Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our family!

I hope your day was blessed!

I finally did it!

I made that appointment at the doctor to have my bloodwork and girl checkup stuff taken care of.  I found out that it's been over 10 years since I've done it and I don't even have a primary care physician anymore.

Good grief, that's embarrassing.

I also woke up with a UTI.  I have been plagued with them since I was a kid but this is the 3rd one this year and normally I maybe get one every other year.  They are concerned and want me to see a urologist.

Good grief I'm a wreck...

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Well...She's not such a baby anymore, she turned 11 today.  My goodness, where have the years gone?

Happy Birthday Caitlyn!

I Won't Give Up

I have to admit, I am losing my will to keep going with tracking my calories.

Here's where I am with things:

I am still loving my fitbit.  I mean, I.LOVE.IT.  I am a little obsessive about making sure I get my 10k+ steps in each day and making sure I burn at least 2K calories a day.  Things are going strong there, no complaints.

I am still doing my mile a day challenge.  So far, easy-peasy getting it in.

My running is going great!  I have gotten all of my long runs in and am doing well with getting midweek miles in and even pushing my pace.  Today I had 4 miles on the schedule but I felt so great that I kept going till just past 5 miles.  It feels great to be back in a good training groove.

I am still trying to eat healthier and track my calories on My Fitness Pal.  I am faithful about tracking every single bite of anything I have.  I'm getting better about my portion sizes which I've needed to do for years.  I feel so much better when I eat healthier.  The thing is, the scale is not cooperating.  According to my fitbit and My Fitness Pal, my calorie deficit in the last 7 days was just over 5200 calories.  That should equate to 1 pound at the least.  How much have I lost?  Zero.  Zilch.  Nothing.  Nada.  Ugh!  So frustrating! In fact, in the last 4 weeks, I have lost 1 pound when the numbers say I should have lost 4-5 pounds.  Grrr...

I have mentioned to several people that I need to have my thyroid checked.  I believe I am doing everything right so I'm thinking maybe there is a medical reason why I am not losing weight.  I don't know why I am procrastinating on having it checked.  It's been over 10 years I think since I've had blood work done so it is time.  Someone needs to give me a shove.

I don't want to give up.  I shouldn't give up.  I would be so disappointed in myself if I gave up.  Is a little progress really too much to ask for?

Mile A Day Challenge

I know I've been bad at blogging lately.  I think there has been a lull in interesting material in my life.  Too much mundane stuff that even I don't want to read about.  I promise I'll try to get better.

Some of you may remember last year's Mile-A-Day-Challenge sponsored by my friend Jenny over at Running Halfway Around the World.  It started in December and ended up continuing into January.  Most everyone ended it there but I couldn't let it go and I kept it going. I made it about 150 days of at least a mile a day before the streak finally ended.

Anyhoo, the December challenge is back.  We're only 3 days in and everyone is welcome to join.  You can find the check-in on facebook.

Hope to see you over there!!

Up To 8 Miles

Training for Donna is going right according to schedule.  I had an 8 mile run scheduled yesterday.  It was one of those absolutely perfect runs.  They don't happen all that frequently for me on my long runs but I held my 2:1 interval through the whole 8 miles without exception.  Even up the hills.  My pace was a bit faster than I've seen thus far in my training so that was encouraging also.  I have a ways to go when it comes to speed but I also have 14 weeks till the race to work on it.

I'm still going strong with my fitbit and myfitnesspal.  The scale moved a bit for me last week which was encouraging.  I won't say too much about the discouraging move that followed.  I have no idea how I can gain weight when I am burning thousands more calories than I am taking in each week.  I'm not giving up though.  The overall progress outweighs the minor setbacks and I am still motivated.  Thanksgiving is coming though and I am a bit nervous.  I don't want it to derail me but I also don't want to miss out on my favorite food holiday.

It feels so good to be back in a running groove.  I can tell such a difference in my attitude when I take the time to run and burn off some of my stress and frustration.

A Little Discouraged/A Little Encouraged

First off, I think I'm addicted to my Fitbit.  I LOVE it!  I check it frequently and it is fulfilling its purpose, it's motivating me to move more.  I feel like I never stop moving and yet I was amazed at how few steps I actually take on some days.  I'm always busy but that doesn't equate to moving and being active.  It has been an eye opener!

I'm a little discouraged with the numbers on the scale though.  I have been counting calories and tracking faithfully on My Fitness Pal.  I've also been making sure that I burn hundreds more calories each day than I eat.  In the last 10 days, I have burned 7000+ more calories than I have taken in yet the scale does not reflect that.  I'm only down .4 pounds.  Worth it?   I think it is.  I lost my original measurements when I cancelled my Weight Watchers account but I am losing inches.  That's the reason I'm still going.  Any progress is good.

I am encouraged with the progress I am making with my runs.  I had a solid 7 miles on Friday.  It's amazing how allowing a small amount of carbs back in my diet helped with my fueling issues.  I also had a speedy couple miles on Sunday that encouraged me even more.  I ran the entire time (no walk breaks) and my average pace was as fast as I've seen since I started running regularly again.  I feel like I'm getting back in the running groove and it makes me smile.

Shirt from my5k262.com

Training, Dieting, Fueling & New Toys

I had 6 miles scheduled for today.  Brrrr, it was chilly out there this morning.  I'm not a fan of the cold but I sucked it up and went out there and got it done. 

