Road Race

Today we ran a road race. I have not run in a race in a long time, and today was actually Narasimha's first race ever. We did pretty well - right about what we wanted to do for time. We train together, so we stayed together for the race. We finished within a few seconds of each other. It was a 20K(ilometer), which is 12.4 miles. It took us right at 1 hour 45 minutes (the official time is longer because that starts with the gun, and it took us about 90 seconds to reach the start line, and I didn't start my watch until we stepped on the start line). My mom and several friends ran too. The weather was beautiful, and not a whole lot of wind. Although we're both feeling a little slow and sore tonight, we had a good time today with our road race.

My dad rode along the course on his bike and took a few pics for us - Narasimha and I are the ones waving :)

Here we ran with my mom for a while (we are the 3rd, 4th, and 5th ones from the left).

DONE!!! Sore, sweaty and tired, but still smiling :)

A Season Complete

Yesterday I had "my girls" over for a pizza party to celebrate our season. Our season actually ended a few months ago, but we didn't get around to the party for a while. It was a lot of fun - we had pizza and ice cream sundaes, and played games and chatted. I gave (or will give, when they are finished) each girl an 8x10 paper I am scrapbooking with a personal note and a pic of the team. I asked each of them their favorite color, and will use a background paper in the color they chose. All but one of the eight girls could come, and we had a good time together before some of them leave for the summer, and then some next year will leave for college. We had 3 seniors on the team this year, who we will miss next year. I am hoping to have enough girls to make a team. Thanks to those who made it possible for me to coach my first season - it was a great learning experience and a whole lot of fun.

It Can't Get Any Worse But It Does

I recently happened upon an article on CNN.com about the sexual abuse of children by aide workers in other countries. I am saddened and even sickened to read of these atrocities.

I wish I could say "I can't believe this is happening to these children who have already suffered so much" but the truth is, I can believe it. People, even those in positions of authority and/or assistance (or maybe more so in these positions), are sinful and prideful and wicked to the core. I am too, but with the help of Jesus Christ working in my life every day I strive to be different - be better.

Read this article if you think you can stomach it without your heart breaking (of course, maybe that's what we need to stand up against such things - knowledge and heartache and anger). And, say a prayer today for these hurting little people who seem to be taking attacks from every front - even the "safe" ones.

Memorial Day - We Remember

Today we remember our family and friends who are no longer with us.

I, as always, was asked to play Taps on my trumpet for ceremonies around the Des Moines area. We normally do services at 2 cemeteries and the WWII Monument in downtown Des Moines, and today we also did a short ceremony at a retirement home outside Des Moines.

I really appreciate the opportunity to be able to do this. I think I have done services every Memorial Day and Veteran's Day for about 12 years now (since high school). It is a simple way for me to serve others, and more important to me, it has taught me so much about our nation's history, and the price many have paid for my personal freedom. I have an appreciation for our military (especially World War era) that I doubt I would without having gone to so many of these ceremonies and hearing the speeches and stories from these brave men and women.

To me, Memorial Day is so much more than a day off work and BBQ-ing with family and friends, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to be able to say that year after year.

Taps, at one of the cemeteries

The "Freedom Flames" at the WWII Monument in downtown Des Moines. The Memorial Day ceremony is held here every year.

Taps, at the WWII Memorial (after the 21-gun salute).

Congrats Grads!

My "baby" brother graduated high school today. He will be following my footsteps and going to Iowa this fall (making me proud :).

Narasimha and me (front with brown hair) and my 2 sisters, with my brother the graduate.

Also, 3 of the girls from the volleyball team I coached this last winter graduated high school as well this weekend.

It was fun to spend time with family and friends this weekend, and to even see lots of family (aunts and uncles mostly) that we don't get to see very often.

Congrats to all who have graduated, and best wishes to you as you start whatever that next step is!

In Memory of Maria Sue Chapman

As you may have heard in the news, Christian singer Steven Curtis Chapman's youngest daughter, 5-year-old Maria Sue (who was adopted from China) has been killed in an accident in the family's driveway near Nashville, TN. I can't imagine the pain the family must be feeling.

The Chapmans have established (before this tragedy occurred) an organization called Shaohannah's Hope which helps families fund adoptions, among other things. They are vocal advocates of adoption, and have adopted 3 girls from China (Maria and 2 older sisters), and before adopting they had 3 biological children.

They would like gifts in memory of Maria Sue to be directed to this charity (and can be in her name) to help other families around the country bring children into their homes who would otherwise grow up in orphanages.

If you are looking for a cause to support, certainly check out Shaohannah's Hope today.

