Multitude Monday (a day late)

Here's my continuing Multitude Monday post which is part of a series started years ago on Ann's wonderful, amazing blog that is a favorite of mine. If you've never checked it out, do yourself a favor and click on over. She's an amazing, gifted writer, a wonderful friend and an inspiration (not to mention a mother of 6)!

"One Thousand Gifts"::

3112. the majestic beauty of an eagle in flight
3113. pregnant bellies
3114. story time at the library
3115. a hot bath and a good book in the middle of the day (many thanks to Bob & Larry for babysitting, so I could partake in this indulgence!)
3116. morning coffee
3117. sunshine
3118. the sounds and sites of melting
3119. 14 years of Jacob
3120. 12 years of Rebekah
3121. Kingdom Undone :: powerful show
3122. kids waving palm branches and singing
3123. Joe playing basketball in the driveway :: short sleeves and mittens
3124. my cold finally being gone
3125. visit from Rachel & Amy
3126. watching a good movie with the kids
3127. sugar cookies
3128. the arrival of spring (on the calendar, anyway)
3129. art show at church
3130. the weight of a newborn in my arms
3131. hot tea before bed
3132. book club

May you realize all the blessings the Lord brings your way and take the time to make note of them. (you'll be glad that you did!)

26 :: (14+12)

Although I know it's true, I'm still having a hard time believing it. The time just keeps flying by.

14 years ago this afternoon, I gave birth to our very first little bundle. Jacob Mason ::

Jacob holding up 14 "fingers"

Then exactly 2 years later (with just over an hour of difference in time of day), we were blessed with our second (not-quite-as-little) bundle. Rebekah Rae ::

Rebekah holding up 12 fingers

Happy Birthday to 2 of my favorite people on the planet. We are thrilled to have you both in our family.

multitude Monday (two weeks worth)

Here's my continuing Multitude Monday post which is part of a series started years ago on Ann's wonderful, amazing blog that is a favorite of mine. If you've never checked it out, do yourself a favor and click on over. She's an amazing, gifted writer and an inspiration (not to mention a mother of 6)!

We were visiting Kirby's family up north last Monday and I was not near a computer, so you'll get two weeks worth of blessings all at once. Enjoy!

"One Thousand Gifts"::

3071. fresh, beautiful snow :: and knowing it won't last too long this time of year
3072. carpools
3073. kind friends
3074. Angie, unselfishly, sharing the chance to pick Ann up at the airport with me
3075. meeting new people who become instant friends
3076. new books
3077. inspiring words
3078. fabulous news :: Mydi's mom is completely cancer free. Praise God!
3079. the way Ann laid her hand on each book after she signed it :: blessing it and it's owner
3080. sincere humility
3081. the opportunity to help at the Set Apart conference
3082. an asiago parmesan bagel from Brueggers
3083. talking homemade deodorant with brand new friends :: nothing like cutting to the personal right away
3084. the gift of brainstorms in the shower :: thank you Lord!
3085. pictures to aid memory
3086. morning coffee
3087. witnessing hard obedience to God first-hand
3088. another member of the family of God
3089. safe travels on dangerous roads
3090. Kirbs' fabulous driving skills
3091. finally arriving in Warroad 24 hours after leaving home (it's about a 6 hour drive, but the terrible road conditions necessitated an unplanned overnight stay at a hotel -- one with a pool. Bummer we didn't pack suits!)
3092. bumping into friends at the hotel where we were stranded (they were there on purpose)
3093. cell phone reception :: so often I take it for granted, but when you don't have any for a while you appreciate it so much more!
3094. all 24 "Stolls" in the same house :: it had been WAY too long
3095. cousins playing happily together
3096. delicious pizza
3097. a good run :: Kirb came along too, which made it even better
3098. the breath-taking beauty of miles and miles and miles of snow-covered trees while driving through the middle of nowhere
3099. kids traveling well
3100. family
3101. afternoon walks
3102. finding my lost running hat
3103. sleeping in my own bed again
3104. home again! (my favorite place)
3105. Jesus and grace
3106. surviving a REALLY cold 7K race
3107. celebrating Jodi and baby Evelyn
3108. girlfriend time
3109. being the first people ever to stay in the hotel room at a brand new hotel that just opened up
3110. our stay being free :: sometimes being the "guinea pig" is worthwhile, hopefully they get all the kinks worked out soon
3111. kids back to school after spring break

May you realize all the blessings the Lord brings your way and take the time to make note of them. (you'll be glad that you did!)

