a life beyond running shoes.

seriously. i have not cried through a book like this since i read a severe mercy years ago. same kind of different as me . ron hall & denver moore. homeless man.... who was a sharecropper (aka slave). wealthy man..... who makes millions selling art. they become friends because of the rich wife. she loves jesus. she loves the homeless man. she gets her rich husband to love the homeless man. she dies. it is the story of their friendships, their struggles with faith, god showing up, amazing things happening..... and of course, my snippet of a post can do no justice to their story. a story of redemption. of grace. of love. of jesus. and of course i started it thinking it was a different book entirely. boy was i wrong, but glad i was. i must have heard of it since i actually requested it from the library. i figured out i had the wrong book about 30 pages into when i realized it had nothing to do with ethiopia. whoops. i love good mistakes!

okay.....not that old, but certainly not recent. a mother's heart . jean fleming (published 1982) i have been working on this book since january.... it took a while but it was worth it. i found her "dated-ness" refreshing, straight-forward, honest, and biblical. while, there were a few theological differences.... they were minor and did not deter from the heart of her book. a few good nuggest: "the single most important decision a mother can make is to develop her own life with god." (page 59) "the goal of parenting is not for us to decide what we want our children to become and then ruthlessly teach, train, squeeze, badger, and cajole them into that mold. instead, we must recognize that god has already designed them." (page 89) there were other good things that were just good reminders of thinking about my kids in term of their spiritual hearts. remembering to pray for them as individuals.....pray for myself as the mom of three individuals and the...

and yet, today sweet pea turns two!!! in the midst of it all, we managed to pull off cupcakes. we didn't pull of much more than that....but we pulled off something. happy birthday, little lovie. may you continue to grow in grace and beauty. may you be a woman of noble character with a beautiful heart and love others. you are a delight....even when you act like a two-year-old.

the kidney transplant was a success! surgery started around 10. doc came out to say hubbie was out at 3. doc came out to say kidney took and recipient was done around 4. here are some pics: pre-op: post-op with first walk around icu floor: heubert working:

surgery is in 4 days...... dear huebert, thank you for sharing life with us. we are about to give to you to someone else. it has been a pleasure having you. we hope you love your new home. we are rather fond of your new placement. i am sure he will take good care of you, but if he doesn't.... it is not our call anymore. in fact i believe you will be better appreciated in your new home. it is not that we didn't love you, we just took you for granted. i don't think he will. i think you will be loved and cherished..... have a good life, heubert. we hope you grow and flourish, but mostly, we are praying that you will help our friend. make him strong, make him healthy, make him better. see ya' round..... peace out!

we also hit the staten island children's museum. my kids LOVE this place. we went on our way out of town while daddy worked at a local coffee shop. i mean, dress up like a firefighter, a construction worker, a talk radio dj, and life size connect four..... how much fun can one possibly have! i'm just glad i got good pics!

for less than 48 hours..... but worth every minute! we got to go tubing down an icy hill. (little bit holding onto daddy for dear life. he ended up loving it but would not go by himself) and ice skating on a pond no less!!! (sweet pea didn't love having blades attached to her snow boots....) (peanut gave it his best....but those ankles just wouldn't stay straight) peanut went down that hill at least 4 times. the first time with daddy but every time after that, he flew solo! thank you, pennsylvania. it was nice to visit you while the kids were off of school. we hope to see you again sometime when we can stay longer.

looks like not spending money every six weeks to have your roots done. of course, in a better economic climate this would not be such a big deal..... but alas, we are not in a better economic climate .... and therefore, i am no longer blond.

run like a mother: how to get moving -- and not lose your family, job, or sanity. by dimity mcdowell and sarah bowen shea. i have to admit, i wanted more from this book, not sure what.... it was cute. a bit funny. mostly anecdotal....with a few running tips thrown in. and more than a few endorsements for running skirts. i might be convince to get one this summer. i did laugh. for that i am thankful to have spent 26 (.2) chapters with these authors. but my overall impression was that this would have been a very good article in runner's world. i think the pitch to make it a full 200 page book made the information too thin..... but that could be because i am a runner and some of the information was not new...... but if i was just starting out as a runner.... i think this might have been perfect for me...but that sounds really elitist of me..... there was some good stuff in there....helpful, funny, relevant. i did appreciate many of the quotes from other mothers and also the reality th...

so i made my own laundry soap. my husband made his own beer. his is more fun....tastes better.....and easier to photograph. my idea came from my mother-in-law. tried my own.... a bit skeptical of my success. (i only have about 5 gallons of it to figure out if it worked) got the recipe here . he got a gift-certificate from my dad. there is actually a place locally that sells all the stuff you need. first batch was started just after new years.... and we have been enjoying the spoils for about a week. i can honestly say..... not bad! second batch is just waiting to be bottled.... guess we got some drinking to do to empty out those bottles!!!

