New Year; New Beginnings part 1

I love New Years Eve and the days that follow. I love buying a new calendar, I love getting a new journal. I love making resolutions, I love it all. I feel like it is a time to start fresh. It motivates me to take stock in my life and it spurs me on to make goals.

Physical Resolutions: I want to lose weight. Now i know that most people make this resolution and don't keep it past the end of January. Obviously my goal is to do better than that. Let's take last year for example; I lost 10 pounds in January, then gained it back throughout the year. That wasn't my goal but it's better than gaining a new 10!! This year i want to continue walking 3 days a week, add some light weight training, walk in the Avon Breast Cancer walk in May (more about later) and compete in a second sprint triathlon. There are a bunch of us from Destiny church doing quite a lot of these events. The only problem is that many of the races are on Sundays and that is our Sabbath day. Let me know, or google "try it triathlons" for more information.

Here is one way to Start the New Year right--with a run! Join in on Tuesday, January 1, 2008, in Leesburg, Virginia, for the Eleventh Annual Rotary Resolution Race! The George C. Marshall 10K will take participants through the rolling hills of the Morven Park Estate. The John R. Diedrich 4K Fun Run/Walk will take participants to the Morven Park mansion. This is the only day of the year that Morven Park is open to runners. Come demonstrate your commitment to your New Year's Resolution to exercise! Make it a family tradition!

Location & Time: Participants should gather at the Ida Lee Park Recreation Center, located just north of downtown Leesburg, off of Route 15. The 4K Run/Walk begins promptly at 10:25 am and the 10K will start at 10:40 am.
For additional information, call the race director, Chuck Maloney, at (703) 779-1912.

Wrapping up 2007

This is the year end wrap up...
Carly, my niece from my "The Year of Carly" blog, got early admission to Virginia Tech.
They must have heard it was The Year of Carly.

Todd got me some Christmas gifts from 10,000 villages. They are my favorite gifts. A gorgeous copper hand pounded bowl from
Napal. Two hand made ornaments and a necklace made from seeds from Costa Rica. Each of these is made by an artisan in a third world country and paid fair market price for their goods. Come by and see my gifts.


Emily is still struggling with the whole idea of getting breast cancer. She started to cry one day in class, obviously this is weighing heavy on her mind. Her teacher prayed with her; oh the benefits of a christian school. A friend of ours had what seemed like an awesome idea, he suggested we tell Emily that she also has Todd's genes. Now she is worried about going bald! Oh please, I am just joking. Come by and see my handsome husband also.

This is a great time of year for me to wrap up lose ends. I hope your year is wrapping up well also.

The Twelve Days of Christmas

I have been singing to my class for the past 10 schools days. Next Tuesday will be the last day I sing to them. (We get out on Wednesday for break.) Each day has come with a gift. Do you want to know what I have been singing?
Well, The Twelve Days of Christmas, of course. Here is a glance at my version:

On the first day of Christmas my teacher gave to me a little rubber reindeer duckie

On the second day of Christmas my teacher gave to me 2 jingle key chains and a little rubber reindeer duckie

On the third day of Christmas my teacher gave to me 3 Chrsitmas pencils, 2 jingle key chains and little rubber reindeer duckie
.... 4 bonus coupons
.....5 Christmas songs (CD)
.....6 football cards
....7 book marks
....8 candy canes
....9 tattoos
....10 Christmas stickers
....11 treasure box tickets
....12 hugs and kisses (by hershey)

This has been so much fun, I am already dreaming up what I will do for Valentines Day!!

Clay

Clay, a young man of passion. Basketball, lacrosse, music, football, skateboarding, video games. I love the way he reenacts plays from his weekend basketball game or from his recess football game. My job is to guide his passion to be used for good not evil.
I desire to help mold him to be a wonderful father and husband some day. OK in reality, Todd's example and time with him influences him so very much. My job is different.

When he is grown, whether he is married or single he will need to know how to do laundry. So this summer I put him in charge of the family laundry. He often does things he is not passionate about half heartedly and I think he thought that would get him out of the laundry job. But no, it just made me all the more determined to train him in being a servant. I also had him memorize Philippians 2: 3-5 "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus"

If I can raise him to have passion, to love Jesus, think of others AND do laundry-- I will feel like I did my job!

The Question

As a parent you have those moments, when one of your kids asks a tough question and you have to take a deep breath and decide how to answer. It is usually something like, "Where do babies come from?" or "What does God look like?"

Tonight was one of those times for me. Emily had just gotten out of the shower and yelled down, asking me to come up stairs.
I was feeling lazy so I yelled back up asking her what she needed? She yelled the question down the stairs and I just stopped. Then I heard Todd say, "You better get up there." And I ran upstairs.

"Mommy, if you and I have the same genes, will I get cancer?"
There she was, sitting in a towel, dripping wet.

I told her that I was 2 when I had Wilms Tumor (cancer in the kidney) and that it was not in my genes.
Then I told her I didn't know if she would get breast cancer. She said, "I thought you were going to say that."

My mom and both my grandmothers had breast cancer. It probably is in my genes. I told her I was sorry. I also said that it most likely wouldn't happen before she was 37 years old and that was 30 years away. I said I thought in 30 years doctors would be able to keep her from ever getting it, even if it is in her genes. I also explained that God was in charge and if she got cancer she needed to use it as an opportunity to share with people about Jesus. I said please don't worry about it now. Then she said, "After i get my PJ's on, can I give you a big hug?"
Wow!! That hug was a tight one.

Katey Has A Birthday

My Katey turned fourteen this week. She is such a pretty, godly young woman who blesses my life daily.
I had to go thru infertility treatments to get pregnant with her, then she was 2 weeks late. We were so excited for her to get here that we would have taken anything at that point, colic, reflux...but no. She was the perfect baby. She slept thru the night from the day she was born, hardly ever fussed and she has been easy to parent ever since. She helps me program my phone and work power point. She loves Jesus and walks with him closely. I can't wait to see how she blossoms in the next 14 years.
Happy Birthday Katey!