Chronicles?
O.K. so Adam, the kids, and I headed to the theatre to see Chronicles of Narnia on Christmas Eve. We obviously were not contemplating all the other people that would be out in full force trying to see movies and by the time we got into the theatre it was sold out. Adam asked, "Well, should we just see something else?" To which I replied something about movies being too expensive and let's not waiste our money seeing "just something" just to see something. So, we convinced the kids that it would be fun to go home and watch Herbie and eat icecream, promising that we would go to the theatre on Monday, the day after Christmas. Herbie was cute and we all laughed and it was nice to be in movie mode and then watch a movie at home, with no subtitles. Monday rolled around, and yes, we had a nice Christmas, friends and family, just a little too much driving. We'll cut back though next year. Mistakes are learning experiences right! So, we prepaid for our tickets on Fandango and headed to the Santa Fe which a mistake that we didn't learn from on Saturday. However, the parking was, or should I say the lack there of was horendous! We drove around a full parking garage, and through the parking lot for over a half an hour. Finally Adam decided to drop us (Myself, our 2 kids and one extra) at the door so at least we could be watching the movie. When I went to get into the movie I learned that one of us would have to wait for Adam by the entrance due to the ONE sheet with our Fandango purchase. Being I wasn't going to let the kids in the movie alone or let one of my minor under 7 year old children wait at the door, none of us could watch the movie. So, we all waited until Adam got inside. Finally we entered the theatre only to be greeted by an irritated family of 5 in front of us to whom no seats were available. So, after filling a grievous complaint about the terrible parking situation and after getting our money back we headed to the Suncoast where it our movie was playing every hour on the hour. We patiently waited the 20-30 minutes in line watching the marquie very closely to see if our movie had sold out after each patron in front of us. Finally it was our turn and we were so excited! However we learned that there was a power
outage and the marquie was incorrect in telling us there was vacancy for our movie. Adam decided that we should just see something and so we did, Yours, Mine, and Ours. It was cute and the kids laughed a lot, which always does my heart good. Maybe we just aren't suppose to see that one as a family. Maybe Adam and I will try on New Years when his mom spends the night and we can have dinner and then see Chronicles and then a very unkid-friendly Rent, which we both really want to see.
Oh, the ramblings of a runner.
O.k. do play the "are we there yet?" game with the readout on the treadmill or do I bundle up my kids and head on over to my old marathon training stomping grounds and wheel them along a trail? It's all about timing. They are still asleep and if I wait then it just makes me wait to be clean and start my day. However, it would be a good excuse to drive to the other side of town and pick up my stuff that is waiting for me at the village runner, but then I have to wake them up and chance crabby kids. I do love running right away in the morning and by the end of the day I can't even remember whether I ran at all. However, it's not really bright and early anymore. Maybe by running on a trail with the kids it would be a more memorable run (or possibly more miserable?)
Friends' Influence
Victoria has asked each day for 3 days in a row now if she could watch Star Wars. She has watched and asked questions after each episode. She was upset when Luke went to the dark side, and was so excited when Darth Vader showed signs of the goodness that was inside of him. Why the Star Wars kick? Maybe it was spending the night at her girlfriends house, whose parents room decor consists of a very tasteful, everything Star Wars. I figure they are curious about something so obviously interesting to their friends parents, who are of coarse much cooler than their own. I can imagine Victoria thinking, "What makes their parents different from ours? Could it have something to do with Star Wars?" Now I guess she must have her answer.
The "Holidays"
A friend mentioned to me this week about how she didn't know anyone with much of any kind of Christmas spirit. I don't know if God is a part of her life, but if you ask me it's all about Jesus. It's the celebration of His birth, His Birthday if you will. Our kids sang Happy Birthday to Him last night. As far as what we know of Christmas in the secular world it's usually all about the kids. However, how the heck are people suppose to have the Christmas spirit if we can't even say Merry Christmas to each other in public anymore. Victoria didn't have any kind of holiday celebration at school this week. O.K. let me get this straight. We have a 2 week vacation and we don't even talk about why. It's a good thing I have so many friends who are teachers or I would have been standing at the schoolyard gate this morning wondering why everyone else was late, because you know that would be one of the rare times that we would be early :) I ran into another mother this weekend that didn't know that there was no school this week until after school on Friday. Hey, at least her kid had a winter celebration concert. What did my daughter's school have to bring on the "Holiday spirit?" NOTHING! No tree, Happy Hannukah candles or draidle, Kwanza, nothing. Shouldn't this be at the very least a celebration of all of our different beliefs. I wouldn't want to leave anyone out, bring what you celebrate to the table and we'll include it, but don't limit my free speech and tell me not to say Merry CHRISTmas! It's what I believe that Christmas is when I celebrate the birth of my saviour. Heck, Christmas has been around for a long time and now they want to cut it out. I'm not saying I want a holy war or anything, but there is too little in life that we celebrate. Life is about loving people and celebrating with someone just seems like an awesome way to do that! I remember when I was in school all those many years ago and my teacher was able to share her celebration with us and we had a Christmas tree IN OUR CLASSROOM! We sang Christmas carols, including The Little Drummer Boy, which suprises me now when I think about the fact that it talks about the new born king, baby Jesus, at our Christmas program, in a public school. O.K. so that was a run-on sentence, but well, I guess this has been a run-on blog, more of a rant. Sorry, I just don't understand all this hub bub! I guess I haven't been around very long though. A friend just informed me last night that it wasn't until the 50's that we put In God We Trust on our money. Maybe that irritated a lot of people back then?!