this is a double post..... my latest book club read: peace like a river by lief enger an interesting read. of which i will be sad to miss the discussion. i will not be attending because my hubbie is donating a kidney that same week. a friend in our church was in need.... we both got tested. we were both a match..... he is the donor. very exciting to see how we get to serve our friend this way. so i enjoyed the book. it had western elements.... think zane gray, butch cassidy, minnesota and north dakota plains. lots of biblical references. an eleven year old narrator that is suspect if not unreliable and yet self-effacing so almost totally reliable. throw in some magic realism (or you could call them miracles), some adventure, and family dynamics and you have this novel. which was an easy read, page turning, and well-written. again, i will miss the group discussion.... i am sure someone in our group did not like it!! kidney: our friend has been in poor health for the past year....

dear sole sister, thank you for joining me on my journey in becoming a runner. the journey of discovering how to do something for myself..... something that challenges me..... frees me..... you were my pavement pounding partner during my discovery that i am a runner; that it really is something i do. thank you for being a wonderful friend.... counselor.... listener..... encourager..... pacer..... leader.... supporter..... training partner...... confidante..... friend. we met and i was not yet a fully actualized mom..... prego and therefore a mom, but not fully actualized...... in six and a half years, you have traversed some of my most major milestones ....... 3 babies, 4 apartments, parents getting married, parent dying, grief, silly anecdotes, identity crisis, depression, contentment, relief, humor...... and then there are the running milestones....... 3 half marathons, 1 full marathon, 15k, 5 milers, a personal best mile time.......and many, many, many, many loops around the par...

we have had a ball in the snow. we love it when school is canceled! thank you, mayor. half of that pile is what left over from the snowfall over christmas. will it ever leave..... not anytime soon. guess i should order those snow boots for sweet pea already!

2005 My Name is Asher Lev Atonement In the Time of Butterflies Disgrace The God of Small Things Fortress of Solitude Middlesex Reading Lolita in Tehran Proof 2006 Gilead An Invisible Sign of My Own History of Love Pinkerton’s Sister The Dive from Clausen’s Pier Seven Gothic Tales Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close On Beauty 2007 The Brother’s Karamazov (read half) The Devil in the White City A Handbook of American Prayer The Book of Daniel The Book Thief The Beantrees Howard’s End The Namesake 2008 The Maltese Falcon Waiting Luncheon of the Boating Party The Secret River The Eyre Affair Fahrenheit 451 Jane Eyre Sister Carrie 2009 Then We Came to the End Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (only got through a quarter of) Song of the Lark New England White Run The Chosen Place, The Timeless People Vanity Fair Three Junes 2010 The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Sophie’s Choice Heat Cutting for Stone Moon Tiger South of Broad Founding Brothers Agaat (started didn't finish) 2011 Ghostwri...

i yell that whenever we drive past a police car. it drives my 5 year old crazy. but this actually refers to my book club's 50th book. ghostwritten . by david mitchell we finished and discussed this past friday. i was 20 pages from the end but thoroughly enjoyed the discussion....even though the book did not lend itself to too much discussion. that being said, it was a divisive books. some really didn't like it and called this first novel attempt annoying while trying too hard; some thought it rather innovating and interesting. i was somewhere in the middle. it was like nine short stories that somehow intersect and while not completely coming together at the end all circle around interesting thoughts on chance, fate, and the idea of destiny versus random atoms bumping against each other. it was fun to find all the intersection between the stories. but there was some strange stuff as well..... but i agreed with my group that the middle of the book was by far the strongest....

and she is missing her gran-babies.... here are some pics from our adventure to the brooklyn children's museum.

my final post for the year....... my last reads: welcoming justice by charles march and john perkins. short but excellent. post civil rights movement toward racial reconciliation through the amazing work god is doing. "a new conviction that christian love could not rest content until it found space for the neighbor and the enemy." (28) "to be a public disciple means finding a place in the world where the kingdom of god is taking shape and getting yourself there." (32) "our biggest problem as christians is that we want the miracle without the love. we want to see the kind of healing jesus brought, but we don't want to learn jesus' way of loving broken people." (77) the girl who kicked the hornet's nest . by steig larsson. total money makeover . by dave ramsey. agaat . by Marlene van Niekerk (i didnt' finish and barely felt like i started but it was my last book club book so i felt like listing it). great house . by nicole krauss. happy re...

christmas in the city. our annual lessons and carols. christmas eve. our first trip to train exhibit at new york botanic gardens. thank you nanee and big for this fun adventure! christmas morning. reading the luke story.....just a bit blurry without my flash. (still hadn't had my coffee) sweet pea's first baby doll. christmas sweatshirts.

our first real snow..... a white christmas 48 late. i'll post christmas pics later but here is what we did before breakfast. played in the middle of the street. 22 degrees. not sure how many inches but central park got 13 inches.... that is plenty for a good snowball. of course, in the middle of the night the wind got up to 50 mph. that would not be fun to play in.......snow has stopped but wind should die down this afternoon. happy winter to all our family in much warmer places!!!

full of bowling, cake and fun presents. hard to believe he is 4. wow!!!