Life Without Fear of Expiration

I am not a runner.  I grew up down the hall from a brother who was a runner.  I spent my freshman year of college rooming with a runner.  I even married a runner.  But I am most definitely not a runner.  You know that old saying, “I’m a lover, not a fighter”?  Well, in my world it has always been more of: “I’m a singer, not a runner.”  Seriously.  Jr. high school – I walked every mile we were ever forced to “run”.  High school – I took four years of marching band and never once attended a PE class.  College – I knocked my required hour of physical education out of the way with one dreaded Monday morning, 7 a.m. karate class simply because it was a surefire way to get my graduation requirements covered in one semester.  Me – not an athlete.  Singer?  Sure.  Instrumentalist?  You betcha.  Attendee at sporting events?  Only if the marching, jazz or pep band was providing entertainment.  Or if the Vocal Ensemble happened to be presenting the National Anthem.  And/or I had a good book in tow.  Sports and all things related to them… just not my thing.  Like I said, I’m a singer, not a runner.  Or a swimmer.  Or an outfielder.  Or a whatever…

But I am learning.

Learning to do what I can.  Learning what it really means to take care of me, not just those around me.  Learning whole new ways to use my time and talents to serve the Lord, and actually learning it with gladness.  Learning that perhaps the “new” me really is a runner somewhere deep down inside this old color guard/marching band/choir music-oriented exterior.  Or at least some sort of walking-running combination anomaly.  And I’m learning what it means to set challenging goals for myself that force me to push beyond my comfort zone, doing something I never thought I could do in order to find ways to keep doing the things I’ve had a passion for forever.

"Teach us to number our days to get the most out of them" -Psalms 90:12

You see, here’s the thing, I love orphans.  I mean I LOVE them.  I really LOVE them.  I love everything about them (except the fact that they are orphans, of course).  I love providing for them.   I love supporting those who care for them.  I love praying for them.  I love supporting other families as they adopt them.  I love bringing knowledge of their existence and needs to the awareness of those not yet hooked into loving them too.  I love learning what makes them tick and how institutionalization impacts their lives.  And I love raising the three who are no longer orphans because they call me “Mom”.  And for the past ten years the Lord has provided me innumerable opportunities to do all of these things.

Through adoption fundraisers for my own family, adoption fundraisers for friends’ families, Orphan Sunday presentations, volunteering as a Show Hope representative at concert venues, traveling to Maria’s Big House of Hope, collecting toys/clothes/supplies to send to Chinese orphanages, blogging about orphan care and adoption, talking to anyone the least bit interested in any aspect of adoption or orphan care, and even through sporting a wardrobe of Show Hope t-shirts, for much of the last decade the opportunities to stand in the gap for orphans have been multiplying and plentiful.  But for the last twelve months I have simply felt stuck in an opportunity drought.  It seems that all the ways I used to be of help as an orphan advocate are no longer practical or available and this has left me feeling empty.  Really empty.  Empty like the well in my heart just waiting to be filled with the joy of orphan advocacy is instead sitting sucked dry of every drop of usefulness in a wasteland of shut doors.  

So here I've been, left struggling with a desire to play an active role in the orphan care and awareness circles, yet finding no way to really act in what feels like a meaningful way.  And then Mickey Mouse entered the picture. 

Literally.

As in… Mickey Mouse, meet Jesus.  (And seriously, how often does that combination happen?)

"On earth men that will die receive our tithe, but in Heaven Jesus that lives forever is receiving our tithe" - Hebrews. 7:8 

All of my life I’ve been taught:  Serve the Lord with your time, your treasures and your talent.  And I have tried to do this.  Am I perfect?  Of course not.  Do I continually fall short?  Of course I do.  But I make a conscious effort to do what I can when I can and look for opportunities where I fit.  I committed a long time ago to tithing at least ten percent of all income and do so faithfully.  Throughout my life I have given of my time to attend and lead Sunday School, Bible studies, and worship services; I’ve attended studies, workshops, worship services, fellowship events; stuffed bulletins, cleaned buildings, organized fundraisers, etc., etc.   And I have put my musical talents to use for His service since my age was still in the single-digits.  Not to say any of this makes me “good” or “better” or “holy”, but just to give a few examples of how I have tried to live out what I believe.   And yet, I still fall short and continuously strive to do better.   Not to prove anything or one-up anyone, but simply in an effort to successfully show even the slightest sliver of my gratitude for all that He has done for me.

