Thank A Vet

Papa and his brothers

Happy Veterans Day everyone! Are you enjoying a day off from work today, or no? I know some places are open, some aren't. I know I won't have to do my usual errand-running today because of the banks and post office being closed. I'm not complaining:-)



But let's not forget the real reason today is special. Today is the day set aside to honor our military Veterans. So whether they are actively serving in our US military, or have served in the past, please take a moment to thank a Veteran today. Maybe hug his/her neck! They so greatly deserve it, and so much more.

My special vet is my Papa, my mom's dad, who served in World War II. He fought in Normandy on D-Day and drove a U-boat onto Utah Beach on June 6, 1944. He talked about it occasionally throughout the years, and he and my Nana went back to Utah Beach on the 50th anniversary of D-Day in 1994. Here is a pic of them and then the back of picture where Nana wrote on it:

They came to visit right after their trip and they brought us all shirts from Germany and France. Here's the pic of all of us grandchildren with our Nana and Papa:


L-R: Papa, Layne, Kevin, Jessica, Kathleen, Matthew, Erica (ME!), Nana

I had no idea how much digging out these pics would affect me today! I am just overwhelmed with gratitude and thankfulness for our freedom and those who unselfishly serve our nation. And it makes me miss my grandparents, too! Papa passed away on August 12, 1996, and Nana on December 12, 2007. There is no one that loves you more unconditionally than your grandparents and I miss their hugs and all the fun stuff we used to do together. So I'll just say this, if your Nana or Papa are still with us, give them an extra hug today ;-)

So lightening the mood, I had a fabulous run this morning! Katie went back to school today (Hallelujah!) so I headed outside for a beautiful morning run. Here's my stats:

Distance: 6.46 miles

Time: 56:31

Pace: 8:44 minute/mile

See what I'm talking about with my mileage and time lately?? Woohoo!! I'm lovin it!

Have a great Veterans Day, all!

xoxo

Skippin Out Early!

GOOD MORNING SUNSHINES! Ahhhh, today is going well.

I got up at the usual 530am, had my java and Jesus time and then hit the treadmill for a 5.5 mile run. I have been SO energized lately! I don't know if it is due to the blood pressure medicine, the fact that Herceptin treatments are over, or what...but I am LOVIN IT! My afternoon slump is gone and runs have been faster and higher mileage. I hit 46 miles last week...can't remember the last time it was that high. It's been awhile. SO good to be feeling good!

Today I am picking the boys up early from school because Tyler has an orthodontist appt in PB. AND I may or may not be going a little earlier than necessary so we can go eat lunch first ;-) Katie is on her last day of Tamiflu so she is still at home. She goes back to school tomorrow. Lemme tell ya, this girl NEEDS school! She is bouncing off the walls at home right now! I am so glad that she is better and her flu symptoms never got as severe as some. Michelle believes that her having the first 1/2 of her H1N1 shot gave her some protection from the severity of it. So all that lingers now is the occasional cough, no biggie. Thanks for all the prayers for the little princess!

I am busy planning two different parties and getting invitations out this week: Katie's 6th Birthday party, and my sister Jessica's baby shower. Could we BE any busier?! I wouldn't have it any other way:-)

I am gonna get off here for now. It's almost time for Katie and I to get the boys, and I still need dinner ideas so I have to browse some recipes for a minute before we leave. Hmmmmm, what to fix? Have a terrific Tuesday, lovlies!

xoxo

Treadmill Half-Marathon

Happy Sunday morning friends!

I am happy to report that Katie seems to be doing better today *crossing fingers!* We didn't have to get up in the middle of the night for fever medicine and as of now, she has barely a low-grade temp. She DOES, however, have an awful cough :-( The little princess slept until 1030am, guess she needed her beauty sleep ;-) I'm praying she continues to improve today!

Since we couldn't go to church today, I scheduled myself a half-marathon on the treadmill this morning. Yep 13.1 miles on the ol' 'mill...finished in 2 hrs. 3 mins. and 9 seconds. Yippee!! It felt great to run so long this morning. We have absolutely glorious weather right now, so it's a shame that I couldn't do it outside but what can ya do...it was great anyway!

I thought I may put in a movie or watch some shows online during my run this morning, but I never had to. I plugged in my iPhone and played some oldies over and over and over again. Funny how new music makes the miles go faster, and can put some spring in your step! Here's what I played this morning:

• Here Comes the Sun - The Beatles
• This Will Be (An Everlasting Love) - Natalie Cole
• Let's Get Together - Hayley Mills
• L-O-V-E - Nat King Cole
• There She Goes - The La's
• Jack and Diane - John Mellencamp
• Hurts So Good - John Mellencamp
• R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A. - John Mellencamp

Don't judge ;-) Do you recognize the link between the first 5 songs?