From ER to ER
First let me begin with some good advice, if no one answers after 25 rings you might as well try back later! I sat in the ER with a friend suffering from a terrible migrane last night. It is amazing how much more aware I was of the noise level. I really haven't (thanks be to God) spent very much time in the ER in my short lifetime. I hope to continue on that path. The ER sucks. If you're not suffering from a virus you are exposed to them, while you're their. Boy sometimes I wonder if we would be better off with doctors making house calls. I tried to keep quiet, calmly crocheting for another friends coming baby. When that annoying phone kept ringing unanswered for at least 25 rings I got up to do something about it. I thought about just picking it up and setting it back down. Another thought was to answer it and tell the caller there was no one there to take their call. Instead I ended up going to the triage nurse and asking her to answer it, she did very nicely comply :)
We heard all about the severed toe of the man across from us while he spoke loudly on his cell phone. A little girl came in crying from a split lip that ended up leaving after she ran out of tears and her lip quit bleeding. I guess she ran into a wall. It was very sad to see her knock on her head, split lip, and frantic mother trying to get assistance, from those I thought were very helpful and she obviously didn't by the choice words she chose to when referring to them, when her Metallica ring tone went off every couple of minutes. A woman in hysterics came in with a severed thumb. She had blood all over her face and her arm was wrapped in a towel. My friend who frequents the ER said that woman needed a couple of /valume/ (however you spell it) to calm her down. We were infiltrated by a cigarette saturated gentelman who stank up the ER waiting room so bad that they opened both of the double doors to give us some fresh air. I heard all kind of calls and conversations including talk of Mariah Carey's several award nominations for an album I didn't know she'd put out.
I will have to say though that once we got into the actual ER, behind the curtain it was pretty calm. There was a worker changing the sheets as we approached the curtain which would provide us with some privacy. Before leaving she decided to change the garbage as well and when she moved the can there was a small puddle of yellowish color. She said, "Orange juice spill." I wasn't convinced, but didn't want to think about what it. In no time at all I saw a hand, connected to an arm reach underneath the curtain from the outside and wipe up the puddle, leaving behind a lysolish scent. I was pleased. The most distracting sounds I heard were from the television behind the curtain next to us and an occasional moan from the lady with the blood covered face and severed thumb.
My friend's significant other got there shortly after I covered my friend with the warm clean sheet left by the worker after she changed the fitted sheet, before she wiped up the "orange juice." I gave a high five like I was tag teaming him in exchange for entrance to behind the curtain. After inquiring whether he needed anything, I ventured home. I got home just in time to wash my hands, prepare a bedtime snack, help with teeth brushing, say goodnight to Victoria, and watch ER. It was much busier, noisier, and well everything was dramatized, but I guess that's what keeps me coming back to watch week after week, for what's been years now. ER used to be the only show I would turned the TV on specifically to watch, until I've recently added LOST on Wednesdays. If you aren't watching you should. Part of me was relieved to have the drama to watch almost as a barrier between my time in the real life ER, where the waiting room was much more intense and my life in which I have blessed only have had to visit the ER a few, short, very intense moments myself.
Oh, and as a side note I am running again. I ran 3.6 Wednesday, clocked on our new GPS watch and had a 3.2 mile run on the treadmill today followed by .6 walk. I figured I'd run until I'd burned according to the treadmills counter, 300-400 calories. I ended with a little over 400. It's good to be running just for the heck of it again, no pressure, at lest until Febuary :)
My Baby Girl
Last night Victoria wanted me to hold her like a baby, which I realized when she asked that she hadn't asked that of me for a month or two, so I quickly scooped her up! I wrapped her in her Strawberry Shortcake blanket and held her. On my way to the rocking chair in the living room in front of the Christmas tree lit up with all the pretty white lights, she asked me to rock her in the rocking chair. I told her that was exactly what I was about to do. As I rocked her I sang this little medley I sang as a special at church once that begins with "I Come To The Garden Alone." When the medley came to an end she didn't seem at all sleepy and with a sweet voice and a longing I rarely hear from her, Victoria asked me to sing it again. I was so happy! My grandma used to sing "I Come To The Garden" to me while she held me close and rocked me. With tears welling up in my eyes I sang and fought them falling and regained my composure before "And He Walks With Me." Before I finished I reallized that she had fallen fast asleep. I have noted to myself before that there is nothing better than holding someone close as they fall asleep and when you lull them to sleep with music that God has provided you with lyrically, vocally, instrumentally however it spills out, what a blessing. After she fell asleep I hummed "Lullaby" to her and then rocked silently watching her sleep for a while. She is so precious! Thank you God for such a wonderful blessing like children. Even at 5 she is my baby girl and always will be!
