I CAN'T WAIT!!!

The Largest 10K in the nation!

40,000 runners and walkers!

2 Towns and the 2.5 mile bridge that joins them!

An awesome condo at the beach!

Amazing college and grad school friends!

Memories to last a lifetime!

I CAN'T WAIT!!!

Keep Running

I have so many things that I want to say! God is teaching me amazing things during this Awakening Challenge! But I don't have the time, so I'll share just one short (well atleast the Jen version of short!) story.

On Saturday morning, I found myself late to a 5K race. (Which is a story in and of itself, that also taught me a lesson, but I'm keeping it short-remember?) The roads to the parking garage at the start were closed. But at this point in my morning, I was determined to run this thing! So I parked in a nearby neighborhood and ran to the start. When I finally reached the start line it was 4 minutes after the gun had gone off and I was already exhausted, yet I technically had not even begun the race.

But I saw some friends who encouraged me to keep running and try to catch up with another friend who was running the race. I decided I could do it or at least try! So I kept on running and made it my goal to catch up with her. And after a few minutes I caught up with the walkers. At that point I figured I might as well take off my jacket, put on my iPod, and pin on my number cause apparently I had joined the race! I did and I kept on running. After about 10 minutes, I caught up to the joggers, and I kept running. After about 15 minutes, I started wondering if there was going to be water on this course, cause I had really already ran a 5K and not exactly at a steady pace! Finally there was water at 2 miles; I enjoyed every drop and kept on running. I never did catch my friend, I finished with a less than stellar time, and I felt more exhausted than I typically do after a 10K, but I did it! I finished the race, even though I started out behind.

And when I finished, I thought "Sometimes life feels like that race!". Right now I'm totally overwhelmed with lesson plans, (half) marathon training, laundry, tutoring, grad class reading and summaries, house projects, Jes' birthday present, research stuff for Texas, and many other things that I am WAY BEHIND ON! But I think I've slowed my pace. I've gotten behind and I've given up and decided it's impossible to catch up to where I want to be.

But I didn't do that on Saturday. When I reached the start line, I started off alone, but determined thanks to my friends' encouragement. And about halfway through the race when I realized I would never catch up to my friend, I set a new goal: to do the best I could given the circumstances. I knew it wouldn't be my best time, and I knew I could have done better. But I decided that it didn't matter, I wasn't going to give up. I was going to keep running.

Right now I feel like I'm at the start line alone and I'm way behind the race. But I'm not alone and finishing isn't impossible. I just have to adjust my goals. And I have to keep running. And so blogging will wait, while I strive to catch up on these things during this 3 day work week!

So here I go on a different kind of race. I'm sprinting ahead to finish as much as I can so I can actually enjoy my long weekend!

The finish line will be awesome, no matter how exhausted I am when I reach it! Thursday morning (after my haircut-yay!) I'm heading to Charleston for birthday celebrations with my Dad, Kathy, Jes, and Raelynn. I CANNOT WAIT! :)

My American Birthday! :)

I know...you are thinking i must be crazy...(what else is new!?)

See I was born in Geissen, Hessen, West Germany on January 21, 1982 at 1:50AM. But here in The States it was still the 2oth! I recently (no seriously...I just realized this a few months ago!) had this epiphany. And I have decided that as an American, I have the right to celebrate my American Birthday! :)

And so..."Happy American Birthday to Me!" :)

I have no real plans for my (German-haha) birthday tomorrow or this weekend. But next weekend when I get to see Jes in South Carolina we'll definitely do some cake and ice cream (promise, we'll find lactose-free and put lots o' chocolate syrup on it, sister!). I sort of feel like since it's OUR birthday, we can't really celebrate until we are together. And since we haven't been together ON our birthday in years, it's never really a big celebration day for me.

Well, except last year! Remember this! Pretty much the best birthday present ever...even if I did buy it for myself! :) Yep, I'm pretty sure that might be my most memorable birthday ever.

I Tried to Love, then Hate THE SHACK

See I heard amazing things about it. I saw it on bestseller racks. I watched interviews with readers who said they had never read anything like it. And Christian acquaintances told me how it changed their lives.

So in June of last year when I found myself in an airport with nothing to read. (So unlike me by the way....but I was in the middle of putting everything I owned into storage, when my sister called to say that she was having her baby-a month early! And in my rush to make it to Va in time, I seemed to have forgotten my usual plane companion.) And so I picked up an overpriced copy of The Shack in an airport bookstore.

And I started reading, prepared to love it. And I have to admit...I didn't. It was a such a disappointment that I struggled to continue reading! I found it to be terribly written, the theology to be way off base, and to be honest, way too much like a weird version of A Christmas Carol. Sorry if you hate me for this blunt analysis, but it's how I feel. (And don't stop reading, cause I just might come around.)