The Parent Trap!

I love love love the older version, I remember watching it as a kid, and I will watch Lindsey Lohan's 1998 version anytime. In fact, that's what Katie and I were watching last night when I was making my playlist for this morning. I love the songs and they certainly kept me moving this morning! As far as the last 3 go, well, I heard "Jack & Diane" on the radio the other day and it reminded me of high school and so that led me to download some other faves. BTW, you runners out there, "R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A." has a great running beat and I must have replayed that song alone a million times!

So it's been a great start to the day! I hope yours is looking as beautiful wherever you are! God Bless!

xoxo

Daily Reminder

I admit, I totally got this idea after seeing it on Jenna's blog, in the background of one of her pics. But it touched my heart and thought it may touch some of yours as well.

I wrote Luke 8:48 on a blank notecard and taped it to my bathroom mirror so that I could see these beautiful words first thing every morning: "...Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace." The verse you choose may be different, but for me this is a p.e.r.f.e.c.t daily reminder that God has healed me and wants me to trust Him and go in peace. It is such a great thing to read first thing every morning and periodically throughout the day. Just the kind of reminder I need.

So for any of you who need a daily reminder that you are loved, cherished, forgiven, healed, or whatever your needs may be, I invite you to choose a verse that speaks to your heart and put it somewhere where you will see it daily.

xoxo

Sickly Weekend

DIAGNOSIS:
So the flu bug has officially hit our house :-( Katie tested positive for Type A flu yesterday morning. I was so disappointed because 1)I don't like her to be sick (duh), and 2)We took every precaution and have been SO careful to keep us healthy. A little over a month ago we all had the seasonal flu shot, and then about 3 weeks ago we had our H1N1 flu shots. But, despite our proactive approach, Katie has caught the bug anyway. And apparently so has most of both Kindergarten classes at school...poor babies. Katie is one of a couple that have tested positive for Type A flu. Needless to say, the "ickies" has hit the elementary.

CURRENT STATUS:
Katie is doing pretty well, considering. She has run a fever of 99.5-101 since she woke up on Thursday morning but it is pretty well managed by rotating Tylenol and Motrin. More props goes to the Motrin end...why oh why can't Tylenol work as well as Motrin?! Darn it. When she is fresh off a dose she is playing, cheering, asking to go to school, and being her usual bouncy self. When her fever starts to come back up and she is due for another dose she is puny and tired. She also has a cough and snotty nose.

TREATMENT:
So along with rotating the Tylenol and Motrin every 3-4 hours, as needed, we are also doing breathing treatments with a nebulizer twice a day. This is strictly precautionary; it keeps her airways open and lungs clear so that hopefully nothing pneumonia-like will set up. Katie is also on Tamiflu twice a day to help with her symptoms. And we have cough medicine to give her at bedtime so she can sleep without coughing. NOTE: She doesn't like any of this and vocalizes it very well.

So we are just relaxing here at home for the time being. Katie won't be cleared to go back to school until she is finished with the Tamiflu, which will be Wednesday. She is very upset that she can't go to school, or anywhere for that matter. I am saying plenty of get better prayers for Katie and the rest of the sick little ones. I would appreciate any y'all could send our way as well :-)

On another note, I have been watching Food Network all morning and I think I have stumbled onto something delicious to make for dinner from 5 Ingredient Fix:

Creamed Corn
Blackened Catfish

Have a great Saturday, friends ;-)

xoxo

Playing Catch-Up

Ya know, I really hope that this blogging once-a-week thing is not gonna be the norm forever!  Every time I think about sitting down and writing a post, I am bombarded with many other things that need to be done: laundry, dinners, housework, office work, and the list could go on and on…unfortunately ;-)

But for the last week, here has been our life:

HALLOWEEN 09 TOO MUCH RAIN=FLOODING AT OUR CABIN!  YIKES!!CHURCH HAYRIDE AND BONFIRE SCHOOL HALLOWEEN PARTY   Yesterday Tiffany and I made a trip to STL to get our ports flushed since it has been 5 weeks since last treatment.  All went well, and I thought I was going to be an aunt again before the day was done because my sister Layne called and thought she was in labor…false alarm!  So no baby yesterday, but soon.  :-)  Oh, and an OMGosh moment with my BP yesterday, 124/82!!!  That, folks, is an all-time low for me in STL!  Guess the BP med is working!  Yay!

