Best Marriage Advice

Over the last several weeks, Jarod and I have talked about what some of the best marriage advice we received was and also things we wish we had known before we got married.  I'm not sure what brought this topic on, but I wanted to compile it all in one place.  So here it is, what we consider to be some of the best marriage advice (please feel free to comment or send me an e-mail if you think there is something we forgot!):

The Best Marriage Advice according to the Amoses

(these are in no particular order)

• Keep God First - We should all do this whether we're married or not, but I think it's especially important to do in a marriage.  Along with putting God first in your own life, you need to make sure you put God first in your marriage.  When Jarod and I let God slide to the back burner and weren't on the same page spiritually is when Satan was able to get a foothold and almost destroy our marriage.  Set aside a time each day, preferably in the mornings to do a Bible study or devotional together.  Jarod and I do a quick 15 minute or less devotional together every morning before we leave for work.  "Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.  A cord of three strands is not quickly broken."  Ecclesiastes 4:12
• Live Off One Salary - This is for those of you who know that you or your spouse want to be able to stay at home once y'all have children.  If you fall into that category, then start out in the beginning only living off of the spouse's salary that will continue to work after you have children.  Put the spouse's salary that will stay at home once you have children into savings.  This will help you not have quite as much of a shock when you do get to the point of one of you staying at home with a child and will also help you to have a nice little nest egg for emergencies :)
• Marriage isn't always easy - This is one of those pieces of advice that most people don't want to hear, but need to hear it anyway.  Too many couples go into marriage thinking that it will be just like the fairy tales and they will live happily ever after.  I'm not saying marriage isn't fun and doesn't have it's perks, but it is also hard.  Things aren't always easy.  Trials come up and you have to figure out how to work through those things together.  If you realize from the start that each day won't be a walk in the park or a fairy tale, you will already have a head start over most couples.
• Love is a choice - As much as our culture - and maybe even some of your closest friends and family - might want you to believe that the 'L' word is that sensation of butterflies in your stomach each time you see him or her, passionate romance that crosses continents to sweep you off your feet, or even that cute old couple that holds hands and smooches as they walk down the sidewalk ... it really isn't.  Sure, those things may all be a part of it at times, but love is really all the stuff in between.  The good and the bad, but mainly the CHOICE to show interest, compassion, forgiveness, understanding, support, care, etc despite your circumstances and despite how your feel about each other.  In fact, it's the times when you feel it the least - when many would say they've "fallen out of love" and be tempted to move on - that our love has the greatest potential for growth.  All it takes is your willingness to choose to show love to your spouse.
• You won't have sex every day - I think this one probably applies to men more than women, but it can apply to women too.  Too many couples go into marriage with false expectations.  They think that once the ring goes on the finger, they will instantly have a free pass to have sex, so that must mean that it's going to happen all the time right?  This probably isn't true.  While I'm sure there are some couples out there who have sex every day and possibly even multiple times a day, for the average couple this is just simply not feasible.  Some days you just will be sick, distracted, busy, or just simply not feel like it.  Sometimes the only way to ensure you have sex is to actually schedule it.  Doesn't sound very romantic does it?  But such is life, and sometimes having a planned time for sex means that you have time to plan to ensure that it is a romantic time.
• Have some blow money - Husbands and wives generally have their own hobbies or things they really want to spend their money on.  However, when you get married, what's yours is his and what's his is yours, and this includes money.  What will he say when you tell him you want to spend $100.00 on this really cute dress you saw the other day?  What will she say when you tell her you want to spend $200.00 on a remote controlled car?  The best way Jarod and I have found to avoid arguments over these things is to each have your own blow money that you are allowed to spend however you want.  This money is what Jarod and I use to buy each other gifts or to buy things for ourselves when we don't have money set aside for those things in the budget.  So if I want to buy some new running clothes, I can do so without feeling guilty or having to worry about Jarod giving me a hard time and when Jarod wants to spend money on a toy remote control car, he can do so without having to worry about me getting upset for him spending the money.  Understand that the money that is in your "blow money" fund is still Y'ALL'S money.  So if a household emergency or something else comes up, be willing to dig into your blow money fund to help out!
• Have separate accounts - This is ALONG WITH your joint account and this goes along with what was stated above about the blow money.  If you have separate accounts, you can keep your blow money in your personal accounts.  What Jarod and I did was to keep our personal accounts when we got married and set up a new account for our joint account.  We have our paychecks deposited into our joint account and that is where everything from bills to household items is paid out of.  We simply use our personal accounts for our blow money, which we have a set amount that we decided on that we get out of each paycheck.  Since I am the one who handles our bill paying within our marriage, this comes in really handy when Jarod wants to buy me a gift (especially around my birthday, anniversary, or Christmas) as I'm not seeing it come through the joint account and knowing ahead of time what he bought me or at least where it came from and exactly how much it was.  This has really worked well for us, but you will have to decide if it is something that can work for y'all since as I stated above, the money in the separate account is still Y'ALL'S money, not just YOUR money.