"If God will be with me, and will keep me in thy way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on . . . of all that thou shall give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee" - Genesis 28:20-22

And that brings me back to running.  The other day I was walking on my treadmill, flipping through a recent issue of Runner’s World when I came across an ad for the 2014 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend.  And for an insane moment I actually thought, “Hey, I could do that.”  Totally crazy, right?  I mean, I like the half-marathon thing, but a FULL marathon?  26.2 miles?!  In one day!?  Without dying?  A non-runner like me?  That is just crazy.  Pure insanity.  So much so that I soon after texted my Florida-living friend that I wanted to do it just so she would have a good afternoon belly laugh.  

But then I couldn’t shake the idea.  The ad just kept nagging at me.  And that’s when God stepped in.  That dang “Something Crazy” song by SCC began to continually play in my head.  You know, that song that we purposely played on the radio after telling the older girls I was pregnant with Ellie – child number FOUR.  The same song that served as a jumping off point for Jack’s adoption – with ZERO funds…  The song playing in the background of my life as I quit my teaching job, I traveled to China with a friend I'd never before met in person, I moved all the way across the country as a single mom with five kids..  And that is all it took.  I was hooked.

A full marathon?  Why not?  I just walked/ran a half-marathon with very little preparation and didn’t die… Surely I could actually train for a marathon and survive to cross the finish line, right?  Even if it does turn out to be a week later and long after dark...  And I could do it for something.  A reason.  A cause.  A chance to SHOW HOPE!  And, well, at that point, there was really no turning back.  What started out as a joke intended to bring late afternoon joy to a tired mom across the country, suddenly became a hope and a dream and a realization that God has given me a brand new way to advocate for orphans in a way I positively, never ever imagined.  Because running a marathon is a whole other world than putting on a benefit concert or hosting a bake sale. 

But that’s okay.  I’m game.  I’m in.  I’m ready to do it.  My “old” ways of advocacy may be out of the picture for now, but this one I can do.  I can give my talent - because I can run and I can walk.  I can give of my time in training even if it comes in snippets here and there between doctors’ appointments, laundry and dinner prep.  And although I don’t have the treasures to cover the costs, I can surely trust that if I give what I do have than God will provide the funds for anything He plans because If He can get me to China in 2011, He can certainly get me to Orlando in 2014!

"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it." - Malachi 3:10

So, what am I running for?  I will be running as a registered Show Hope Advocate raising the funds to cover one life-changing surgery for an orphan with heart issues.  I would love to run for two surgeries, but that is still under consideration…  For now, I am planning to fully fund ONE surgery which means raising $3000.  And why heart surgery you might ask?  Well, mainly because my son received not one, but two, such life-saving surgeries while an orphan and I will forever be grateful that they were possible.  Here in the States, with medical insurance and whatnot his recent heart surgery was simply a matter of jumping through hoops, but as an orphaned infant in China life-saving interventions were made on someone else’s dime in someone else’s dominion and provided by someone other than a family.  All orphans need families.  But some orphans need life-saving interventions while they wait.  

"Have a good testimony to the unsaved by using your time wisely"  - Colossians 4:5

And so I’m in.  I am officially, and purposely, going to sign up for and run 26.2 miles all in the name of orphan care.  I will plan.  I will train.  I will sweat.  (I will hurt...)  And come this fall, I will ask you and everyone else I know (and hopefully everyone you know…) to sponsor me as I raise not only the money needed to provide an orphan a physically healthy heart, but as I also strive to raise awareness of the spiritual and emotional needs of that same heart.  So, yes, that means please start praying now for how God might lead you to help me through prayer, time or financial support... or maybe a small bit of chocolate. 

And, yes, in some ways I know this entire idea is completely insane, but that’s okay with me too.  One of my new favorite books is MILE MARKERS by Kristin Armstrong and one of my favorite passages is her statement of purpose.  On page 38 she writes, “I need to be living my life in such a way that if I knew my expiration date, I would continue living just as I am. I wouldn’t want to have some grand epiphany, an impetus to change everything, or a sudden desire to travel the world and leave my normal life behind.  I want my normal life to sparkle with the allure of the ordinary and speak to me, just the way it is.”  And that is where I stand.  Am I crazy to commit to training for a 26.2 mile run when some days I can’t even find enough free minutes to take a shower?  Probably.  Am I going to commit to it anyway?  I sure am.  Why?  Well, because as Steven Curtis Chapman sings, “you really don’t know Love at all until It’s making you do something crazy".