We are having family pics taken tomorrow, much to all my boys’ chagrin.  They are really balking this time and I have no patience for it, really.  You would think after the last year we have had that a family picture would NOT be so out of the question!  But no, being men and boys that they are, they are really complaining.  They better be careful, or it will be mother-daughter pics. ;-)

AND Katie woke up with a cough and a 101.4 fever this morning.  She feels fine and was disappointed that she couldn’t go to school.  But her class of 19 only has 9 today, so something is going around…unfortunately most of it is flu :-(  I am praying that the seasonal flu shot AND the H1N1 shots that we all got are going to kick in and she won’t get any worse. 

I hope that everyone is having a great week and I also hope that it won’t BE a week before my next post!  Later, friends!

xoxo

PS~ Something I’m working on: “Do everything without complaining or arguing,” Philippians 2:14

The Date is Set

Hello, friends! Happy Thursday to ya! ;-)

We have rain, rain, and more rain here. Yuck. Seems like we have had a lot of it lately. I'm so happy to have gotten two runs in outside this week! This morning I was back on my ol' friend TM for 5 quick miles.

About 3 miles into my run, my dr's office called and told me they had a surgery date for me if it works for me. So it looks like Wednesday, Dec. 9 will be my bye-bye girlie-parts day! There is really NO time in the next two months to have it done, so I had made up my mind that whatever date they called me with, I was gonna go with. Nevermind the fact that my sister's baby shower (that I am hosting at my house, nonetheless) is on Saturday the 12th! Oh geez. What have I done?? But I have already informed my mom that she may have to prop me up in a chair and do all the work that day. I will only be 3 days post-op. Should.be.interesting. I can picture myself propped up in my lazy chair with sunglasses on, lookin like Bernie cause I am too sore, tired, and all jacked-up on pain meds to care! Goodness. I hope not! I know I won't be running around doing much, but I hope I at least feel like getting out of bed and putting on makeup. Oh you KNOW I will! I would do anything for my sisters. And my nephew, who is to be named Brayden, BTW! Thanks, Jess for letting us in on the little guy's name. As for my other pregnant sister, Layne, we STILL don't know what she and Brett are naming their little bundle of joy...and she is due in like, 3 weeks! Hmmmmm..... I like Eric. I'm just sayin.

So I'm off to enjoy the rest of this rainy day. I have worked on Katie's class' Halloween treat bags today...tomorrow is the big class party day, ya know. And now a load of laundry beckons me from the dryer. It's so chilly and rainy out, I would probably be comfortable just climbing in all the warm, soft, fluffy clothes and hanging out. Crazy, but sounds kinda good right?!

Have a good afternoon, all!

xoxo

“Journey”

I finally figured out how to post my video that I played last Thursday night at our ladies night at church.  I hope it works here so y’all can see it.  It captures our journey throughout this past year and Casting Crowns song “Praise You In This Storm” is the perfect fit for what we went through.  God is who He says He is and can do what He says He can do no matter what, no matter where, no matter how. 

xoxo

Updates!

Happy Tuesday, friends :-D

I hope your Tuesday looks prettier outside than mine. We have rain...again. It seems like we have had a lot of rain lately. It's supposed to be a cool and crisp fall, not a soggy and dreary one! Despite the yucky weather, I headed outside for a great 7-mile run yesterday and it was fantastic. The run, not the weather. I didn't have to run in the rain, but it looked like the clouds could open up at any moment and pour. But, thankfully, I was spared and I really enjoyed myself. Best of all: no leg/foot pain! Hmmmm, tart cherry juice maybe? Yesterday was kind of a test for me because I haven't run outside since my leg joints have been giving me "issues." And throughout the 7 miles, I felt fantastic, and no pain! Yay! But I don't want to push it by running outside too much, so today I was back on the treadmill for 7. It's all good, though, cause like I said, it's really coming down outside today.

I'm going to back up to last Thursday for just a sec because I believe that's where I left y'all hanging. We had our "Faith, Hope, Love, and...Chocolate" ladies' night at our church Thursday night. It went great! I prayed for peace and courage all day long, and the LORD heaped it on my head as I was able to speak about my year-long journey with breast cancer. I pray that God receives all the glory for my words, and my journey. The turnout wasn't quite what I had hoped but it was raining and all yucky outside, and there is quite a larger number of flu cases around. And if there's anything that will keep people away from a public event, it will be the fear of getting the flu. But the night ended with chocolate, so that's always good ;-)

Then on Friday, bright and early, we headed to STL to meet with my new ob/gyn. I guess I can just say gyn, because I don't need the ob part anymore! The appointment went very well, and I L.O.V.E. my new dr! She is easy to talk to, answered our questions, and I felt like she knew where I was coming from, in wanting to have the hysterectomy. After her exam and talking with us, she said she could schedule me for THIS THURSDAY! Yikes! And as ready as I am to get this over with, I told her that I really wanted to wait just a little longer so that I could get through Tyler's basketball season, he only has until next week left. Of course the more I think about it, there is really not going to be any good time to do this before the end of the year; which it needs to be done before then for insurance purposes, obvi. So when she calls with another date, I am going to jump on board and get this done. I am so ready. Other things will just have to wait, if they must.

