love letters on the wall

My daughters love each other. I'm grateful for that really. What I'm not grateful for is how they express it sometimes...like how my 7 year old wrote a sweet letter to her 4 year old sister ON THEIR WALL IN CRAYON.
"Dear Olivia,
I Love You.
You are Pretty.
xoxo
Love,
Emily"
Notice the wall has been well decorated. They used all sorts of mediums for their art: lipstick, markers, crayons, pens, pencils and nail polish. How did they get this wonderful stuff? They took it from their 12 year old sister's room, of course! They had a great time while I was out running one day (Dad was home with them and thought it was great they were playing so quietly upstairs)! The art is mostly gone now, thanks to four Magic Eraser cleaners. I ran out and will have to get more to finish "erasing" their artwork but I wanted to keep this extra special part of their art that I hold dear in my heart.

Marathon Mama!

I did it! I ran a marathon! It was an amazing experience and I'm really glad I did it. I ran 26.21 miles in 5 hours and 15 minutes. I beat my time for my last 10K and last 10 miler (I did a half marathon in the time it took me to do the 10 miler back in June). I am not the fastest runner ( My fastest mile is about 9 min. and I couldn't do that for much more than one mile), in fact, I don't really see myself as a runner. Up until 2 & 1/2 years ago I had never gone farther than 2 miles (and I only did that once)!

It all started with a goal I always had to run a 5K. I ran two last year and decided for a 2008 New Year's resolution I would run a 10K this year. I did that in the spring with my great friend Megan. I had so much fun doing that one I decided to try a 10 miler. I did that in June with my sister Veronica and it was awesome, so much so that I decided to go for it and run a marathon.

I felt a little crazy when I registered for the marathon a few months ago. Training for a marathon takes a lot of time- it took me 4 hours the first time I ran 20 miles. Where was I going to find the time?!! I found Jeff Galloway's run/walk marathon training schedule which worked with my busy schedule (I ran 30 min. on Tues. & Thurs. and did my long runs on the weekends). My wonderful husband was so supportive and didn't complain as I left him and my four girls for hours to run.

Most of my runs went really well. It took me four hours to run 20 miles, but I was just amazed that I ran 20 miles! I wasn't even that sore the next day. Then two weeks ago I ran 24 miles and it was painful. I needed new shoes badly and I didn't have the time to break in the new pair before the big race. I had hurt my ankle and wasn't sure it would be ok in time either. The week before the race I prayed a lot and was very concerned that I wouldn't be able to finish the marathon. I asked everyone I could to pray for me. I know those prayers were heard and answered.

I ran and dedicated each mile to friends and family. I would pray for that person and their family during that mile. I prayed for my siblings, my husband's siblings, my parents, my in-laws and several of my closest friends. I even dedicated a mile to this wonderful country that we live in and prayed for the USA and all it's people. I prayed for the soldiers and for the leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I prayed for the missionaries and all those suffering and in sadness to find the Savior and joy through Him.

Praying for everyone took my mind off myself and helped me to focus on why I was running the marathon in the first place. I saved my husband and girls for the last 5 miles. It got really tough those last 6 or 7 miles and when I got to the 21st mile and was dedicating my miles to my girls I started to cry. In fact, just thinking about it is making me cry now. I love my girls so much and part of the reason I did this marathon was to show them that they can accomplish anything they put their mind to. I want my girls to be as proud of me as I am of them. I started praying for my girls and had to fight back the emotions just as I was fighting the muscle cramps in my legs.

As I was running it hit me just how far I've come this year. I would never have believed you if you told me in high school that when I was 34 I would run a marathon. I thought people who ran were gluttons for punishment and more than a little insane. I ran those last few miles and held back the tears as I thanked God for sending me my family and for their prayers for me. I know the Lord helped me to run without injury. My ankle didn't bother me. My new shoes were awesome. I ached but that was unavoidable. I felt the power of the Lord helping me finish that race. I know that the Savior knew my pain (and worse) and was with me every step of the way. I knew my girls had prayed for me and when I prayed for them I felt the Spirit so strong.

Those last 5 miles were the hardest but they were the most amazing to me. I knew my girls would be waiting for me at the finish line. I came around the corner approaching the finish line and there they were and the tears started up again. I gave my girls all high fives and made it across as they announced my name and I could barely hold back the emotions as I was hit with a wave of gratitude for my Savior. I know that with God all things are possible. I know that God made this marathon possible for me.

Creche display

Here are some of the nativities on display this weekend at the Raleigh Stake Center. What a wonderful way to celebrate the season! We loved the variety and diversity of the display.

