Long Week

This is the end of a seemingly very long week. Last night I hosted a Southern Living at Home party. Yes, I am that girl who has those parties and funny enough I LOVE them! I sat in the back of my living room last night just smiling large and trying to keep the giggles of excitement to a minimum. There is just something about pre-party stress, making dinner for friends, setting the house up all nice and pretty and then a joyful release of tension when I see all of my friends from very different walks of life get together and have fun. I just love it. Not to mention I love the Southern Living products.

Anyway, I crawled into bed around 10:30 or 11:00 last night absolutely exhausted. My alarm went off at 5:30 AM for the weekly marathon training run. Today was 9 miles and other than sore feet I felt great. It was so nice to just run off the tension and stress from the past week at work. Today we experienced more hills than any other route thus far in our training. I charged those hills and allowed myself to be proud when I crested the top. What a feeling of accomplishment. Although I knew this already, today's montra was "you can do anything you put your mind to."

So far, it's been a good day.

My First Triathlon

Okay folks, here are some pictures from my first triathlon yesterday.

This is my friend Kathy who stopped by to drop off some food and show me her loving support.

I'm heading out on the bike! Moments after this picture was taken, while trying to get onto the bike, I fell off!!

After 1 hr. and 23 minutes I completed a 300 meter swim, 12 mile bike and 3.1 mile run. Cary volunteered and was just as tired as I was when we got home. He said he would rather race than volunteer! I was so thankful to have a wonderful husband who took care of me the rest of the day. We endulged ourselves in napping, lounging and eating; after all we did earn it.

Spiritual Bonding

I'm reading a book entitled "A Marriage After God's Own Heart" by David Clarke. The following statement hit home last night and I really need to work on this concept.

"When you spiritually bond, it is no longer the two of you who do the loving. It is God Himself who does the loving. My marriage is not just a matter of me trying to love Cary; it's a matter of God loving Cary through me. It's not a matter of Cary trying to love me; it's a matter of God loving me through Cary. Our love will never fail because it flows from our precious heavenly Father."

Tomato Thief

We have a tomato garden in our back yard. Somehow out of the 3 varieties of tomatoes we have only been able to harvest a few small cherry tomatoes. However, I have been very suspicious of our dog (Amos) lately. As I left for work I noticed his face, which is typically white with a little grey, was showing signs of lime green. Hmm...he has been getting into those tomato plants! One morning as I came into the laundry room, he was laying down with part of his face hidden. He refused to move his head up to look at me. When I came close he became very excited and lifted his head. Yep, sure enough his face was a new and fresh shade of lime green. Finally this afternoon I caught him in the act. I came into the kitchen and watched from the window as he emerged from under the deck and walked right up to the tomato plant, stuck his face in and pulled a green fruit from the vine. I hurried to grab my camera so Cary would finally believe me, but all I could manage was a short video of Amos swallowing the last of his afternoon snack. Dang dog. I wonder if we'll ever be able to enjoy the fruit of the summer sun.

Insanity

Folks, this is what insanity looks like.




Brian asked me to join him this morning at 5:30 for the marathon training hill workouts. As you can see, this is not my most flattering time of the day and my mood pretty much matched my face. Some might wonder, what does an early morning run conversation sound like? Something like this…

Leah: Brian, it’s cold!
Brain: Leah, don’t complain. When was the last time you were cold in July?

Brian: How many are we doing, 4 or 5? (he was referring to the drills)
Leah: I have a meeting at 6:00 tonight so I can’t do anything after work.
Brian: How many are we doing?

Brian: Leah, don’t yell at me!

By the end of our drills and on our way back to the cars we were both very proud of ourselves for dragging our sad bodies out of bed early and getting the work out done. Good Job Brian!!

I Love Summer

Sure, there is a ton of work to be done in my office. I have so many papers stacked on my desk and in the file folders next to my computer monitor it's not even funny. But a few minutes ago I decided it was too cold in my office so I opened the window right next to my computer station. The breaze is blowing through and warming up my cold skin very nicely. A bird is chirping away and if I closed my eyes I could be anywhere but at work. So instead of permitting myself to stress out if my phone rings in the next few minutes, I am choosing to smile and be very thankful it's Summertime and I don't have to be in a cold boring office; I can be in a warm office, listening to birds sing along with Kenny Chesney and accomplishing many things!

Family Time

This past week we experienced the passing of a grandmother. Mrs. Ayers died on Tuesday. She lived a good life and we are all very thankful the Lord has taken her to be with Him for eternity. There is always divine timing in situations like these. Cary's brother Parker had been planning on visiting us from Washington state since early spring and there couldn't have been a better time for such a visit. After the funeral on Friday we (Cary, Parker and I) took some time to ride the "new" tractor and play around on the Ayers family farm. I had a fun time meeting extended family and getting out of town for a few days.