One Nation Under God

September 11th is one of those dates that will forever be etched in memories that seem as though they occurred only yesterday. On this 10th anniversary I can't help but listen to the stories of survival and loss and be brought to tears. I'll never understand why events like this come to pass, but I do know that God can use them for His glory as many of today's stories have shown.

When I think back to that day I am thankful that I was a student at Liberty University.

I remember walking from my 8am class to my 9:25 thinking it was just a normal day and then hearing the towers had been hit. Mrs. Wilmington canceled class and allowed us to come to her office to watch the news unfolding on her small TV. That was when we heard the breaking news that the Pentagon had just been hit. And suddenly this event that had seemed distantly awful, confusing, and heartbreaking hit home. Knowing that many of the members of my family were working at the Pentagon or in Crystal City that day, I was now worried for my dad, uncles, aunt, and everyone that I knew in the government and military in D.C.

When I arrived at my 11:50 class my professor, Dr. Diemer, asked us all to get on our knees. And for the next hour we prayed. We prayed for the victims. We prayed for the families. We prayed for the responders. We prayed for our president. We prayed for answers, understanding, and comfort. And I prayed to hear from my family.

Classes were canceled for the rest of the day. And at 3pm the students of Liberty University convened in the Vines Center to pray for our country. I will always be thankful for that moment. I'll forever be grateful for a university that taught young people how to respond in a moment of crisis. Gather together and look to God.

I will always remember the lives that were lost and the lesson I learned that day.

On the 10th anniversary of such a tragic event...I am thankful to God that my family was protected...I remember those who were not as fortunate...and I pray for those they left behind. May we never forget the events of 9-11-01. And may we always remember the spirit of togetherness that followed.

One Nation Under God.

Greater Things Are Yet to Come

My church had a ground breaking ceremony this afternoon. After 13 years, Celebration is finally going to have an actual church building! Today's event was for us all to see the plans for the new building and be a part of this exciting season for our church family. Leading up to today, the church has been doing a sermon series on "taking ground". We've talked about how this new building is an opportunity to reach more people, but how we should also be "taking ground" in our own lives. The church passed out wooden stakes for us to write down things that we are believing God for. On one side we wrote down things related to our church, on the other we wrote down prayers for our own life. And together this afternoon, we convened with our stakes to pray for this next season in our own lives and the life of the church.

On to the actual events of today...

The morning message was great, fellowship at lunch with the deaf ministry was fun, but then we arrived at the site. We sat in traffic for forever, only to be directed to the farthest possible parking lot across several dirt fields. We started on the long trek knowing we were already late. As we walked in the Florida August heat, it crossed my mind that this really was not the best time of year to be having such an event. When we finally arrived at the tents we couldn't even hear or see the speakers. And did I mention it was hot!? I was just going through the motions, and if I'm being honest I was really only thinking of myself and my "to do" list for the rest of the day. I did my best to interpret and the service was over in less time than it took to walk there. So I set out to put my stake in the ground and get out of there so we could go get some water.

But as we walked around the site to see where our church will be built, I saw the children's pastor telling passersby about the new building's children's area which will include a separate area for the special needs students. I saw youth gathered around the area that will be for middle and high school students. And I saw families praying around stakes they had placed in the ground. But as I knelt to place my stake in the ground, another stake caught my eye. The end sticking out of the ground said:

"Daddy stop drinking."

And I stopped. With tears in my eyes, I prayed for the child who penned these words. I thanked God for a church that had the opportunity to reach him or her. And I prayed for the father who needs to know how much God loves him. I apologized for being so focused on my own life, and I thanked God for the distraction and for reminding me what it means to live a God-first life. I prayed for the families, the children, and the young people that our church has the potential to reach. And I thanked God for a pastor and church who have followed God's calling to reach the city of Jacksonville.

"For greater things have yet to come, And greater things are still to be done in this city" ~Chris Tomlin

April Inspires the Poet in Me

April is National Poetry Month. Last year, I posted this poem on my blog in honor of the occasion. This year I thought I'd post another poem. This one was actually an activity for my students, but I decided to participate.