Our Lending A Hand Fund Kickoff Fundraiser was Saturday night. It took an army to get the event together, but our army showed up and boy was it mighty! The bands were amazing, the fish and all the fixins were great, and we had a lot of positive feedback on our "little fund that could." We ended up raising over $4000!!! Yippee!!! I hope that when January 1 rolls around that we are able to help many many people who have been diagnosed with cancer. Because, that's what it all about, folks.
Have a great rest of your Tuesday, friends!

xoxo

Geez! A Week?!

Over a week, actually. Sorry :-( I've still been reading your blogs as time has allowed, but it's just been a cah-razy week!

Now that we are in full-fledged basketball season for Tyler, the games and practices have been nonstop. Zachary doesn't have a lot going on right now so we're good there, and Katie really doesn't either, except for the cheer clinic she had last week. My schedule consists of just following the kids around, except for our Bible study on Wednesday nights. And Jack, well, he's strung out between 3 houses right now so he's just a teensy bit busy (heavy sarcasm here).

A few notables of the past week:

• Katie is reading full sentences now! What a big girl!
• There's another cheerleader in the house!! Katie went to her first cheer clinic put on last week by our high school squad. She was SO excited and did great! It's crazy, it seems like yesterday that I was teaching little girls in our hs clinic. Geez. She got to perform during one of Tyler's games last week, on the floor and everything. Yes, she is doing cheers in her sleep. I LOVE IT! ;-)
• Tyler jammed his finger playing ball the other night and insists on practicing and playing through the pain...tough guy! But his ballgame schedule has been nuts! He has two tournaments left, the next two weeks, then he is done until high school ball next fall. Oh my.
• Zachary organized a "pink day" at school this week. He even took a couple of pink shirts that he had for a couple of boys who didn't have pink shirts. He is the most tender hearted little man I have ever seen. The oneriest, but the sweetest!
• I am speaking at our ladies' night at church tomorrow night. The theme is "Faith, Hope, Love, and...Chocolate." I get major nerves every time I think about it, but am excited at the same time. I even made a photo video set to music for tomorrow night that I will post as soon as I figure out how! Pray for me!
• I started taking blood pressure medication last week in hopes that it will take care of my stroke-level white coat syndrome. My bp is crazy high when I go to any dr, even when I have Michelle take it at her clinic. Now my mom can take it at home and it is normal. But, we are trying this to see if we can get it under control continuously. We'll see! I hope so!
• We are now beginning to see cases of H1N1 pop up in our area. The other school in our county shut down yesterday for the rest of the week, and I believe our school will be next. There were 60+ absent today, which is a good bit considering we are a district of 500 total. We all received our seasonal flu shots a couple weeks ago and our H1N1 shots this week. Hope they help!
• Our kickoff fundraiser for the Lending A Hand Fund is SATURDAY!! We have two bands set to play, a fish fry, a costume contest for kids, and just an all around good time. I hope there is a good turnout and we raise some big bucks to help others in our community suffering from cancer. Tiffany and I went to PB this morning to talk on the radio about it and it was the coolest thing ever! I only had one "duh-moment" when I forgot my phone number! I looked at Tiff like, "A little help here!!" It was too funny, and quite the experience. Don't think I'd like to make it a career though!

Well, I think you're all caught up. Maybe. I'm sure something has slipped my mind, but I'm not sure what right now! I will try to not let another week go by! *crossing fingers!*

Have a great what's-left-of-your-Wednesday!

xoxo

Faith & Fitness

In my email inbox this morning I had my daily Scripture verse from Daily Bible Verse. And since I am interested in all things health, nutrition, and fitness, I was absolutely in awe of the words that God sent to me today! Check this out:

"For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the prsent life and the life to come." 1 Timothy 4:8

Perfect, right?! Of course it is. What an absolutely perfect verse to remind us that while physical fitness is of course important, we sometimes make the mistake of thinking that it will make us a better, happier person. When the truth is, that giving ourselves to God and His perfect will for our lives is the only way we can change from the inside out. Physical training is of some value, but godliness has value in ALL things.

Have a terrific Tuesday, lovelies!

xoxo