God's theme for me this week...He's used the scraps of time I've given Him to be so real to me, reminding me of his unending, deep love.
You dance over me While I am unaware You sing all around But I never hear the sound
You paint the morning sky With miracles in mind My hope will always stand For You hold me in Your hand Lord, I'm amazed by You Lord, I'm amazed by You Lord, I'm amazed by You How You love me
How wide, how deep How great is Your love for me How wide, how deep How great is Your love for me Lord, I'm amazed by You Lord, I'm amazed by You Lord, I'm amazed by You How You love me Lord, You love me, oh
The house project continues to move. This week, walls came down and new walls were built. We traded the plumber for the electrician.
I've been down this renovation road enough times to know not to worry when things start getting messy and it looks like we're moving backwards. Things have to look worse before they can get better...its progress!
Shaun and the electrician discovered and took care of about five major fire hazards throughout the wiring system. They are also working on getting us overhead lights in rooms...and a switch to go with them! I have the luxury of being able to name where I want more outlets, though the house is surprisingly well equipped with them already.
We closed on the construction piece of our financing, so now we can do better planning with that uncertainty taken out of the equation.
New wall for the closet in the girls room, since we are taking over the existing one.
The water heater works!
This is our bedroom and I was happy to see this vanity monstrosity go.
Shaun's sawsall has been getting a good workout, trying to unearth plumbing and electrical lines.
We found this behind one of the drawers, a paystub from 1994. $50/hour. That year I was working a full and part time job, making $7.25/hr. Oh well, at least he put quite a bit of that money into my house. :)
Aiden and I pick at the yardwork here and there.
Our poor Robin is hanging in there. The eggs are about to hatch and she's not about to leave them, though she's surrounded by SO much activity next to the driveway.
Back in our bedroom, taking down walls.
If you look at the floor you can kind of tell what's what.
Shaun's brother Nathan has been a huge help. I'm always happy to see him come around because that means Shaun won't be asking me to help him move the dryer or some other heavy thing. :)
I'm stripping all the popcorn ceilings. Thankfully, its coming off without a fight...just a huge mess!
Aiden is ecstatic now that he gets to get out of the truck at the dump. He's big stuff!
The boys bathroom. The light switches are currently outside the room in the hallway. I thought it might be better to have them in the bathroom. What could be more fun that turning off the light on your brother while he's trying to take a shower??
However, that meant cutting through tile, which isn't the easiet thing to do.
We got a new fridge for the basement and Shaun promptly filled it up with all the necessities.
The body of the garage got primed and painted.
And my peonies have bloomed!
Highlights from this week's Pinterest:
Lots to love here, but I especially like the ceiling.
Pretty wood floor.
Possible dining room and/or master bedroom colors. Though I like color, I think in the long run it may be better to do neutral-ish walls and accent with color.
I spent this week in post-marathon mode. I didn't work out the entire week and every morning when I woke up, I laid in bed a little extra. I never slept in past six, and it was a wonderful break, though I will say extra sleep plus no exercise does NOT equal more energy.
My body recovered well and I was able to live a fairly normal life for the week.
May 12
I love how Superman and I are in step here.
After the race, we walked over to Providence Place Mall with Amy and her family to eat and play at Dave & Busters. The guys took the the nine kids to the game room while Amy, Renna and I sat and talked (and drank water!)
Our May family pic. SO very grateful to be the mom of this household...such an honor and a sacred position.
May 13
A rare few moments at home while Shaun and I attended to some things. Love watching these three be together.
May 14
While waiting to meet Shaun, I figured I'd get started on the lawn mowing. All you have to do is pull the thingy a couple times, right? After watching me pull five or so times, Aiden said, Mom, you have to press this button. Oh. It fired right up...he's handy to have around. :)
May 15
Crazy cold baseball game, but we got some snuggles.
As the game was ending we enjoyed a beautiful sunset!
May 16
Sweet school girl who doesn't waste time getting on her bike.
After being out of town at one of our properties, we came in and found something very wrong. We walked down our street to join an enormous crowd of people watching shooting flames coming out of the roof of a church in town.
This church is 100 years old and so much of it is irreplaceable. It was so, so sad to watch, especially since it is the church associated with the girls' school. Heartbreaking.
