Royal Blood

Well?  Did you watch???

Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about!

The royal wedding of William and Kate, of course!  I wasn’t all hyped up about it or anything (although I DID set my DVR), but when the hubby left at 430am to go turkey hunting I figured I may as well check it out live.  I fully intended on watching for a minute then rolling over and going back to sleep, but…that did NOT happen.  I got sucked in to watching all the pomp and circumstance of the wedding and thought it was quite lovely. [said in my best English accent, if you could hear me]
 

Doesn’t this look like a perfect fairytale picture?  It reminds me of Cinderella.  But the little girl right up front holding her ears cracks me up!  By the way, I thought Kate’s dress was GORGEOUS, as was her sister’s.  Kate just seems so classy and calm.  I hope they have a long and happy marriage.   

And while the royal wedding is all great and wonderful, I read a quote this morning on Twitter that I thought was even better:
 

Good, right?  I love it.

I was on the treadmill again this morning…after MUCHO coffee since I was up at 430am!  For the 5th day in a row I did 10 miles.  This is something very new for me as I’ve never done 5-10 milers in a row.  Usually I have one long run a week that is 10+ miles, then all my other runs are varying distances.  But I wanted to challenge myself this week and see what I could do and how my body would react.  I feel great, but I did have some moments of intense boredom this morning while doing the same distance as every other day of the week.  But I just tried to listen intently to Gayle King and focus on her royal wedding commentary.  Thank you, Gayle…I got through it! 

I am off to fold a literal MOUNTAIN of laundry that is beckoning me…gah.  But the sun is shining and it is another GORGEOUS DAY here in the Ozarks, and that makes everything better…even laundry!

xoxo

Receding Waters and Prayers for the South

So you have probably figured that I did NOT get into the New York City Marathon due to my lack of !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yesterday.  You would be correct.  After searching for my name, I came up with this:
 

But it’s ok…really.  I mean, yes, it would have been super cool to run the NYC marathon but I’m not devastated.  There is actually another marathon that I have my eyes set on for October, and doing both would not have been possible.  So now I am switching my focus to this:
 

This is the first year for the Rock ‘n’ Roll series in St. Louis, so that would be awesome!  My sister, Layne, has talked about running another half this fall so this would be another great one for us to do together!  Think I can talk her into doing the full??  Heehee, time will tell

I have good news to share regarding our river and flood stages THEY ARE GOING DOWN!! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And I have an updated cabin picture to prove it!

WooHoo! Thank You, LORD!!! It still has a way to go, but the more of those concrete pillars we can see, the better!  Thank you for your prayers! And we have SUNSHINE TODAY!!! Check that out!

Despite the beautiful sunshine that is shining today, my outside running is still curtailed due to the high water.  Boo.  It was so pretty and cool this morning!  So I got another 10-miler in on my parents’ treadmill…I am so thankful that they have such a nice one for me to use.  I like to listen to The Gayle King Show on OprahXM during my treadmill runs; it makes the time pass much quicker.

As we are celebrating our receding floodwaters, I know that many are hurting due to the devastation of the severe weather in the South.  My heart breaks for those all across several states who have lost friends and family members, homes, belongings, and their sense of security.  My prayer for them is to remember Who our Security truly is, and He is also our Comforter, our Protector, and our source of Peace and Strength.  I am praying that He will heap all these things on their heads as they now begin to pick up the pieces of their lives.

 

Be safe, hug your family, and feel your boobies.

xoxo

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Hey guys!

Do you know what happens tomorrow?  No?  Well I’ll help you out:
 

Yep.  That’s right!  Tomorrow is the drawing for the lottery spots for the New York Marathon that takes place this November!!!

I registered for the New York Marathon lottery drawing MONTHS ago, in hopes that my name would be drawn to run the legendary marathon.  The drawing for said lottery is TOMORROW!  Now I know the chances are not good to be drawn, but you never know…SOMEBODY’S going to get in!  May as well be me, right?

In other news, the weather has completely taken up our lives this week.  School has been cancelled yesterday and again today because of all the floodwaters around our area.  Our beautiful Current River looks like the muddy Mississippi and is WAY, WAY out of its banks.
 

Now if you compare this picture to the ones I have previously posted, you can see that we are still on guard, because the river is still rising.  We had more rain and storms move through the area yesterday and last night, and although today is sunny and beautiful (as you can see), there is more forecasted for tonight.  Boo!

I know people who are having to move out of their homes due to rising water, and in PB levees are breaking and people are currently being evacuated.  Our town is certainly on high alert with sandbags around some of the low-lying businesses.  We are all praying that the sandbagging will not be necessary and that the river will begin to recede.  Please pray with us!
 

And I know I have talked before about all our fun summer times at our cabin.  Well, this was our cabin at 7 o’clock this morning.  YIKES!!  We are praying that water doesn’t get in it, OR that something like a tree or another building doesn’t wash down the river and smash into it.  This picture makes me sad.

