Just Go!

We are on spring break so I in all my wisdom I thought it would be fun to take my kids rollerskating. Let me preface by saying I spent most of my weekends as a kid at the skating rink. When I said who wants to go skating they all three said, yeah let's go! So we loaded up, and drove all the way to Ashland. I know it's not really that far but I usually stay in my 5 mile bubble radius. By the way, the cost of skating has sky rocketed since I was a kid!
Anyways, we get there and we are all excited and the kids get their skates and we get them laced up. The first thing I hear is this is hard, these skates are heavy, how do I stop? Well Hannah decided very quickly after falling she was done. Zeik took a few spills and crashes before deciding he was through. Noah skated the entire time, though very slowly. He fell alot but kept getting back up.
They each wanted to know from the beginning, what if I fall or get hurt. Can I hang on to the wall?
I kept trying to tell the kids you just have to go. The only way you can do it is just to get out there and push one foot then the other. Look at all the other kids and how much fun they are having. You might fall but just try again.
Then it made me think how often God says the very same thing to me, us. He's telling us to do something and all we can think is what if I fall or get hurt. What if noone is there to catch me or there's no wall to hang on to. Then what God? He says, then you get back up and try again. I know it gets frustrating asking what does God want me to do with my life, how can I make a difference etc... I think you have to go back to the last thing you know he asked you to do and make sure you did it. Maybe it was raising Godly children, taking care of your spouse, telling your relative about Christ. Whatever is was make sure you did it so he can give you your next task.

Is It Just Me?

Hannah, my 12 year old and I have a discussion at least every other day about why she cannot have a cell phone. We also discuss/argue about why she can't read or watch Twilight and most recently why she can't watch The Lovely Bones. Of course her main argument as with most kids is, all my friends have a cell phone and have already watched and read all the Twilight books etc...

So I started thinking, Is it just me? Am I the only one who thinks I should have a complete handle on my 12 yr. old daughters location at all times. If she is somewhere she is not supposed to be I don't think she'll call to tell me. Not to mention as much as I love texting I don't think tweens are ready to handle that responsibility. I've seen enough news to know that kids will say and do things over text they would never do in person. And what about all the books and movies. PARENTS what is going on. I don't think a tween needs to be sucked into the sexually charged world of vampires, and don't even get me started on the Lovely Bones. I actually tried to read the book and it was so disturbing in describing the young girls murder that I couldn't read it.

I was watching Good Morning America today and they did a story on high heels for little girls. Is it just me, seriously! What's the rush for our girls to grow up? Maybe the epidemic is that we as parents are afraid to tell our kids NO.

Runnin, Runnin, and Runnin Runnin

I am currently training for the Ukrop's 10k on March 27th. Who would have thought running would be so hard? I ran alot as a kid, granted I had a lot more energy, time, oh and a lot less weight to propel.

When we first moved here I was amazed at how many people are always running here in the Richmond area. You can always see someone running no matter what the time of day or weather or day of the week. I would joke, who are all these people running from?
Since I'm getting into this subculture of running, and believe me it's a subculture I've discovered there are different kinds of runners.

1) The Runner: this person looks like a runner, usually tall and lean, probably never tempted to eat girl scout cookies because it could impede their running. They are usually in typical runner garb, maybe "Live Strong" yellow. They are usually the ones running when it's freezing or raining or 95 degrees outside. They LOVE running.

2) The Former Runner: These are people who used to be runners and probably destroyed their knees or hips or are just to old to be "runners" anymore. You can usually spot them because they might resemble a war victim they are so bandaged up as not to inflame an injury. You can usually spot a "former runner" by the look on their face. A mixture of determination, grit and the thought of "what the heck am I doing?"

3) Novice: That would be me. I'm a new runner and new runners keep hanging on to the words of their "runner" friends who say "just give it time, you'll love it". As a "novice" is running we're thinking, does my butt look like it's bouncing as much as it feels like it is? Is it possible for your heart to explode while running? You can also spot a "novice" because we haven't decided if we're going to invest in the typical "runner" garb. Sometimes I think I look like a homeless person jogging down the street, obviously I'm not running from anyone because my pace does not warrant fear.

So please pray the novices this season as we train for the race.

Trying to blog again!

Yep, I decided to try blogging again. I love facebook and there are times when I would like to really elaborate on things but just don't think Facebook is the forum. A recent post on fb (facebook) was about my youngest son telling me his butt hurt inside his crack and he wanted me to come and look at it, aka fix it. After I lectured him on wiping and proper hygeine he said I don't want to do that.
I started thinking how many times do we do the same thing to God. We are hurting, usually over a repeated action, we tell God I'm hurt, fix it. He says OK, do what I'm telling you and it will get better, then we turn to the one who has all the answers and knows us inside and out and loves us unconditionally and say, "No, I don't want to do that."