I haven't abandoned the low carb thing yet though I'm not sure why.  The scale hasn't moved for over a week unless you count the 2 pounds it went up and the gradual decline back to where it was last week.  Have I mentioned I don't lose weight easily?

I did have a banana in addition to my GenUCan before my run.  I decided to play with my intervals today so I ran a 2:1 instead of my usual 1:1.  That was an awful idea.  My mile times were 25 seconds slower than last week's 5 miler.  My legs felt like lead and I was just sluggish. 

The last two days I have been tracking my food with My Fitness Pal.  I've decided to keep tracking with MFP and to reintroduce healthy carbs.  Something has to change.  The scale isn't moving and the long runs are only going to get longer and more difficult.

To encourage myself to continue tracking, I bought myself a new toy today.  I have quite a few friends who have one and the reviews are all positive so I jumped on the bandwagon. 

I bought a Fitbit Flex.  Instead of trying to explain it, I just took the description from the website.

This slim, stylish device is with you all the time. During the day, it tracks steps, distance, and calories burned. At night, it tracks your sleep quality and wakes you silently in the morning. Just check out the lights to see how you stack up against your personal goal. It’s the motivation you need to get out and be more active.

New toys are fun!  I've got it set up and ready to go, now I just need to get off the couch so it can record something!

Learner's Permit

Matthew got his learner's permit today!

Tuesday was attempt number 1 and it did not end well.  I ran home from work, grabbed the form he needed and his birth certificate and ran to the high school to pick him up.  It was raining (it had been snowing earlier in the day) and traffic was horrible.  It took 50 minutes to get from my office to the high school and then another 45 minutes to get from the high school back to the DMV.  We arrived and the lines were quite long.  I should have thought about the fact that Tuesday's are busier because the DMV is closed on Sun/Mon but it hadn't occurred to me.  We were time crunched as I had to have Matthew back at the school for a band concert in a rather short amount of time.  As we stood in line, I was looking over the permit form that he had filled out in Driver's Ed and I noticed that his SS# was not filled out.  My heart sunk as I realized that I didn't have it with me and we didn't have time to run home to get it.  After a futile attempt to have Caitlyn search for it as I gave her instructions over the phone, we gave up and headed home.  Needless to say, we were both disappointed.

Today we decided to make a second attempt at obtaining the permit so again, I picked him up after school and we headed back to the DMV.  This time, traffic and the weather were much better and the trip only took about 35 minutes.  We arrived, he took the test and he passed.  A new chapter in his life has begun.  I'm excited for it!

Figuring Out Fueling

I'm still chugging away with the low-carb thing.  The scale is hardly moving but I feel so much better that I've stuck with it.

The only problem I have with the way I've been eating is running.  I get lightheaded and dizzy when I run carb-depleated.  I thought a banana before I run might be the answer until my runs start to get long enough to use my favorite long run & race fuel, Generation UCAN.

While I was at the Chicago Marathon Expo, I stopped by the GenUCan booth and talked to one of the reps a bit.  He was excited that I already use their product.  The rep reminded me that GenUCan is a great compliment to a low carb lifestyle and he was giving me examples of lots of their reps who had experienced significant weight loss by using it in conjunction with low carb eating.  The sustained energy you get from the product allows you to get in those tough workouts without experiencing the blood-sugar highs and lows that come from other carbohydrate energy sources.  That is the piece that has been missing for me so I decided to give it a go.

I had 5 miles on my training schedule today so this morning, I had about 1/2 serving of a GenUCan shake.  I ran that 5 miles so much more easily than I ran last week's 4 miles.  Coincidence?  Possibly.

I was already a fan of Generation UCAN but I may just become a bigger fan if it really does what they say it will.

Chicago Marathon

No, don't panic, I didn't run it.  I did volunteer again this year though.

This was my 5th year of volunteering in a "key leadership" role.  I am a truck inventory supervisor for Aid Station #9 which is approximately 12.5 miles into the race.  Essentially, my job is to take inventory in the two semi trailers that contain all of the aid stations supplies for the race.  I also make sure that the items are unloaded in the correct order so that the volunteers can begin their jobs as quickly as possible.  During the race, I cheer for the runners, keep an eye on the empty trucks and work a little crowd control.

My day began Disney early with having to wake up at 3am.  I was at my station at about 4:15am and immediately got to work.  Things went so smoothly this year, maybe the best in the 5 years I've done this.

Security was extra tight since this was the first major race since the Boston bombings.  I've never seen men in fatigues walking around with military weapons before.  We also had bomb sniffing canine units, uniformed police, undercover police in the crowds and more that we may never know about.  They weren't taking any chances.

The race itself is so fun to watch.  Maybe because I'm a runner and I can empathize with how the runners feel?  I had so much fun cheering for people.  Yelling their names if they had them on their shirts, or cheering for the Marathon Maniacs that ran by, or the World Vision charity runners.  I also knew several people running the race.  I didn't see all of them but I was so excited to get to cheer for the ones I did see.  There is nothing better than sweaty hugs from friends as they run by!

Here is my PSA for the day:  If you make the effort to add your name to the shirt you are running in, please don't wear headphones so that you cannot hear people cheering for you.  Seriously, why should I strain my voice cheering for you by name when obviously, it isn't important to you.  Maybe someone can explain why people do that?

