Lori - Marathon

Because 26.3 would be ridiculous . . .

Lori finished the the Music City Marathon this past Saturday. She ran the whole thing (except when she was giving out hugs along the way). I have to say this was impressive on many levels. Let me name a few:

1. She ran straight for 26.2 miles
2. It was hot
3. She felt sick
4. Her legs were tired . . . can't understand why
5. All of the time in preparation that she diligently put into it (you should see the training schedule that she marked off day by day).
6. The confidence she had to do something hard that she was afraid of. In more than one conversation she talked about the fear of failing. Having to stop running during the race.

This represents the culmination of several months of training and devotion and it was a significant event for her and for us. We loved watching her succeed and fulfill the potential we knew she had inside her.


As I watched Lori run yesterday I couldn't help but think that she approaches marathons the same way she approaches life. That includes her devotion to the Lord and her family. There is a daily steadiness and stick-to-it-ness that doesn't stop regardless of how easy or hard the next step is. She doesn't stop loving, caring for, and reaching out. And all with a vision of getting to the finish line with everyone there.


We love you sweetheart!! Great job!

Easter, 2012 edition

On the porch...sunny, sunny day.

Someday we'll get everyone in the air at once.

Loves his egg so much it gets a kiss.

Can you handle one more about Josh's birthday?

Lucky kid, how did he score three whole posts??

Josh had a Pokemon birthday party. We've had some hyper, crazy kids at parties before, but this time took it to another level. I was endlessly grateful that it was a nice day. After one game indoors, we decided to bag the rest of the planned activities and sent the whole brood outside to run and yell off their energy. Best move ever.

Pokeball cake (thanks, Beth, for the spherical pans!)

Elbow tag

Pin the tail on the pokemon-whose-name-I-forget

As part of their take-home stash, each kid got his very own pokemon card.

But turning 8 is about more than just getting pet reptiles...

 We love our Josh so much. He was very happy to be baptized by Scott the day before Easter.

Josh is good. Being good is one of his priorities. You can tell by how thoughtful he is about choices, and how agonized he is when he struggles with kind of really wanting to make the wrong choice (you know, like not sharing his candy or something like that--he almost always comes down on the side of CTRing though). His joy, enthusiasm and love for all is endearing, and I'm pretty sure his heart is literally made of pure gold.

Love you, Josh.

Adding to the family

Josh was the luckiest birthday boy ever last month. At Christmastime Josh's wish-list was topped with pet lizard. He talked about it frequently and I tried to gently prepare him in so many words that there was no way in heck he'd be getting one. Santa knows better than that. (Some people around here, possibly I'm one of them, or the only one, lean pretty heavily toward anti-pet. Six hermit crab or little frog funerals in under a year will jade a mom like that.) Then a few weeks before Josh's birthday my friend was looking for a good home for their bearded dragon. I mentioned it to Scott, and even as I said "but I really don't want a pet" I realized my heart of ice was thawing out a little and the idea didn't seem completely repulsive. So say hello to Spikey. We're a family of eight now.
(Thanks Kacey.)