Gratitude Challenge Week 2

Week 2 - Spouse

Well if you know me, read my blog, see my occasional facebook posts, then you'll know how much I love this guy I married. He's amazing. So I'm definitely thankful, greatful, and blessed to have this man in my life.

He makes me laugh, he makes me feel safe, he encourages me, he inspires me, he makes me want to be a better person. He's an amazing dad. He won't admit it, but he likes our kitties. One of the biggest pieces of advice when you are dating a guy is to watch how he treats his mom. And one of the things that first attracted me to him was how much he loved and respected his mom. He's incredibly smart. But it isn't just IQ, although that's pretty high. He can figure anything out with a little work or research. He's patient, way more tolerant that I could ever hope to be, a great teacher, and an amazing listener. I also love his quiet faith. He's not the type to preach, but all you have to do is watch him to know that he loves God and has amazing ethics.

Can you tell yet how great this guy is?! 

So today I'm thankful for my husband, Jon.

On a date - even though it's blurry, I kept this one because of the fun memories we made that night.

Remember me mentioning the kitties?! =)



He loves his kids.

The Man of my Dreams

This man has my heart!

He's the very best thing that could have happened to me. 

Love him!!!

 And there's this side of him - the one that won't cooperate when I'm trying to take a picture. 

Love this side too. =D

My crazy life!

Today was supposed to be a day that I got back on track. I kind of took a break from running during the summer and haven't really gotten back into it. So today I was starting again, finishing some errands, and hopefully getting a massage.

When I started the car this morning it sounded a little different. And an extra light came on, on the dashboard. After I dropped off the kids I couldn't make the car go. It didn't seem to have any power. Now another light was on. I pulled out of the school road onto the highway and almost wrecked. The car wouldn't go faster than 20 MPH. The cars were going about 60 MPH. I gunned it and nothing happened so I took my foot off the gas and a few seconds later the car accelerated. Almost rear ended someone. So I put on my flashers and watched the dashboard alternate between lighting up like a Christmas tree and going completely dark. The fasten your seat belt alarm was going off and my radio wouldn't come on. I drove home very slowly, almost not making it up some tiny hills.

The alternator is dead and the car ran home on the battery, so now that is dead too. My dear sweet husband came home on his lunch break and is replacing it for me so I can have a vehicle to drive. Love that man and his many, many talents. Just imagine the expense and time that it would take if I had to take my car to the mechanic.

Sorry for the blur. He didn't know I was taking the picture and wouldn't have posed if I'd asked. =)

19 Years!

Nineteen years ago, I promised to love this man for the rest of my life.

I was an immature little girl, but somehow I knew that I'd found a treasure. It was the easiest promise I've ever made.

He is the best husband a girl could ask for and I can't thank God enough for sending him to me 23 years ago.

Happy Anniversary my love!

My marathon trip Part II

My dad warned me that no matter how well I was trained, or how experienced a person might be, race day could and often would throw you for a loop.

Temps were predicted to start in the high 40s for the start of the race. So I packed tanks and shorts. I threw in my running capris just in case. No jacket, gloves, etc.

Saturday night we checked again and the temps were going to be in the upper 30s. Yikes! Thankfully we had been given a long sleeve shirt in our race packet. So I changed my plans and dressed in capris and long sleeves. I wore my regular coat with the plans to ditch it before getting in line.

We woke up that morning to a temp of 46. Still chilly, but bearable. Everything else seemed to be going as planned.

My dad, who normally has a time of well over an hour shorter than mine, needed a finishing time of 5:30:00 to qualify for Pike's Peak Ultra Marathon. Normally this would be a cake walk for him. But since he'd said he was running with me, he decided to give himself a bit of an edge. So I got in line and he waited for over 2 min before crossing the start line (chipped time) and then running to catch up with me. This meant that he could run in with me, but his actual time would read 2 minutes faster. With over 5k people (1/2 marathoners ran first 12 miles with us) he had a hard time finding me. =)

Since the kids were staying with my in-laws Jon opted to ride his bike and play sag wagon for us. It ended up being a huge blessing. We hit mile 5 and our route took us into a beautiful subdivision. I would love to have pictures of this place. It was unreal. But all of the roads were concrete with metal bridges. Our knees started aching, but weren't bad. The run through the subdivision spit us out around mile 10. 

I began to get hot and so I asked Jon to ride back to the car and get my tank.

We left the 1/2 marathoners at approx mile 12 and a block later were hitting a gravel trail. This trail was almost 13 miles of the marathon.

Jon joined us on the gravel trail and saved me from the heat. When I get hot I slow WAY down. Since a large portion of the trail was shaded I was great with my tank. He also provided water several times when I needed some before I reached an aid station. Next time I'll know to carry water in addition to my jelly beans.

I didn't notice at first, but the trail is slightly sloped on both sides so that water won't pool in the middle since it's in a low water area near the river. Almost immediately my left knee began to ache and by mile 16 was killing me. By mile 17 it was locking up so badly that I almost fell several times. I refused to quit since otherwise I felt great. My brother had told me that when his knee bothered him, if he ran full out it would feel a bit better. So I ran the last 7-8 miles doing intervals. Running as fast as I could until my knee locked up, then walking until the stabbing pain quit. It would still hurt, but I would start running again. 