When It Rains, It Pours...

Into my office!  Some of you may remember me mentioning something about a busted ceiling in this post.  I'm finally getting around to blogging about the incident that closed out 2011 and made us so ready for 2012 to start.

When we got home on December 27th, I started trying to pick up some of the things that were still laying around from Christmas.  Thankfully, there was still some tissue paper laying around, so I went back into the office, which is where my wrapping supplies are, to put it up.  I kept hearing what sounded like Dixie chewing on something and kept telling her to leave it.  Then I realized Dixie wasn't in the office with me.  All of a sudden my eyes were drawn up to the ceiling and I realized what was causing the sound!

Yep, I looked up to see a huge crack in the ceiling and water POURING down the ceiling fan.  Of course I immediately yelled for Jarod and we flipped the breaker to that room as quick as we could, then climbed up in the attic to see what was leaking and allowed water to get in.  I was fearing the worst, thinking there was going to be a huge hole in our roof.  When Jarod got up in the attic, all he could see was that a clean air duct from the air conditioner was no longer attached to the roof vent like it should be.  We saw no holes, cracks, or wet wood along the roof.  PRAISE THE LORD!  Then Jarod realized the duct was FULL of water and that's what was leaking water out onto the office ceiling.  We figured the cover had been blown off the vent (we'd had a day or two of windy, rainy weather).  We walked into the back yard and shined the light up on the vent and everything looked fine.  At this point all we could do was take care of the inside of the house as good as we could.  Once we got the duct down to where it could drain, it ended up completely filling up Jarod's shop vac.  So glad all that water had not dumped out onto the office ceiling!

This was definitely not how I wanted to end 2011.  Of course our warranty on our house was over in September so we were on our own to fix it or file a claim on a homeowners insurance.  We did call the dealership we bought the house from just to see if there was any way this would still be under warranty.  Of course it wasn't.  They told us, it's pretty typical for the caulking they use around the vents to dry rot and crack after about a year (Gee, thanks for telling us this when we bought the house!)  We lined it up for their guy who finishes out the houses once they are delivered to come look at it and give us an estimate before we filed a claim on insurance.  We have a $1,000 deductible on our insurance, so we wanted to make sure whether it would be worth it to file a claim or not.

When Mr. Bill came out that Friday to give us the estimate, he looked at it and said they would help us out as much as they could and he could fix it for around $200.  PRAISE THE LORD.  On Tuesday, we received a call from the dealership saying the factory actually owed them a favor, so the factory was going to send their guys out there to fix it for free!!!  This past weekend they came and fixed everything up so it is as good as new!

Jarod and I knew we were ready for 2011 to be over and to start 2012, but we had no idea how much God would bless us in 2012!

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28
 

Running Blues

This is my race recap from my first Half - the 2012 MS Blues Half on January 7, 2012.

When Jarod got off work on Friday, we headed to the expo to pick up my race packet and bib #.  I didn't know what to expect before going to the expo, as this was my first one, but I will say I was a little disappointed.  I imagined the expo being a good bit bigger than it was.  There were only a couple of actual running related booths - one for each of the local running stores and one for Bondi Bands.  There were a few other booths for local business that were sponsoring the race, but that was it.  I also had hopes of buying a 13.1 sticker to place on my car after I finished the race, but I didn't see one at the expo.  Needless to say, I was slightly disappointed with this, but I also realize it's just Jackson and while this was the biggest race I'd run in (2,500 people), it was not a huge race.

Course elevation map

 Course map

Once Jarod and I left the expo, we went and rode the course so I'd have a better idea of what to expect on Saturday.  Having grown up in Jackson, I already had a little bit of an idea of what to expect as I knew most of the roads, but it definitely helped to ride the actual route so I knew without a doubt where my turns would be and what the hills looked like.  After we finished riding the course, we headed to Buffalo Wild Wings and grabbed some food before heading back to my Dad's to go to bed.  I tried to go to sleep early, but I was so excited/anxious about the race that I had a hard time settling down enough to go to sleep and even once I did fall asleep, I tossed and turned a good bit.

