learned that was not a pace they could keep up for the entire 3.1 miles. Then, we start running up this incline. I don't want to use the word hill, because I don't think we really have hills in Memphis. This was a pretty steep incline if you ask me. Hubbie says, "Let's pass some people on the hill." It normally isn't my custom to sprint up hills while running, but Hubbie thought this was a good idea. So, being a supportive runner, I agree and increase my pace a little. He begins to get really excited about the number of people we are passing. We finally reach the top (to which I was relieved - I don't know how long I could have kept that up). My thought is we would coast down the decline and then pick back up on the flat part. Little wrong was I. He doesn't want to coast for a bit because people might start to pass us. I'm not too worried and even if people pass us - that is okay. For those of you that know me, I used to be super competitive and would have hated it if people passed me. I think the Lord has really worked on this with me, and has taken some of that competitive nature away (not all of it as Hubbie attests to in my soccer games, but a large amount). So I was truly okay if people started to pass me. Then he notices this middle aged woman that was ahead of us a good ways (she was wearing green shorts - this is a detail that will come in handy for Hubbie's next comment). He now says to me, "We cannot let the lady with the green shorts beat us!". He was so serious. I was like, "Who cares? Let her win, I'm okay with the pace we are running now and if we start sprinting again I may not make it to the end of the race"...that would have been embarrassing. Hubbie wouldn't let it rest. He kept making comments about how we couldn't let that lady beat us and we needed to pick up the pace a little. I held my ground. I think she may have slowed a little because I notice that we are gaining on her and I'm pretty confident that we weren't running faster. Hubbie is still making his comments as we are now in mile 2 and still wants to desperately pass this lady with the green shorts. I continue to tell him I feel no need to pass her and I'm fine. We continue to close the gap between us and continue to pass people. I'm feeling good. Nobody is passing us and we are passing people. This is great! Hubbie still comments on how we need to pass her - I continue to fight an increase in pace. I think at some point we increase our pace a bit, because we pass her! Hubbie is so excited. I was like, "yes, now he will stop making comments about passing the lady in the green shorts." Not more than 5 steps after passing the lady in green shorts, Hubbie says now we need to get the guy in the gray shorts. WHAT!!! I don't need to pass him either. But we are pretty much on the final stretch. I resist. We continue to run and then we see the finish. We pick it up to the finish line (not pushing it, just picked up the pace a bit), pass the guy in the gray shorts. Another victory and we cross the finish line. YEAH!! No one else to pass.

What an experience. Who knew that Hubbie would be such a competitor during the race. I was just looking forward to a fun little race together. Not trying to break any times just run and enjoy. Well, I do owe a huge thank you to Hubbie because I got 2nd place for my age group!! Wow! I think there were 3 factors that helped, 1. it wasn't a huge race and 2. when you are in you're thirties, there aren't too many women out there running 5ks. 3. Hubbie kept wanting to pass everyone so I had to keep up the pace. Now don't be too impressed, it wasn't a great time, but sufficient for 2nd place. I'm a little hesitant now to enter another 5k or longer race with Hubbie. Who knows who we would have to pass...

Been a Long Time

2009-09-21T15:45:00.003-04:00

To those of you out there that thought I might have given up on blogging, not quite. I have just paused for a bit...a long bit. I wish I was able to give some valid excuses for why I haven't written anything like, climbed Mount Everest and didn't have Internet access or hiked the Appalachian trail from beginning to end or my computer broke or had a baby so life was really crazy, but none of these have happened. I don't have any excuses other than, I just haven't.

I do have a few things in mind, but for now, thought I would leave you all with a photo of hubbie. Football season is upon us. So thought this was appropriate. This is from a retreat night with the organization I work with. The men were getting ready to play hours of competitive sports. He looks ready!! Look out!

America's Got Talent

2009-07-27T21:46:00.002-04:00

I'm a bit late in posting this, but the other night, Hubbie and I were watching America's Got Talent. When we catch it on TV, we like to watch it because of the Hoff aka David Hasselhoff. Not even sure if I'm spelling his name correctly. He really is so funny, especially to ADB. His comments are so random. Anyway, just watching for pleasure making comments on the comments of the Hoff and then, this comes on....Go Memphis!!! We've seen them on Beale Street and they really can flip. Take a look and enjoy. If anyone wants to visit, we will take you there to see them live...Any takers???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZheAy9PTHJo

Garden and a few other things

2009-07-27T21:20:00.006-04:00

It's been a month and so I thought it timely to do another garden update. I have some fun and sad news about the garden. Let's start with the sad and then we can get excited about fun!! The sad news is 1 plant is dead and another may be soon to follow. The squash plant which I had such high hopes for has died. I think it is the gardener's fault which is very hard to admit. Oh pride!!! So, little baby squash that was growing now lays dead. The zucchini plant is on its way down too!! I'm trying to save it, but I think it might be too late. Sad news!! It doesn't help either that when I call my mom to tell her, she tells me she has squash and zucchini coming out of her ears in their garden. Good thing I don't live close or I may be tempted to sabotage her plants. Just kidding - I really wouldn't do that.

The fun news is that I do have cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes growing on the plants now and can't wait until they get bigger to pick. I thought for a long time I was going to have tomato plants, but no tomatoes. But they are showing their cute selves. Also, this evening I went out and picked green beans....yeah...look at those things in the pot. How fun to have some success and be able to eat them. Small victories...

Some other news is ADB bought me a blueberry plant!! This may not be so exciting for some of you, but I love blueberries. Hopefully next year I can have some of my own. Right now I'm trying to figure out the best place for the plant to go so it will produce fruit. But isn't it cute in its pot. He surprised me with it one day after he went and got some groceries from the store. He picked this up as well. Don't I have the best Hubbie!!

Garden Update #2

2009-06-29T18:29:00.005-04:00

Even though it has been so hot here in Memphis (in the 100's - you read that correctly) and we haven't seen rain in I don't know how many days, my little garden seems to be quite well.

(This picture isn't the best! I'll try to take another one soon.)

We have had some funny moments like when ADB told me that the corn had fallen over...and it really had. He said to me one day when we came home from work, "H - you might want to go look at the corn because it has fallen over." Yikes!!!! But don't worry, with the handy internet, I found the problem and hence the solution...more dirt around the corn stalks. So now we have standing corn...see slide #2

It gets taller everyday!

And now for the most exciting news...there is evidence that we may just see fruit (and vegetables) from this garden. I was out walking around the garden. Something I do everyday - just want to make sure everyone is doing okay. I look at my cucumber plants (which I think are the cutest because they have these vines that swirl around anything they can find to attach to) and I find this....

It's the litle cuc! Now, the key will be for it to grow to be a big cuc before some animal eats it.

WARNING: If you are an animal and I find you in my garden...you will be dead! - maybe not right at that moment, but watch your back - I will find you. I now this sounds a bit intense, but you have to be.

But don't worry, this cute dog won't be found in the garden...he's the keeper of garden. He only went in the garden once (very early in the game) and soon learned that that wasn't the best thing for him. He continues to be the best dog ever!!

Vacation Time

2009-06-14T19:08:00.004-04:00

Last week, ABD and I spent a few days at Perdido Beach in Florida. It was beautiful and the weather was perfect!! Here is a little picture from where we spent most of our days!

The Garden

2009-06-14T18:08:00.003-04:00

The last weekend in May my parents and sister came to visit us here in Memphis. When they came, I had a little project I wanted to do. Probably not what they had in mind, but I couldn't think of a better thing to do. I have always wanted to have a little garden of my own. I grew up with a huge garden and love all the fresh vegetables!! I don't think I had green beans from a can until I went to college. So, if the master planter was coming to visit, I thought I would have him help me! In our backyard here in Memphis, we had a little shed on a cement square. I wanted to take that shed down the day we bought the house. So after a year of looking at it, I figured this weekend was the weekend to get rid of that eye sore. So, down came the shed and then we had the huge project of getting the concrete out so I could make the garden. We rented this machine from Home Depot that cuts concrete. Andy and my Dad went after it. We used some of the concrete as a border to the garden and put the garden where the cement pad was. Below is the finished result. I'm so excited to have a garden and can't wait until I can see the fruit of our labor. It was a very laborious job (lots of sweat and lots of dirt to cart in).

This is the corn section of the garden. It is struggling a little bit... or at least I think. But maybe I need to have a little patience and talk to it more.

The beans shot up. That is what is to the right of the picture. In the other section, I have tomatoes, peppers, squash, zucchini, cucumbers and carrots. I already had to replace the zucchini plant. The first one I put in died, but this one is doing great!!

