An Original Poem By Me....

The family joke has always been “why are they running? Nothing is chasing them”.

But then one day I said “what the hey”.

I signed up and paid for my first 5K.

I walked it with a group of WW STL METRO girls, for most of us it was our first race,

We kept up a pretty steady pace,

We made it in under 56 minutes, running that last few seconds with such grace.

That was March 2008,

I’ll always remember the date.

Now I’ve went and done it, I’ve caught the running bug, now it’s my fate.

After some mind boggling thoughts,

Like what am I thinking?

What am I drinking?

Is this really me wanting to jog?

My head must be in a fog.

I overcame my brain and I signed up for my next 5K,

And I bought my first pair of “running shoes” from Big River Running before the big day.

My second 5K came and went.

Improving my time was training time well spent.

So I only had jogging spurts every now and then.

Got passed up by a few women and men.

But overall I shaved minutes off my time.

Life is good, if running without being chased is my only crime.

The Day After

Yepper, it's the day after now. Christmas is over. For another year. Only what 363 more days until Christmas?! Will I be "on time" next year? Will my cards be in the mail the day after Thanksgiving? Will my gifts be wrapped and ready to roll before December 1st? Will the tree and decorations go up before December 24th? Will I ever get my act together? Probable not but ya know that's NOT what it is all about anyways! It's about celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It's not about cards, gifts, trees, decorations, etc. It's about HIM and only HIM!

Goals...

Setting goals and striving to reach them ~ what a concept. I've of course done this over and over again in my life but usually I fail.........{can you say LOSER} usually I don't reach my goals but right now these goals I've set seem different, more reachable, I'm more focused. Does this come with age or am I just a late bloomer in the goal setting reaching department? Just curious....



A quote I just found:

People are not lazy. They simply have goals that do not inspire them. Remember to follow you heart. What inspires you?

~ Unknown

Focus Grasshopper Focus

I do believe someone has thrown me a life preserver FINALLY!! I have so been struggling with focusing on my health, focusing on eating right and exercising regularly! I cried out ~ I have been heard ~ the Father has heard my cries as I have had tons of willpower the last 1 1/2 weeks and strength to exercise a minimum of 5 times per week. God is so faithful ~ even when I am not. Why did I not cry out before now? I have been struggling for 2 years now with up and down on the scale, bad food choices, bad beverage choices and not a regular exercise routine. I feel so much better about myself, about my body, and about my heart since I got my focus back......... ;-)

Thanksgiving 2008

Was spent with family in IN ~ new memories were made ~ fun was had by all ~ meal was wonderful ~ it was a great time! ;-)

My mother in law came down for Thanksgiving and she brought me lunch meat.....OK, so it sounds odd to you but seriously it was a thoughtful thing. You see my father in law always bought this particular lunch meat for me, if he was coming to visit he brought it, if we went to his house he had it on hand ~ just for me. It brought tears to my eyes once again, missing him and knowing he will never bring me the lunch meat again.......

Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose. ~From the television show The Wonder Years

Red and Purple and Pink oh my.....

"The Red Hat Society began as a result of a few women deciding to greet middle age with verve, humor and elan. We believe silliness is the comedy relief of life, and since we are all in it together, we might as well join red-gloved hands and go for the gusto together. Underneath the frivolity, we share a bond of affection, forged by common life experiences and a genuine enthusiasm for wherever life takes us next."

- Sue Ellen Cooper, Queen Mother

While out with the hubby about a week ago we stopped for breakfast rather late in the morning and found ourselves sharing the place with a group of women clearly together for a meeting of the Red Hat Society. It was funny to see them all dressed in red, pink and purple but they looked like they were having a good time. The group was a mixture of ages but still able to enjoy each others company. Just got me to thinking 50.......isn't that far away!! UGH! ;-)


For more information go to www.redhatsociety.com

By Faith

I keep praying for HIS direction, for HIM to open doors......

I have a couple of others agreeing in prayer with me on this.

Today after emails crossed in cyberspace I was totally pumped.

By faith...........by faith...............by faith is what my prayer buddy kept reading!

God is faithful, by faith I have to believe HE will give us direction and open doors in HIS timing. HE didn't bring us this far to drop us on our heads and leave us to wither away.

Faith the size of a mustard seed...have you ever seen a mustard seed?!

;-)

Wishy Washy

Do you ever sit on the fence and try to decide if you're gonna jump and if you're gonna jump what side of the fence you'll jump off on?

The Word says in James 1:8 "he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does."

Well I had to read the whole spill from verse 1:2.....ya know the title is Trials and Temptations ~ currently I feel like I'm going through Trials.....