It's probably a good thing I didn't sleep too heavy on Friday night, because I woke up on Saturday morning and checked my phone and realized my alarm didn't go off!!!  Thankfully it was just barely after 5:00, so I still had time to get up, eat some oatmeal, get ready, and get to the race in plenty of time.  As soon as we got there, we found two guys from our church that were running the race as well, so we were able to stand around and chat with them for a bit.  About 15-30 minutes before the race started, I decided I should go ahead and potty while I had a chance.  We got to the port-o-potty's and there was a HUGE line.  I finished pottying, just in time to get back to the start line and jump in line with a few of my friends. (In hind sight, this was probably one of my biggest mistakes as I didn't get to stretch like I should have!)  They didn't do any sort of corral start - everyone just lined up wherever they wanted, which made the start a little crazy waiting for things to thin out and dodging slower people, etc.

 Waving to Jarod as I started the race

I should have known I was in trouble from the get go.  About a half mile to a mile in my ankles started hurting.  It was more of a stiff pain, so I figured it was just because I literally had not run at all in the past 3 1/2 weeks, and figured it would work itself out, which thankfully it seemed to.  However, around mile 4 my calves started cramping.  The right one was cramping worse than the left, but they were both extremely tight and making it hard to run.  I hoped the cramps would go away, but they never did.  My plan was to run to the water stations and then walk through the water stations for about 3 minutes to give myself a little bit of a break.  I pretty much stuck to that plan until around mile 5, then I had to start walking a little more.  By mile 7, I was pretty shot and was walking up all the hills as well.

 Thanks to my friend Rod, of Rod's Racers, for this photo

Jarod set up to cheer me on and grab a few more pictures around mile 8.  Thankfully this was towards the bottom of a hill, so he was able to get pictures of me running and I managed to plaster on a smile.  It's amazing how much it helps to put a little pep in your step to see familiar faces cheering you on!  I screamed that my calves were cramping like crazy when I passed him.  I'm pretty sure somewhere around here, the thought of quitting crossed my mind, but I figured I was over halfway, and I was determined to cross the finish line.  Around mile 9, one of the volunteers was super energetic and cheering us on, so again, that helped me to push on a little more.  By the time I hit mile 10, I was seriously ready to quit.  I won't lie, I was barely shuffling during the sections I was actually able to force myself to run, and wasn't doing much better even when walking.  Somewhere along here is also where the first marathoners came flying by me like I was standing still, having run DOUBLE the mileage I'd been!  I remember thinking I had no idea how they did it, and that I had no desire whatsoever to do a Full Marathon and that those people who do have completely lost there minds or are very sadistic and enjoy torturing themselves lol.

 Digging down deep and forcing a smile and thumbs up for the camera

I walked the majority of miles 11-13 (possibly even 10-13), which just a few short jogging spurts here and there on the downhills.  That was one bad thing about this course, there were only a couple of spots that were flat to allow you to rest.  The entire rest of the course was an incline, whether you were going up or down, and whether it was steep or gradual, it was still an incline.  By mile 11 or 12 I was so exhausted both mentally and physically that I started getting very emotional thinking about the fact that I was about to cross the finish line and become a Half Marathoner.  This is also when my throat closed up on me and I thought I was going to have to get someone to call for medical quit and drop out of the race.  I literally could not breathe!  I've never had asthma before, but I assume it was something like an asthma attack as my throat just felt like it completely closed up.  Thankfully after about 30 seconds this went away and I was able to catch my breath again.  However, that pretty much sealed my fate of walking pretty much the rest of the race.  I started running again around mile 13.  I mean I couldn't cross the finish line walking, right?!  I was in so much pain when I started running that I seriously thought about walking, but refused to walk across the finish line, so I forced myself to keep moving.  Then I saw Jarod and my other friends cheering me on.  I swear it's like something magical happens when you see familiar faces cheering YOU on.  Again, it put a little pep in my step and I was able to dig deep down and pick up my pace ever so slightly to cross the finish line actually running instead of shuffling!