I'll keep posting pictures so you can see the progress of my little garden.

I was Running...

2009-05-14T22:52:00.002-04:00

ADB and I often run around a golf course here in Memphis on Saturdays and some Sunday afternoons. We run here for several reasons:

1. It is a change of scenery from my normal run

2. ADB likes to run there and so I have a running partner

3. It is really pretty there

4. It's a golf course and so ADB likes to go there

5. It's a golf course and so ADB can watch golfers while he runs

6. Did I mention it is a golf course?

As many of you know, my husband is addicted to golf. Addicted may be a strong word, but he really does love it!! As I write this, he is on a golf tournament weekend - playing in a tournament with 16 other men where they are divided into two team. They will play a lot of golf over the next 3 and a half days. Anyway, we run around the golf course with different views/ways of running/thoughts on our mind. Here is what I'm thinking when I run:

I just love all the flowers/trees

I'm so glad I have a running partner today

Look at that house - they've done some work in their yard this week

Wow, that man's shirt is really yellow

Look at that cute dog (wish Bailey could come, but he would probably pass out after 5 minutes

As you can see...nothing really. Just mindless thinking.

Here is how ADB runs (I'll give you the verbal since I'm not too sure what is going on in his head, but I'm sure it pertains to golf).

Did you see that guy hook the ball? (me: Didn't really pay attention.)

Wow, that guy was lucky. (ADB to the man who hit the ball - You got a great bounce on that one)

Babe, let's run on the other side of the street, this guys looks a little wild.

Nice, nice (referring to a shot that a guy made)

Let's watch this (I just keep running - he will catch up in a second)

As you can see all referring to golf. He comments on how his neck hurts from straining to see golf shots as he is running. I really think the only reason he runs with me is because it is a golf course that we are running around. We normally run around twice (each lap 2 miles).

So, on this particular occasion, we are running close to a tee box. ADB makes a comment on how this guy can't hit the ball the at all.

me: "How do you know? Do you know him?"

ADB, "No, I saw him hit earlier."

me: "When was that? Did I see him?"

ADB: "Yeah, it was a couple holes back." Most likely on lap #1

me: keep running

ADB: "Heath, keep left, this guys wild."

I move over a little. He has said this several times before. I think at times it is a game he is playing with me to keep switching sides of the street.

We have run past the tee box now and maybe half way down the fairway. ADB is no longer beside me as he has done his normal lag behind to watch the shot.

I hear the ball being hit. Think nothing, hear it all the time running around the golf course.

Then I hear, "Fore!"

ADB: Look out Babe!

I turn around quickly and see a golf ball barely miss me. I'm not one to exaggerate...this ball just missed me. Then I see my husband stop running completely, throw his hands up in the air and yell - "You Idiot"! Yes, he yelled this. plus, "What were you thinking?" I thought ADB was going to fight the golfer. He's not a fighter, but I really thought I was about to see him start sprinting the tee box. Meanwhile I keep saying, "ADB, come on...I'm fine...Let's go...(using his full name)...(again full name) not a big deal...I'm okay... come on...he said "fore"...etc.

ADB: I'm going to go talk with him.

me: (mortified) No! He didn't mean to do it. I'm fine. Let's keep going. (In fear I was about to see my husband fight someone)

ADB: He should have waited five seconds and we would have been out of his range.

me: It's okay.

ADB: He's an idiot. I knew he was going to hook that shot. He is a horrible golfer.

me: (pulling on his arm) Let's go. We are almost done.

Finally, we begin running again. ABD is still talking about it. I'm just trying to get back to the car before anything bad happens. Day ends, we are fine. Run again at the golf course.

A few weeks later....

We are running, ADB is doing the normal strain the neck to watch shots. Switching me from one side of the street to the other. Sometimes I'm obedient and listen and sometimes I just don't want to run across the street, so I move over a couple of steps and just keep going. Well, this time we are running the opposite way around the golf course. Change of direction. It's good to change it up a bit. Plus I thought we could work on the other side of ADB's neck strain. Don't want one side of his neck bigger than the other. So we are now running toward a tee box. We are about halfway to the tee box from the green, and ADB tells me to move over.

ADB: These guys look like crazy golfers. Let's move over.

me: (moving, but reluctant. I'm not having a good run day and just want to stay the course. Letting out sighs and sarcastic statements like, Is this guy really going to hit us?? How do you know??)

ADB: Heath, really move over. This doesn't look good. (ADB running in front of me a bit now. Kind of weird, but I just keep going.)

The ball is hit. I don't look up - just doing my thing running. Hear the ball hit the pavement in front of us. ADB catches the ball!! What two times now we have almost been hit!! Unbelievable!! I mean don't these golfers have more control over what they are doing??

I later learn that ADB knew this guy was going to hit it right at us, not on purpose but he just wasn't a good golfer. So, he ran ahead to shield the ball from hitting me. First of all, don't I have a great husband. Second of all, when did he have the ability to know where shots were headed. Amazing!!!

Shocking I know, but these events really did happen. And yes, we still run around the golf course. I like the change of scenery and ADB is fun to watch as he talks with and critiques the golfers. I've just learned to move when he says move and to keep my eyes surveying a bit more instead of going off into runners world mindlessness. Good lessons in being submissive. I'm always learning..

Check this out!!

2009-04-17T15:48:00.005-04:00

Things aren't always what they seem. I think there is a lesson here for us all!!

Click here!

Do you Know Him?

2009-04-12T18:20:00.000-04:00

I was at a women's conference a couple of weekends ago called Redemption. They played this little clip and I thought it was great for Resurrection Sunday. Happy Easter everyone! Let's Celebrate Jesus!!

Zion

2009-03-19T19:32:00.002-04:00

This week, Hubbie and I were able to help out with a project in a local cemetery called Zion Cemetery. There was a college spring break conference for people here in Memphis this week called The Rising. Hubbie's office mate is the leader/director of The Rising. For more about The Rising and its vision click here. The basic concept is to get people to talk about/discuss how to live out the gospel where there is division. This division can be caused by socio-economic lines, classism, racism, etc. During their week, one of the things they were apart of was restoring an abandoned cemetery. Sounds kind of weird, I know. That was kind of what I thought when Hubbie and I were asked to help out with it. But after serving that day raking, tearing stubborn vines, clearing dead trees, and picking up random trash (we found an old bed frame and an old carpet while we were clearing), there was something very redeeming about the day. The day before we did a little research to find out what this Zion Cemetery really was. It was interesting and even inspiring. Here is a little video about Zion Cemetery. An interesting fact is the first African American female physician is buried there and yet the cemetery itself looks like a jungle...well not the first 4 acres, but the last part of it does. The little team I led was in charge of clearing a section. I felt like I was in a jungle with all the vines and brush. Hubbie also led a team and of course we were next to one another and of course we joked it was a competition to see who could clear the most, but you know in all jest there is a bit of seriousness...okay maybe a little more than a little. We did have a great time getting to know some college students and talking with them about all kinds of things under the sun.

It was a day well spent!

Little hat modeled

2009-03-05T10:31:00.005-05:00

One of the friends I made a hat for sent me this picture. She had a friend do a photo shoot of the little one and got a picture of little "Z" wearing the hat. I thought it was so cute and had to share...a little big for her head, but still she looks so adorable in it!!

Craziness

2009-03-02T18:03:00.004-05:00

They were predicting maybe an inch of snow. Then it just kept coming and coming and coming...soon they changed their report to higher estimates of snow. Who knew we would get 4-5 inches.!!!

But isn't it pretty!!! I think it looks so wonderful because in two days it will all be gone!! Here today gone tomorrow...well not exactly but it's melting quickly.

Here are some photos from Sunday Morning...also our 6th wedding anniversary!!!

Riverdance and Tennis

2009-02-28T18:39:00.002-05:00

The week before last was a fun one. We were able to spend a lot of time at a local professional tennis tournament here in Memphis. We were able to see James Blake and Andy Roddick play. They didn't play each other, but did play right after each other. We were able to watch several matches leading up to the finals and I even got to watch the final men's and women's matches. I think I'm all caught up on my tennis watching. Hubbie loved watching all the matches. I loved going as well, but while he was paying attention to what kind of a backhand the players were using I would be watching the ball boys/girls. They are so fun to watch. Some of them are nervous and aren't really sure what to do. The towel the players used was an issue for many of them. Where to put it after the player was finished using it, catching balls while handing the towel to players was a fun interchange. They were entertaining for me.

