Our New Challenge

This past weekend, was a 5K to honor our sweet Julia. If you've been reading for a while, you know that Julia has been memorialized through several different running events.

A Run to Remember

Why running? Our motto has been "I run for those who can't." Since Julia was never able to walk, we choose to use our legs in honor of her.

To read how the 5K went, read Cami's recap here

After the race, Cami asked if I thought she would be able to run a half-marathon. A thing about Camille is that she has so much of her mother and me in her, that she is stubborn enough to do something as ridiculous as running 13.1 miles.

Cue my mind into a rapid line of thinking. The morning of the race, I was on standby in case someone didn't show up to help direct, register... wherever they needed help. A great thing about a great cause like, Make A Wish, everyone was there and eager beavers to help. So, I was there for moral support; free to walk or run. Check out this picture of the start line:

See that? No? Let me zoom in:

There I am. Watching. It is true that it was a monsoon in the hour leading up to the race and having both kids in the stroller may have given a new sense of "end" to the finish line. However, the underlying truth of this picture was tough for me to swallow. I ran my last race when I was 6 weeks pregnant. Due to a very complicated pregnancy that had several months of rest time after delivery, I only ran one time since that race. While not completely sedentary, I haven't been nearly as active as my pre-pregnancy self. 

Cami told me about the race she was considering. The Air Force half-marathon is on Sept 19 (Just a few days after, what would have been Julia's 19th birthday). It is also two days after Brooks' first birthday and the anniversary of me beating HELLP syndrome. Then I thought "You have nearly died in childbirth twice. Surely to goodness, you can be the comeback kid to celebrate these two events with your mini-me!" Then I thought, "You're an idiot! You haven't run in over a year!" While both of these are true, Lee and I sat down and looked at training plans and decided that I could do it. It was definitely not going to be a race built on a solid base of months of regular running (As recommended), but it will be a race built on endurance of tougher things overcome.

I texted Cam that I would do it. (Then proceeded to say "That darn Millie" multiple times over the next day.)

Yesterday, I laced up my Mizunos, put on my Garmin (Tried to put on my iPod mini, but it was dead. Like, so dead that 30 minutes of charge still didn't enable it to function to go for a run. Have I mentioned how long it has been since I last ran?!), and went for a run. And today, I did the same. My body hurts in ways it hasn't in a long time. But my head is clear and excited. (And, yes, I am that crazy girl raising hands in worship as I run.)

We want to open it up to everyone to join us in Ohio in 12 weeks! If you ran the 5K last weekend, you already have the base ready to roll with a training plan. Here is the plan that Cami and I will be following to be ready: Hal Higdon's Novice 1. While this plan is Hal's most basic plan, I promise you, you will be prepared. It's a 12 week plan and we are 12 weeks out!  We are talking about getting Team Julia dry-fit shirts made for the event. We really hope you join us!

There is nothing like setting a goal and achieving it. For my most immediate goal, I will attempt to stand up.

Let the training begin!

Summer of 7: Food Addition

This past March, Lee went on a trip to visit our dearest friends, the Reeds in Bolivia. Seeing that my TV-watching, laundry-folding, talk-to buddy was going to be gone for a while, I decided to read a book. A rare occurrence since having babies.) I had seen on Instagram about a book called "7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess" by Jen Hatmaker. This book is a story of a woman who felt convicted by our Western lifestyle of excess. She was in the process of adopting two children from Ethiopia and had taken in refugees displaced from Hurricane Katrina. When she heard a little boy refer to them as "rich", she was taken back.

After she identified the excess, she decided to do a fast in one of the areas a month to see what God had to say about how she was choosing those things to fill her instead of what Scripture said about them. The areas chosen were:

Food

Clothing

Spending

Media

Waste

Possessions

Stress

Whew. I feel certain that all of us know that we have/do/want entirely too much of these things. 

While this book was rocking my world in the USA, I would email Lee excerpts from the book. One day, a certain passage had me sobbing during my lunch break on the same day that Lee was visiting a special needs orphanage in Bolivia. We decided that these issues had all taken a front seat in our lives while things like justice and mercy (You know, the things Jesus talked about all the time) had been something we thought of in a small fashion and glossed over. 

So, our Youth Adult Team (We call ourselves "The YAT pack") decided to study this book this summer with our middle school and high schoolers and our college kids. We teach on the item one week, choose how we will observe a fast from the given item, and do a service project around it for the week. 

I am going to share with you all a weekly account of how I/we (Lee unfortunately becomes an object lesson on the blog sometimes) did and what the Lord showed to us through the fast. (Dear students in my college Sunday School class: I know I shared this with you all during our time together. Forgive me.)

We just completed our first week: Food.

If you follow me on on Instagram or on Facebook, you KNOW my obsession with food. I love to cook it, watch it, and especially EAT IT! For our fast this week, I chose to give up sugar in all forms, meat, and all processed foods. (Lee added coffee. Seeing how I still have to nurse the baby sometimes at night, I chose to not hate anyone and kept my coffee flowing. Don't worry, I take it black.)

The week proved to be differently difficult than I anticipated. Generally, I cook with a "whole foods" mentality. (I don't buy pizza crust, I make it, etc) But I was surprised by the amount of sugar was in some of the things I ate. (Jif, why must you put sugar in my favorite peanut butter?!) 

I thought I would miss meat the most, but it turned out, I missed it the least of all of the things I gave up. Due to its absence, I experimented with foods we had never had before (Here's looking at you, eggplant. We love you.) While, my eggs felt naked without its bestie, bacon, it wasn't terribly painful.