 Somehow managing to pick up the pace for the finish line

I finished in 2:40:37!  Not the best time in the world, but seeing as how I had not gotten to train like I wanted due to being sick, I was extremely proud of that time and just the fact that I had finished.  I took maybe 20 steps to get out of the finish line and reach Jarod before I collapsed into his arms.  My legs were shaking so bad, and I had literally used up ALL the energy I had.  It's like my body knew the race was over and it could quit on me.  Honestly, I have never hurt so bad in my entire life!  I have no doubt had I been able to keep my training up over the last month, I would have been ok, but not having trained, it absolutely killed me.  We immediately found a window sill for me to sit on.  I was so tired I couldn't even keep the medal around my neck because it was so "heavy", ha!  We only stayed around for a few minutes for me to catch my breath, before I hobbled back to the car with Jarod holding me up the whole way.

Completely exhausted!

With Cody & Jedd who stuck around to cheer for me as I crossed the finish line.

 On the way to the car. Jarod was having to hold me up. Thanks to Rod, of Rod's Racers, for this photo.

I rewarded myself with some Chik-fil-a and we went back to my Dad's house to rest for awhile, where I soaked in a nice hot bath, which felt so good!  Once I finally got the energy to get up and get going again, Jarod surprised me by taking me to CSpire and upgrading me to an iPhone!  I've been wanting an iPhone again ever since we swapped from AT&T to CSpire and I had to get rid of mine.  From there we went straight to Fleet Feet to go buy me a Stick.  My calves were screaming at me so bad, I had to have something to help give me some relief!  I pretty much just laid around the rest of the evening as I was so tired.

  The Stick

When I woke up Sunday (and again today), I could barely walk due to my calves being so tight.  Funny how three of us from church ran the Half on Saturday, yet I was the only one of us who was hobbling at church on Sunday.  Definitely made me feel old and out of shape!  Overall, I'd say this was probably not the best experience I could have had for a race, but I blame it solely on myself and the fact that I didn't train like I should have.  Either way, I was still super proud (and still am) of the fact that I can classify myself as a Half Marathoner!  I'd love to wear my medal for like the next week, but I'm pretty sure everyone would think I was crazy, so I'm refraining from doing so.  I'm determined to get as much training as I can in between now and March 4th when I will run my second Half Marathon in New Orleans.  Thankfully that course is a flat course!

I AM A HALF MARATHONER!!!

Memory Lane

*Forgive me for any typos in this post as I'm attempting to post from my phone*

Yesterday morning I took a trip down memory lane. It wasn't the same memory lane I'm sure most people are traveling right now reflecting back on the past year. Nope it was memory lane from 13 years ago!

At the end of Jarod's and my devotional yesterday morning there was a scripture selection to read to further emphasize the devotional. I normally let Jarod completely take the reigns on our devotional times, but yesterday morning I pulled out one of my old Bibles from my night stand to read the scripture from. The Bible was one my Mom had given me in 1999. The back half has come loose from the binding. The pages are full of notes with verses highlighted. In between the pages are lots of pictures, notes, etc full of memories from the days the Bible was used on a regular basis. Then I found a card that had my Spiritual Birthday on it - August 27, 1995.

Finding this card sent me back down a memory lane all of it's own - the summer I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior. It reminded me of the days of vacation bible school when everything I'd grown up hearing all seemed to finally "click". It reminded me of summers spent at my Grandmother's house playing games and reading from the Bible that now resides on my entry table. It reminded me of what it was like spiritually in my house growing up. It reminded me that while my Dad and I almost always went to church, my Mom stayed home on several occasions. It reminded me that when I have children, I want to be purposeful to teach them God's Word, and help them to feel comfortable and open enough to be able to talk about Spiritual matters with me. It reminded me that children are always watching their parents and even the small things, like going to church or staying in the bed, can make a big impact on them.

It was a wonderful trip down memory lane and I pray that I never forget those days and the excitement that I had to learn more about God. I pray that I am always purposeful in teaching my children about God.

Do you remember the events surrounding the day you were saved? The excitement and hunger you had to learn more about God?

Here We Go Again

Once again another year is upon us.  It's hard to believe that 2011 has already come and gone.  I completely missed blogging about any of our happenings last month.  We stayed busy with choir programs at church, work, niece's and nephew's birthday parties, Christmas, and we ended the year with a water leak which resulted in a busted ceiling in our office and a stomach bug.  Needless to say after the happenings of the last couple of weeks, we were fairly glad to see 2011 go, and looking forward to 2012 being better!