After the race, I am responsible for helping clean up.   I make sure that all of the non-disposable items (think signs/rakes/shovels/brooms, etc) as well as the unopened items (pallets of water/Gatorade/Gatorade Chews) are returned and loaded back in the trailers.   It is amazing to me how quickly the corner is transformed from empty corner to bustling aid station with almost 300 volunteers back to empty corner with no evidence that a race ever came through there.  Chicago does such a fantastic job hosting this race. 

Maybe some day I will have a desire to run a full again.  If I'm fast enough, this race would certainly be towards the top of my bucket list.  In the mean time, I plan to continue to volunteer every year I can and I will cheer on my friends as they run it.

Before the race with Deb, Tracy & Darcy.  Volunteering is always so much more fun with friends!

First Training Run

Well, I survived the first "official" training run for the Donna Half.  4 stinking miles.

I am horrified at the pathetic shape I am in. 

Overall, the run went smoothly.  Mentally, it took a bit to get myself in the right frame of mind but once I got out there, I remembered why I love running.  The weather was PERFECT this morning for running and I was genuinely excited to be out there training for something again. 

Physically, I have to build my endurance back up.  I know I can do it, I've done it plenty of times before so I'm not so worried about this aspect.  I am starting from scratch so there is a long way to go.

Fueling may be the thing I have to figure out.  I haven't given up on my low-carb kick yet.  I took 5 days off last week because my in-laws were here and it was my nieces wedding but I planned on doing that all along.  I hopped right back to it this week.  4 miles isn't long enough for me to feel like I need my Gen UCAN for fuel but I cannot run carb depleted either.  I get lightheaded too easily.  Next run I will make sure I have a banana or something before I head out. 

This morning I had a Usana breakfast shake before my run which I think did the trick alright as far as my energy went but it has a large amount of fiber which is never a good idea to have right before a run.  Lets consider this a learning moment and leave it at that.

Feels great to have a goal again and it feels great to have those endorphins flowing again.  I've missed that!

Time to Train

I finally sat down with my calendar last week and built a training plan for the Donna Breast Cancer Half Marathon.  I'm pretty sure that's not the "official" title but 26.2 With Donna (to me) indicates that I am running the marathon, which I am NOT, so I 're-named' the race for my purposes here.

I'm excited to travel down to Jacksonville, Fl. in Feb 2014 with Mark to run this race.  I ran the full marathon last year and loved it.  In fact, I started this blog shortly after that race and my recap of the 5k and recap of the marathon were a couple of my first posts.

If training goes according to plan, I will train to 14 miles and try to PR the half.  If things don't go as I would like, I will try to train to 10 miles and just run to enjoy the race.  I have no idea which will happen.  The half has a 7 hour time limit so I know I can walk it and finish.

My first scheduled run is 4 miles this Friday.  believe it or not, I am actually looking forward to training for distance again.  Taking this year off of running distance was not my intention after I finished Donna but I did take the time off and I think mentally it was just what I needed.  I'm excited to get back into it and I am not feeling burned out anymore.

Just a Week Became Two

I stuck with my South Beach Phase 1 for 14 days.  Yes, that was a week longer than I planned but I felt like I could keep it up so I did.

My 2 weeks ended yesterday.  The results were far less than I had secretly hoped but I had reached my not-so-secret goal by this morning so I guess I'm happy.

Now the question is, where do I go from here?  I think I need to switch to Weight Watchers but I'm a little afraid.  For today, I stayed low carb and just added in a half of an apple.  I'm thinking maybe I need to stay with the South Beach for a few more days while I get into the habit of tracking with WW.

It feels really good to be doing something!

Just a Week

Well, I woke up on Monday morning and on a whim, I decided that I wanted to try to go 7 days on Phase 1 of South Beach. 

You see, I've been miserably failing at the Weight Watchers thing.  I will admit that it is all because of my stinking lack of self control where food is concerned.  Sometimes I have it and sometimes I don't.  If only I could unlock the secret to always having it.

I'm not sure what prompted me to try this.  Years ago, I did South Beach (low carb) and dropped some weight but then it stopped working for me.  I wasn't too distraught though since it wasn't a lifestyle I enjoyed or thought I would want to maintain long term.  What it was good for was quickly dropping a few pounds.  I also feel like it helps "detox" my system from the carbs that I love so much.

While I haven't been gaining on Weight Watchers, I haven't been losing either.  I have a wedding coming up in 2 weeks and my dress would fit so much more comfortably if I could drop at least 5 lbs.  That is pretty much the reason why I jumped in to this.

How am I doing 4 days in?  Great!  I have stuck with it perfectly so far and it hasn't even been all that difficult.  I've had to resist the cookies and treats around the office and at Awana training but for whatever reason, I'm motivated to stick with it.  There are some side effects for me though, almost withdrawal-like symptoms.  I have had a dull headache for 4 days and I'm not sure how to describe my brain other than I am a bit "fuzzy" or "off".  In the past, that has lasted for about a week so I was not at all surprised by it.

I have just 3 more days and then I will re-evaluate and decide where to go from there.  The scale is moving for me so I'm happy.  Now I need to start fitting in the running again.

Run4Home 5k

After Caitlyn & I ran our last 5k, one of Caitlyn's friends told her mom she would like to run a race also.  Her mom promptly emailed me and asked if we would take her along the next time we ran a race.  I didn't actually have any races planned so I started looking and came across the Run4Home 5k.  The race is a yearly fundraiser for a local homeless shelter.  I ran the 10k last year to earn a better corral time for Goofy in January so I was familiar with the race and knew it would be a good one for Caitlyn & her friend.