Get Lucky!

Well, I ran my first 7K on Saturday. I'd been working hard for the past couple months to be ready for the race and was really looking forward to it. Then the day got closer and closer and the forecast kept changing (and NOT for the better) and I got more and more worried. I can run in the cold. And I have. But I don't like it too much! I also don't enjoy running on ice or when it's windy. Anyway, turns out the air temperature on Saturday morning was about 20 and the winds were cold and gusty. (I think the wind chills were probably in the low teens). It had snowed over night and was icy.

I had planned to run it with my friend Nicole. The start time was 9 o'clock and we don't like to be rushed or late, so we wanted to be there about 8. So she picked me up and we got downtown and parked the car and were excited  and ready to run by a little after 8. I had run many times in similar temps and knew that it was pretty chilly, but that once I got running I'd be fine. What I hadn't thought through was that we'd be standing around in the freezing cold outside from the time we got there until the race started.

Now would be a good time to mention that there were over 10,000 people registered to run the Get Lucky 7K. That's a lot of people! (turns out 9,797 of them actually showed up to run -- the smarter ones stayed in their warm beds -- making it the largest number of finishers in a road race in Minnesota ever. Pretty cool). So, as it turns out when there are that many runners, you line up by pace (there were HUGE flags with pace times on them and you were supposed to line up near the flag that noted your pace) and you start in waves. We didn't even cross the starting line until 9:18 (and I heard that the last runners didn't cross the starting line until nearly 10 o'clock :: half the people were already done running by then!). So, if you didn't do the math yet, that means we stood around in the freezing cold for more than an hour before we actually started running. That part was not so fun!

I had just passed by the flag announcing that we had already run 5K when I finally had the feeling back in my feet. When we started running I couldn't feel them at all, and then they slowly started coming back to life, but felt more like bricks or 2x4s than feet. It was really a weird feeling! My fingers were pretty cold too. I'm fairly certain we had some mild frostbite. I kept saying to Nicole, "Can you feel your feet yet?", "My fingers are still numb!", "I am freezing!". It was one of the crazier things I've done and I'm so very thankful that I still have all my fingers and toes! The running part was fine, it was all that standing around before hand that was the killer!

Also, they had done the best possible job they could of getting the race route cleared of snow and ice, but it had just snowed overnight and the temps were low, so they had their work cut out for them. There were still quite a few icy, slick spots on the route. Running on ice and running on dry ground are two completely different things. They use different muscles. Your gait changes. It's not super easy and you really need to concentrate if you want to stay upright (and, let me tell you, I really wanted to stay upright!)

I had a personal goal for myself. I wanted to run the race in less than 45 minutes. I had been consistently running about a 10/10:30-minute mile for the past month or so and 7Ks is about 4.35 miles, so I figured that was a very reasonable goal and a nice round number. My official chip time was 45 minutes and 53 seconds, BUT I'm gonna say I still met my goal since about 20 feet from the finish line I (almost literally) ran into a WALL of people at a dead stop. There was a bottleneck at the finish since all the runners had to run through a slightly narrower area to finish than the streets we had been running on were. When you combine that with the fact that some people came to a stop to greet their non-running friends who were waiting for them at the finish line and then you multiply that my even a small percentage of the nearly 10,000 runners, you get a big mess. So I was very close to the finish line before 45 minutes, but my foot (where my fancy chip timer was laced onto my shoe) hadn't crossed the little finish line pad, so my time just kept ticking on until I could finally actually cross the finish line. I'm not a super competitive person, but after all I'd already been through in the race, I will admit I was not a happy camper coming to a standstill within feet of the finish line! I don't know how many seconds all that took, but I'm considering it a goal attained -- even though my official time says I missed it by 54 seconds. So there!