I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God.  - Ecclesiastes 3:12-13

Oh, and did I mention I have somehow managed to talk my brother into running this marathon with me?  Yep, he says he is committing amidst great fear and trepidation, but still I think he has caught the bug.  Or at least he’s willing to run a really long way with me.  Honestly, I'll take him either way.  Now I just have to talk him in to helping me raise money so we can fund TWO surgeries not just one.  Crazy, you think?  Well, what can I say?  I figure I’ve got a pretty good shot - apparently, insanity runs in the family.

Two are better than one,
    because they have a good return for their labor:
If either of them falls down,
    one can help the other up. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

    (Sorry, I couldn’t resist since we are talking about a marathon here… and at least I didn’t say “… a time to die.”)

Learn more about becoming a Show Hope Advocate here:

Show Hope Advocate

Learn more about the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend here:

Walt Disney World Marathon

***
I will be setting up an official fund-raising system when I begin serious training this fall, but if you would like to help with the cost of my travel and registration for the Walt Disney World Marathon a donation of any size would be appreciated.  I will be cutting costs wherever I can, but some things are simply what they are.  Race registration is set at $160 and due in April.  Airfare and a race-close hotel room for the night before the marathon (I will be staying with friends as much as possible) will run about $400-450, and a rental car for just the weekend will cost about $180.  Donations may be made via the donate button on Jack’s blog (www.foraplace.blogspot.com) or I can provide you a mailing address.  And, of course, ALL PRAYERS for this endeavor are appreciated.

My Little Backyard Garden

Okay, maybe this is a bad choice for a series of blog posts as things could go terribly awry and I'll be embarrassed I ever said anything, but just maybe it will turn out to be one of the best ideas when things actually grow.  I don't know, but I'm going to do it and we'll see together as I either succeed or fail with this whole garden thing.  I figure I'll document here along the way and maybe some good conversations will find their way into the world.  Or at least a few good laughs...

That said, let me preface this whole adventure with the following information:  I have always had a serious black thumb.  And when I say "serious" I mean as in all of my friends at Fairview Middle School laughing unashamedly when I won a houseplant in a staff meeting raffle many years ago.  My plant-death record is no secret.  I love plants, I do.  They have just never really liked me back.  Needless to say, I took pity on that poor raffle plant and sent it home with a friend rather than punishing it for my good fortune with a death sentence of its own.  Since then, however, I have tried my hand with several other plant endeavors over the years and have slowly gained more success with keeping things green rather than dead, but this garden in my backyard thing is a whole new adventure.  (Okay, so I tried the garden thing once before in Maryland and was fairly successful, but then Hurricane Irene came through and uprooted or rotted out everything we were growing so I don't really count that in the mix because our gardening adventure was cut short by natural disaster...)

So, anyway here is where the garden corner of our yard started...

These pictures were actually taken from outside our backyard fence before we moved in.  The woman who lived in our house before us had a HUGE backyard green area.  So huge that it actually encompassed her (now our) yard and a large area beyond the property line which is open land belonging to the electric company.  All of the greenery was quite impressive, but also a very pleasant invitation to the wildlife residing in the open canyon behind our house.  And when I say wildlife I don't just mean cute little bunnies and squirrels, but things like rattlesnakes and skunks and coyotes.  So, nice brother-in-law, sister and nephew that I have, a lot of this was removed after the previous residents vacated and before the kids and I ever arrived.

So, then that fully overgrown area looked like this...

And remained pretty much like that until a few weeks ago when we went to work to change our stark dirt yard into something a bit more fruitful and a bit more productive.  So, after a Friday evening of the kids helping me disassemble a very aged walkway by moving LOTS of bricks, and a Saturday family (including sister and brother-in-law) workday of cleaning up trash, removing rocks, pulling up roots, unburying cement blocks, digging out stumps, and burying small children that original overgrown corner looked like this...

Then, my brother-in-law worked his magic and over the next few days turned a big empty dirt corner into this...

                            ...and turned me lose to start a garden. Yeah!

My first efforts were aided by Jack as he became quite the "farmer"'.  After we raided the outdoor department of Lowe's one morning, he and Ellie were going to divvy up the work but when she wimped out Jack was happy to step in.  He helped me put our tiny corn, cantalope and tomato plants in the ground, plant our green bean and pea seeds, and put our blackberry bush in a nice large container.  He was a great help and really enjoyed it.  When we were done, we had this...