This is a nice local race, just over 400 participants between the 10k, 5k run and 5k walk.  There is plenty of parking right at the start and plenty of port o potties.  A much better ratio than most local races I've done.  It's a simple course running through neighborhoods adjacent to the downtown area and it even includes a nice overpass to challenge runners.  This year they had a fun contest and announced the first male and first female runners to reach the top of the hill.  They were announced as king and queen of the hill.  Their mile markers consist of a small simple sign and a volunteer standing there reading the time out loud from a stopwatch.  They like to poke fun at themselves and their creative mile markers.

Post race had tables of donuts, bagels, oranges, bananas, Starbucks, Gatorade, water and Chick Fil A sandwiches.  Not too shabby.  It was a nice bonus that Caitlyn's bib number won a door prize.  Nothing too fantastic, just a couple of shirts from last year's race. 

Feeling Like a Failure

Life seems insanely busy these days and the more behind I get, the more like a failure I feel.

I have no idea how women who work full time do it all.  I should have an extra 10-15 hours a week over a mom who works full time yet I can't seem to find those hours. 

My list of shortcomings and failures grows daily.  For example:

1.  My poor kids eat Eggo Waffles every day for breakfast because I can't seem to find the time to cook anything healthy for them.  To make matters worse, they are on a chocolate chip waffle kick right now so I am essentially feeding them candy for breakfast.

2.  My poor kids do not end up with the healthiest of lunches at school.  Many days there are no fruits or vegetables present in their lunches at all.  Not unless you count fruit snacks or fruit roll-ups as a real fruit (for the record, I don't).  I did pack fresh blueberries in Caitlyn's lunch today.  I hope the lunch lady and teachers didn't have a heart attack.

3.  The nights I actually cook dinner during the week has dropped to maybe 50% of the time.  Some weeks I get 4 meals in and some weeks only 2 or 3.  It's not that I don't like to cook, I just can't seem to find the time to prepare everything while I am picking kids up from activities and running errands that had to wait until after work.

Ok, we've determined that my kids are malnourished and it's all my fault.  Goodness, I don't even want to continue.

4.  My bills get paid by the skin of my teeth.  They always get paid but it seems like when I finally have the time to tackle that BSOM (big stack of mail), things are almost due and I'm scrambling.

5.  My checkbook has not been balanced in more time than I will willingly admit to the world.  I'm quite embarrassed and this is most certainly the biggest undone thing in my life that brings me down. 

6.  My BSOCTF (big stack of crap to file) is about as big as it's ever been.  Really, this is inexcusable and I am horrified at how out of hand things are.  If I were to get audited right now, I would be in a big pile of doo-doo.  Fortunately, the only one who is effected by this one is myself. 

7.  Awana.  We currently have no commander for our Awana Club and it has left a large void.  Many things are undone, club starts in 3 weeks and for some reason, people are looking to me to know what to do and to get it done.  Like I have time on top of everything else.  Ugh.

8.  Running.  Or lack thereof.  It is getting dark earlier and I have been so busy that I haven't been walking or running hardly at all.  I know it would be a huge stress relief if I could work it in but I'm not sure how these days.

9.  Weight Watchers.  I fell off the wagon bad.  It was going great for a few weeks and then I blew it again and again and again and then I gave up.  I did start back up today but it's only been 1 day so it's too early to tell if I will be strong enough to make it stick this time.

10.  Housecleaning.  Ok, many people would say that my house is clean.  It's not clean to my standards though and this weighs heavy on me.  Why can I not keep a clean house anymore?  The standard of "company clean" has been significantly lowered in recent years.  Mostly because I've been making my kids pitch in and help out.  Not because I'm lazy but because it's my job to teach them how to do these things.  It takes much self control on my part to not go re-do things when they do a lousy job the first time around.

So there you have it.  Much of my dirty laundry aired out in public (yes, pun intended).  Laundry is another thing I can't seem to keep up with.  My family needs to stop wearing clothes but I digress.  I know that if I read this list as if it were someone else and not myself, first I would judge their lack of discipline and then I would come up with a solution to each and every point.  The thing is, I know much of this can be fixed with better planning and self discipline yet I can't seem to do it.  There are many things that I do well but that's not what this post is about.  Let's just say that much of the time I have is taken up by the things that I am getting done. 

Ahh well, I just wasted how much time writing this post when I could have been getting something on the above list done...

And He's Off...

Yesterday was move-in day for Bradley.

I did pretty good, if I do say so myself.  I got a little teary a few times but overall, I was far more excited for him than I was sad that he was leaving.

Yesterday was also Freshman Orientation for Matthew.  Busy day.

The move went smoothly.  There was no room in the car for Caitlyn to come down with us and Bradley's girlfriend wanted to come with also so she drove her car down and took Caitlyn with her.  I think it made her senioritis much worse though, lol.

Waiting in line for the elevator.  Caitlyn is a goof!

Bradley met his roommate for the first time in person.  They had been facebooking back and forth so they knew a bit about each other.  In appearance, they couldn't be more opposite, but I think they will get along well. 

