In a blink

This past Sunday at church was the Graduation Celebration for the graduating seniors in the youth group. I hope in 16 years I remember how I felt sitting there watching those seniors receive messages from their loving parents and youth pastor.

Everyone says it. "Don't blink." "It goes by so fast." "Where did the time go."

I know in 16 years I will say the same thing. I think I had met one of those seniors, but each one got me a little teary-eyed. Their parents expressing their love for them and how amazing it has been to watch them grow into the wonderful person they are today. The youth pastor giving examples of the fun they had in the youth group and the impact they've made in the church and on the lives of others through missions.

In 16 years I want to say the same things to my daughter and have those things said of her. It made me excited to be in the church we are in right now. While I haven't had much involvement with the youth group yet, I really enjoy the youth pastor's sermons. You can hear the love and passion he has in his voice for those kids. I am excited for her to experience that.

Yes, it will happen in a blink, but I will be there every step of the way for her. To encourage her to do the things she scared to do, to love her when she succeeds, to be her rock when she may fail, to be proud of her through every wise decision she makes. And most of all to show her the love of Jesus and pray for her that, instead of chasing bubbles (Pastor Scott's sermon on 5/18), she chases Jesus.

A heart like mom's

I didn't get around to actually posting Happy Mother's Day yesterday. I was busy hanging out with my mom :)

I love my momma so much. She has a heart like I've never seen. She cares so much about others around her and always has just a little bit more to give.

About a month ago she had asked me to come up to Huntington to help out with a Ladies Build Day with Habitat for Humanity. The house that is being built is for some friends of ours that we've known for a very long time. Their house was completely destroyed in a fire a few months ago (praise God none of their family was in the house when it happened!). I couldn't be more thankful that I said yes.

Getting to work side-by-side with my mom on such an important project is something I will never forget. She was so awesome and it inspired me to want to do something like this with Paige someday.

I love this woman and I'm so thankful I get to call her mom! I hope that I have enough room in my heart for others around me as she does!

Thanks for showing me how to love and care for others!

Here are a few pictures of the build day and a few of Mother's Day as well!

13.1 - Half Crazy

Today I ran my first Mini-Marathon, well, mostly ran. I did walk three times, but overall probably only walked less than a mile! I was overall very satisfied with my total time and pace! I had two goals, either finish in 2:30 or keep a 12 min/mi pace. We'll my overall time was 2:31:33, so I did get under my 12 min/mi pace and just barely missed my goal time!

It was definitely an awesome experience! I think everyone should try it at least once. For the mini I would actually suggest running your first one with a buddy. You should both have similar goals in kind, but be willing to have fun too! I wish I would have stopped to take pictures along the way a few times, but felt weird doing that by myself. I think if I did it again I would want to run with a friend.

A few other things I learned:
- the pack never thins out
- you are always either getting passed or passing someone
- always go to the back of the 'pit areas' they are less congested
- it's really really hard to run and drink out of the paper cups
- the pain does go away

This was a fantastic experience and so well run! Seriously the 500 Festival staff and volunteers were awesome! I think I would love to do this again and hopefully with Jeremy or a friend! Although next time I will definitely invest in one of those belts that hold water... Those pit stops and paper cups are no fun!