Well, that's my race in greater detail than you wanted, I'm sure. Thanks for sticking it out to the end. Here's a post-race picture of Nicole and me to reward you for reading all of that other stuff. We're sporting our race sweatshirts and medals (and it just so happens that we have the exact same hat too, so we really were twinsies!).

flashback friday

guess who?

{I LOVED that little dress}

flashback friday

March 2006

multitude monday

Here's my continuing Multitude Monday post which is part of a series started years ago on Ann's wonderful, amazing blog that is a favorite of mine. If you've never checked it out, do yourself a favor and click on over. She's an amazing, gifted writer and an inspiration (not to mention a mother of 6)!

"One Thousand Gifts"::

3049. clear, snow-free paths around the lake
3050. more than 10 miles run this week
3051. kindergarten registration night for Anna :: she's SO excited for kindergarten!
3052. a kid-free Costco trip with Kirb (that nearly counts as a date!)
3053. a glorious sunrise
3054. a great musical for our girls and their choir friends
3055. LJ's teacher and our school principal coming to watch the performance (and that the girls had the courage to invite them)
3056. Kirbs :: I'm so very proud of him and blessed to be his wife
3057. good oncology follow-up for my mom
3058. wonderful, compassionate, understanding teachers who genuinely care for and about their students (especially when one of their students is your precious kiddo, who is having a rough go of it)
3059. healing
3060. a new member in the family of God :: party in heaven, that's for sure!
3061. antibiotics :: and just about a year since Sara's last ear infection
3062. youth group leaders
3063. nap time
3064. less trouble than I expected when needing to located Rebekah's kindergarten picture to put in the yearbook (since she's 'graduating' and all)
3065. the girls' practicing violin together
3066. family dinner at my brother's new house with his family
3067. 9 years of life for my spunky, adorable, fun, favorite (well, there's not much competition) godson.
3068. a 4-day school week (Friday begins spring break!)
3069. the beauty and magic of softly falling snow
3070. a new picture of Melvin and his family :: a 5x7, even!

May you realize all the blessings the Lord brings your way and take the time to make note of them. (you'll be glad that you did!)

flashback friday

Me with my (beautiful) aunt, Denise (my dad's only sister). Looks like maybe it was my birthday (or SOMEBODY'S birthday, anyway). I don't know how old I was exactly, but it was sometime in the first half of the 1980's.

She was just in town last weekend and it was wonderful to see her! (she wasn't wearing overalls this time, however).

multitude monday

Well, my parent's 42nd year of marriage started out not as uneventful as we would have hoped. The abbreviated version is that my mom thought she had the stomach flu last week (my dad was out of town), but I finally convinced her to let me take her to the hospital where she was admitted, "vacationed" for 5 days, had an obstruction surgically cleared from her abdomen and had her appendix removed. She is home now and is recovering and hoping and praying for no more hospital stays or surgeries EVER. Praise God it all turned out ok in the end.

Here's my continuing Multitude Monday post which is part of a series started years ago on Ann's wonderful, amazing blog that is a favorite of mine. If you've never checked it out, do yourself a favor and click on over. She's an amazing, gifted writer and an inspiration (not to mention a mother of 6)!

"One Thousand Gifts"::

3030. 41 years of marriage for my parents
3031. summer planning -- it WILL come someday, right?
3032. morning phone calls from Al -- a great way to start the day
3033. folding clothes, still warm from the dryer, on a bitter cold winter's day
3034. chocolate chip cookies sans chocolate chips -- a favorite of mine!
3035. good advice from a smart friend
3036. getting my mom to the hospital before things progressed any further
3037. great medical care
3038. caring, loving, praying friends
3039. cell phones
3040. my wonderful, flexible, sacrificial husband
3041. nurses :: I sure couldn't do that job, and they do it SO well!
3042. ear buds that don't fall out . . . FINALLY!
3043. a good run :: sunshine, warm temps, paths free of ice and snow (although I did have to dodge a few puddles) and faster times
3044. a great retirement celebration for our senior pastor who has faithfully served our church for the past 23 years!
3045. my mom being home again after 5 days in the hospital
3046. my nephew's preschool program -- a bright spot in a not-so-bright day!
3047. when the kids play well together
3048. a visit from my aunt and cousin from Massachusetts -- so wonderful to see them!

