A Runner

Back in August, someone asked me, "Are you a runner?" To which I answered... no. I used to consider myself 'a runner', but 10 years of virtually no running puts me in the 'not-runner' category, regardless of what exactly defines 'a runner'.

I have now been running consistently for about 6 weeks. I get up before my family is up and I go for a short run. The first few weeks, it was still very dark and cold out when I went to run and one mile could take me as long as twelve minutes. I figured that running for 10-20 minutes a day, 1-2 miles was a very reasonable goal and I couldn't imagine running much more than that. I have a little mp3 player that is WONDERFUL and has made my running such fun. I LOVE to listen to music - to pay attention to the chord progressions or background sounds or places where the drums fill out a song pricelessly. I can't help but grin to hear certain salient notes drift in and out that I have perhaps never noticed before or have long forgotten. I love letting quality words and ideas seep into my heart- words of Truth and of Hope and of Encouragement- because I listen often to Sara Groves (!!!AWESOME!!!), Chris Tomlin, Jars of Clay, Christy Nockels and Caedmon's Call. I have been thoroughly enjoying listening to music while running- perhaps because I have always been so intensely connected to music - it's something I can't explain very well, but I am sure that my siblings understand at least - and probably many other musically-oriented people. Sometimes I have looked forward to running just because it's a chance to really LISTEN to music - not to just have it as background noise, but to listen to it.

More recently, I have been running longer and harder - trying to cut back on how much time it takes me to run while still increasing my distance. I run on the treadmill 3-4 days a week and the other two days I run at the top of our mountain watching the sun rise over the Himalayan peaks in the distance and talking tirelessly with a running friend. I will miss those runs dearly, but they're not done yet!

The treadmill runs are more intense for me because they're boring (!) - and I don't have THAT much music to listen to, so I started downloading John Piper's sermons to listen to because they are fascinating- so challenging, encouraging and I don't get bored listening to him preach. I recommend them! So now I listen to music some runs and sermons other runs on the treadmill and I have been working on cutting my time as I run and building my endurance, because I feel like at heart, I'm kind of a wimp. :)

Wimp or not, this morning I dragged myself out of bed yet again to hit the treadmill, thinking that perhaps I should do 2.5 miles this morning. I got an earlier start than usual since the gym was open when I arrived, and as I got running and soaking up my music, I reached 2.5 and thought that 3 miles would be good since I had time. But 3 miles came and I was enjoying the run so much that I decided to keep running- maybe 3.5 this morning. And as I reached 3.5 I figured I had a few more minutes to run and I could probably hit 4 miles no problem. So 4 miles it was in only 33 minutes - and it felt so good! I realized as I headed home, that perhaps I have now joined the ranks of the 'runners': those people who can hardly NOT run because they just love it too much. Who run just to run, who enjoy the challenge of maxium distance in minimum time. I remember high school runs in Cameroun with my friend Marcie. We'd run and run and run - as long as we had time, we'd run. We both loved it equally and would challenge eachother as we went along - 'let's make it to ________" and when we reached that place the other one would say, "let's keep going to ______" and so on. Such fun. And now I am running and enjoying it like I did those days. I am thankful for good health and a season of life that's allowed me to run again. God has blessed me with these things and I am full of joy.

These days

I should post something on here.

That's what I've thought for the past week... but what to write? We're doing fine- but I'm keeping busy. We had a busy weekend and I have been working on a few projects that leave me feeling tired at night and scattered the rest of the time. scattered.
However, I just finished one project - a crazy quilt block. I'll post a picture of it sometime soon.

My other current projects are:
-making a community cookbook- haven't gotten very far on this yet
-running - this is wonderful and going well- but very time-consuming and I don't have a race to run yet - which makes me feel like it's a project without an end in sight.
-recording some songs I've written - this project is nearly completed -yay!
-writing a song for the Talent show... almost done, but not quite
-Annie's quilt - I stalled out on this one. hmmm. not so good.
-write a prayer letter - if you want to be one of our prayer partners, let me know and send me your email address! :)

That's all the projects I can think of right now -it's better since the weekend is over. I was helping to organize a baby shower that took place on Sunday - it was fun to do, but it makes my to-do list shorter now that that's done and the crazy quilt block is done.

Besides that, I've been working on paperwork for moving to Seoul, watching kids all day, learning how to cook a few new dishes, doing laundry, dishes and other housework, and spending time in God's Word. These are quiet days and I don't have much to blog about, I guess - just plugging away at my projects and keeping the house running. Now I'm off to bake pumpkin bars for about 50 kids.

