High Maintenance After All

I like to think I am a low maintenance girl. However, this morning I was getting ready to head out for the day (an interview actually) when my hair products proved otherwise. One is not low maintenance if they use 7 hair products in the morning...

"Flowers for you, Mommy!"

My boys are the sweetest! Last Sunday, they were in the backyard helping Jeff. I was inside working on something -- and Lucas comes tearing in the house. "Mommy! Mommy!" in a voice that I was sure meant something terrible had happened. I asked (before I could see him) "What's wrong?"

He came around the corner "We picked flowers for you, Mommy!" They aren't really flowers - but they look like Four-Leaf-Clovers. And how did they know I could use the love and luck ;)
Sweet!

Channeling Forrest

I ran the half-marathon this weekend. What an experience. I can't believe I finished. I decided on Friday 5/16 to run. I trained a bit earlier this year (Jan-March), but when the job stuff started, I quit training. But on Friday, I decided "What the heck-I can walk most of it if I want. My goal was to finish in 4 hours, which averages out to about an 18 minute mile. I am happy to report that I finished quite a bit faster than that. Next year, my goal is to cut my time by about 1/2 hour. Then, maybe the NEXT year, I'll run the full marathon. It really was a lot of fun. Jeff volunteered for traffic control and worked at mile 26/13, so he and the boys got to see me near the end of the race. (Lis stayed at home with Grandma P.) It really was a great run. The spectators fuel the adrenaline like you wouldn't believe! I paced myself with a couple of great people along the way, and we really had fun. And, it's exciting to finish in the Dome.

A Healthy Breakfast before the big run...


At the start:



Seeing my babies at the (almost) finish. This is Alex coming to give me a big kiss!

Listen to the Whisper

Hi. What an amazing week! What an awesome experience! What timing.

The day after I wrote my last post, I went online and did some research, contacted some people, and in the last few days, have had two meetings with people about a new direction for my life. I told Jeff the other day "I've sent out 26 teaching apps and had only one interview and NO phone calls for more. I ask a few people to be references for me, and the Lord opens a window!" He truly works in amazing ways.

Of course, this does not necessarily mean that I will get the positions for which I have pre-interviewed for in the past two days! (Yes, I am serious - resumes out on Monday, meetings yesterday and today --- compared to the above teaching stats!) BUT --- I feel...content, at peace!

There is a great song on the radio...

"Sometimes He calms the storm/with a whispered peace be still.
He can settle any sea/but it doesn't mean He will.
Sometimes He holds us close/and lets the wind and waves go by.
Sometimes He calms the storm/
Other times He calms His child.

My realization that there is a plan and that its not on my clock...has made me feel at peace. I feel that while storm may still rage, I have been calmed! More to come on this new journey! Have a great week.

Why I Love Blogging, part...oh who knows.

Okay, so those of you who've been reading my blog for the past few years know that I rave about blogging from time to time. Usually that raving has to do with how great it is to catch up, how great it is to stay in touch, etc.

Tonight, it's because I think reading back helps me put (and keep) things in perspective, as well as keep tabs on where I am at emotionally and mentally - two very different things! LOL

As you all know, the past few months have been kinda crappy, with trying to find a job, interviewing, not interviewing, etc. But, I decided tonight to go back and read about life over the past few years. I have so much to be thankful for. I have a great family, awesome friends, so many blessings and, without sounding egotistical (please don't take it that way!) a trust in God that I am amazed at. In reading back tonight, I realized that in my darkest times, at the peak of frustration and anxiety, confusion and uncertainty, I find that I turn to faith. Its blind faith, unwavering, because through the years of losing babies and the three I have now, I learned there is a plan. Dr. D sat in my hospital room as I held Alex when he was born and said - "He always has a plan - we just don't always understand it until much later." Of course, Dangerfield was referring to the fact that 5 miscarriages made a cleft seem like nothing.

I have written many times that there is a plan, and that we can't always control things, and that God whispers to us. What if, maybe, just maybe...I am being called...

Has anyone seen Bruce Almighty? It may seem semi-sacrilegious to compare what I am experiencing to a movie that is hilarious and, well, sacrilegious. However, that scene - where he's asking God for a sign. And the signs are obvious, "Caution Ahead," the truck full of road signs, "Wrong Way." Is it possible that the things in my life over the past four years (aka - not being offered any teaching jobs, but being told each time that I have so much passion, was the best for the job, BUT...) are the sign to stop ignoring the call? I told my mom and dad the other day that I think its time to stop resisting the signs. I know that there is a plan for me. I think it's time to start thinking about answering that call.