 

I am SO READY for summer, and good times at our cabin.  Like this,

And views like this,

We are praying for God’s Hand to protect our “happy place” and also everyone who is being affected by the flooding.  We know HE IS MIGHTY AND CERTAINLY ABLE. 

“I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.”
Psalm 121:1-2

God Bless.

xoxo

Easter 2011

Happy Happy Easter everybody!

I hope you are having better weather than we are.

We have days upon days of rainy and stormy weather.  We are completely soggy.  Our crystal-clear, beautiful river is out of control and WAY out of it’s banks.  Compare these pics from just last weekend at our River Run:

The pavilion THEN: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And NOW:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the road leading down to the City Park area under the bridge THEN:
(Check out the lamppost in both pics!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

And NOW:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cah-razyyyy!  I have seen the river flood many times over the years, and much bigger than this, if you can imagine.  But seeing it muddy up and spread out far and wide never ceases to impress me…and NOT in a good way! 

But back to the Easter stuff, after church this morning it has been a pretty low-key day since we really did our Eastering last weekend when all the fam was here; well that and the rain is making it really good for napping doing chores around the house.  But the Easter bunny did visit and there were goodies everywhere!
 

 

We always do Easter baskets every year, but we also make sure that the kids remember and focus on the REAL REASON for Easter.  Much like Christmas, it is easy to get all caught up in the decorations, and the gifts, and the pomp and circumstance of the holiday, but it is important to us that our kids understand WHY we celebrate!

SO, last night we all sat down in the living room for a family movie night.  A few years ago, I purchased “The Passion of the Christ.”  I started to watch it once, by myself, and didn’t finish it; I didn’t show it to the kids either because I decided that they were not old enough to understand or take in all that it shows.  So yesterday morning I pulled it out and everybody wanted to watch it.  So “The Passion of the Christ” was on the big screen (TV) for the evening.

The words I will use to describe it are:

• eye-opening
• informative
• beautiful
• graphic
• gut-wrenching

And it left me feeling:

• BLESSED BEYOND BELIEF, and
• LOVED BEYOND MEASURE.

 

 

I am so glad we watched it together as a family.  The kids could not take their eyes off the screen, and seemed to be honestly touched by what they were seeing and hearing.  We were all moved.  It was extremely powerful!

 

SO WHY is it that we have reason to CELEBRATE today??

HE IS RISEN!

“There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.” – Matthew 28:2-6

PRAISE GOD!

I hope you had a joyous Easter today!

xoxo

Are You Kidding Me?

Let’s play a quick game of “Are you kidding me?”, shall we?

The cost to fill up my Suburban:
 

Are you kidding me?!

 

The weather for the next several days:

Oh my word…are you kidding me?!

The turtle my kids found while playing ball in the park yesterday:

It may not look all that impressive, but this thing was HUGE…and it had spikes on it’s long tail!  The kids called it an alligator turtle.  Ack!  Are you kidding me?!

Anddddd, that’s really all I have.  Haha!  I told you it would be quick!

Have a good afternoon.  Cards baseball is on here!!

xoxo

Smarty Pants

“These students make it so hard for other really good students to get into this group because this group has set the bar so high.  You don’t get in here with an A-.  These students are an elite group.” –Mr. Wood, High School Principal

I am so proud of our little [though not as little as I’d still like him to be] smarty pants!

Tyler received the honor of being invited to the annual Academic Banquet which recognizes the top ten percent of our high school students.  Fifteen students were honored at this year’s banquet which included dinner, a guest speaker, and recognition of each one’s accomplishment.  The student who had the highest GPA was also chosen as student of the year. 

It is such a huge accomplishment for a Freshman to be included in this group.  We are so proud of him!!

On our way to the banquet…yes, I’m already taking pictures

 

Hailey was also one of the Freshman honored at the banquet.  It seems like just yesterday that Tyler and Hailey were this age…

 

And here we are in high school already…  Wow!

 

Freshman honorees: Jaysa, Tyler, and Hailey

 

Top Ten Percent of VB High School students for 2010-2011:

 

He’s looking at little embarrassed, maybe??  He’s so nice to humor his Momma! 

 

Oh yeah, he’s definitely had enough!  Thanks, H, for cheesin’ it up for me!

 

Tyler receiving his patch from Mr. Wood.

It was a great evening, and I am so proud of all these kids!  I still can’t believe I have a kid in HIGH SCHOOL!

It was pointed out that Jack and I, and Michelle and Adrian were by far the youngest parents in the room.  It seems like just yesterday that she and I were pregnant HS Seniors…um, yeah…and here we are with OUR KIDS in HS!  And both of them are being honored for being two of the smartest in the school. 

So, so, so proud of them both.

xoxo