Food storage made simple...

Food storage can be baffling and overwhelming but I got this email with a link to this blog
http://www.everythingunderthesunblog.blogspot.com/
that offers a solution to help make it a bit easier.
It's by Wendy DeWitt and here's her Top 10 Reasons Why People Don't Have A Year's Supply of Food (according to the email I received):
10. My neighbor has a 2-year supply (The problem is, actually 85% of the Church has zero food storage).
9. I've paid tithing for 25 years. The Church can give me a little food (Problem: the Church can only feed 4% of its people from the food it has stored).
8. I'm going to move in with my parents or my children (Problem: in many scenarios, people won't be able to travel anywhere once the disaster hits).
7. I have a year's supply and the bullets to go with it (Problem: people will do anything to feed their starving children. Do you want to become one of them who is using your gun to take food from others?) .
6. The boat and 4-wheelers are taking up all my space (Problem: you can't eat them).
5. Y2K ==> meaning, it's never going to happen just like Y2K never happened (Do you actually, really believe that now?).
4. The government's going to rush in and save us all (Just like they did after Hurricane Katrina). 3. I can't afford both food storage and scrapbooking.
2. I'm waiting for the cannery to sell frozen pizzas.
1. A year? I thought it was 72 hours!

Wendy's system has you choose 7 breakfasts that you like and 7 dinners, for one week, plus one loaf of bread a day. Then you figure out the ingredients that you would need for each of those and multiply the ingredients by 52 (for 52 weeks in the year). And then store those ingredients. The idea is that you eat breakfast at breakfast time, then eat dinner during the middle of the day when the sun is available to help you cook things, and then have some bread and extras for a light meal in the evenings.

merry Christmas to all

Our stake had a wonderful celebration of Christmas this weekend with over 300 creches on display. You can read more about it here: http://www.newsobserver.com/nrn/story/1318294.html
They had a children's room set up and this wonderful photo was taken of my girls and some friends. It was a great event and I will post more pictures!

The Boy Who Dared book review

The Boy Who Dared by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
I read this with my girls (ages 11 and 10) and we all loved it. It was a good one for a discussion on bravery, government, war, human rights and more. I recommend it highly. It's about an LDS boy who lived in Germany during WWII and chose to act when he knew Hitler was evil instead of letting his fears rule him.

Here's what my oldest daughter said: "The story was told as "flashbacks" and really let you understand his emotions and why he did what he did. I liked how it gave you the background story behind his life."

It's based on a true story and we all gained a better understanding of the second World War and Hitler. It's perfect for young adult readers.


View all my reviews.

W & OD Trail in Virginia

I'm almost ready for my marathon. Only two weeks to go. This last weekend I ran/limped/walked 24 miles (I was only supposed to go 23 but I'll get to that part soon). The best part of the five and a half hours was the scenery. I was on the W & OD Trail in Virginia and it was beautiful! I saw orchards, scenic barns, llamas, cows, horses, rivers, over bridges, through tunnels and in ravines and up hills. I wish we had something like that near us! I couldn't get over how clean the path was also- they must have come through earlier and blew all the leaves off the trail because it was near pristine condition!

Next time we visit I intend to run it again but I will be better prepared for it. This time I didn't realize how hard I had pushed myself the day before (it was Black Friday and I had shopped 'til I dropped - while wearing high heeled boots all day). I also wasn't getting enough sleep since I lost my ear plugs and my dear husband snores- a lot & loudly.

Anyway, I got going and halfway through I was worn out and blamed it on dehydration. I got off the trail at mile 12 and got a bottle of water at a quaint grocery store in Paeonian Springs (I started in Ashburn, VA). That little detour added the extra mile in my run but I needed the water so badly it was worth it. I slowed down quite a bit after that. I should have had more than just the one bottle I was so dehydrated. My muscles started cramping and I got charlie horses in both my calves and I couldn't run through them. I had to stop and stretch and massage the pain away until I could bear to start running again. It was so bad it took me an extra hour to finish from what it should have taken me. I would have cried if I'd had any tears but I was so dehydrated I couldn't!

The other lesson was that I desparately needed new running shoes. I had known my shoes were getting too worn out but I didn't realize how bad they were until later that day when I could barely walk because my ankle and feet hurt so badly. I got new shoes later that day at the Nike Outlet and am trying to get them broken in before the race on Dec.13. I used my in-laws' hot tub and soaked in my own tub today too and my muscles aren't as sore now. My ankle doesn't hurt anymore either. This weekend is a short run- just 10k and then I will be taking it easy for the big day!