My dad kept track of how fast we did each mile so I would know when to only walk until the knee unlocked or if I had a small cushion so I could rest my knee more by walking.

When I got to the 25 mile marker I knew I was going to make the 5 1/2 hour time limit we'd set so my dad could qualify. It was definitely not the time I'd been planning on when I started, but at least he could go ahead and send in his application.

I finished in 5:22:15. 

I am now part of the .5%  who has completed a marathon!

My dad was amazing. It was obvious that running at that pace was very uncomfortable for him. But he never once ran ahead or suggested that he leave me and come back. He encouraged me the whole way. I wanted so badly to tell everyone that passed us or saw him coming in at that time that he was only that slow because of me. I know it had to have been hard for him to see everyone his age going by and know that he would have gotten an award if he hadn't been running with me.

My husband was a huge support as well. The water, different shirt, and encouragement were a huge help.

 I owe my great experience to these wonderful men. I'm so thankful for them both.

 Update: For those that are asking - I feel great today (Tuesday) with no pain. My knee is a bit sore, but not painful. And yes, I will definitely run another marathon.

Engineering Marvels

I'm sure I've talked (joked) about this before. My darling husband fixes EVERYTHING regardless of whether I would have preferred to trash the broken item and replace it with something new.

But there are times this comes in really handy.

On Sunday I went into the laundry room to get something and stepped into a puddle of water. There is a small bathroom on the other side and I felt certain I knew the reason for the water. A certain small child had been playing in the sink earlier and had probably extended their play area into the laundry room. But upon further inspection I noticed that the puddle was coming from underneath the washer.

A little back story about this washer - My husband use to work for BSH (Bosch) in North Carolina. He was one of the test engineers for the washing machines. So periodically people would be offered a shiny new washer/dryer set if they would fill out a questionnaire every time they did laundry. It usually lasted for two months and then you could keep the units for a very small fee. I don't think the engineers were supposed to be on that list of testers, but  he got us on the list. It wasn't a model that would necessarily end up on the showroom floor though. Anything that came back negative in the questionnaires would be fixed in a newer, updated model. But because my husband worked there he would often come home with a new computer (yes, my washer and dryer have computers in them) or a new side panel, etc. So really these things are high-end Frankensteins.

Less than a year after we moved here, the washer/dryer section of the plant closed down and Bosch no longer makes full size washer and dryers for the US market.

So when Jon took the washer apart and noticed that one of the hoses had worn a small hole in it, we didn't know what to do. He put a call into a friend who still works at Bosch to see if perhaps a spare hose might still be lying around somewhere. But in the mean time. . .

Jon finds a piece of plastic that wore the hole in the hose and removes it. Then he uses a bicycle tire patch to patch the hole until the replacement part (one was found) could come in. I've washed quite a few loads since then with no problems. Isn't my husband amazing?! I wouldn't have known how to get the top off the washer, let alone known how to find the problem. And I certainly wouldn't have thought of using a bicycle tire patch to fix the hole.

Photo A Day Challenge Day 2

I did this today. . .

I spent the day with my husband. It was amazing and just the vacation I needed.

Blessed with friends

Yesterday morning I woke up to Jon tossing and turning in bed. He was also moaning. I first thought he was dreaming. But it was quickly apparent that something was seriously wrong. He was quite sure that he had a kidney stone. Since he's been down this road before (about 10 years ago - it ended w/ surgery in Germany), I figured he knew what he was talking about.

Jon wasn't getting any better without some meds. So I rushed the kids through their morning routine so we could head to the emergency room. I wasn't thinking clearly. It's very difficult to think when a loved one is in pain. I wasn't sure about the rules of the ER and I wanted Dominic to be able to go to school. So I put a brief message on facebook asking for someone to pick him up at the ER since I was taking Jon and wanted him in school.

My plan was to let the first person who responded have the kids and then I could take the message down and concentrate on my husband. Didn't plan on my ipod dying and my being unable to get on the internet. My phone blew up. I had so many messages with offers of help, prayer, and concern.

Jon was admitted to the hospital until the next day and I had friends coming from every direction with offers of help with the kids or anything else we might need.

Jon came home this morning still in pain, but we are hoping it passes soon and the meds can keep the pain manageable until then.

But what has amazed me (although it shouldn't have) was how all of my million friends stepped forward to help. I felt truly loved and blessed. I can honestly say that I haven't lived anywhere else that I've had this many loving and caring people who surround my family with prayer and blessings.

So thank you! Thank you to the ones who cared for (or offered to) my children, thank you for the visits in the hospital, thank you for the yummy food so I didn't have to cook, and most of all - thank you for the prayers. I have the very best friends in the whole world.

Anniversary Trip

Yesterday was spent the usual way until about 5pm. Then Jon and I left the kids with a babysitter and headed out for an evening together. We do some pretty unusual things for dates, but were having a hard time figuring out what to do. We finally settled on a road trip, of sorts. 