May you realize all the blessings the Lord brings your way and take the time to make note of them. (you'll be glad that you did!)

flashback friday

A happy sister-brother pair.

41

the happy couple last February on our family's celebration of the big 40th anniversary

Happy 41st Anniversary to my parents today! I am so thankful for them and their unwavering commitment to the Lord and each other and their family . . . not to mention their generous, giving spirits that have benefited so many people over the years. I'm praying this year ahead will be less eventful than the one they just made it through. Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad. I love you!

multitude monday

Here's my continuing Multitude Monday post which is part of a series started years ago on Ann's wonderful, amazing blog that is a favorite of mine. If you've never checked it out, do yourself a favor and click on over. She's an amazing, gifted writer and an inspiration (not to mention a mother of 6)!

"One Thousand Gifts"::

3016. fresh snow crunching under your feet
3017. book club :: love my book club girls!
3018. praying together with my friends for the sister of one of our dear friends who has cancer
3019. my Bible study :: such a blessing all around. the people. the study. the treats! love it!
3020. heart-shaped pancakes for Valentine's Day dinner
3021. our 22nd Valentine's Day spent together
3022. date night
3023. Chatterbox Pub
3024. an almond chai smoothie from Tea Garden {about as close to heaven as you can get . . . it had been SO long since I'd had one}
3025. Valentine lunch at my parent's house

pink ladies at our Valentine's lunch

3026. state swim meet at the U of M
3027. a relaxing, long weekend without much to do
3028. fresh haircuts for the boys {well, Joe and Kirb . . . Jake refuses!}
3029. good wrist check-up for Bekah, she can pretty much start doing everything again

May you realize all the blessings the Lord brings your way and take the time to make note of them. (you'll be glad that you did!)

flashback friday

Valentine's Day 1993 (or pretty close -- since I'm wearing that beautiful heart sweater and all, that sweater would be an even bigger shame if it was nowhere near Valentine's Day!) I would have to say that 20 years has improved us . . . at least wardrobe and hairstyle, if nothing else!

multitude monday

Here's my continuing Multitude Monday post which is part of a series started years ago on Ann's wonderful, amazing blog that is a favorite of mine. If you've never checked it out, do yourself a favor and click on over. She's an amazing, gifted writer and an inspiration (not to mention a mother of 6)!

"One Thousand Gifts"::

2988. Anna winking at me
2989. more swimming ribbons
2990. Joe qualifying for the state swim meet
2991. Anna "reading" library books to Sara
2992. chirping birds
2993. clean sheets waiting for you when you go to bed at night
2994. Buffalo day with my mom
2995. successful boot shopping (finally!) :: two pair, even :: and with a clearance and extra 25% off, only $75 for both pair
2996. grilled cheese with bacon
2997. the Amazon support guy who magically fixed our Kindle Fire when Sara, unintentionally, wiped the whole thing clean when playing with it.
2998. my new belt :: genius!
2999. Xyngular
3000. my wonderful husband!
3001. family fun night at the kids' school
3002. a beautiful funeral for a high school classmate
3003. re-connecting with high school friends around the table
3004. date night!
3005. fresh (sticky) snow on every single tree branch :: so very beautiful
3006. pre-dawn runs :: peaceful and calm
3007. lunch at my parent's house
3008. Race for the Cure "Team Marcia" gaining members
3009. safe travels on yucky roads during a storm
3010. feeling better than I have in a really, really long time (a good decade or so, probably)
3011. an entire family, a shovel in every hand, helping out neighbors (and the wonderful example of this family down, who lives the block from us :: they are such a self-less, helping, wonderful bunch. the best kind of neighbors to have! they just went up and down the block shoveling the heavy snow from all the driveways of the older people with their 4 kids -- their youngest is only 2 and he was working hard right along with them! great modeling, Jim & Heather!)
3012. a walk on a quiet winter day with my favorite person in the world
3013. Kirb down over 15 pounds :: so proud of him!
3014. hand-me-downs
3015. snickerdoodles

May you realize all the blessings the Lord brings your way and take the time to make note of them. (you'll be glad that you did!)

Flashback Friday

My baby when she was actually still a baby ::

Sara Evelyn 4 months {February 2011}::