Bradley & his roommate

We were done pretty early with getting him mostly settled so we walked a few blocks away and took him to lunch at Portillos.  The dedication service that they invited parents to wasn't till 7pm and we were done at 3pm.  We could tell that Bradley was anxious to finish getting settled and start exploring, and we knew he didn't want us hanging around for the next 4 hours, so we did the hard thing and left.  The goodbye was quick and painless.  He is so close to home and it was so obvious that he is exactly where God wants him to be, how can I be too sad?  I will miss him, of course, but I am so excited for him.  The hardest part for me is going to be not talking to him and finding out how his day was or what is going on with him.  It's all a part of letting go, I guess.  I hope he doesn't completely forget about his mom.

Alyssa took this.  Bradley with Mr. Bear then & now.  They grow up so fast!

Downtown

Yesterday was the second to last Fun Summer Friday we have.  All 3 kids are headed back to school pretty quickly.  We move Bradley out this Wednesday.  Matthew has had percussion practice every week all through the summer and now band camp is in full swing.  Caitlyn is the only one who doesn't have stuff going on already.

I had hoped that all 3 kids would be available to go downtown Chicago yesterday but it wasn't meant to be.  Matthew's band camp schedule was inconvenient at best.  He went from 8am - noon and 4:30pm - 9pm.  What a way to kill the day.  Since Bradley was working at church, I bribed him in to picking Matthew up at noon and dropping him back off at 4:30 so I could take Caitlyn downtown.

After we dropped Matthew off at school, we headed a few blocks away to the train station.  We met Kelly, Sally, Sara & Ava there and we all took the train into the city together.  On the train ride in, we decided it would be fun to go up to the Skydeck at the Willis Tower (pronounced Sears Tower as my kids would say).  Poor Caitlyn was scared to death.  She is afraid of heights.  Always has been.  She cannot walk on a second floor and look over a railing without backing away.  I told her that she did not have to go up, that I would wait down on the ground with her if she wanted but she allowed peer pressure to win and she went with.

Turns out, she loved it!  In an "I'm terrified but this is cool sort of way".  She even went out on the plexiglass overhang thing!

Notice she is still hanging on the the wall though

Kelly, Sally & Ava were in the overhang next to us

 After we got our fill of looking around on the beautiful, clear day, we hopped on a water taxi and took it down the Chicago River to Navy Pier.

Sally, Kelly and I on the water taxi

Ava, Caitlyn & Sara

We had a quick lunch at Navy Pier and headed to the beach there to watch the Chicago Air Show practice.  It was a gorgeous day but I wasn't wowed by the air show this year.  Normally, The Blue Angels perform but since their performances have been suspended because of budget issues, there was a big lack of wow.

It didn't have much effect on our fun at the beach though.

Chicago is a beautiful city in the Summer!

Someone Slap Me...

For even entertaining the thought.  For entertaining it for even a second.  Just slap me.

I've been working on flights, hotels and a car for our trip to run Donna in February.  I started thinking about how much I enjoyed last year.  I was talking to Mark about it and was asking him if he plans to run the half or the full.  He said the full and for a split second, I considered it.

What is wrong with me?  I don't have the time to train for it.  I don't have the desire to train for it either.  Why then does it bug me so much to think of training for "only" the half.  Good grief.  Someone slap me.

Apparently, this year off of running distance is messing with my head.

Happy Birthday Matthew!!

My Matthew turned 15 today!  I just love that kid so much! 

 

 

Drivers Ed, here we come!!

The Red Run 5k

This morning, bright and early (think 4:30am), Caitlyn and I got up and headed almost an hour away to run a 5k.  The proceeds from the race were to benefit organizations fighting human trafficking domestically.

I wasn't so excited about traveling so far for a 5k but the cause alone made it worth it to me.  I ended up very pleasantly surprised with the race and I was extremely happy I went.  The race was smaller (under 400 finishers) but was well laid out and organized.  The course started and finished at a park but wound through beautiful neighborhoods in the middle.  It reminded me a bit of Donna in that respect.  People had set up chairs in their driveways and were cheering and thanking us for running for such a great cause.

Caitlyn has not run all summer so she struggled a bit but I was able to keep her motivated to keep up our 1:1 through the entire race.  She took off on me in the last 300 yards that little stinker.  They had 2 water stops which is more than I am used to for a 5k and the course was never crowded.  The finish area had simple post-race refreshments but plenty for everyone, even the walkers.  There were also several vendors there selling goods.  The proceeds from those also went to benefit local organizations fighting for the same cause.

Turns out we had a small contingent from church running and walking the race so we were able to snap a quick picture after the race.

This is certainly a race I would drive all the way up there to run again.  Mainly because of what it represented.

Countdown to College

It's coming so quickly!  2 weeks from today, we move Bradley into his dorm.  Today was the day one of his good friends left for the Navy.

He's growing up and looking forward to living his own life as an adult.  I'm feeling torn.  On the one hand, I am so excited for this new phase of life.  I pretty much always get excited when a new phase begins.  On the other hand, I am so sad to let my first-born baby go.

I know it's perfectly normal and it's a necessary part of life and today I'm more excited than sad.  Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

Yesterday?  I was sad.  Not because he was leaving but because I paid the bill for his first semester, lol!

It's not going to be the same around here with him gone.  Love you Bradley!!

Defend The Weak & The Fatherless...

Today's service at church was powerful.

Stella's Voice was there to talk about what they do.  If you are like me and have never heard of Stella's Voice, you can read more about them Here.