The other really exciting thing we did was went to see the Riverdance at a theatre downtown. If you have not seen this, you must!! So entertaining and well done. I just love all the Irish dancing and the musicians were amazing!!! I really enjoyed it. Hubbie wasn't too excited about going, but after the performance was glad he went. He even enjoyed it!!

This week we had a friend from New York come and visit. That's a quick update.

Little Hats

2009-02-03T08:48:00.004-05:00

In November, I went to Colorado to help my sister while her husband was in Germany for business. She has two little boys. Since I was only able to come for part of the week, her mother-in-law, Mrs. L., came to help as well. Mrs. L is a fellow knitter and crocheter. Little did I know what was in store for me during my visit.

While I was there, we made several outings into town. I learned of tons of little restaurants and other great shops. It was like having my own personal tour guide. One day, Mrs. L took me to 2 different knitting shops. The shops were so cute and very inspirational. Since it was right before Christmas, you can only imagine all the cute displays. The second place we went, the owner had great big mittens and stockings hanging from her trees. Very cute and festive!! Anyway, Mrs L. bought me this crochet kit for a hat. I haven't done a whole lot of crocheting...I pretty much am a knitter, but thought I would venture out. Mrs. L thought I could get the hang of it pretty quickly. So, with many of my friends here in Memphis having babies, I thought I would make little hats for the newborns. I think they turned out pretty well. My second one was better than my first. I think I did a better job on the flowers. Here is a picture of the first one.

Thanks Mrs. L for inspiring me to crochet. I might even like it better than knitting, but don't tell anyone.

Back in Action

2009-01-31T19:29:00.002-05:00

It's time to celebrate!! ADB and I finally bought another computer. YEAH!!! So, that means I'm back in the blog world. Sorry that I have been absent so long. But don't worry I'm back and have not given up on the blog. It is just hard to update when you don't have a computer!!

Few Updates:

1. For Christmas, we spent a week with my family in Virginia. Fun, Fun!

2. It has "snowed" twice here in Memphis this month. I use the word "snow" lightly as there was snow on the ground, but it was just a covering. Nothing like the snow we had in New York. People got so excited about the snow and I've heard this is the most snow they have had in quite a while. ADB and I didn't really venture out and play or anything, we simply rejoiced that we didn't have to shovel or clean off our cars (yeah for the covered parking)!

3. Besides a computer, we bought a new chair. It might take the place of the "king" chair, but ADB isn't sure which one he likes the best. I will say he spends a large majority of the time in the new chair. A picture to come soon (I hope). Need to download some from our camera.

4. Bailey is doing well. We went running the other day together for the first time since our outing several months ago. As you may remember he didn't make it very far. This time he made it a bit farther (maybe a mile and a half) and he did run faster. But, halfway through the run I did stop by the house and drop him off. ADB and I have been trying to shave off some weight and get him into better shape. We have a bit more to go!!

5. I've been knitting a bit more. Some of my friends here have been having some of the cutest babies and so I've been making some baby hats for them. Hopefully I'll post some pictures of those soon.

That's really it. It's good to be back and I'll try to post some pictures soon!!!

Soccer is over

2008-12-01T13:45:00.003-05:00

The soccer season is over. And as promised a picture. We played our last 2 games in 30 degree weather. Chilly! We did win our division, but lost in the playoffs. We played a team that was in the highest (meaning they were better players) division. So, it wasn't surprising that we lost. We gave a good fight, but in the end they were just better... A lot better.

This is a picture from the first cold night. The game was at 8:30 pm and so it looks dark and cold and it was. It might have been in the 20's. This is my friend Rosanne. She is the one that told me about the team! Yeah for Rosanne! I was sad to peel the layers off at the start of the game. The hardest piece of clothing to part with was my hat at game time. Anyway, here we are.

Updates

2008-11-19T18:26:00.004-05:00

I haven't written in a while and now it will be even more sporadic as our computer at home has just died. Sad, sad day. All my fun pictures I was going to post were on that thing. What a love/hate relationship is going on now between the computer and myself. When I see it, I want to give it a drop kick, but then I remember we can still salvage some stuff from it so I release the urge.

Here are some updates:

1. For all of you out there that have been concerned about my black sweater. I have found one. Target came through for me in the clutch.

2. Auburn lost the game that ADB and I went to at Ole Miss. Not a huge surprise since they haven't had a winner season this year. Nonetheless, it was fun to see the Grove and Ole Miss and all the tailgating that goes on. It is huge here in the south. Also, before the game, there were parachuters that landed on the field (amazing) as well as 2 jets that flew over the field (also amazing). I had pictures but they are under lock down on the dead computer.

3. We were so excited for all the trick or treaters that we would have this year living in a neighborhood. So, I went out and bought all this candy...well I bought 3 bags which is a drastic increase in candy that we have ever had to buy. Living in NY, we only had like 3 people even come to our door. In preparation for the big night, I asked my neighbor how many people would actually come and the number of bags I needed to buy. I didn't want to be that house that ran out of candy. No one would ever come to our house again. She said I needed more. So, off to the store I went to buy more. Needless to say, we didn't have very many trick or treaters. We had way more than in NY, but we had lots of candy left over. Good to know for next year. Also, that same day, ADB wanted to get a chiminea. So, we got one. We put it together and had a little fire going to all that passed by. It was a little chilly that night. One little boy came up to the chiminea, got some candy and commented on how cool the chiminea was then said to ADB, "I respect this house." Not exactly sure what that means, but hey at least he respects it. We got a good little laugh out of that one.

4. We waited an hour and 15 minutes to early vote for the election. This was something totally new to us. After living in a small town in upstate New York for seven years, we have never had to wait in line for an election or even consider early voting. In fact, I don't know if it was even an option. So, in line we waited to vote before Nov. 4th so we wouldn't have to wait in an even longer line that day.

5. My soccer team lost its first game last night. At game time, it was low thirties. That's cold for Memphis. I was a bit chilly. Feeling in my toes was only gained after 20 minutes of playing. So, my conclusion is that we don't do well in the cold...and the other team passed extremely well. Playoffs are next week...we shall see how we do.

Now I am in Colorado visiting my sister. Her husband in out of town for business, so I'm here to help with the two kids. They are 4 and 20 months. Thus, the computer access as well.

October went by fast!!

2008-10-30T16:20:00.004-04:00

Well this update is way overdue!!

October has been a busy month for us. Let me catch you up on the happenings of our household!

October has been visitor month. We have been blessed to have so many visitors stay at our humble abode. We LOVE to have people stay with us! I mean we do have 2 extra bedrooms. One has a queen bed in it and the other has a bunk bed. So, we could possibly open up as a bed and breakfast, but I don't think I'm ready to start the breakfast thing yet. :)

We had ADB's Mom stay the first weekend. We went to a Fall Crafts Fair. Lots of crafts. The neatest thing we saw (ADB's favorite) was this guy who makes 1700 style furniture. He had a chair that has an attached little desk with candle holder. Cutest thing ever and really comfortable. We were so tempted to buy one, but some drawbacks were he has a 2 year waiting list and the chair costs about $800. So needless to say, we just walked away with a pamphlet and no chair. While she was here, ADB decided to trim some branches off a tree in our backyard. He used this tree or pole chainsaw. I can't remember what I was doing while all this excitement was going on, but ADB's Mom was there to watch and call emergency services if they were needed. He did great and no phone calls were made. Yeah for safety!! Here he is with his machine and Bailey.

We also had a friend come from Ohio. He worked on Guest Services with ADB at camp. While he was here, he helped ADB cut up all the big branches into little firewood and throw out a bunch of the small stuff/brush. We are hoping to get one of those cool outside chimney things. We just need to tear down our shed in the back first. Anybody want to come visit and help us do that??? The next week, a friend from New York came to visit. It was so great to see them both.

Then, we had a brief drop in from another friend from New York as well. He flew in for some business, but then had to get going so we only spent some time in the afternoon with him. Here is a little photo:
Did you notice we are wearing shorts?? The weather is amazing. It is 60's (maybe a low 70) in the day and gets down to 40 during the night.

The next weekend, I ran in a 5k race for breast cancer. I think this was the most people I have ever ran in a race with before. There were so many people. I don't think I got to the start line until a minute after the race actually begin. Then for the first mile we were running around other runners and walkers trying not to trip anyone accidentally along the way. It was a fun time. I went with four other girls and we had a blast. I wish I had some pictures, but they are experiencing some computer problems, so no photos as of yet.

My soccer team is still undefeated and we are winning our division. Our last game, we had a potential fist fight break out. Never a dull moment with our team. I think we have gone one game without a card of some type.