One Minute Each Night

I have recently received this email a few times, and though I generally don't like to forward mass emails, I think the idea of this one has something to it. Rather than re-saying myself what I received, I will just paste what came in on my email.


"ONE MINUTE EACH NIGHT

Received from a friend and it is true, this is the scariest election we as Christians have ever faced and from the looks of the polls, the Christians aren't voting Christian values. We all need to be on our knees.

Do you believe we can take God at His word? Call upon His name, and then stand back and watch His wonders to behold. This scripture gives us, as Christians, ownership of this land and the ability to call upon God to heal it. I challenge you to do so. We have never been more desperate than now for God to heal our land. This election is the scariest I remember in my lifetime.

2 Chronicles 7:14 “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

During WWII, there was an advisor to Churchill who organized a group of people who dropped what they were doing every night at a prescribed hour for one minute to collectively pray for the safety of England, its people and peace.

This had an amazing effect as bombing stopped. There is now a group of people organizing the same thing here in America. The United States of America and our citizens need prayer more than ever !!!

If you would like to participate: each evening at 9:00 PM Eastern Time (8:00 PM Central, 7:00 PM Mountain, 6:00 PM Pacific), stop whatever you are doing and spend one minute praying for the safety of the United States, our troops, our citizens, for peace in the world, the up-coming election, that the Bible will remain the basis for the laws governing our land and that Christianity will grow in the U.S.

If you know anyone who would like to participate, please pass this along.

Someone said if people really understood the full extent of the power we have available through prayer, we might be speechless. Our prayers are the most powerful asset we have.
Thank You. Please pass this on to anyone who you think will want to join us.

God Bless You!!!"


Now, I'm not sure about the history, but that doesn't seem to matter much. I know that prayer is powerful, and I think we as Christians do have some real concerns as we look to the future of our country/society/etc.

I also think the 8:00 thing is really of minimal importance. Yes, the idea might help some remember, but I think just remembering is actually the most important part. I personally just want to encourage those who read this to remember to pray for those things listed above - our country, our election, our faith in this country. These things are eternally important, and unfortunately, sometimes it feels like we as Christians are loosing ground on a slippery slope.

So today, from one follower of Jesus Christ to the next, lets encourage each other to pray: for our country to maintain some moral code, for the upcoming election, for our military, for our enemies here and abroad, and for all of us to unite as one universal church and demand that our faith and beliefs be heard in a seemingly deaf world (of course among many many other things).

Post a comment if you have something else we should be praying for - and as a Christian, please remember to take prayerful action today.

Happy Mother's Day!!!

I'm back - after somewhat of a blogging dry spell. It wasn't really intentional, but a combination of being busy around the house, and not a whole lot going on that I felt worthy of writing about.

So first off, Happy Mother's Day!!! To all the moms out there of course, but a few specifically on my heart today are: the mothers in my life (my mom, mother-in-law, grandmas), those mothers celebrating their first Mother's Day as mommies, and especially those who waited for any length of time to be able to celebrate Mother's Day as a mommy (Loraena, thinking of you), and finally, a group of women dear to my own heart - those of us who want to be mommies with all that we are, but for any number of reasons aren't able to be at this time.

For those of us in waiting: if it is meant to be, it will happen when the time is right - of that I am sure.

I don't think I was as "bummed" today as I was a year ago with this same occasion. Read about last year's Mother's Day response here (skip the first 6 or so paragraphs of the post to get to the point). This is probably a combination of factors: more time passed getting used to the "wait," and hope for the future - by next year I certainly hope to either have a child by adoption or maybe even biology, or to know of one on the way. I guess I don't have a lot to say (quite contrary to last year and the link above) - I am in a phase of waiting, and I am doing what I can to be proactive with the situation and working on being "ok" with all of what that entails, and that's really all I can do at this point.

Plus, we had visitors last night, which was super duper fun :) Friends from our old town/church came to spend the night on their way through town. It was so much fun to talk and reconnect. I feel like we haven't even missed a beat with them. And actually, we found out on Monday (a week ago) that they are expecting their first child in December, so in a way, we got to spend their first Mother's Day with them. And, it was also Erin's birthday today, so that was fun too - all sorts of celebrations! We weren't as good of hosts as I would have liked - the guest bedroom is the one with the flooding so they had to sleep in the family room, but they seemed to have a good time anyways :)

And finally, we and our doggies get the pleasure of their dog Muffin's company for half of the week as they are on vacation in Minneapolis - they are picking her up on the way back through town on Wednesday. She's used to things being a little different than they are here I think, being accustomed to a 1-dog house, but is getting along just fine for now :)