Happy Thanksgiving!

Actually, that was last week, but why quibble? I'm thankful this week, too. We went to Raleigh, NC last week to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. Since we won't see them at Christmas, we celebrated that, too. We call it 'Thanksmas'. Creative, eh? We had a wonderful time of yummy food, fellowship, and presents.

The first night we arrived, we wanted to go to 'Full Moon'. This little mom & pop place has some of the BEST calzones ever! However, we didn't get there in time, so the fam went without me! (*SOB*) The day after Thanksgiving, Amy and I got up at 4:20 AM to go shopping! Our first (and very unfortunate) stop was at Circuit City. Might I recommend that you NEVER go there the day after Thanksgiving? It took us 10 minutes to get the things we wanted and 1 1/2 hrs to check out! Now, you might expect the lines to be long at a time like this, and that was fine. But the ridiculous thing was how long it took to check each person out. Unbelievable! The employees did not know the meaning of the word 'hurry'. They moved at a snails pace and acted like they didn't know there were 30 people in line behind the one they were helping. It was very frustrating. We finally did leave, though, and stopped at Brueggar's Bagels, a place I haven't eaten in for at least 12 years. Yum! Then we visited six more stores. Yes, six. But, it was fun. We found some great deals.

For lunch we tried 'Full Moon' again but it was closed until 4. *Sigh* At 2 the whole family went to Andrea's new house. It's really cute, has hardwood floors, giant old trees, a great shed and a large fenced in backyard. Back home, we played Balderdash for a while, then realized that we didn't have time to go to 'Full Moon' for dinner (naturally) because we had to get to church half an hour away. We visited Dad's new Messianic Congregation, 'Shalom Peniel'. The kid's were surprisingly well behaved and really enjoyed walking around waving flags during worship. We were able to have communion as a family, which is very rare. I whispered a quick reminder to the kids what communion was all about. Afterwards, Roan asked me, 'When did Jesus die?' Uh oh! Looks like I had some 'splainin to do! LOL

Saturday dawned bright and beautiful. And my wonderful husband volunteered to take ALL FIVE kids to Burger King so that I could FINALLY go to 'Full Moon'! Amy, Mom, and Dad came, too. The calzone was wonderful as expected, and we had a beautiful time with each other. Mom and Dad told us a bit about their trip to Argentina, too. Dad also told us a lesson he learned from God that we have been blessed, not because of our own accomplishments, but because of the righteousness of our father, just like Solomon was blessed in spite of his sin because of his father, David. He was particularly moved thinking about his own dad.

Saturday afternoon, we got a babysitter! All of the grownups (even numbers, too! Hi Jerry!) went to see the movie, 'Stranger Than Fiction' starring Will Ferrell. It was very good. Then we went to 'Little Italy' for dinner.(Very delicious!) This was mom's choice as we were celebrating her 60th birthday coming up in a few weeks while we were all together. We even got her a birthday Tirimisu! Happy Birthday Mom!
We love you!

We had to leave first thing Sunday morning to get back in time for Alyssa's first Honor Choir Concert. But, I'll save that for the next post!

0-26.2 In 6 Months

Most of my posts are about my children puctuated by the occasional reflection, rant or whine. So today, I would like to honor my husband. Overall, he is a loving, dedicated husband, and an incredible father. He works in the children's ministry at church and also enjoys participating in drama opportunities. He is co-owner of his own business. But right now, I would like to talk about my husband, The Marathon Runner.

In July 2004, Dean declared that he was going to run a marathon with a group of people at our church. When asked why, he said he would just like to be able to say he ran a marathon. They began training in July for a marathon 6 months away. This is pure insanity. Dean had never been a runner. Sure, he was athletic. He enjoyed basketball, tennis, etc. but had never run. Ever. And then he tells me he's going from 0 to 26.2 miles in 6 months. What could I do but support him? Did I neglect to mention that when Dean says he's going to something, he does it? He makes it a personal challenge and will not let himself fail. For instance, 4 1/2 years ago, he decided that he would stop drinking coke (which he loved) and has not had a drop since. I admire that. I am SOOO not like that! Anyway, he ran his first marathon at Disney, January 2005. He finished in 4.48 hrs. (see above photo) Now let me back up to a few weeks before the marathon. He was so dedicated to his training, etc. that I asked him if he enjoyed running. He said no. I was a bit surprised. I wondered how someone can work so hard at something he doesn't like. I asked if he would keep running after the marathon. He said he didn't know, probably not. Now fast forward to the above photo. Everything changed on this day. He had tasted the sweet reward for all his hard work and he was hooked!

Dean continued training. Over time he hooked up with other local runners who were serious about running. He started reading, researching, really learning how to run. He bought a decent pair of shoes. In January 2006 he ran his second marathon, again at Disney. This time he finished at 3:30. Way to go! Then he announced that his new goal was to qualify for the Boston Marathon. He must finish in 3:15 to do this. So, he increased training even more. He decided to run a trail marathon in May 2006. This was only five months later. He began running through the woods near our home, and increasing his strength training. He ran the NipMuck Marathon in the mountains of Connecticut. He ran on single fine paths, sometime skirting the edge of a 10 ft. drop into a creek, running at a slant, on rocks. This was HARD, nothing like the woods in South Carolina. He was disappointed with his time and has determined to return and redeem himself.

In just a few weeks, he will be running his 4th marathon. (The 3rd one this year!) He will be running at the Kiawah Marathon in South Carolina. It is his hope to qualify for the Boston Marathon at that time. If you would like to know more about Dean's quest for the Boston Marathon, check out his blog, Zero to Boston.

Weekend Update

We've been kinda busy. Gonna cover three weekends here! On Friday night, (Oct. 27) we attended the kid's school Family Fun Night. They had fun dressing up, playing games, painting tiles, eating cupcakes, etc.! Saturday, the family went to Harmons Tree Farm/Pumpkin Patch. We went on a hay ride, visited the petting zoo, played on the playground and bought 3 pumpkins. I love going to Harmon's. This year we may even go back after Thanksgiving and get a real tree there. As a family, we've never had a real tree at home because we always travel for Christmas. But this year we will be home! Anyway, Harmon's is a great place. Sunday after church, we went to Saluda Shoals Park for our church Pumpkin Carving Party. We brought our own pumkins from the pumpkin patch. We had fun and games and ended with the carving. Kai and Alyssa did most of theirs by themselves with a little help from me, and I helped Roan with his. Alyssa chose a cat, Kai chose bats, and Roan chose a funny face.

This past weekend Amy, Andrea and I went down to Florida to visit Grammy for her 93rd birthday! After checking in to our hotel, we had dinner at Red Lobster. We had a fun time together, and Grammy was blessed that we all came together. We took her to church, had lunch with her and even made a State Cake, her favorite. We spent the whole day together. We sat with her at dinner then said goodbye when she was ready to go to bed. After we left we had dinner at Applebees then went back to the hotel and watched a movie. (Click) It was a quick down and back, but worth it. This weekend the kids will be going to Camp Bethel. And in a few weeks we will be going to Raleigh for Thanksgiving with the family. I'm so happy it's November! It's frustrating that so much time is spent on Halloween then on Nov. 1st all the stores stock for Christmas! Hey, I love Christmas, but why do we always skip over Thanksgiving? Well, I think that's it for now! Happy November!