Pay it Forward

Im a quiet person, living on the edge of the crowd. Quiet, middle class, keep to myself type person.

Several months ago I was talking to S about being unhappy with where we are in our jobs, financially, physically, life in general. Feeling stagnant. 

I asked her what she wanted to do. Out of the blue, she said "run". She doesnt see her self as athletic. Never participated in sports, unless you count laughter.  

SO... I decided to pay it forward. "Before you can run you have to walk, lose some weight, train, practice. 

I found a 5K and told her that for her birthday, we were going to walk 3.1 miles. She was excited, and then hesitant. She was afraid of slowing me down, of being last, of not being able to finish.

She started Leslie Sansone walking DVD's.  I bought her  a pedometer and challenged her to 5000 steps a day, then 7500, and eventually 10000. I introduced her to My Fitness Pal. I enjoyed encouraging her!

September 27th, the day after her 41st birthday she walked her first 5K. I cried when she finished!!! My slowest 5K ever, but the proudest and best!!!!

Do you have a gift. Something that you can share? Pay it forward and reap the blessings!! 

Where do I Start?

The last few weeks in a bullet post.

-Amber has moved from India to Nepal.
She says its colder and shes sick. She skyped with me for my birthday and she showed me the city behind her. Im struck by the dirtiness. It reminds me of an abandoned town, thats not abandoned.

- I had a birthday and found this beautiful note from Amber hidden in her church hymnal with her favorite song.

- Im back to walking/running and focusing on my weight. Its been to long since I focused on this journey!!! Im looking into two half marathons to get me motivated. And I have a plan!!! 

- Branden, my baby, is home for fall break from college. 

- Colby my middle, has informed us that he will be graduating from college this winter, a semester early and may be moving back home. The empty nest, doesnt stay empty for long. :) 

- Ive been following a blog that has a link up for the week. You list your goals for the week and review your goals from the week before. I think I want to start. Accountability!! 

The Dash Linda Ellis

Its not about the beginning or end of your life. Its how you live the dash.

Our tombstones list our birth and our death. But the living, the part that counts in life, the part that others will remember is in the dash. That line between your  birth year and your death year.

How do you live your dash? 

Flight to India

World Race update:

Amber's squad left Atlanta GA yesterday, and flew to JFK. After a short layover they boarded Air India for their 13 hour flight to New Dehli India. LONG flight!!!

I was doing "ok". Until I pulled up the flight aware app, and saw her plane leaving the 'safety' of the US and flying across the ocean. Tears of joy and pride, and sadness, and lonliness, and wonderment fell. And then I realized I was at work and had to get back to bagging candy.

Emergency Landing

I was laying in bed and as I was drifting off to sleep, my phone chimed that I had a message. AMBER!! What this was way to early, they don't land for another 4 hours, what happened? OH no, they crashed....she got sick..... so many thots flying around in my head. "Just check the message Debby!!"

They had an emergency stop in Oslo for a heart problem, (noone on her team)

The layover ended up being 5 more hours.They sat on the plane and extra 5 hours. 

They finally landed in New Dehli, but missed their connecting flight to Bangalore. SO.... they were put up in a gorgeous hotel for the night. Going from this to squattie potties. 

Tonight they fly from New Dehli to Bangalore.

How wonderful it is that God is in control. Even when things dont go our way, He is in control. and, even tho I feel in control I AM NOT!!

Here's Clarence the Elephant. Amber's best friend Maria gave her a miniature elephant to take with her on her journey. This is Clarence saying goodbye to Harold (Marias elephant)

Counting down the days

Counting down the days until Amber leaves on her World Race.

When Amber left for college, we found Buddy. He traveled  with her everywhere she went. He went to Bible College.  Buddy went to Spain on Ambers cross cultural trip. He went with her to college to for her Bachelors. Buddy is fuzzy and a bit big to take on trip where ounces can count against you.
Buddy needed to stay home. (He was actually passed on to Branden, Ambers youngest brother)

Meet Clarence.
Ambers best friend has an elephant on her dashboard to go with her on her daily travels. She wanted Amber to have a 'friend' with her the next 11 months. Each post about Ambers race, I will include a picture of Clarence's adventures.






I also ordered a map of Asia off of Amazon.  I wanted to be able to visually see where she was sleeping, eating, missionarying, loving, working.

I ordered a poster of Amber from Walmart.
We will take this with us when we have special moments. It will go with us when Branden goes to college. At Thanksgiving she will have a place at the table. At Christmas she will enjoy pizza with us.

I wanted something visual to carry with me every day to remind me to pray for Amber. She made me a bracelet and an anklet. The bracelet was her choice of colors, her favorites.
The anklet symbolizes three special people. The orange (leukemia) is for a dear friend, purple (seizures) for Amber, black (melanoma) for my husband.

Stereotypes

A dear friend of mine graduated several weeks ago with a BSN in nursing, and I wanted to attend.

I live in a very sheltered, rural area of the northeast. Population 300. In the country with the cows, horses, and even some foxes and coyotes. Most towns have a few stop signs, and occasionally there is one with a stop light. I had to leave this sheltered countryside to travel to the city of over 300,000 (I googled for that info)

My mom, who is 72 wanted to ride along to the graduation. She is from a conservative religious denomination, and dresses the part.

As we walked through the two story mall, she was on the receiving end of many stares. Someone in Best Buy wondered if she had electricity. The clerk in Shoe Show didn't think she would understand English. All of this because of the way she was dressed.

This has me thinking about how I look at people.
Do I treat the businessman differently than the tatooed torn shirted man.
Do I treat the overweight skin showing woman differently than the skinny covered up woman?
Do I stare at pink hair, pierced noses, and 'strange' tatoos?



Romans 15: 5 - 7
5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, 6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.7 Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.

Who am I?

I am a Christian. Love the Lord. The older I get, the more questions I have.

Wife to the same man for 24 years.

Mother to three amazing kids. Newly empty nested. Two in college, one leaving to go on a  mission assignment on another continent.

I love to sing and dance even though I have no coordination and my voice is scratchy.
I work hard. One full time and two part time jobs.

I have dreams.
I want to start running again.

I want to lose weight again.
I want to learn to enjoy life, 'loosen up'.

I want to  read a book for pleasure.