May 17
The next day there was still school, though it was a little difficult to drop them off.
(The church is on the left, the school is the short building on the right). I cried as I walked away, knowing my girls were fine, but also being struck with the reminder that nothing is guaranteed....life can change in an instant.
...pick up.
May 18
I taught Aiden's class at church. At the end during play time, he really wanted to make me a princess potato head, but a girl was hoarding all the pieces. Finally, right at the end, after she'd moved onto another activity, he presented me with the princess potato head. SO sweet!
I promised to come back and give more of a play-by-play of the marathon.
I got up at 4:30, allowing enough time for my morning coffee and a piece of toast. It was actually meant to be two pieces, but I forgot one in the toaster so I didn't eat that until the next day.
We were in the car by 5:30 and the wipers were going back and forth. Shaun tried to keep the mood light for me and I was not really nervous, more just ready. Ready to quit talking about and training for it and ready to just do it!
Having Shaun there to maneuver the city and drop me at the door and hold onto my bag were all such a big help and made the time prior to start go smoothly.
At start time, and for the duration of the morning, the rain had stopped and was a gray mist, and just the right temperature. After an unexplained delay at the starting line (which allowed me to see my family one last time) we were off.
Two guys, who reminded me of the muppet critics, were doing nervous laughs and hurdling the cones. I wondered how many miles they'd be laughing.
There were a surprising number of hills considering it'd been advertised as a flat course. Nothing to do but take each one as they came. I chose to stay with the pace leader for 4:15. I felt confident I could do this time and the pace felt perfect.
The early miles peeled off with ease. My biggest concern was trying to manage my food and liquid intake. I wanted to do a gel every hour, washed down with water. I tried Gatorade a couple times, but it would take a 1/4 mile to be feeling ok after it.
At Mile 9 I saw a spectator who was sitting in a wheelchair....legs completely gone. Thank you Lord, for these legs that allow me to do so many things I love.
Mile 11ish I passed through a water station and saw that my pace leader was finished. What?? That was a bummer to lose him because I didn't have a terribly accurate way to assess my pace. Plus, I didn't have anyone pushing me.
Coincidentally, maybe not, this is about when I started feeling like I was giving an effort. I had hoped to get to Mile 15 before it was not all fun and games. I kept saying the words on my arm over and over and also thinking of my family, hoping I'd see them along the route again.
By Mile 20 I was saying Jesus, help me. Jesus help me....outloud :) This is also when a couple girls and I started trading encouragements as we'd take turns passing each other.
At Mile 21, at the top of (yet) another hill, I saw Shaun and the kids with big smiles and cheers. YAY! I felt ok there but it all went downhill fast. I was fighting....hard. At times, the only thing that kept me going was knowing that that was the best way to be done.
When I saw Mile 23 I had a little tantrum. THREE more miles?? You have GOT to be kidding me!!
As I was coming up to the end, Shaun put Aiden over the fence so he could run the last little bit with me. I tried to slow down for him, but it was hard to stop.
I finished 13.1 miles: 2:06:32, 26.2 miles: 4:38:57, Average pace: 10:39, Sex/Total: 398/616 Division/Total: 131/186 F3039
My finish time was very disappointing, though I won't dwell on it. It's 20 minutes slower than I know I was capable of and 10 minutes past the threshold I put in place for myself. Overall, the race was harder than I had imagined, or at least I thought I was a little more prepared.
I love to run on the treadmill, its what I've always done, but the difference, over this many miles was a factor.
For 18 weeks, since January 7th, I've been training, six days a week, five of those running. I missed several days, two because I was way sick, two because the gym was closed due to snow (so I shoveled for 6 hours instead :), and one day I completely blew off...stomped my foot and said I won't go!, shut off my alarm and went back to bed....I still regret that day.
I've spent this week mulling it all over, deciding what's next, thankful to be alive and living! Once again, thank you all for your love and support. I am a blessed girl!
I'll leave you with this belly-hurting, albeit slightly inappropriate video:
I am married to the man of my dreams, my best friend, and together we have two little girls and a boy. My desire is that this blog and my everyday life will bring glory to God.
I thank God for all I've been given at the end of everyday...I have been blessed.