In the beginning, the story seemed interesting and the slightest bit suspenseful even though the story is somewhat spoiled by the description on the back cover and the excessive amount of foreshadowing. Finally, after what feels like an eternity, he finds God in the shack on page 80. And that's where the book begins to change. Not only in the plot, but also in the writing style. I should also interject at this point that if you are going to sway me to enjoy a piece of fantasy fiction, it's going to have to be amazing. (So earning my approval was admittedly going to be a challenging task for this author). And well...it just wasn't (amazing). I will say that the author and his collaborators are skilled in the use of imagery, but that is where the talent (in my opinion) ends.

I read it off and on during July. (Very unlike me, I am a voracious reader and generally finish a book in less than a week.) I felt like the story was droning on and on. Okay,let's be honest; I didn't just feel that way...it took the guy 250 pages to tell about 2 days of events! Seriously!? So about half-way through, I decided I hated it. And so in another move quite unlike my usually habits, I put it down.

At the end of the summer my friend (who isn't a Christian) asked what I thought, and I went off on a rant about how much I hated it (prepared for her to echo my thoughts)! And then she proceeded to tell me about how it changed her life! (God smack!) She explained that she finally felt that she understood the Trinity. (Again!)

I had to find out more about this book that touched her life and well, I am not a quitter, so I resolved to finish the book! I have picked it up a few times during independent reading time in my classroom since August and FINALLY finished today. And well, I have to admit something (other than the fact that I let my students read for 30 minutes instead of their usual 15, just so that I could finish!)....I neither loved nor hated The Shack. (In fact the ending made it much more enjoyable)

So that's it. It's not an amazing piece of literature, it isn't the most theological sound book, and it certainly didn't change my life. But it does attempt something, I'm not sure anyone has tried to do. And it has changed the life of others. And for those reasons I applaud the efforts of this author and challenge you to try to _______ The Shack. (And if you decide to accept this challenge, let me know what you decide!)

A Fresh Start

I am currently fasting from Facebook for 21 days. (Though this automatically uploads there: which is slightly ironic!) My church does a 3 week fast each year in January in order to start the year out right. I don't think it's the smartest idea for me to do a food fast, but last week during church God whispered something about fasting Facebook. (I tried to ignore it...but then he got louder...) :)

Stovall (my pastor) was explaining that fasting is how we disconnect from the world and prayer is how we connect with God. And I knew that the best way for me to disconnect from the world was to unplug from Facebook. So no God didn't actually audibly tell me that Facebook was evil or anything, he just convicted me to challenge myself to disconnect from the world in this particular way for a few weeks. (So here I am procrastinating on my blog instead!)

I'm also reading Christine Caine's Stop Acting like a Christian: Just BE One for the 21 days of the fast (and 10 after, since it's a 31 day devotional). It's AWESOME! :) She is such an amazing writer, speaker, Christian, etc. Love her! And the A21 Campaign...I really hope that one day I will be able to go to Greece with my church...but back to my point...

As I sat down to think about New Year's Resolutions, I tried to recall my previous promises. (Disclaimer: I realized the New Year is was technically a week and a half ago, but I hadn't gotten around to it yet!) And I found (after reading 6 years of Xanga and blogs!) that I have never ("publicly") written about my resolutions! How odd. Anyway, none of them are earth shattering and most are repeats of previous years, but they are...

My 2010 New Years Resolutions: (in no particular order)
1-Spiritual: Read my bible more! Spend time with God every day!
2-Relaxation: Read all of the unread books on my shelves! Go to the beach more!
3-Art: Painting, Drawing,and Photography(I miss my artistic self! It's been a while!)
4-Fitness: Don't stop running! :) Dance! :) Ride my bike! :)
5-Health: Cook more! Eat 3 meals every day! Get sleep!
6-Social: Don't be such an introvert! Meet people and don't be a hermit!
7-Professional: Pray for my students every morning! Use my planning time wisely!
8-Other: Write more! (That includes this blog that I've been neglecting!) and Try new things!

I think 2 & 3 are the only new ones...and I'm excited about both! Anyway, I just thought I should get my thoughts down "on paper". So there they are. Maybe now I can come back to this post in a year and see how I did...and you (yes, you!) can hold me accountable!

Random comments: After reading 6 years of posts...I can't believe the road God has taken me on. Really when I think of all that He has delivered me from and taught me...I'm just in AWE. I mean really, I can't believe all that has happened since graduating from LU 6 years ago! It seems like an eternity. I don't even feel like the same person! Also, I found it funny that almost every year for my birthday I posted that I wasn't really celebrating! I'm guess that's true again, since my birthday is in 9 days and I have no birthday plans!? I guess my birthday has never been a big deal to me. So, is it weird that I'm surprised that I'll only be 28!? I always feel like I'm older--I'm gonna answer myself..."Yeh, that's weird."