We've been trying to do different activities each afternoon with our students during FCATs. (What are FCATs you ask...Florida.Comprehensive.Assessment.Tests--the state standardized tests our students spend 6 days taking each spring.) The tests tend to tire out both the students and teachers, so teaching in the "normal classes" in the afternoon is difficult. But we don't want to waste instructional time watching movies or playing games...so we came up with FUN instructional activities for each afternoon. Which brings me to this poetry activity.

Monday afternoon I did a brief introduction to imagery and descriptive language with all of our 8th graders. Then I split them into 5 groups and sent them off with a teacher to different areas of our huge campus. (Then we met back in the middle school and had volunteers read their poems and students -not in the same group- guessed where on campus the author had been.) My group walked back to a gazebo on the intracoastal. The scenery inspired the following poem.

Soaking in My Surroundings

by Miss Kilpatrick

My hair dances freely in the cool breeze.
Sparkling water meanders slowly by,
while ropes clang rhythmically against the flagpole.

A bird strolls about on nearby grass, pecking for food.
Finding none, he flies away.
My eyes follow him.

Past the marsh he calls home are trees,
red rooftops peaking over their leaves.
What is beyond them I cannot see.

The salty stench is almost sweet.
It sends me back
…
to times gone by:
family visits to the beach,
but once a year.

For just a moment I am a child again,
carefree,
soaking in my surroundings.

(I almost forget this is work.)

Karen Wants to Kill Me

Apparently, my friend, Karen, decided that doing a 100 Pushup Challenge wasn't enough. So I've now joined her on the 200 Pushup Challenge. For the record, both challenges are kickin' my tail.

After 2 weeks I can barely do 10 pushups and 35 situps. Oh where, oh where have my muscles gone!?!

I'm repeating Week 2 of the pushups, and continuing with week 3 of the situps.

Wonder how many weeks it'll take before I can actually do it...

As a side note: I swam a mile this morning. Also kicking my butt!

I'm thinking I should just go back to running!

A Race Bucket List

I made a list of just a few races that I'd really like to do some day.

All you runners out there: Any others I should add?

VA is for Lovers 14K

Cherry Blossom 10-Miler

Shamrock 1/2 Marathon

Peachtree 10K

Bay to Breakers 12K

The Great Urban Race

The Muddy Buddy

Expedition Everest Challenge

Ragnar Relay

Turtle Crawl Triathlon

Krispy Kreme Challenge

The Next Challenge: Who's In?

It's hard to believe that 11 years ago I could do more push-ups than my sister! I was a dancer and cheerleader and actually had some muscles. My gymnastics coach would make us do handstand push-ups and wide arm pull-ups on the uneven bars. When I did Junior Miss we did them on stage while smiling at the audience.

And then...I went to college. I broke my elbow. I stopped dancing. I stopped cheering. And I stopped any kind of activity that required upper body strength. (And my sister joined the Army, went to boot camp, and can now kick my butt!)

I always whine about my puny stick arms. So when I made my 30 Before 30 list I decided to add the 100 Push-up Challenge. And I'm starting today. It might take a few months. I might even have to do some girl push-ups first. But I am going to do this. How hard can it be? (Don't answer that!)

Who else is in?

(PS-I do promise to post about the marathon with pictures sometime soon.)

The Journey...

to a Marathon!

(How I ran a marathon...And how you can too!)

(People always assume that I've always been a runner...so I thought I'd tell my story.

But I must warn you...it's a bit long!)

Jes kept asking me this weekend if I was surprised that I had actually run a marathon and if I had ever thought 10 years ago that I would be a "marathoner". And well...I guess the answer is "No."

I mean I've always been athletic, but I've never really been particularly great at any sports. I remember running a 7:34 mile in the 5th grade and being so proud of myself. I was always one of the faster girls in gym class, but when I joined the track team in 9th grade, I was one of the slowest! Okay...I was THE slowest. I honestly don't remember my mile times, and it was the only event I really ever competed it. All I know is that I came in last at every race! (Well, not really every race...there was this one time that I passed a girl who puked and kept running to finish behind me.) After one season, I never joined the team again. (And as I got older, I continued to get slower!)