It's been about three weeks since Jack and I planted our first little green friends.  Since then the kids and I have added some lettuce, carrots, broccoli and lima bean seeds, as well as some small strawberry plants and a couple blueberry plants. 

Sophie has transferred the sunflower she planted at school over and it is growing well.  This first shot is from about four days ago and the bottom shot is from today.

 Becca's school planting seems to have drowned in a three day rain spell we had, but she recently started over with a new seed so hopefully she'll have some sunflowers too. She took it upon herself to plant a few out in Rattlesnake Valley too (that big piece of electric company land behind us) so she might just have seeds coming out her ears if the birds leave them alone.  =)

Today things look like this...

 Oh!  And we have a couple of mystery plants too.  Not sure where they came from.  Not sure what they are.  Apparently some seeds blew in from somewhere and are growing happily amidst the friends we invited, but I've told the kids to let them grow.  And it's kind of fun waiting to see what they will turn out to be.  (Hopefully it won't be some sort of Venus Fly Trap or something.  Yikes!)

So, here we are.  Gardeners.  Me and my little work crew of five.  Trying our hand at growing our own veggies, producing our own snacks, saving some money on produce, and hopefully reducing the ever-present urge to say, "Mom, I need a snack." 

Yes, I realize that half of what we grow may never make it out of the backyard before being consumed by small tummies with busy chompers, but I'm okay with that.  I'd rather they be eating homegrown beans and berries and tomatoes than most other things anyway.... so we'll see.  Wish us luck.  I'll keep you posted. 

Redefining the “Runner’s High” - Mommy Style

I have often heard of the elusive “Runner’s High”… You know, that state of euphoria runners supposedly feel at some point along their route.  The feeling that makes them feel “on top of the world”, like they are “maxing out their potential”, having a “GREAT run”?  

Yep, heard lots about it. 

Nope, don’t think I’ve ever felt it. 

I mean, yes, I’ve spent some very enjoyable time running I will admit, and I actually really like it when I have that time to myself to just think and run and think and walk and think and sweat, but I don’t think I’ve ever felt any type of running “euphoria” at any time while wearing sweaty clothes, headphones, and a pair of running shoes.   But I have felt the “Mommy High”, and THAT might just be euphoric all in its own right.  

So, in honor of running (okay, half running/half walking) my second Half Marathon this past weekend, I present to you my list of “Why I Want To Run A Half Marathon” thoughts – which all add up to experiencing what I have designated the “Running Mommy’s High.”  Which I must admit, in many ways has me already dreaming about my next little 13.1 mile jaunt around town.  And, if you are a Mommy, it might just encourage you to get up and get moving too...

Or at least make you smile for a second.  =) 

1.  When the alarm clock wakes me up at 4:30 a.m. absolutely no one else stirs and my house is heaveningly quiet.

2.  While getting dressed before the sun comes up I am able to both wash my face and use the toilet without a single children entering the room or asking me any questions.

3.  Having the ability to eat an entire meal (okay, a banana and a hard boiled egg) without having to share a single bite, ask anyone to close his or her mouth while chewing or remind someone that they never know when the Queen will show up so they best always use their good manners.  

4.  Walking to my car, opening the door, getting in, buckling the seatbelt, starting the engine and driving away without having to wait for a single passenger to find his/her seat, finish buckling, run back for a shoe, yell at a sibling or push past someone already buckled and waiting.

5.  Listening (and singing!) to whatever song I want on the radio, as loud as I want, as many times as I want and being able to hear every lyric as there is no one begging for their own musical selection, arguing with their neighbor, or explaining how the Magic School Bus would be covering the same stretch of highway as a frog, dinosaur or butterfly.

6.  Having an hour or so of pre-race time to people watch, send text messages to friends across the country, and examine the insanity of wanting to run 13 miles without having to actually explain myself to anyone or worry that someone might agree with my assessment.

7.  Seeing parts of the city I’ve never seen before while experiencing three hours of quality “alone” time with my friend Mr. I-pod and his fabulous “shuffle” ability.

8.  Crossing the finish line and receiving a finisher’s medal knowing that at least one of my children is going to see it and ask, "Did you win?”.

9.  Smelling bad enough afterward that even the most snuggly of children actually wants to leave me alone long enough to take a shower.

10.  Having the perfect excuse to do absolutely nothing the rest of the day but sit on the couch and watch TV with all of my kids.

So what do you think?  Kind of appealing, isn't it?  So, who wants to join me next time?  It's only 13 miles, and it has SO many perks!