Tomorrow, ADB and I are heading out to Ole Miss for the Auburn/Ole Miss football game. My first SEC football game!! Lets go tigers!! WAR EAGLE! I'll try to post some pictures soon!

Soccer Update

2008-09-24T17:57:00.002-04:00

We are still undefeated!! No goals scored by yours truly, but I have had some shots...nothing to write home about except one of them did hit the goal post. Disappointing that one didn't go in. For a real run down of the games, you can talk with ADB...my faithful spectator from the sidelines. He's great at describing my shot that hit the post...he adds the comments that were made from the bench. No pictures yet, but maybe one day I'll have ADB snap a shot.

Little Black Sweater

2008-09-24T17:42:00.003-04:00

Well, I have some sad news to report. My little black sweater will be entering sweater forever land. I don't know about you, but my little black sweater is a must for my wardrobe. You know the ever reliable piece of clothing. It goes with everything for all of the seasons. Don't leave home without if kind of clothing (very much so for me since I'm cold all the time). I was in a grocery store one time and of course freezing in there so I pulled out my handy black sweater from my bag and put it on. My friend was like where did you get that from? I said from my bag (still don't carry a purse, just my rugged mountain bag with heavy duty bottom - which I have a funny story about and am thankful for the durable waterproof bottom - I'll have to tell that story at a later date). Anyway, she thought it was so handy and so called it my little purse sweater. She was making fun of course as do most people who find out I carry a sweater everywhere I go, but it has been a life saver for me and it goes with everything...

The sad news is I found a hole in the elbow the other day. It already had holes in both cuffs, but I was able to cover those up without too many people noticing... a hole in the elbow is a bit more noticable. I didn't realize it until the other day when I felt a little breeze come across my elbow. In shock, I felt the elbow and found the disappointing hole. How did this happen? That really isn't that hard of a question since I wear it pretty much everyday.

So, on the hunt I go for the perfect black sweater. I'll be in mourning for a bit, and have to find a substitute for the time being, but never fear...the purse sweater will be back and it will be black!!

First Game

2008-09-12T15:21:00.003-04:00

We won!! Yeah! Our record is 3-0. I missed the first 2 games because of two reasons, 1. I signed up late and didn't know the first game happened until it was already over 2. I didn't get my picture in on time. Didn't really know that was a major thing until they told me I couldn't play. Anyway, all that to say, I'm in and playing. What excitement and fun!

I was a bit nervous when I stepped into my cleats I hadn't worn in quite a while. Good thing they still fit. I played the whole game (you have to have 4 girls on the field at all times - and we only had 4 girls there). I was hoping for a sub at several points in the game.

A few things I noticed:
1. I'm not as fast as I used to be. Am I getting older?

2. It takes a bit for the men to pass a newcomer the ball. Not that I'm blaming them (they don't know me or my skills), but passing is a key element in soccer. I'm sure they didn't want to pass the ball to me and then me end of losing it, but there is always that risk in soccer.

3. Running several times a week for a half hour is not good conditioning for playing a soccer game. I am so sore!! The night after I played, I awoke at 2:30am and was wide awake. I mean not a bit of tiredness in me. Since my body was in pain, I decided to stretch and drink some gatorade. I'm sure there were electrolytes that weren't replenished. This is when I'm thankful for a dog. I didn't want to wake up ADB, so I went to the living room and of course Bailey comes in too. What a great companion!! So, there I am stretching and drinking Gatorade with my puppy at my side. I did eventually head back to bed. ADB didn't even know I had left when I asked him in the morning. Guess I was super quiet.

4. I need some new shinguards. My old ones are pretty nasty, but they will do for a few more games.

5. I need to add some elements to my workout so I'm not so sore next week. My husband's office mate and some other people run some sprints in the morning at a track. I'm going to try to join them next week.

I'll keep you posted on how we are doing! I'm hoping that next week I won't be so sore. It's been a while since my muscles have cried out like this.

Back in the Saddle or should I say cleats!

2008-09-03T16:39:00.004-04:00

After almost a decade (well maybe it hasn't been that long) of having my cleats rest in a box in Virginia, they have made the trip to Memphis. That's right...I am now a member of a coed soccer team here in Memphis. A little scary to be on a coed team (men can be a bit intense at times on the field, but then again I've met some women that can be intense as well). I am pretty excited to be playing competitive soccer again. It's pretty intense...not one of those maybe I'll wear shin guard leagues, you definitely want to have those guards in place with socks pulled up.

A friend of mine was a member of a team last year and asked me if I wanted to join this year. It was almost a no brainer question...I did have to think a little bit about it being coed. After searching my house up and down looking for my cleats (which I could have sworn were here in Memphis), I made the call to my Mom to see if they were in my room at home. I guess I really thought I would never put on those cleats again which would explain why I didn't pack them and bring them to Memphis. Oh, but my competitive spirit just isn't dead yet.

I'll keep you posted on how the team is doing and how I'm fairing out there on the pitch (as they say in soccer).

Where does the time go???

2008-08-18T16:56:00.003-04:00

I can't believe it is August 18th. What happened to the days. As I think back, I can't really remember what went on in July. I do remember it was hot and I mean hot. I was even sweating and as most of you know I don't really get hot in fact I spend most of my time being cold. But let's not dwell on what I can't remember and move on to what happened at the end of July, beginning of August!

The last weekend in July, ADB's Dad and his wife came to visit. It was really hot when they were here and so we didn't really venture out that much. I mean over 100 degrees. We did venture out one day to the zoo. Memphis does have a pretty good zoo. It is known for it's pandas, which I wasn't really impressed with since they just sat hunched over eating bamboo. They looked lethargic, but I might be too if I was kept in zoo. Anyway, did I mention it was hot. Well it was and so here we are walking around the zoo sweating. Maybe not the smartest idea we have ever had, but it was fun. Here are some of my highlights at the zoo.

THE GORILLA:
He was so funny. Just sat there saying this is my territory. This beast looked so strong. He has some serious muscles. The zoo keeper was out and about at the gorilla area and we found out that he had beaten one of the female gorillas (there are two of them) and so they separated them until he can be civilized around them. If I was that female, I don't think I would want to see the male gorilla again.

THE POLAR BEARS:

They were my favorite. Polar bears are really big. Their paws are huge. They have this pool they swim in where we can see underneath as they swim. For such a huge animal, they sure do swim fluidly. Their front paws do all the work, while the back paws just tuck under the body. I might have to try this the next time I'm in the water although I don't think it will work the same. I think I could have sat watched them swim all day.

ADB's Dad left on Monday. On Thursday, we flew to Virginia to see my family. My sister from Colorado was there as well. We had a fun time with my two nephews. They are pretty active and so you have to be ready for them. I think our favorite time with them was giving them rides in the wheelbarrow. ADB would grab one handle and I would take the other and then we would race down the lawn. Good exercise. I don't have photos yet, but I will hopefully post some soon.

We came back on Sunday and then on Monday headed out for a staff retreat. When we came back on Wednesday we were beat!

The hardest thing about our travels was leaving Bailey. He is such a sweet dog. He was so good while we were gone. Our neighbor watched him. I think I can brag about our dog because ABD and I have had no part in training him to be such a good dog. He came to us already trained. He waits at the door until you tell him he can come in and every night when we go to bed, he gets in his bed in the other room without us telling him. I could go on, but I won't. I thought I would post another picture. I hope to get an action shot of his favorite past time...fetching the stick. He loves it and would do it all day long.

Last but not least. I'm so excited about the Olympics, but wished I lived in California or at least that time zone so I could watch it all. We have stayed up so late yelling at the TV for people to swim faster, work harder, get to balls, not fall in gymnastics, etc. It's fun. Every time the theme song goes on, I sing along. GO USA!!

First Fruit

2008-07-11T15:56:00.009-04:00

Wow! It's been a bit since I've posted anything on my blog. We've had a bit of trouble reconnecting our internet here at the house, but hopefully we have it all set now. Since my last post, we have officially moved into our house. It was slow moving there for a bit. We would move a little each day and then you just have to decide tonight is the night we are sleeping in the house. That meant making the last push cleaning out the refrigerator, cleaning the current house we were in and cleaning the bathroom of the house we were moving into and doing all the last minute things. It was a late night, but we are in!!!

I thought you all would enjoy some before and after pictures. Here is the before and after of the family room and kitchen:

Before and after of the kitchen:

This summer I've decided to try my hand at growing tomatoes. Growing up, we had a garden and it was great to have fresh vegetables. Before I planted a garden, I thought I would try growing tomatoes in buckets to see how they would do. So, I planted my three little plants, watered them, talked to them and behold...fruit.

