when we were in high school we had a teacher that would make us write a journal to start each class period. she made us write for a given amount of time... oh, i don't remember...5 minutes?...10? it felt like an eternity, and though we would rarely find a reason to be speechless during those high school years, THIS would do it every time. we would moan and groan about how we could not possibly think of one single solitary thing to write. she would smile. she would remind us that she didn't care how much we thought our brains were empty. she expected us to write something. anything. often i would start off by writing that i couldn't think of anything that day and then...BAM! my mind was racing. by the time we finished i was wishing for more time to write.
i feel like that today. i'm past the "i can't think of anything" stage and i just want more time to write. my thoughts. things i'm thankful for. funny things that have happened today. i have just a few quick moments before connor's bus arrives and i want to get out as many thoughts as possible before i have to head to the corner.
it has been BEAUTIFUL around here lately. warm, sunny, fallish. i absolutely love it. my runs have been easily inspired. and i'm happy to report that i have NOT given up! i've come to the realization that running is 90% mental. really. i mean, physically if you are able to run there's not all that much to it. just start walking and then go faster. it's been a real revelation of my inner flaws. seriously. i know i struggle with follow-through. if something doesn't instantly grab my interest, it will take serious consequences before any motivation will happen. and with running, i have learned that i just have to suck it up and get over the mental hurdle that has stopped me from trying for so long. it's mental. bottom line.
things are going really well around here. i mean, daily struggles against evil most definitely abound when you live with two small children, but overall God has been gracious and given us WAY more than we deserve this fall. since nathan wasn't exactly cashing a paycheck this summer, we were driving our car on gas fumes and prayer. let's put it this way... you could start the car, but if your foot was not constantly pressing on the gas it would instantly stall. it kind of felt like you were driving a stick shift. it was a challenge. we would come home from our various errands and see who had the best story of how far they limped it along without stalling. nathan thinks the parking structure at the downtown hospital was impressive, but i pulled off taco bell drive thru during the ford lunch rush. yeah, i know you're impressed. well, since he started his new job we had stashed away a portion of his first pay to pay for repairs. we had a set limit and we were basically going in there saying, "here's what we've got... do what you can with it." the quote came back $80 under what we had saved. i was pumped and doing my little hallelujah dance...until they called back. turned out the guy had made a mistake and quoted me for only one strut instead of two. he was apologizing up and down and felt horrible b/c he tries to always be upfront and honest....and truly, we've never had ANY problems with this place. they are fabulous. he offered to split the difference with me, which i thought was very fair. especially since he felt so bad. so that put the price $20 OVER what we had saved, which was actually totally doable and in fact, made it possible for us to make our car seaworthy once more. if he had not made the mistake we couldn't have afforded the cost of that part. we would have had to save up again and it may have ended up damaging other parts while we waited. God was at work, even in this man's mistake. so we went to pick it up, and the actual price was $50 CHEAPER than what my second quote was..... unreal! i loved it. so our car is totally once again seaworthy. still a heap, but safe to drive nonetheless. oh, and did i mention that a friend just HAPPENED to be out of town and just HAPPENED to lend us their second car for this week? we didn't have to beg, borrow, or deal a ride for nathan to get to work. God is good.
connor's class did a song before the board meeting this week. in honor of columbus day they sang "you're a grand old flag" and a ditty about the explorer's voyage. it was very cute. it was short and sweet. my kind of program. :)
ready to sing!
enjoying his star status a little too much
walking in with "peace and quiet" fingers.
3 comments:
HA! I was just telling my coworkers about Miss Parenti's class and how she would make us write like that! We were trying to come up with ways to make our students write like that but in Chemistry it's kinda tough!
I hear ya -- I feel like my brain is FULL to overflowing but I don't often get a chance to empty it! Which is why I blog and do FB so much I guess. :)
WAY TO GO with the running. When in the world do you have time to run? I really want to exercise more consistently but by the day's end I'm too tired to move a muscle.
jennifer-- i have no doubts that donald cecil could come up with a way to make that happen! :)
alicia--since connor's in school, i've been running around 11am. i only go out for 30 minutes. gives me time to wake up, get morning cleaning done, and then come back for lunches and meg's nap. i've tried early morning and evening to no avail. morning is too hard to be alert and evening often leaves me too tired and i easily make excuses not to move from the couch. :)
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