Here is an excerpt from their website:

Stella's Voice is the last cry that remains from an orphaned girl who was sold, used, and dead from AIDS by 19. There is no one in the entire world more vulnerable to sex trafficking than orphaned girls; no one knows or cares when they disappear into the night. And there is no country that fuels the engine of sex trafficking in all of Europe more than Moldova.

Stella's Voice provides a home for poverty-ridden girls in Moldova after they are aged out of the state-run orphanages at the young age of 16. The ministry also has the only Christian orphanage in the country, as well as a separate home for boys.

Stella's Voice is more than a cry for help and rescue. It is also a beacon of help and hope, making an eternal difference for desperate children.

Oh my goodness.  I could not stop the flow of tears that streamed down my face as I sat there.  There were a group of girls present who live at Stella's House in Moldova.  They are all orphans who's lives have been changed.  Some of them told their stories.  They also told stories of their friends who were not as fortunate as they were.  Stories of friends being sold into sex trafficking.  Heart-wrenching.  Unfathomable in my mind.

I posted this a few months ago and it sprang to mind as I sat there today:

God is changing my heart very slowly, I can see it.  I feel like I need to quit sitting here thinking about it and go do something.  Am I being moved to adopt?  No.  I'm pretty confident that's not it.  I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be doing but the more time that passes, the more confident that I am that I should do something. 

For now?  I'm just going to keep praying and asking God to show me what he wants me to do.
 
I feel like that something involves helping orphans.  I have no idea what it looks like but Mark and I have talked of little else today.  We need to do something, we just don't know what it is yet.  I cannot sit here in my comfortable, blessed life and do nothing while innocent children are sold into slavery for sex.

For now?  We'll be supporting Stella's Voice and we're going to keep praying and asking God if there is more that he wants us to do.

Fun Summer Fridays

I've been back working part time for over 3 years now and I am still struggling to figure out how to balance Summer and the kids.  I hate that I have to leave them at home every day while I go to work.  Yes, I only work part time and no, they do not mind sleeping in and lazing around.  Doesn't matter, I still suffer from "Mom guilt".

Don't get me wrong.  I love my job.  I love that during the school year, I am home to get the kids off to school and I'm home to greet them after school.  Working while they are at school is great and doesn't really affect them.  Summer is a little different.  My schedule doesn't change all that much, even though they are home.

This summer, I am making an extra effort to make sure they get out and have fun.  For starters, we joined a pool that is about 1/4 mile from our house.  They can ride their bikes there and swim with their friends while I am at work.  They have been loving that!

Since I only work Mon - Thurs most weeks, I have coined Friday as "Fun Summer Fridays".  I have been trying to go and do something fun every Friday.

The month of June was a bust.  Between our vacation and my trip to Vietnam, there were no Fridays available to go and do.  Don't feel too bad for the kids though, their 11 day vacation was plenty of fun and certainly covered more than the 4 Fridays they would have had.

The first Friday in July ended up being more of an errand day since Mark was off and we had stuff to do.  That means we've only had 2 Fridays (so far) that actually qualify as "Fun Summer Fridays".

Last Friday, we utilized our season passes and headed to Six Flags Great America.  We were there for the rope drop, did a couple of rides, then spent the rest of our time there at the water park.  Nice.

This Friday, we stayed a little closer to home and went out to lunch, went miniature golfing, headed to Haagen Daz for some ice cream and went to play on the paddle boats at The Riverwalk in Naperville. 

Picking a day where the heat index was in the upper 90's may not have been the best idea but we had fun anyway.

I've got some fun Fridays planned over the next few weeks.  I may deal with "Mom guilt" Monday - Thursday but Fridays are pure fun!

Weight Watchers it is!

I've been a bad blogger since I returned from Vietnam.  The month of June was so busy and I have been scrambling to catch up.

Nope, I'm still not there.  Please don't tell my husband how far behind I am on balancing our checkbook.

Anyway, getting stuck in that sniper bunker in Vietnam was certain confirmation that I have failed miserably at losing the weight I said I would.  If you missed that story, you can read about it here.  I knew when I got home I needed to take it seriously so I signed up (again) for Weight Watchers Online.

Signing up 2 days before the 4th of July wasn't a smart idea and I got off to a dismal start.  Things are looking up now and I can finally say that I am tracking regularly and am making progress at getting into better eating habits (again).

I will freely admit that staying within my points is near impossible for me.  I'm just always hungrier than that. 

I'm going to have to start running again to earn enough activity points to eat.  Speaking of running, I think I should head out for one now...

Happy 4th of July!

I hope everyone is taking time to be thankful for our freedom this Independence Day.  Having visited a Communist country recently, I was reminded that I take some of our freedoms for granted.  I appreciate even more now, the sacrifice that our military families have made/are making.

We started the celebration a day early on July 3rd.  Our tradition for the last 14 years (maybe more?) or so is to head to the polo field in Oak Brook to watch the fireworks.  We always have a great time relaxing, socializing, munching & playing while we wait for the show to start.  There is a core group of friends who have been going since the beginning but over the years, many others have joined in on the fun.

Our good friends David & Kelly

This morning, I finally got to sleep in for the first time since I got home from Vietnam.  I probably would have slept longer had a neighbors lawn mower not woken me up. 