I planted 2 cherry tomatoes and then one big tomato plant. The cherry tomatoes have been the first to be ripe. I was really excited when the first tomato was ready to be picked. I wanted an extra day just to be sure that it was ripe and ready. The next morning I went out to pick the tomato. I was getting ready for this big celebration. The first fruit. I thought it was a big deal. Well, I went down to the plants and couldn't find the ripe one. What happened?? I immediately thought ADB was playing a joke on me. He thinks I'm a little obsessed with the tomatoes anyway and so he would do this as a joke. So, I ran in to find the culprit. I was a little upset at this point. After accusing him of stealing all the joy out the first tomato by picking it, he simply said he didn't do it. What?? Well then who did?? I went back out to see if it had fallen on the ground or if I just simply missed it. Well, I couldn't find it anywhere. I asked Bailey if he took the tomato, but that wasn't much consolation as dogs don't talk. But Bailey is really a good dog and doesn't even go near the tomatoes so I knew it wasn't him. It may have been a squirrel or chipmunk. I seriously considered putting up cameras to monitor the tomatoes. I mean I don't want it to happen again and I want to catch the culprit. They must pay!! Needless to say, no cameras were put up and I just had to come to grips with the fact that I wasn't going to know who did it. Here is a picture of the first tomato before it was stolen.
I have had other tomatoes ripen and they haven't been stolen. So, it still is mystery what happened to that little guy.

Here are the big tomatoes on the vine. They are coming along quite well.

I'll keep you posted if I figure anything out with the little tomato.

Bailey

2008-06-24T15:08:00.003-04:00

On Sunday, we got a dog!! He is a black lab as you can see from the photos. He is somewhere around 7 years old. We got him from a friend of ours who bought Bailey for his brother, but after a series (several series and seven years later) of events he has now come to live with us! Yeah!!

Bailey is a great dog. He is pretty low key and obedient. Not a high maintenance dog at all. We can leave him at home inside and not worry that things are going to be torn to shreds when we come back. He sits and stays. Pretty impressive. Down is a foreign word to him. When you throw the ball, he will sit and stay when you throw it and wait for you to say get it before he moves. We're going on tour soon.

Here's a little story and then we'll get to the pictures. On Monday morning, I thought I would go for a run with Bailey. Kind of see where he is endurance wise. Well, he did great for the first half mile. I thought this is going to be great. A new running partner. Then, he kind of slowed down for the rest of that mile. Mile 2 came and I could tell that Bailey was not going to run anymore, so I thought we will just speed walk for the rest. The next two miles were a little difficult. I was coercing Bailey to keep up. Needless to say, I don't think Bailey will be the new running partner. We need to do some training first...

Not a super great picture. But he is cute!

He always does this cross the leg thing when he lays down. Not sure why, but we think it is funny. He is so black...at night when we let him outside, we can't even see him. We just listen for the jingle of his collar.

Flying across the Mississippi

2008-06-14T21:15:00.002-04:00

This post is a little overdue seeing that these pictures are from the end of May. ADB's Aunt, Uncle and cousin came to visit us at the end of May. His cousin has his pilot's license and so they flew down from Ohio in this plane. ADB and I had the opportunity to go up in the plane with him. We went up for a ride when they came to visit in the Adirondacks. It was great to be able to go up again. This time we flew over the Mighty Mississippi.

Here is a picture of ADB and I in the plane. ADB is in the front seat and I'm in the back.

While in the air, we get to wear these fun headsets. Don't worry ADB isn't doing anything to fly the plane. He justs sits in the front seat.

There she is...the Mighty Mississippi. The tugboats are down there pushing some cargo. This is actually in Mississippi. We weren't able to fly over the downtown Memphis area of the Mississippi.

The sunset.
It was a fun trip in the air.

OHIO

2008-06-09T23:04:00.002-04:00

This past weekend, we traveled to OHIO to attend ADB's cousin's wedding and to bring back some furniture that his family was giving us. What a trip!! We also got to see a Dayton Dragon baseball game. Not sure what league they are in, but those chosen from the Dragons get to play for the Cincinnati Reds. I don't have the baseball lingo, but I hope you get what I mean. The Dragons lost, but we did get to see a home run and some stolen bases (unfortunately it was the other team that was stealing the bases.)

The wedding was great and as always good to see family. Here is a picture of ADB and I before the wedding. This picture is mainly for my mom who couldn't believe that I bought a dress that was pink. Okay, it isn't all pink, but for those of you that know me...pink has not been in my wardrobe. Lately it has been making some appearances, such as the dress below. I really liked the pink bow.

This is ADB's brother. What a great photo!!

This is the trailer we hauled back to Memphis. Men hard at work securing our valuables. Only to have it undone a few miles down the road to pick up another piece...a 7 foot bookcase. Thanks family for the furniture. Can't wait to get it all tidy and set up in our house.

That was the weekend. Quick with a lot of driving! But saw some pretty countryside in Kentucky.

Pictures of the House

2008-06-01T13:50:00.006-04:00

Here are some more pictures of the house.

The front of the house.

The Kitchen and the Family Room/den. This is one of our favorite parts of the house.

Screen porch and back yard area. Screen porch is another bonus for us!

Those are pretty much the highlights!! We haven't moved in yet as we are having the hardwood floors redone and are going to do some painting!

.

A Home!

2008-05-28T21:29:00.003-04:00

We just closed today on our first home!! Exciting and a blessing! It all started two months ago. I went up to New York to help out with a Mother/Daughter Retreat. When I came back, ADB told me we had an appointment at a house the next morning. He had already looked at it and talked with the owner over the weekend and was pretty much set on buying it, but one little thing...I hadn't seen it yet. So, the next day, I went to see it and loved it. I'm not sure yet if I want to go out of town again...not sure what we may be buying next.

Then was the long two month wait for us to close. Today finally came and we are now the proud owners! After we finished signing our names five hundred times, we went and bought a lawn mower. I don't have a picture but I'm sure I'll put one up soon. ADB loves it! Now what you've been waiting for...the picture of the house.

This picture was taken in early April. I will need to take a new picture with all the flowers and leaves on the trees and the green grass. It makes a difference. I'll also take some pictures of the back yard and maybe one of the inside. I'll post those soon, so stay posted!!

Parents in Memphis

2008-05-22T19:04:00.005-04:00

My parents came to visit Memphis last weekend. It was great to have them here! A highlight of the weekend was taking them to the Memphis in May BBQ Cooking Contest. Since Memphis is known for its BBQ, I knew this was the place we needed to be. It was definitely an interesting time. We saw a lot of sights and also were able to eat some BBQ from a booth. You can't taste people's BBQ unless you has a pass to their booth. Well, we had a pass to the Hog Wild booth. My parents were able to taste some authentic Memphis BBQ. Here are some pics:

In front of the sign. The Mighty Mississippi is on the left.

My mom and I in front of a huge BBQ. It kind of looks like a big apple. We had just had a sample of some pork loin. So good, we made our own on the grill the following night.

Some other highlights from their visit:

1. Chipping in the backyard. Yes that is with a sand wedge and you have to try to get it into the bucket. ADB was the only one to get it in the bucket. I came close, but no cigar. We did this a lot.
2. Playing pool.
3. Playing the Wii. (Thanks Rob and Tiff)
4. Eating waffles with my new waffle maker.

Kayaks

2008-05-08T17:44:00.000-04:00

When we left New York, I wondered if we would use our kayaks in the near future. Our move to the south was looking bleak with places to kayak. The Mighty Mississippi was a scary option as I think that river is the grossest thing I've ever seen and I think that if any water from that river ever touched my skin it would eat my skin. So...I was learning to be content with the idea of riding in these huge water ditches they have in Tennessee. Not sure of the exact name, but when it rains (and it has been raining a lot here) they fill with water run off. There is one really close to our house and it had just enough water for the kayak to float, but not much more.

Well...here's the good news. There is a lake nearby (2 hours away). A pretty big lake. Our neighbor has a house on the lake. We went there this weekend and took our kayaks. After traveling through hazardous weather. There was a tornado warning in the area we were traveling through. The only reason we knew this was because of a radio interruption (you know the one with the long buzz) that came on and told us. I didn't know we were moving into tornado country!!

Anyway, we took our kayaks or rather our neighbor took them in his truck. So, on Saturday, there we were paddling along in our kayaks. We love those things. So relaxing! We did the usual and toured the coastline looking at houses. I will try to post a picture soon. We only took a couple pictures of the lake. It is pretty though. Just wanted to let you all know we were in our kayaks.