Now I Am An Official Marathon Runner!
I am so greatful for such great friends and such awesome support! Just think if I was some elite runner it would just be expected that I would finish and not only finish, but kick crossing that finish line. However, this was my first marathon and I didn't know what to expect. I had hoped to run a marathon originally in 4 1/2 hours, but as my training progressed I moved up to a 4:15 training group and eventually a 4 hour group. So, I had hoped to stick with my pace group and run a 4 hour marathon, but they were running a much faster pace than what we had been training at and I couldn't keep up.
I have been reading Proverbs lately and Prov. 3:26 states "the Lord is my confidence." I kept quoting this while I ran letting it run through my head. After about mile 18 I finally turned on some music, well it ended up being some talking with some not so good singing. However I listened as the speaker told me to walk in God's grace and peace and I decided to let go of some silly notion that I needed to kill myself to finish in 4 hours. Somehow, miraculously I began to enjoy my mararthon, as much as one can enjoy a marathon. I was able to thank volunteers verbally and not just mouth thank you as I had before that point, when I wasn't previously focused on keeping up. This was my marathon, not the guy next to me not the guy in front of me. I was able to walk alongside some fellow runners and encourage them to run with me just little bit. I new it was hard to start running again, but it was possible. I didn't tell them all things are possible through Christ which strengthens me, but I showed them and we'd run a bit together. I would sometimes have to leave them behind and sometimes I would have to stop and watch others pass me by, but I was happy for them. There were little kids whose hands I was honored to be able give a high five. The crowd would encourage me and call me by name. Hey, when I was walking it was easier to read my name as I went by. I didn't just stop and walk, not that there is anything wrong with that, but I found myself feeling nautious at times or my left IT ban whoever you spell that or write it was giving my left hip a run for its money. The balls of my feet were killing me. However, not by my might I was able to walk intermittenly amongst my running until the last 1/2 mile when I tried kicking it in and had a sprint where I was able to move up in the ranks by at least 50. My official finish time was 4:18:31, not bad for my first marathon. Hey, not hitting my goal gives me something to shoot for at the next marathon. I am still not decided whether or not I will try and hit 4 hours at the next marathon or if I am going to run the next one and just try and enjoy it to the best of my ability throughout the entire marathon.
We did have a lot to see. It was fun to run all over town. We passed 2 or 3 gospel choirs along MLK, we past some island dummers, hula dancers, go go dancers, cowgirl dancers, several bands, some percusionist in white karate looking outfits (which were awesome,) several DJs, (one of which blasted his music way too loud t0 have to run by,) we ran through Fremont street experience, and there were tons of awesome spectators! I loved that fact that we ran through some parts of town were mom's sat in there windows with there little ones cheering us on. Maybe someday one of those little ones will want to run and encourage the next generation. The overall experience (although I was saying I'll never do this again at mile 19) was awesome. I encourage anyone who is able to get out there and try a marathon. You don't have to go fast, you don't even have to run, but try, at least a little bit. We are starting training for a tenative San Diego Marathon which I do believe is June 4th. So, if you'd like to join us we will be running on the NW side of Las Vegas. We'll have to start training pretty soon. So you have about a month to get comfortable. I suggest trying to run 2 if you can at first. If you can't run 2 then do what you can and work up to 2. Increase by a mile a week, any more than that your just asking for an injury. There are plenty of sites, with tons more knowledge than I could ever offer. I encourage you to check them out, but then get out of your seat and get running or walking, just move!
The Simple Things
This week has been crazy! However in amidst the craziness I have found peace in madness. After two wonderful days in Disneyland we were walking out and Sebastian picked up a leaf and was blowing on it and watching it shake in his hand. Then he would let it go and enjoy its flight back to earth. We fell drastically behind in our plight to catch our bus, which we ended up missing, but I didn't care. He kept playing with the leaf, a simple example of God's wonderful nature. I found more joy that day in watching him play with that leaf than anything else (except maybe watching him interact with his friend Loredanna, with whom he is was attentive and gentle.) Although we were with friends with whom we enjoyed sharing our adventure, I will most cherish the memory of my son and his leaf.