Years ago before we had kids we'd take the car or motorcycle and drive around the countryside. We'd explore unfamiliar roads, talk, take pictures, and enjoy the beautiful weather. So we decided to do that again this year. We drove for almost two hours stopping only to take pictures.

We followed it with dinner, shopping and a movie. But my favorite part was still the drive.

Here are a few pictures from our trip.

 I have the most patient, tolerant man.

Love this guy!

 Not sure if this is poison ivy or not. I'm not allergic so I don't pay attention.

I broke several vines trying to see better into the house.

Later I realized and tried to wash my hands with hand sanitizer.

Hoping that works enough to keep Jon from getting it. Because he's terribly allergic.

Happy Anniversary my love!

I can't wait for the next sixteen.

Photo Challenge Day 1

You, Now

Our anniversary was yesterday and we try to take a picture every year. Not sure why, but it started the year after we married and I don't think we've skipped a year yet.

I took this using the timer and tripod.

It's after midnight so ignore the sleepy eyes. At least we remembered to take the picture. =)

Photo Challenge Day 15

Love

I am teaching a class at church. The book we are working through right now is called Real Marriage. So far, it's a really great book. One of the things we had to do for homework last week was go on a fun date.

Jon and I certainly didn't complain. But we are pretty vanilla when it comes to spare of the moment date ideas. Movies? Dinner out?

And then Jon came up with an idea that ended up being tons of fun. We went RV shopping. We aren't really in the market for an RV. We've casually talked about it, but that's as far as we've gotten. So we drove to the nearest dealership (about 45 minutes away). This gave us non-kid time to talk. Something that is hard to come by around here. It was really neat to tour all of these RVs, campers and buses. Some of them are palatial. It's crazy.

After we were finished we stopped at a Mexican restaurant in Crossville.

Then we had to top it off with ice cream. We had a lot of fun and it was nice to have some couple time.

This is a long post for a photo challenge, but I love my husband and really enjoyed our date so I thought it fit.

Photo Challenge Day 1

Yikes! Where did April go? I was moving blissfully along, knowing that I was going to do another photo challenge in May. And today it dawned on me that it was May 3. So the first two days are oldie, but goodies that I've pulled since I was not in the present, apparently.

Peace

 This man calms me! Love him!!!

Valentine's Day

I knew I wasn't a writer. But it is confirmed today when I tried to express how much my husband means to me. It seems to be the "thing" to diss your spouse when among a group of women. People jokingly make comments about how their spouses are incompetent in certain areas or say the awfullest things. I'm not talking about the cute little things that a spouse does that are endearing, I'm talking about things that criticize or ridicule a person. Besides, if I was to complain about his defaults I might have to mention mine and the list is sadly a lot longer.

I can't complain because I have the most amazing husband. He loves me and treats me like a queen. Our relationship is apparently not like most peoples. Some girls I used to work for would get so upset and think I was being proud or condescending when I wouldn't complain about my husband. But I couldn't. Often we look at each other and shrug our shoulders. We don't understand how other couples act the way they do. Didn't they promise to love, honor and cherish? Didn't they marry their best friend? Doesn't a relationship work better if a couple works together? How can I possibly be doing my relationship a favor when I say bad things about my spouse. It just doesn't seem healthy. I'm to build him up and respect him. Thankfully my husband makes this so easy to do. He's the best. And he treats me like I'm the best. What more could a wife ask for? So I guess we are doubly blessed or just not normal. =)

I am thankful for my wonderful man.

Happy Valentine's Day to the very best husband in the world!

Photo Challenge Day 7

Photo Challenge Day 7

Favorite

My husband is certainly a favorite.

Although I might not be his after he sees this picture. 

I don't think he was in the mood for pictures. =)

Charleston - Here we come!

I thought about labeling these posts I, II, III, etc. But then I remembered how many pictures I had taken and I wasn't sure that I would be able to count that high in Roman numerals. =)

Jon and I headed down to Charleston on Thursday after he got off work. It's about a 7-8 hour trip so we packed a supper and didn't stop unless we absolutely had to. We wanted to have as much time down there as possible and didn't want to sleep most of Friday away.

When we woke up on Friday morning we decided to take the carriage ride that everyone had recommended and then wing it from there.

Our horse. For some reason I didn't get a better picture of him. Sorry Cooper!

The architecture here is amazing. I love old buildings and Charleston had a ton.

 

The carriage ride was nice. The guide told us quite a bit of history about Charleston, but also gave us ideas for things to do the rest of the time we were there.

After the ride we wandered around the downtown area taking pictures until lunch.

The weather was so beautiful.

 

 We had to take pictures of each other to prove we'd actually been there. =)

 

 

 Battery Park with all of the live oak trees.

 A new little oak tree.

I'm a huge urban decay fan and Charleston was an amazing place to take pictures for this. 

Salt water, age and weather are not friends to buildings.

 

 

 

 Gas light. It was so neat to see them flickering all around town.