P.S. (can you do p.s. on a blog) An ice cream truck just passed our house. I didn't think those things still existed. Guess they do in our neighborhood!!

Remember

2008-05-05T10:01:00.000-04:00

I am a forgetful person. That is why I make lists. I actually like to make lists so I can see my progress and check things off. Love that check mark! I also get frustrated when I am talking with someone and then forget what I was about to say. Where do those thoughts go?? It's not like I had to remember my thought for a long time. Just a few seconds. I try so hard to jog my memory with what I was just thinking about, but to no avail...that thought is just lost.

This past Sunday the pastor of the church we are attending was speaking on II Tim 2:8-13. We are going through II Tim and it has been great and challenging. One of those get off your rump and get to it chapters. We studied guarding and entrusting and enduring. I could go on, but that is not what this post is about.

In verse 13, it says, "Remember Jesus Christ..." Small statement, but has a lot of punch to it. Remember Jesus!! Remember the Gospel!! Why do we need to remember?? Because we forget so often what Jesus has done. We forget who He is. We forget His purpose, His life, His love, His mercy, His death, His resurrection...and on and on. We get so enthralled with our own lives that we forget to look at Jesus. This really hit me. I think recently I have been forgetting to remember Jesus. I get sucked into the woe is me thoughts and forget. The Christian life is not an easy ride life. The pastor said several times this statement..."Nothing worthwhile is ever easy." This is so true.

So, when I get these woe is me thoughts, I need to remember Jesus. Look to Him. Remember the gospel. What great things He has done for me. Take the curveballs of life and glorify Christ with them. It could even be the everyday things of life and glorify Christ. Remember the many blessings God has already given me. Remember the many times He has been faithful. Rejoice and be thankful. There was a pastor on the radio that once said, "Would I still be thankful if the only thing Jesus did for me was die on the Cross?" Immediately I was like, yes of course. But then I really started thinking. Would I? I want to be.

The pastor also spoke about setting up Stones of Remembrance around your home. Little things that remind you of Christ. Things that point to show you how the Lord has blessed you. Things that remind you that He is faithful and how he has brought you through the tough times. They did this in the Old Testament to remember how God brought them through the Red Sea. I thought this was such a good idea. It could be pictures of people the Lord has used to shape you into a godly person, symbols of things the Lord has brought you through, etc. The purpose being to remind you and then when people ask about the picture or object to then tell them of the Christ. Remembering Jesus all the time. I want to be more intentional about setting up Stones of Remembrance. Things that will point me to Christ when I forget.

Remember Jesus Christ!

A Visit

2008-04-27T18:22:00.000-04:00

ADB's Mom came to visit us from Ohio last weekend. Here are some pictures of the weekend.

On the night she arrived, ADB did some famous grilling. We had kabobs for dinner. Shrimp, chicken and beef. Men love meat. Our neighbor joined us for dinner. This picture is a little fuzzy...it's not your computer. Good ole Drake helping out.

This is a picture of the ever famous Beale St. in Memphis. Beale St. is where a lot of the Blues artists get their start. This is where I saw the Elvis Impersonator a while back.

They were having a Corvette show the day we went down to Beale St. I don't think I have ever seen so many Corvettes. If that is your thing, you would have been in heaven.

One evening we ate at Corky's Restaurant. Memphis is known for their BBQ. Corky's is one of the best BBQ places in town. The traditional appetizer is a sausage plate: sausage, cheese, BBQ sauce on a saltine cracker. It's good!

A visit to Memphis would not be the same without a trip to see the Bison. The wildlife of Memphis.

This is a quick summary, but we had a great time!

Where Have I Been???

2008-04-11T17:13:00.000-04:00

What a slacker I have been!! It has been almost a month since I've posted anything. Well, let me catch you up on the rest of March and beginning of April.

At the end of March, my lovely friends from New York flew me up to help with a Mother/Daughter Retreat. What a blessing that was for me!! It was so good to see them and be apart of the weekend. The theme for the weekend was True Beauty with the theme verse being from Psalm 34:5, "Those who look to Him are radiant." The weekend was full of fun and even included the Island of Beauty Pageant. For more on the pageant, click here. On a more serious note, the weekend challenged me to love the Lord more! In one of the sessions, the speaker really brought home the fact that if we love God, we will obey His commandments. The emphasis wasn't on obeying, but on loving. Many times when we hear this taught or preached the emphasis is on obeying the Lord. The focus then becomes on obeying and trying to obey and doing, doing, doing. All of this is in our own strength which is often why we fail at obeying. Her emphasis was on loving. If we love the Lord, then we will naturally obey Him from the overflow of our love for Him. It just made sense. Where is our focus?? On Jesus as it should be and not on the things we are doing or not doing. It really challenged me to pray for a deeper and greater love for the Lord. Fill me with your love so that I obey out of love and not just because I am told do such and such. This really made me clearly see where I can be legalistic in our faith. Are we doing it just to obey or is it because we just love the Lord so much we can't wait to do what He is telling us? Impactful.

After the retreat, I headed home. The next weekend ADB left for a golf tournament. They left on Thursday and came back on Sunday. It was a weekend filled with golf with 16 other men. I think he was in his dream world for a bit. Although his team didn't win (boo hoo), he did hit the longest drive and he even won a prize. You go babe! The prize...Coffee!! What a fitting prize for ADB (he loves coffee).

Then on Tuesday, we had our Banquet for the ministry we work for. ADB and I were in charge of the set up and organization. There were about 450 people there...a big event. So Monday and Tuesday were spent getting ready and doing last minute things for the banquet. Crazy!! In the end, it was a great banquet...now to start planning for next year. Well, not really.

I wish I had a picture to post because it is spring down here in the south. All the trees are flowering, things are turning green. I just love this time of year. Maybe I will take a picture soon and post it so I can share this spring cheer.

5 Years!!

2008-03-19T13:58:00.001-04:00

On March 1st, ADB and I celebrated our 5th year wedding anniversary! Has it been five years already!?! To celebrate, ADB and I decided to vacation in Sedona, Arizona. Well, actually, ADB planned the trip as a surprise, but couldn't keep the secret and so told me where we were going. I was so excited. I have never been to Arizona or seen the Grand Canyon!

Sedona is in the northern part of Arizona about 2 hours north of Phoenix. Beautiful landscape. It is known as the Red Rock Country. Amazing! We spent most of our time hiking the different trails to the Red Rocks and up the Red Rocks. Here are some photos:

This one is called Bell Rock. We hiked 3/4 of the way to the top. After a certain point, we couldn't find a trail and didn't want to risk our lives free climbing.

At the top (or what we called the top) of Bell Rock. Aren't the rocks in the background amazing. They just jet up from the ground in these huge formations.

This is the view from on top of Cathedral Rock. We hiked around the bottom of the one right. It was called Courthouse Butte.

Another view the other way.

One day, we drove to the Grand Canyon. It was about a 2 hour drive. The drive was amazing. You drive about 10 miles north of Sedona (where it was about 70 degrees) and you start to see all these pine trees and snow. Yup, we were driving up in elevation. We went from 4000 ft. in Sedona to 8000 ft. We drove through Flagstaff, AZ where people go skiing. It had about a 100 inch base when we went through.

The Grand Canyon was mesmerizing. Such depth and width. If we ever go back again, we want to hike down to the bottom. With the binoculars, you could see paths and even a ranch at the bottom called Phantom Ranch. We even were able to see the Colorado River. Yeah for binoculars.

Right off the trail at the top of the Grand Canyon there were some elk just resting in the snow. Three of them to be specific. My dream was to see a moose, but the elk will have to do. Those things were huge. Yes, that is snow at the Grand Canyon. ADB and I were talking on our way back to Sedona about what a shock it would be to walk up to the Grand Canyon as an early explorer. Or, what if after walking or riding my horse a ways, they stopped a few yards short of the Grand Canyon and decided to turn around. You can't really see it unless you are near the edge. I hope that didn't happen to any of the early explorers because if it did it would be such a bummer. There was extreme greatness within just a few more feet.

We aren't really known for taking a lot of pictures, but on this trip we took over a hundred. So needless to say, there are lots more I could share, but I hope I gave you a good glimpse. If you ever get the chance....go to Sedona!! ADB and I thought about moving there and driving the pink Jeeps that go all over the red rock country (these jeeps are made to go where I don't think any automobile has ever gone before), but pinks not our color.

Snow?