Enjoying

These days I'm really enjoying (in no particular order) :
1. early morning runs- a beautiful thing! sometimes inside on a treadmill listening to music, sometimes outside on the roads... watching the sun creep up from behind the mountains in the stillness of the morning. I am loving this.
2. great weather! now my laundry dries in just 3 hours outside in the bright sunshine. My kids play together in the dirt (and I'm longing for a summer of playing with water that won't be dangerous for them).
3. giving my kids grapes and ice cream - they love grapes and ice cream. No, not together, but it's so wonderful to give them things they enjoy. -Makes me think of God. I think He also, as our Father, loves to give us things we enjoy when it works with His plans. :)
4. my husband- he's such a great husband and I am really enjoying this 6th year of marriage to him. We communicate well and help eachother well, I feel - what a gift.
5. living availably. I feel free to do things last-minute, to invite people over, to drop in at other people's houses if they might need my company for a bit. I love being able to help where there are needs and having relationships well-enough established here that I can bring people together and encourage those who need it. I think I was made to live like this- but not every season of my life has permitted it. It's so nice to feel like I can live like this right now fairly effectively. I wonder how long it will be before I am well -enough established in the next place we live to be able to live like this?

Dusting off what remains

It's February.
I don't really do 'new-year-resolutions' and I don't typically set goals anymore because I wanted to live more free than I have sometimes... (and I also got tired of feeling so defeated by un-reasonable goals.)
But this past year has been a different season of life for me and I've been privileged to have more restful days and more time to accomplish things. So it seemed right that I set some reasonable goals and live more disciplined so I could reach them.

I spent the past several months telling myself: "I will start running again in February". If I just get up a little earlier, I can fit in a run every day before my family is up. But when February 1st arrived, I lay in bed wondering why I thought running would be a good idea. However, now I've managed to run 4 days in a row and I find that I enjoy it so much once I get going. I haven't really been a proper 'runner' in about 10 years, but this time, I would like to keep up my running long enough to finish a big race (like a half or whole marathon) in the summer or fall.

Besides running again, some other goals have sprung up and I am now committed to making a community cookbook with some friends and recording an album of my songs just for fun. I also continue to struggle through elementary-school piano pieces and re-visit scales that I haven't thought of in years, and this afternoon I plan to play cello with a pianist friend - which I'm looking forward to immensely! French is fast-disappearing for me, so I am trying to listen to French radio for about 20 minutes each day... just listen- so I don't completely forget. And I have now downloaded some Korean flash-cards, because I would like to learn Korean and what better time than now?! I wonder if I can still learn anything, but it's worth a try.

So many parts of me that have been shelved for many years need dusting and use. It's always hardest right at first to see how much I've lost over time and tonight will be another one of those moments, I think, as I've been invited to play soccer with some of the other staff here. It's been so long since I've done all of this stuff, but it feels good to get to do them again and I am praising God for this season He's given me.

running and more

I thought I'd just write something quick here. Some noteworthy items:
-We got good rain last week- praise God, because this land needs the water.

-Woodstock had it's annual cross-country race on Friday, and I ran with the 11/12 grade girls and came in 7th. I haven't run even once in a full year (since last year's race). I wondered what event the girls thought they had signed up for as some of them started out the 3 Km race walking, and I passed about 20-30 more who would jog, then walk... (yes I said THREE KM- and it was FLAT).
Someday I would like to run. a proper race... a scenic jog around somewhere... a marathon... just run. It was fun to do and I always feel like I'd enjoy it even more if I were more in shape. Maybe I'll start running again this year- but it will require an earlier bedtime!

-Annie is VERY accident-prone... in the potty-training sense of the word! she likes to tell me she doesn't need to go and then a few minutes later she looks down at the puddle on the ground and says urgently " Mamma! blabla!" But sooner or later she'll sort it all out, I'm sure - and at the moment, I'm happy to have fewere diapers to change every day!

-Will is almost 4 years old. I can hardly believe how big he's gotten. He's been really enjoying playing with duplo toys by himself- lining up cars and people and telling stories. The people, cars and animals all talk to eachother and time seems to fade away in his world. Last night we had sewing night at our house and I gave Will a cardboard sewing with a shoelace to work on. He hasn't tried 'sewing' in months, so I thought he'd need lots of help- but I went to do something and came back and he had nearly completed it and had done it very well - all by himself. He likes to walk by himself on the trails now, and he gets his own quiet reading time before he takes his afternoon nap. (That's one of our schemes to get naptime and bedtime more under control in our house!) He's growing up and it's so neat to watch.