Here are a few pictures from Tripp's 4th Birthday party.  I still can't believe how big he's getting.  He's starting to look like a little man!!!

He had a blast playing with the balloons

Kelly did such a great job on his football birthday cake!

Tripp & George playing with his toy from Poppy George and Mamaw Reesa

The party wore the big kids out!

 

We had a wonderful Christmas celebration with both sides of our family.  Jarod was apparently better than I was, as Santa came to visit him, but forgot about me :(  We had the pleasure of hosting my family's traditional Christmas breakfast again this year, which always makes for a good time.  It was so nice to be able to stay at our own home all day long, but still get to celebrate with family!

Ginger, Dixie, and Jarod posing with his gifts from Santa

Jarod's loot from Santa. A new motorcycle helmet and a tractor (Santa has a good sense of humor!)

Showing off his new helmet

Everyone lounging after eating breakfast. (Notice Jarod still admiring his helmet!)

Piper & Addison opening their gift from Aunt KK & Uncle Jarod

Piper didn't have to be shown what her bean bag was for

Addison and Aunt KK sitting in her bean bag

 Jarod and I with our annual ornament from the Amoses

 

December was a great but busy month.  I will do a separate post later about our flooded ceiling mishap.  I hope each of you had as blessed of a Christmas as we did and were able to spend some time with your families.

MS Blues Half Training

So an update on my running - not much running has been happening!  This is NOT a good thing with my first Half being only a month away now.  I'm kind of to the point of not caring and just focusing on doing good at the RnR Half in New Orleans in March.

Here is a screen shot of the spreadsheet I keep for my coach to show how many miles I've put in each week:

As you can see, there are a bunch of days with zeros on there!  The Difference column at the end is the difference between what I actually ran and how many miles I was supposed to run for the entire week.  Notice most of those are negative, meaning I didn't run as many miles for the week as I was supposed to.

A week or two before Thanksgiving on one of my runs, my shin all of a sudden started hurting, and I just assumed it was shin splints.  I've never had shin splints before, so I wasn't sure what they felt like, but had always heard they were horrible.  Every time I took a step, it felt like my shin was fractured.  I didn't think too much of it, again, just thinking it was shin splints and that I just need to ice and stretch.  Then I asked an OT at church and she said that it sounded more like compartment syndrome to her.  Not good.

The week of Thanksgiving I ended up getting strept and going to the doctor to get antibiotics since we were hosting Thanksgiving.  While there, I mentioned my leg pain to him, and he again thought it was more than likely compartment syndrome.  However, he did say I would quit running from the pain before it ever got serious enough to require surgery or anything.  So I didn't get to run the entire week of Thanksgiving because of the strept, but this might not have been a bad thing as it allowed me to rest my leg some too.

I did get a couple of runs in last week, but not much.  The biggest problem is that I haven't been able to get my long runs in lately.  It has either been crappy weather, I've been sick, or we've just flat out had too much going on for me to do them.  To those of you who are hard core runners, you probably just read that and laughed at those "excuses", but I'm just not hard core enough to get up extra early on a Saturday so I can ensure that I get my long run in.  I just like my sleep too much and dislike the cold that much more!  It's not looking like this weekend is going to be any better, as it is already jam packed full with activities that I can't miss.  I'm hoping to possibly get a long(ish) run in on Sunday afternoon if nothing else, but that's also hard as I'm always starving by the time I get home from church, so I have to let the food settle after I eat, and then I have to be back at church by 5:00 for choir practice.  Yea...again to the hard core runners, I'm sure those things just sound like excuses, but for me, it's just my life.

I have no doubt that I will be able to FINISH this Half, which is really my only goal, but I'm not sure that I will be able to run the entire thing or even finish in a decent time - especially since this race will be done on my own, and I'm used to having Jarod there on my long runs to help push me and keep me going.  At this point, I'm really just praying the weather isn't too horrible.  Yesterday it was in the 30's with 12 mph winds and overcast from where it had been raining/snowing that morning.  Needless to say, I passed on running yesterday, and again, am praying the weather the day of the race is nothing like that!

So that about sums up my training for the past several weeks: non-existent!