2008-03-12T13:00:00.001-04:00

This is what we woke up to on Saturday morning. SNOW! We didn't think they really got snow in Memphis, but we were wrong. Anyway, it was pretty and reminded me of the North. Needless to say, by noon a good bit of it was melting. We hear snow doesn't last that long and so if you want to build a snowman, you can't wait.

The cherry blossoms didn't really know what to think.

Another Tapawingo

2008-03-06T21:10:00.001-05:00

When I first came to know my little place of joy aka "Tapawingo". I thought to myself, what an unusual name. I'm sure they must have made this up. After working there for some summers, I found out that there are several places named Tapawingo. A restaurant and yes even other camps, not to mention another girls camp. So, this threw off my idea that they made up this name. As I continue to venture through this great thing called life, I continue to find places called Tapawingo. Just the other day, ADB came home from a men's breakfast with a flyer for a men's retreat. As I perused this flyer (because I want to know all the fun things they will do) I saw the name "Tapawingo". I thought, "How can men and Tapawingo ever be associated together? This is strictly a men's thing he is going to." (A little background here, the Tapawingo I know is an all girls camp. I worked there for many years.) Then I saw it...Tapawingo Golf. What?? A golf course named after my (okay, I know it isn't mine, but it is very dear to me) little precious island. How can this be?? So, I looked online to verify that it was really called Tapawingo. Much to my dismay, there it was. You can check it out yourself. Tapawingo National Golf Club. It is in St. Louis, MO. www.tapawingogolf.com

I guess for some men (including my husband) a golf course could be a place of joy. Tapawingo means place of joy. Well, if he does go on the retreat, I want him to visit this Tapawingo (I'm sure he will jump at the opportunity to place golf) and tell me if it compares to the little island where fond memories do linger. So, my dear Tapawingo sisters, yet another Tapawingo....add it to the list.

Your Unique Design

2008-02-23T16:43:00.000-05:00

When ADB and I moved, we were required to take this gifting test by "Your Unique Design". It is not your normal spiritual gift test, instead it focuses on personality traits. This test (or a similar version of this test) was used by NASA in the selection of astronauts because it was so accurate in assessing people. NASA needed to know compatibility of team members and how people were likely to react under stress. That information is to just give some validity to the test.

We all know that we have been "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139). The Lord has designed us to perform meaningful tasks of service to Him and to others. God has a plan for us. This test helps you to understand your unique design and how the Lord has gifted you. I wish ADB and I would have taken this prior to our marriage. It helps us to understand how we process information, what motivates us, the way we view the world and how we relate to others. Huge things in marriage I have found.

There are 6 different personality parts (that is the term they use for them). I will explain them to you since their titles don't really give you much. These will be brief explanations as each category has such depth. We all have certain percentages of them in our makeup, but certain ones are dominate.

Achiever: An achiever is logical, responsible, organized, have attention to detail and relatively task oriented people. They crunch information without emotion. Achievers view their world through thoughts. They would use a thinking first lens. Deal with the facts and figures. They would have this process, "I want to know the details and I use logic to solve problems." When they agree to do a task, they are faithful to complete it regardless of how long it will take.

Catalyzer: A catalyzer is persuasive, charming, love new things, and love it when a lot is going on. They are risk takers. Catalyzers call others to action. Catalyzers need a lot of action. They love challenge and opportunity. Catalyzers would view their world through action. They would say things like, "What can we do right now?" and "Strike while the iron is hot." They make things happen.

Dreamer: Dreamers are reflective and have a vivid imagination. They don't do well with systems. They need solitude, mainly for time to reflect. They need directives in order to perform a task, but once given direction get the task done. Dreamers like their own space and an easy pace. They are the ones that don't like to rock the boat. They view the world through their reflections.

Energizer: An energizer is playful, spontaneous, love last minute things, and expressive. Energizers don't like rules and have a kind of rebellious energy, a go against the grain. They love a playful contact and self expression. Energizers view their world through reactions. They would say things like, "I either like something or hate it." They love fun and to have fun. Energizers cry, laugh, sigh and jump for joy.

Harmonizer: A harmonizer is compassionate, sensitive and is great relationally. They are warm and nurturing and affectionate. They view their world through emotions. They would say something like, "I care about feelings and my emotions are important to me. They are how I connect and how I know things." They are feeling oriented, meaning they feel an emotion and they know how you feel.

Persister: Persisters are dedicated, conscientious and observant. They have a high value of truth (right and wrong). Experience issues from a black and white point of view. There are few gray areas. They don't compromise. Persisters view their world through opinions. They would say things like, "My values are very important to me." They have strong convictions. They make decisions based on truth and righteousness rather than on what is popular or convenient.

So, now that you know all of these, I hope that has given you insight into maybe who you would be and who others are. It is so important in life to remember that not everyone views things and processes things like you. It was such an eye opener to me. It helps you to look at the needs of others and not just yourself.

I also found that this test will help you to decide where you will best be used. If you are a harmonizer, you might want to choose something that deals with people. Achievers will do well with organization of events, etc. I know they used this for our current jobs to see if we would fit well with our positions. It is good to know you are where you will thrive.

Here is what I scored (not really surprising to me): 100% Achiever and 100% Persister.

ADB is a 100% Harmonizer and 100% Achiever

I could go on and on about how useful this information is, but will just leave it. If you want to do the test yourself then go for it. There is a $35 charge and I think the web address is www.youruniquedesign.com

Amazing!

2008-02-13T19:15:00.001-05:00

This photo was taken in Memphis, just further south from where we live. All I can say is "WOW!". Somehow I don't think sitting in a bathtub with a mattress over me will keep me safe if that is heading my way.

As a few of us were marveling at God's Power in this picture, one of our friends remarked that it shows a picture of sin and its destruction since we live in a fallen world. This tornado did do some destruction as it went through. I didn't really think of it that way until he mentioned it. But it definitely shows that as well. The good news is there won't be any destruction from tornadoes in heaven!!

Neat Quote

2008-02-07T17:44:00.000-05:00

"Find the things that stir your affections for Christ and saturate your life in them. Find the things that rob you of that affection and walk away from them. That's the Christian life as easy as I can explain it for you."

Matt Chandler

Tornadoes and Drake

2008-02-06T20:39:00.000-05:00

After looking at the title, many of you are asking yourself, "Who is Drake?" Well, Drake is our neighbor's dog. The same neighbor who we rent our house from and hang out with all the time. Drake has been and continues to be our overnight guest. Our neighbor is an avid duck hunter and we have kept Drake overnight so he can hunt at a place in Arkansas. Drake is a 14 year old lab and really doesn't do a whole lot. He is the easiest dog to keep since he doesn't do anything. He just follows me around the house wherever I go, even if I leave the room for one minute. He is a pretty noisy sleeper. He sleeps on the floor at the foot of our bed and has some wild dreams. I wonder what he is chasing. We are keeping Drake while our neighbor is skiing in Colorado for a couple of days. We love Drake!! Here is a little photo:

Isn't he cute?? This is the face he gives me when I'm in the kitchen and he wants something to eat.

You may be asking how Drake and tornadoes go together, well hold on here comes the story...

Yesterday we knew there would be some thunderstorms. It was 70 degrees and a cold front was moving in. I've been in some pretty bad thunderstorms and so wasn't really nervous. I just went about my day. My biggest concern was trying to get a run in before the storms arrived. ADB and I had just changed to go running and stepped out the front door when we saw lightening. There went that. Back inside we go. We had our screen door of the sliding glass door open. It was such a warm day especially in February. It has a little dog door on it. Drake hadn't been using it and we would yell at him if he even got near it.

So, there we are at our little abode. Andy is on the phone and I'm doing some stuff for this other part time job I have. The storm is building a bit now and there is rain and wind along with the thunder and lightening. We call Drake just to make sure he is okay. I mean the lightening was pretty fierce. No Drake. What are you kidding? Where is Drake? Now Drake has a history of straying off, but that is only when he is outside without a leash. Then it dawns on us...the dog door. We contemplate for a minute. What do we do? Drake's not our dog, but what if something happens to him? What will we tell our neighbor? So, ADB decides to do a little search around the homes around us. I wasn't sure about this...risking his life for a dog. My options...dog or husband. I mean I love dogs, but not more than my husband. The good news is after a few minutes Drake and ADB come in the door. Yeah, all is well.