This afternoon, Matthew marched in the parade with the Downers Grove North Marching Band.  It was his first performance with the band and his first parade.  He played the cymbals and came home with a few battle scars.  Bruises on his arm where the skin was pinched when he crashed the cymbals.  I hear that is common with new marching band percussionists and he seems to be wearing his bruises with pride.

Kelly got a great picture of him marching!

Day 7 - Our Last Day Here

Today ended up as a free day so we took the opportunity to sleep in.  Sleeping in for me was getting about an hour more than I have the rest of the week but it was nice to not wake up to an alarm.

We got ready and had a leisurely breakfast and had an opportunity to say farewell to Janice & Quang who are the Awana Missionaries for Vietnam.  They told us that all of the churches that were represented yesterday are interested in starting Awana Clubs.  It was exciting and encouraging news!  There are many logistics to work out and who knows how many clubs will actually start as a result of the meetings yesterday but the response was overwhelmingly positive and they were ecstatic.  They were such wonderful hosts and I loved getting to know them. 

We hopped in a cab and headed to the Reunification Palace.  We saw this lady as we were on our way and I had to snap a picture.  Amidst all of the traffic here, you occasionally see people riding bikes.  I always fear for their safety but they never seem all that concerned.  Just moments before I snapped this picture, she was riding with one hand and texting on her phone with the other.  It just cracks me up to see the traditional with the modern.  

I love the traditional hats.  I so badly wanted to buy one but there is no way to get it home without ruining it and I'm pretty sure I would never wear it at home anyway.  Rick told me to wear it on the plane...


Here is your history lesson for the day.  If you are like me, you have no idea why the Reunification Palace is a landmark.  It was the site of the end of the Vietnam War during the fall of Saigon when a North Vietnamese Army tank crashed through its gates.

This is the helipad on the top of the Palace where civilians were airlifted out before the fall of Saigon.

We were also able to tour the basement where the war rooms, radio rooms, map rooms and such were.

This was the map room

This was called the teletypewriter room

 After the tour, we decided we have seen everything we wanted to see so we headed back to the hotel to relax and pack.  Our flight leaves at 5am tomorrow morning to head home.

I never did get a picture of the stinky fruit that was mostly to blame for how bad the marketplace smells.  It is only one of many smells there including fish and other foods, people, mothballs.  Add in the heat and the durian and you have a smell worse than anything I've ever smelled before. 

One last thing about Vietnam.  I love how inexpensive most things are here.  Entry to the palace was 30,000D which is about $1.40 USD.  For much of the trip, I carried around several million Dong.  It felt nice to be a millionaire for a while!

Day 6 - Includes My Top 10 Things That Surprised Me In Vietnam

Today was the day that pastors were coming from all over Vietnam to learn about Awana.  The hope is that many of them will start Awana Clubs in their churches.  I thought they were expecting 60 people but this morning I was told they were expecting 100.  When we arrived, we learned that 140 people had shown up.  There were 2 people from each church so the group represented about 70 churches from all over Vietnam.

We heard from our very own Kerry who talked about the importance of Children's Ministry.

Kerry and our new friend Janice interpreting for her

Then we heard from Mike (from Awana) who talked about the 4 to 14 Window movement.

Mike with Janice's husband Quang interpreting

We heard from a couple of other people but it was in Vietnamese.  While I could not tell you what was said specifically, I can tell you that it was so great to see and hear a pastor talk to his fellow pastors and tell them how great Awana is.  I think in this culture, that goes a long way.

It was a long day and we're praying it will be fruitful.

Tomorrow is our last day here.  It turns out that we are free for the day.  I have no idea what we plan to do other than sleep in.  We are all a little exhausted so a good nights rest sounds wonderful!

Part 2 of this post is my top 10 list of things that surprised me most about Vietnam.  I'm going to do this in countdown form:

10.  The air quality is really poor.  I admit I never gave it much thought but it still surprised me.  We hardly had rain this week which would normally wash it out of the air so maybe it was worse than normal?  Who knows...

9.  They don't use napkins like we do.  None of the Vietnamese restaurants we went to had napkins.  They had individualized wet wipes but no napkins.  For those who drop food on themselves when they eat, this could present a problem.  Also, when we ate lunch at the celebration and seminar, they had a box of Kleenex type tissue to use as a napkin.  Imagine having sticky fingers from eating fruit and trying to use a thin flimsy Kleenex to wipe them off.  All it did was stick to my fingers and rip apart.  I never realized how much I like napkins.  Also, I had nothing to wipe up my Pepsi that overflowed when I poured it into my cup.  Yep, I sort of missed napkins at those places.  Fortunately, the hotel we stayed at is very Western and they had napkins.

8.  No one wears gym shoes!  No one.  95% of everyone we saw wore either flip flops or sandals.  The other 5% were women in heels.  I have no concrete reasons why but I have a few theories.  Considering many shoes are manufactured here, I think that's sort of ironic.

7.  Face Masks are designer items.  Many people wear face masks as they ride their scooters.  We saw a large variety of face masks this week.  It's an entire product market that doesn't exist in the US.  We believe they wear the face masks partly because of the air quality but I'm sure there's more to it than just that.

6.  Considering English is taught in the upper grades, hardly anyone speaks even a few words.  Even in tourist type places like the hotel, it can be difficult to find someone who speaks even a little English.  The marketplace was the big exception.  They know how to say certain phrases and they know the currency conversion rate.