Christmas Card & Newsletter 2011

I delayed getting our Christmas pictures taken, so we ended up just doing the best we could with taking some pictures ourselves.  I think they turned out fairly well for self-portraits, but that meant that my Christmas cards didn't get ordered until today!  They're scheduled to arrive sometime between 12/13 and 12/17, so we're going to be pushing it to get them addressed and sent back out to everyone for them to arrive in time for Christmas.  I generally try to wait until after I've sent them out to post them on the blog, but seeing as how some people may not get them in time for Christmas, I'm going to go ahead and post it on here.  Just know that if I had your address you should be arrive a physical one at some point...it just might be a little late - OOPS!

Front of Card

Inside of Card - left side has our newsletter

Back of Card

Here's our newsletter that is typed on the inside of the card:

Dear Friends and Family,

It is amazing how time seems to speed up each year.  I feel like it was just yesterday that I was typing up our newsletter for 2010, and yet, here we are at the end of 2011 already!  We hope this year has treated each of you as well as it has treated us.

We started the year off with Katie having LASIK surgery just before her birthday.  It was definitely money well spent, and I wish we hadn’t put it off as long as we did.  Of course after Jarod saw how well Katie’s “new eyes” were treating her, he had to follow suit and had LASIK of his own shortly after his birthday.  Who knew growing older brought about better vision J

Katie decided to pick up running around March and has since run several 5K’s and a 4-miler in which she managed to place 2^nd in her age group!  She is now training to run a Half Marathon (13.1 miles!) in January 2012 and has convinced Jarod to run a Half Marathon with her in March 2012.

In July, Belle, our boxer, became a mother of NINE puppies!  They all survived and managed to stay healthy and have since found loving homes of their own, with one of those homes being right here at The Parrish.  We kept the puppy that looked like a “mini me” version of Belle.  Her registered name is “Dixie Belle’s Mini Me” and we decided to call her Dixie.  She is definitely a mama’s baby!  She loves to cuddle in Katie’s lap when she’s not having a blast wrestling with Belle.  The two of them have definitely had a good time wearing each other out every day.  Ginger on the other hand thinks we’ve lost our mind for letting another “giant monster” into her house.

In November, we got to enjoy hosting our second Thanksgiving at our house, although it was a much smaller gathering this year than last.  Katie’s family came down to join us this year, which is definitely no match in size compared to Jarod’s side of the family with whom we celebrated last year.

We’re now looking forward to December and all it has to bring between Choir programs, parties, and one of our favorite traditions of Christmas breakfast.  But most importantly December is the time set aside to celebrate our Lord and Savior’s birth, and we pray that we all remember that is the true reason we celebrate Christmas.

We hope you each have a blessed season, and hopefully our Christmas cards will arrive at everyone's houses before Christmas ;)

Thankfulness

For me November is the month all about being thankful.  While, I am thankful all year long, I just like to take extra time during the month of November to thank God for all the wonderful things he has blessed me with.  I, along with several of my friends, used my Facebook status to post each day what I was thankful for this month, and I'll share a few of those things below.

The first part of the month started out with my family growing as my mom finally got married to her high school sweetheart.  That's right, it's been about 40 years since they first met and started dating, life took them on their separate ways, and then brought them back together and they are now married.  We may not always understand it, but God does have a plan.  I'm so glad to see her so happy and know that Steve will treat her wonderfully for the rest of their lives.  Here's a few (unedited) pictures from their wedding which was held on 11/11/11!

 Mom and I before the wedding

Love this picture of Mom as they are saying their vows!

Mr. and Mrs. Steve Polk

We also hosted Thanksgiving at our house again for the second year, although this year we had a much smaller gathering than we did last year.  This year it was just my mom and Steve, my grandparents, and Mr. David.  Of course I came down with strept the first part of the week!  It seems to never fail lately that if we're taking vacation or are off work, I get sick.  I woke up that Monday morning with a really sore throat and felt like I was probably getting strept, but was hoping it was just a sinus infection.  By the time I got home I had a low grade fever, so I made an appointment with my Dr. on Tuesday who confirmed that it was strept and I got started on antibiotics.  Thankfully he said since I'd started on them Tuesday morning, I would not be contagious by Wednesday night.  WHEW!  Mom came over Wednesday and helped me get everything put together, so all we had to do was throw everything in the oven on Thursday.  Amongst the hustle and bustle of trying to get everything ready, I didn't manage to get any pictures :(  I've actually been horrible about taking pictures this entire year, so sadly we only have a handful of pictures for the year.