Then, all of a sudden we start to hear what sounded like the Speculator fire siren. We do have a fire/emergency station down the road from us and so we hear the sirens all the time...(not to mention the train whistle that blows as well). But this one was a little different and it kept going and didn't stop. I asked Andy what it was and he said...a tornado siren. I started to get nervous and tried to remember what they told us in grade school about what to do during tornadoes. All I could remember was from Wilderness First Aid training at Tapawingo. Go to the nearest ditch and lay on the ground with your hands over your head. This sounded a little absurd since we were in a house. So, instead of doing what we should have (go in the closet and put pillows and blankets over us or get in the bathtub and put a mattress over us) we just looked out the window a lot to see what everyone else was doing and ate dinner. We probably should have gone into some inner rooom of the house, but instead sat in front of our sliding glass door (which was now shut in case Drake tried to escape again and because of the wind) and watched it all.

We were in awe. Probably not the smartest thing, but I've never been in a tornado path before. The siren kept going off. What a scary sound. We hadn't turned on the TV yet to see what was going on. It really didn't cross our mind to check on TV. We thought everything would be shut down anyway with the tornado siren going off. After the first wave of storms went throught, we turned on the TV to see what to expect next. Another band of storms was coming through. The siren went off again around 9:30pm. I was more scared at the night storm because you can't see anything except for the amazing lightening. These big storms always remind me of the Lord and his power. To think at a word the Lord could calm the storm. Amazing.

The guy on the TV even quoted some scripture in Nahum about storms. How the Lord is in control over the storms. I didn't think you were able to do that. I guess things are different here in the South. We didn't experience any damage, but areas around us were hit pretty hard. A mall was damaged pretty bad near us. There was a tornado that did hit down in Memphis, but not in our area of town. We got lots of rain, thunder and lightening and wind.

So we are fine. Another event where we say "Welcome to Memphis!"

Keep on Praying!

2008-02-03T17:37:00.000-05:00

I don't know about you, but I have times when I become a slacker to pray for someone. In this instance I'm talking about someone who doesn't know the Lord or someone who has strayed from the faith. My faith gets small and I lose my fervor. Well, Scripture has reminded this week to not give up!! I love the fact that God's Word is living and active!

"And behold, they were bringing to Him a paralytic, lying on a bed; and Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, "Take courage, My son, your sins are forgiven."...then He said to the paralytic - "Rise, take up your bed, and go home."

Matthew 9:2, 6

What has given me a new fervor is the fact that it was the faith of the friends bringing the paralytic. In verse 2 above it says THEIR faith. It wasn't the paralytic, it was the people bringing the paralytic. So this scripture has reminded me the importance of interceding for others and to not let my fervor die.

On another note, I wanted to fill you guys in on what is going on down here. Well, the weather yesterday was lovely. It was sunny and warm...I think around 60 degrees, maybe. I was outside just loving it. When I went for my run, I was way over dressed. The day before it was 30 and so I just thought it was sunny, but cold again. I was wrong. I got a good sweat out of it.

We are looking for a house here and there. We are currently renting and need to be out of the house by August. We do have time, but it's good to get a feel for what is out there and learn what is in our price range. We are learning a ton about life and living for Jesus everyday with a God centered focus. I am reminding myself daily that my only expectation is to glorify Christ (Phil 1:20). It is easy to expect things that we think are good and right, but be misled in our desires. The heart is deceitful and desperately sick (Jeremiah 17:9).

We are still visiting different churches to find the one we would like to be involved in. There are several great Bible teaching churches here, which is a huge blessing. We just haven't settled on one yet.

For those basketball sports fans, ADB was able to go to another Memphis Tigers basketball game the other day. They are ranked number 1 and so he gets excited when he is invited to go. The last game was a close one. Go Tigers! That is a little summary of what we are doing. I will try to get some pictures on here soon. There just hasn't been anything exciting to take pictures of and I don't want to post pictures of myself all the time. That would get boring very quickly.

Ping Pong

2008-01-27T20:18:00.000-05:00

For all those wives out there who have husbands who know my husband...this is a blog to report back to them.

We were invited to a little party at the house of a person who is in the discipleship program. That's not the big thing. The big event was a ping pong tournament that night. The biggest ping pong tournament I have ever seen. So much build up and talk. I even had to buy posterboard for the brackets. There were four brackets with 4 people in each bracket. There was even a prize at the end. ADB was number one in his bracket and won his bracket. So funny to see the guys sizing up their competition but in subtle ways. He played in the finals, but then lost. It was close and he played well. But he played defensively and so wasn't able to really hit some winners (these are his words - not mine). I know he could have won. I wish I had some pictures, but we didn't bring the camera. Anyway, just wanted to fill you all in on some fun things we are doing here.

Also, ADB was able to play golf today. Golf in January! I guess that is one of the beauties of living in the south!

2 Random Things I've Seen

2008-01-20T18:15:00.000-05:00

This past week, I saw two things I didn't expect to see in Tennessee. Here they are:

1. Buffalo. I know kind of crazy. ADB and I were driving and we see this field. I was really enjoying the scenery because it was so open and so different from the city. As we kept driving, we saw these large animals ahead. I thought to myself, "Oh they are just cows." Then we drive closer and they were BUFFALO. Not just one or two, but a whole lot of them. I didn't think Tennessee was known for its buffalo, but maybe I just don't know the state very well yet.

2. This one shouldn't be so shocking, but I think it was the fact that we saw one for real and not on TV. We saw an Elvis inpersonator. He was dressed in the white Elvis apparel. He had the look and the voice. So wierd. We saw him on a famous street here in Memphis called Beale St. It is basically a street with a bunch of restaurants/bars, but they also have live music, mainly the blues. We were walking along one night and heard what sounded like Elvis. We looked in and there he was. Talking about his albums and all the songs he wrote. We stayed around just a little and he really did a good job. It is amazing that people actually making a living doing this.

Well, these are the two crazy sights we saw. We live in a crazy town.

Also, this weekend was basketball mania weekend for us. On Friday night, we went to a Memphis Grizzlies (NBA basketball) game and then on Saturday night, we went to the Memphis Tigers (College basketball) game. Both teams won so it was fun. Below is a picture of ADB and I outside the FedEx Forum where the basketball games were. It is a little dark, but it was taken on a cell phone.

I will let you know if I see any other crazy things or if I find out why there were herds of buffalo right outside the city. Or if you know, let me know.

Be Inspired!

2008-01-13T19:40:00.000-05:00

The ministry I work for is a discipleship ministry which trains people in building disciples. There are classes every week and this past week was the first week of classes since the holidays. I was really blessed by one of the speakers who spoke on the topic of Quiet Times. To be honest, I wasn't really all that excited because I have heard a lot of talks on Quiet Times. Well, I was sorely mistaken and was blessed beyond belief. Here are some thoughts and words the speaker shared with which I was challenged and rejuvenated.

She started off by singing a song that was sung at the Women's Retreat last year.

"I'm a soldier in the army of the Lord. I'm a soldier in the ar-ar-my." This immediately made me think of you all with smiles. But she reminded me that we are a soldier and therefore must act as one. We must always be ready for battle. And we prepare for battle in our time with the Lord.

Here are some other nuggets she shared:
"What counts will cost." Getting time with the Lord will cost us and there will be sacrifice, but we need to protect it.

"Seek the face of God before we dare to seek the face of anyone else." We need to get up and fight the flesh. God needs to continually be the first thing we seek.

"Ask God to make you simple enough to receive." We need to remember that our time with Him is a time to hear from Him...not a time to come with our agenda.

And the most impactful one for me:
"If I were to die and come into the presence of God this second, would it be a great, glorious and amazing experience or would it feel ackward because it is unfamiliar." Enough said on that one.

I feel I have not done justice to what an impactful time this was for me. It rejuvenated me and gave me a new excitement for gettting up early in the morning. No more hum drum for me.

The House

2008-01-04T17:23:00.000-05:00

As I enter the blog world, I feel like a flower bursting forth out of the ground. "Hello world."
Greetings everyone from the south. We have been here for a little over a month and are learning a ton (both in our jobs and the culture). It's different here. One thing that is great is we can get pretty much anywhere in 15 minutes or less. 15 minutes to the place we work, grocery, shopping, etc. It is so convenient. Here are some pictures of our house we rent. We love it and will be sad when we have to move in August!

This is the front of the house. It is a 3 bedrooom, 2 bath house. We would love visitors if anyone is interested. I tried not to show the yard too much as we battle the leaves. You rake leaves year round down here. We rake and then the wind will blow and leaves will bombard our yard. It truly is a battle.

This is the backyard. We haven't been able to use the deck since it hasn't been warm enough, but I can't wait. There is a table that belongs out there, but I am using it now to put together a puzzle.