In 2004, I was in my first year of teaching and I knew that I needed to start working out to get back in shape after college. I met a few friends at the Y on a snow day. I went to join the Y, but somehow my friends convinced me to do a sprint triathlon that the Y was sponsoring. At the time it was the craziest thing I had ever set out to do. But I was committed and learned to swim and bike enough to complete the race. I didn't do an amazing job, but I loved the feeling I got by setting and achieving a goal! When the race was over, I vowed to do it again the next year. But after reality set in I realized that I didn't like to bike or swim. So I stuck to jogging for exercise. That summer I had a student at Governor's School who was training to run a half marathon. She told me all about the Rock n Roll Half Marathon at VA Beach and I was immediately in awe of the idea. (But not exactly on board yet!)

In 2005, Jes convinced me to run a 4 miler in Lynchburg. At the time that was the farthest I'd ever run (and Jes kicked my butt!) That fall I also volunteered at the Army 10-miler in DC. I had a blast and thought that I might one day run the race.

A few months later in the spring of 2006, my roommate convinced me to run a 10K (6.2 miles). I ran/walked 13 minute miles to finish the Monument Ave 10K...and I was officially hooked! I loved it! It was such a friendly race! I decided that if I trained I could complete that half marathon and the 10 miler....so I signed up for both and started training. That fall I ran/walked both races. I did the half in just under 3 hrs (almost 14 min miles) and the 10 miler in just under 2 hours (almost 12 min miles)

But then I went to grad school for 2 years! During that time, I had no time for exercise! But I did "run" 6 5Ks. I didn't really train for them and my pace progressively got worse over the 2 years. ( I started out with a 32:45 and ended with a 38:24) So when I graduated one of the first goals I set was to train for and RUN a half marathon.

And in January of 2009, I did it. I ran the Disney Half Marathon. I kept a slow pace, but I didn't walk. I finished in 2:33 exactly. And this time I was really hooked and immediately signed up for my next half. And somehow...I became a runner.

Yes, I was athletic. Yes, I'd completed a few races. But I didn't really start running until I moved to Florida after grad school. Since then I've competed in 12 races: three 5Ks, one 4.7 miler, one 5 miler, three 10Ks, one 15K, & three half marathons.

I'm not fast. (Though I'm slowly improving.) But I still love to run.

I like to raise money for charities.

I like to have a reason to make me exercise.

I like to set goals.

I like to get free T-Shirts and bags.

I like to see people cheer me on.

I like to achieve goals.

Which brings me to my most recent achievement...a marathon.

In the Spring of 2009, I saw a table for the 26.2 with Donna while picking up my packet for the 15K. I picked up the brochure thinking I might do the half. The girl working the table overheard me say to my friend that I could never do a full and started to tell me how she had just run her first using the Jeff Galloway method (running/walking). I was interested, but cautious.

That May I went to a workshop with Jeff Galloway and learned all about the method and considered joining a group to run a marathon before I turned 30. But when the time came to join the training group, I chickened out!

But last summer I made my 30 Before 30 list and listed "Run a Marathon". From there it was just a matter of follow-through. I looked at races all over the country, but decided to stick with a local race...and chose The Donna. In September, I made a training plan and started training 22 weeks before the race. At that point the farthest I had ever run was 13.1 miles...but during my training I ran a few longer runs: 15, 19, and 21 miles. (I should have done more, but an injury and the holidays messed me up).

And then this past Sunday, I set out to finish a marathon. And I did! (And I wasn't last! In fact, I did it in under 5 hours! I finished 425th out of 929 women!)

I'd be lying if I said I was not considering doing another...but for now I'm content to work on my pace for some shorter races. But even if I never do another, I can always say I did it! I ran a marathon! Not many people can say that. And, "No, I didn't really ever think I would be one of those people!"

It's amazing what you can do with a little goal setting, determination, and commitment.

If I can do it, you can too. One goal at a time.

Jerry Falwell (Sr) used to say, "What's your B-HAG?'" (Big Harry Audacious Goal). Well, mine was a marathon.

What's your B-HAG? And what are you waiting for?