Blog Vacay

It's been a while hasn't it? Life just happens and the next thing I know, we're almost halfway done with January 2011 (aka my birth month because everyone needs an entire month to truly celebrate their birthday). Time really does fly by. Anywho, I am now having some down time in the booming metropolis of Wilmore, KY while Marc attends a week class for school at Asbury Theological Seminary. On a side note, isn't it funny that when life is crazy, we want peace but when we finally get it, we're wanting some chaos. Weird huh? Back to an update on what I've been doing...

• We celebrated Thanksgiving. We truly have SO much to be thankful for - God's amazing provision, wonderful family, sweet friends, awesome kids that let us hang out with them, a precious but bratty dog (who I currently miss so much right now!) and an adorable house. We spent Thanksgiving in Chattanooga with Marc's family. It was nice to spend the day with them relaxing and eating lots of delicious food. And, this year was really special because I ended up seeing ALL parts of my family to celebrate Thanksgiving with them at some point during the month - something that doesn't always get to happen.
• I kept training for the 1/2 marathon...and the distances I had to run kept getting longer and longer and longer. You get the point. I was running out of daylight..literally!
• Marc whisked me away for an overnight getaway to Blue Ridge. We stayed at a very cozy bed and breakfast, ate some delicious food and decided we needed to do overnights like this more often!
• We celebrated Christmas with our campers - hope4christmas. It's always a delight to organize this Christmas party and spend some time with the campers and their families. Have I mentioned how much joy they add to my life?! Sieara graduated from Leadership and received her plaque...woohoo! I am so proud of her! The party was cut a little short after a small fire started at the church...luckily none of the campers OR counselors were responsible for it. Phew....
• My mom ran a 1/2 marathon...GO HER! She is my inspiration for running and she continues to amaze me.
  
• We hosted our annual friends Christmas party - such a good time to see some friends we don't always get an opportunity to see. A VERY good time with lots of delicious food...who doesn't love some good party food!
• We celebrated Christmas with my Dad. God definitely healed some wounds during our time together - an unexpected blessing!
• Marc and I celebrated Christmas - we were very intentional this year to actually spend Christmas Eve at our church and at our house. So, after Christmas Eve lunch with my extended family at Mimi & Bubba's (grandparents), we went to our church. We were joined by our friends Jason and Sara as well as Alexis, one of the kiddos from Camp Hope, and her mom. After the service, we went to look at lights before going home and watching A Christmas Story. It was neat to start some traditions of our own. We woke up on Christmas morning to open our gifts, eat some breakfast and then head to the 'boro to eat lunch with my family and dinner with his (great how it works out isn't it?!). The next day it SNOWED!!! Which was exciting but a little stressful since we were heading back home to get ready for our D.C. Trip!
• Marc, myself and four other adults took 15 Camp Hope teenagers Washington, DC. These students had just graduated from Leadership, so Sieara was able to come with us. Thankfully the snow did not deter us on our adventure. The majority of the kids had never been on a plane before or to DC so it was really great to watch them as they got to experience a LOT of first times. The trip went on without a hitch - except for me catching a nasty cold - and the kids are now all expert travelers! They acted like they had flown all their life when we headed back to Atlanta. They amaze me...
• By the time we got home, both Marc and I were completely drained and both sick so we spent New Years in our pjs.
  
• I ran the 1/2 marathon with B-train and her dad at DISNEYWORLD! I really love that place...it's so fun. I mean, I know it's for kids and all but who says a 26-year-old can't enjoy it like a kid. Our great friends, Michael and Lauren came with us to support us. They even got up at 4:30 am to watch us start! The race was a lot of fun, especially running through the Magic Kingdom but about mile 9 I was ready to get to the finish line. I am very thankful for all the support we had and still in shock that I ran a half-marathon and surprised that I'm excited to do another one (what?!)....especially at Disney!

Which brings us to speed...phew..I think it will be a while before I wait this long to update the blog.