Processed foods were things I swore I didn't eat much of. And while it's true, I don't, I still ate much more than I thought I did. I found myself wanting a filler of chips. Or on mornings when the kids wake up ready to roll and Mama isn't ready to roll, I would grab some Belvita crackers and eat them while feeding Brooks. "I'll just have a grilled cheese!" Until I read the package on American "Cheese" to find out it is a "Cheese-like product". Bleh. One day, I tried a salad recipe that was a complete bust. Few things frustrate me like having a recipe tank. Lee needed to get back to work and I was nearing HANGRY. I really just wanted to grab a bag of Cheetos and call it good. I'm not lying when I tell you that I was grouchy for the rest of the day. Proud moments. 

Sugar. Oh, my sweetest friend (see what I did there?). You have been with me through it all. You were so present with me that I didn't even notice you were everywhere. This darn stuff is in EVERYTHING! (No wonder I lost 3 lbs in a week by giving it up.) To say that I missed it is a complete understatement. I am embarrassed to say, that at certain times of the day, I literally felt lost without it. Lost. My worst times were afternoon rest time for the kids (aka, "when mommy watches "The Chew" and folds laundry), and when Lee and I watch DVR'ed shows together at night. ("Which do we want tonight? Ice cream? or Oreos and milk?) I tried to fill my cravings with a lot of fruit. It somewhat worked, but was obvious that I had quite a habit going that really needed kicked. Even when I thought I wasn't eating much sugar (I mean, I don't drink any cokes, take my coffee black, don't bake a ton...), I was still consuming an incredible amount of it. Out of the 3 fasts, this was my toughest and probably the one I will become the most conscious of.  

The Take Away

We live in a culture that chooses to fill our gas tanks with apple sauce and then get upset when the car isn't running the way it should. In the Bible study, we studied Levitical  laws that detail the "What to eat" and "what not to eat" that are so frequently dismissed by "We no longer live under the law" and fail to realize that things as prescribed by the Law was mostly to keep the people free from disease and plagues. Enter the New Testament and we dismiss everything from the Old Testament and count it all joy to do everything in moderation. However there lies the problem. We haven't been doing food in moderation. Our culture is one that has been so blessed that we have become entitled to having as much of it as possible. I cut ONE ingredient and felt as though my arm had been cut off.

(Mind you, an ingredient that has ZERO nutritional value and arguably does more damage to our bodies than any other ingredient in our foods.)

And while there are starving people all over the world, we live in a country starving ourselves. We don't recognize it, because we are also the country with the highest rate of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. But our bodies are starving from the nutrition that God created for us. For our bodies to function the best. To be good stewards of what we've been given. 

We are so careful to make loads of rules of what we do and don't do in the church building, built by men, that money can repair. We aren't as careful with our bodily temples, made by God, in His image that money can't repair. 

The Lord has used this chapter to really shake me up. I am just as guilty as the next to deny myself nothing and eat as I desire. I need my car to run, therefore I need to put oil in the engine (I have no idea if that's right; I'm a Spanish teacher, not a mechanic), gas in the tank, and run it occasionally for it to reach its best potential.

My college students shared stories of heartbreak as they cleaned our their refrigerators and threw away food that they never touched. Lee reflects often on a time when he was on a mission trip in India, when he was told "We can feed our entire nation out of your garbage cans." This week, my favorite substance, food, was called on the carpet and my toes are sore from being stepped on.

Now, to start to take care of that car. 

It Has Been a Whole Deal, Y'all.

This weekend, I was at Camp Cowen (Woot!) when a counselor told me, "You should start a blog!". I am a blog neglector. It is true. My last post was a week before I returned from maternity leave and have basically been in the fire ever since. Seeing that I can't catch you up on every detail, I have decided to go through my phone and let my photo stream tell you about the last 6 months of my life.

One snowy evening, Nina was running into dinner and fell. As she was falling, her mouth caught the corner of a shelf and popped out 4 teeth. She was a trooper even though I still have PTSD.

Lee's dad was appointed a state senator by the WV governor. Lee and I then peppered his office with post-it's. It's what we do. 

My little who is never sick got the flu. The rest of us dodged that bullet. 

Brooks started cereal. Food. Is. His. Favorite. 

Valentine's Day changes when you're a parent. Lee nor I have ever been huge Valentine's fans. This year, we did a soup and movie night. Obviously Brooks enjoyed himself. 

Lee went to Bolivia to visit our sweet friends, the Reeds. They're coming Stateside for a year soon. We can't wait!

Boso 4 at Easter. I can't even. 

We took a family trip to NC to visit. I died when I saw how much like a little boy Brooks looks here. Can someone tell me when that happened??

We get to be outside all the time now that Snowmagedon 2015 is over! (Even though I'm currently still in school because of those blasted snow days.)

Nina illustrates her parents' attitudes by drinking her "coffee" straight from the pot. (And she knows that Keurigs don't support the high volume of caffeine that must be consumed. Drip pots: we won't leave you now.)

Nina graduated from preschool. (Even though she will return next year since she's my August 31 baby)

Lee taught me how to use a saws-all to build a fence out of deconstructed pallets. (He did the building. I did the deconstructing. It works better that way.)

He's handsome and handy. Red Green has nothing on him. 

The kiddos are finally able to bathe together. So much faster to give baths. I die. 

My parents have sold the house they have lived in since I was 1. So excited for them to have a new place that doesn't require the steps to do laundry! 

Lee and I are beginning to plan our 10 year anniversary getaway for next year. I determined to look better for that than I did the honeymoon. Then I realized that we're going to the beach next month and I realized how true this currently is: 

Happy summer, y'all!