5.  Cab drivers in the city do not know where many things are.  Including many famous landmarks.  This shocks me.  To make matters worse, they don't speak any English so communication is near impossible.  This made for a few interesting cab rides this week.

4.  The French influence in Vietnam.  I had no idea there was any French influence so finding so many breads and baked goods here was a complete surprise.  Who knew?  Meals were often served with bread which did not match up with what I've heard about Asian food.  I must say, I enjoyed the donuts at the breakfast buffet each day.  No complaints here!

This was a portion of what was served at breakfast each day.

3.  Everyone has a cell phone!  I mean everyone!  This was a complete surprise and it cracks me up.  People are people no matter where you go.  They are just like we are when it comes to their cell phones.  We saw so many people texting and driving their scooters it was scary but driving is another topic so I'll stop there.

2.  The types of things that can be carried on a scooter!  I mentioned it a few days ago but every day I see something else being carried that makes me laugh and shake my head all over again.  Who knew you could carry a refrigerator/freezer on the back of a motorcycle?  We saw carpet rolls, assorted animals, up to 5 people, desks & chairs, ladders, 5 gallon water jugs (not just 1, we're talking like 10), cases and cases of beer and much, much more.  It really is a hoot to watch.

And, the number 1 thing that surprised me most in Vietnam is...

THE TRAFFIC!   I could go on and on about it.  I've never seen anything so crazy and unorganized and dangerous in my life but it is how they do it.  I have a very tame clip that does not begin to describe the traffic but I'm posting it anyway since it's the only visual I have.

I really don't have the words to do it justice and I'm pretty sure that I could never get totally used to it.  I'm not sure I could ever drive in it.  I had to bury my head and not watch many, many times this week.  Rick says he wants to try to drive in it.  I want to be there with a camera when he does.

I cannot believe how quickly this week has gone by.  We have seen, heard, smelled, tasted and experienced so much this week.  This blog doesn't touch half of it. 

Day 5 - Party Time!!

Today was the 1 year celebration of Awana in Vietnam.  Most of the churches that started Awana Clubs this year were represented today.  We headed back to the same church we were at yesterday and spent the morning hearing stories of the past year.

I could not possibly convey everything we heard today but there were a few stories that stuck with me.  For instance, we heard about 1 boy who traveled 14km on his own, just to come to his Awana Club.  We heard about children who are persecuted by their families for their faith.  Children who refused to bow down to the family idols.  We also heard from Awana leaders about how their lives have been unexpectedly changed by working with the children. 

There were stories of transformation and there were stories of trials and tribulations. It was eye opening, encouraging and heart breaking all mixed together.

After the testimonies, the Awana missionaries handed out certificates, pictures were taken, lunch was served and then it was time for cake. 

This is the team of first ever Awana leaders in Vietnam

They presented The Compass Church this awesome map of Vietnam with the location of the Awana Clubs marked on it

I have to say, I never realized there was such a French influence in Vietnam but I'm glad for it.  That is one of the things on my list of things that surprised me here.  The cake was yummy!

After the celebration ended, we headed back to the hotel and had about 3 hours to relax before we met for dinner with the Awana Missionaries. 

I'm still working on my list of things about Vietnam that surprised me.  The French influence is being added to that list.

Tomorrow we will be meeting with about 60 pastors from around Vietnam who are interested in learning about Awana.  These may be the church leaders of the clubs started here in year 2.

Day 4 - No, I Can't Think Up Some Witty Title

This morning, we left the hotel about 7am for the church that the Awana training/celebration was taking place at.  It was about 1 hour away.

We took a little tour of the church before the training began.  Some things were very much like an American church and some things were very different.  The one visual that stuck with me and made me smile big was the Awana game circle.  The church is a very skinny church and is 5 stories tall.  The 6th floor is like an attic with a rooftop patio.  They told us that no one ever came out there or used the space because it was so high and there were no railings up there.  After Awana started in this church last year, they saw such value in the program that they raised funds to cover the patio with a roof and installed railings and they use that space for Awana now.

The game circle is small by our standards.  We were having fun thinking of all the games that would be easier to play with the smaller circle.  The 4 way tug wins in my book!

The training started off with singing which was awesome, even if we didn't understand what they were saying.  We did recognize one of the tunes as a Michael W Smith song so we sang along in English.  It was a great way to begin the day.

This was a picture of the sanctuary where the training was held

We had sessions on Excellence and Leadership.  The first session was strictly in Vietnamese so I couldn't tell you what was said but the Leadership session was taught by our very own Rick Pierson. 

Rick and his translator

Now Rick has told me that his image is copyrighted and I have to pay him to use it so no one tell him it's in here.  He'll never know!

Have no fear Compass peeps.  We are compiling a list of Rickisms.  I'm not sure they would be funny to anyone else so I may not publish them here but if you ever need a good laugh, I would be happy to share!

After the training, we headed to another church plant of The Compass Church.  They hold weekly English classes for young people and we went to help them practice their English.  It was a lot of fun getting to meet and interact with them.  Teaching these young people English opens the doors for the church to share the Gospel with them.

I am trying to put together a list of things that surprised me about Vietnam.  Today's giggle is specifically for Bradley.  They need cable management classes in Saigon.

Tomorrow is the 1 year celebration of Awana in Vietnam.  We will be heading back to the church we were at today to hear stories of the past year and celebrate with the leaders of the 15 clubs.  I'm really excited about this after getting a small glimpse of some of what we will hear.