The Word says to consider it pure joy! Joy! Yes, joy, whenever you face trials of many kinds. It doesn't say IF you face trials, expect it brothers and sisters ~ you will face trials!

I say JOY is:
Jesus first
Others second
Yourself last

When I focus on Jesus the trials are still there but HE gives me joy and HE draws me near to HIM.

Verse 3 reads that the testing of your faith develops perseverance ~ how much perserverance do I need? A huge amount I guess @ this point in time!

Verse 4...."so that you can be mature and complete..." Geez aren't I mature enough @ 46?! Nope, I'm not, I have a ton of growing to do in the Lord!!

6: "But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind." I feel the waves are over my head!

I'm trying really hard to walk by faith, to stand firm on HIS Word and HIS promises for me and my family. This is very hard for me when it seems to be a wishy washy thing. Sometimes it seems like I'm daily thrown a new option to think about, sometimes it seems like I'm not part of that option ~ it's only an option for others ~ my job, location, home, etc wouldn't change. I didn't vote for Obama but I'm ready for a change..........

sitting on the fence is strictly prohibited! ;-)

F-R-I-E-N-D-S

From 9-2-2008:

F-R-I-E-N-D-S

Amazing how the Lord puts FRIENDS in your life @ just the right time. Sometimes you are geographically close to your friends, sometimes spiritually close, sometimes you just know they are there for you no matter how close or how far apart you may be @ the time.

I remember meeting one such woman. We had a mutual friend, we were invited to the same ladies event where our mutual friend would be speaking, we sat @ the same table and my first thought about this woman was "I'm not going to like her, she's gonna be stuck up, she is so beautiful and skinny!" Well stupid me had no ideal the Lord would have her to speak first and my visual first impression went right out the door! She was so down to earth, so sweet and so able to carry on a conversation! The Lord continued to cross our paths over and over again ~ we became not only the best of friends but spiritual sisters ~ it was unreal how I would know when she needed a friendly phone call and she would know when I needed one too. We did some crazy things together, shared our lives, prayed together, grew in Christ together. But yet we live far apart now.....still FRIENDS!!

We have the friends we kept in contact with from our Navy days, some of which we reunited with last Aug after 18 years of not seeing each other in person. It was like we had never moved ~ we just picked up where we left off ~ very special week in our lives and the lives of our boys. It gave the boys a glimpse of our life "before kids!"

Then you have those that plant seeds about the Lord, you move on, they keep in touch, they keep planting, and you see the excitement on their face when they realize you have been saved, spirit filled and are living for the Lord. Their cries to the Lord on your behalf have finally been answered after years of them hitting their knees for you!

Just as you think you are not going to meet friends in your new area of living the Lord provides ~ because HE provides ALL our NEEDS and friends are a NEED in LIFE! How wonderful to become friends with someone that two other people are telling you NOT to take advantage of ~ obviously those peeps didn't know me well enough to know I don't take advantage and I pull my own weight (no matter how much I weigh!) ~ that's just me! So from this person helping me out, I in turn have been able to help them out and just when I was feeling like the Lord wasn't near (yes, I know I moved not HIM) this person said something to me about always smiling....then they asked me if I was spirit filled ~ God is so FAITHFUL even when we are not. This FRIEND started inviting me to her house for ladies night out, and now our families have been able to "break bread together" on a couple of occasions. Today this wonderful person called me and we chatted about a couple of things that happened this morning and she shared she use to write a lot and that is missing from her life right now. Anyways she shared what she felt she had to write down today. Beautiful message. Now how funny is it that last night I was thinking I don't journal like I use to. I use to write things down, blog here and there on here, now I only journal food, anyways I told Kevin last night that starting today I was gonna journal more than food and asked him to take me to buy a notebook tonight. (I had surgery recently so can't drive yet). God once again has crossed my path with a FRIEND who has become a special person in my life over the last couple of years.

F-R-I-E-N-D-S

Notice friend ends in "end" because we are friends to the end and I'm reminded of the song "Friends are friends forever if the Lord is Lord of them....."


the feet of friends are always close....

My First Blog on this site

Wow ~ what to write ~ and another log on and password to remember ~ oh joy!! ;-)
I have a stumbleupon blog site but you have to be a member to read it so thought I'd switch to this kind of public blog.....

Today is a holiday for me. It's Veteran's Day. Thank you for serving people! I thanked my hubby this morning for his service to our nation. He thanked me for serving beside him on the home front. Ya know being a military wife is really a tough job.

It's a ME kind of day. Everyone is gone off to work or school or college. I must get off my rear and do something for me = EXERCISE!!

Since this blog allows pictures....

Let's start with a nice fall picture....