A Race, a Roadtrip, and a Recognition

Yes, I am alive. I came, I ran, I conquered. Well, kind of. I know it has been a week since I have blogged, so here is a recap of what we have been up to.

Thursday evening Jackson had a pretty high fever and ended up getting pretty sick. After a good night of sleep I thought he was okay and that the night before had been a fluke. Well, not so. His fever ended up coming back and getting pretty high. So I scooped him up and off we went to the dr's office. Where we sat and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited. After waiting some more, we finally saw the dr and he was diagnosed with an ear infection. He is doing much better now after being on antibiotics for almost a week now.

Since Jackson wasn't feeling great, we decided that Joe and Jackson would stay home Saturday night and I would head up to Virginia Beach to get my parents alone. Joe and Jackson were going to come up on Sunday morning for the race, if he was feeling better. Race morning arrived and there was frost on the ground. Certainly not the warm sunny morning I had pictured in my perfect race day mind. But it really ended up being a beautiful day. After a brisk start to the morning, it did warm up some. I was able to shed my jacket around Mile 5 thank goodness! It was a few extra pounds I didn't need to lug around. I was very happy to finish my first race in 5 minutes under my goal-I completed 13.1 miles in one hour and 55 minutes. I never thought I would be able to do that. In fact, I finished alot earlier than I expected and Joe, Jackson, and my parents hadn't made it to the finish line yet. But that is okay. There were plenty of other people to cheer me on as I sprinted, with my last available energy stores, across that finish line. That big blown up finish line was such a sweet sight!

After the race we headed back to E-City and hung out for a few days before leaving on another roadtrip to Richmond. My Aunt and Uncle have been in Richmond for 8 weeks for intensive training with the Baptist Missionary Board. Yesterday they had their commissioning ceremony. In a few days, they will be heading out to Kyev, Ukraine for three years to serve the Lord. It was amazing to see how many people were there also being commissioned and leaving to go all over the world to spread the Word. So many families and children. I have such great respect for them all and we will be praying for them as they arrive in their "new homes" and start their work there.

Yesterday was also a special day because it was my Dad's __'th birthday! It was so special to be with him on his birthday for the first time in many many years. Happy Birthday Dad! We love you very much!

Tomorrow we head back home. My parents will be here for another few days. We don't have a lot of stuf planned for the next few days-maybe some more shopping, and lots of playing!

Here are some pictures from the last few days.

Crossing the finish line...imagine me in front.

Proud finisher

My little ham!

Jane and Mike at the ceremony

Loving a big fluffy duck! It was taller than he is!

The many faces of a 17 month old during lunch out!