Here are a few of the things I am thankful for this year:

• Of course I am thankful for Jarod and all the things he does for me.
• I am thankful for the ability and my new found passion of running as it has become my stress relief and as my Dr. said last week has improved my overall health!
• I am thankful for to have a job to go to, especially one where I can wear jeans.
• I am so incredibly thankful for my church family.  We have made some great friends at Heucks Retreat Baptist and I love getting to worship with them each week.
• I am thankful for the fact that we are Debt Free (except for our house).  I am so blessed to have a husband who has changed his thinking on money and that we agree when it comes to financial issues.  We definitely would not be in the place we're at without the guidance of Dave Ramsey and some sacrifices we've had to make along the way.  Live like no one else now, so you can live like no one else later
• I am so thankful for my beautiful house.  I can't believe we've been in it a little over a year and I'm more in love with it today than I was the day we picked it out.  God is good!

 God has definitely blessed Jarod and I with more than we deserve and I'm realizing and appreciating that more and more each day.  Don't forget to thank God for the things he has blessed you with, not just at Thanksgiving, but each and every day!

MS Blues Half Training: Week 10

At least I think I'm on week 10.  I've been pretty bad about updating on how my training is going.  It's going.  Nothing great, nothing terrible.  Well, except this weekend.  I definitely had my worst "run" to date this weekend.  I know we all have our days where we just don't have "it" and this was definitely one of those days.  Jarod and I set out for our 9 mile long run on Sunday and about 2 miles into it, I knew I was in for a LONG afternoon.  I'd already had to walk several times within the first two miles.  I contemplated just turning around and only getting 4 of my 9 miles in and I probably should have done that.  We completed the 9, but I walked probably close to 7 miles of that 9!  I did surprise myself that even with all my walking, and I wasn't even walking as fast as I could, my avg pace was still 13:27 min/mi.  I didn't think that was too terrible for walking!

Other than that, I have just been doing my best to get my miles in every week.  Some runs are good, some are bad, but at least I'm getting most of my miles in.  I'm still not sure how I'm going to run 13.1 miles in just a little over a month, but hopefully it will all come together before then!  I'm not going into this race with any time expectations, just with the goal of finishing it.  I will also push myself to run the entire thing, but who doesn't go into a race like that hoping to not have to take any walk breaks.  Once I get the MS Blues Half under my belt, I will have a better idea of what to expect for the Rock n Roll New Orleans Half and can go from there to set a time goal.

How is your training going?  Are you staying on track, or have you been slacking?

MS Blues Half Training: Week 7

I completely slacked off on week 6 and only got in a 2 mile run that Monday and then a 7 mile run that Saturday.  The 7 mile run was BRUTAL!  About a 1/2 mile in, I was already pretty mentally beat up, then the course we'd mapped out to run was nothing but one hill after another and they weren't just small little hills either, they were all pretty decent sized hills - if they were short, they were steep, and some were long and steep!  Talk about a good workout!

I did much better with my training this last week though, so here's the recap:

Monday -  4.17 miles - This run was quite the struggle for some reason.  I was cramping during the first couple of miles and eventually had to take some walk breaks, but I struggled through it and got it done.

Tuesday - Off - Treated myself to a 2 hour massage and then had my chiropractor appointment, so no running for me.

Wednesday - 3.27 miles - Temps dropped pretty drastically overnight.  It was cold and WINDY on this run.  I was just trying to get the miles over with so I could get back in the warmth of my car.  I thought I'd be ok in shorts and a long sleeve shirt, but by the time I got done my legs felt like I'd been sitting in an ice bath.  As soon as I finished running, my knees starting aching, I guess from the cold.

Thursday - 2.18 miles - Just another run.  I really felt like I was running faster than my time said when I got done and was hoping to break 20 minutes, but oh well.

Friday - Off - Foot started hurting around the ball of the big toe, especially when I flexed my toes.  Not sure what was going on with that.

Saturday - Off - Wanted to give my foot an extra day of rest.

Sunday - 8.14 miles - Longest run to date and it was definitely a struggle towards the end.  I'm still trying to figure out the whole fueling thing (I gladly welcome any suggestions!).  It was mid afternoon and the sun beating down on me was pretty warm.  Took several walk breaks and by the last mile or so my knees were pretty sore.  By the time I finished, I was questioning my sanity when I committed to run 13.1 miles!

I actually OFFICIALLY signed up for the Mississippi Blues Half (January 7, 2012) AND the Rock N Roll New Orleans Half (March 4, 2012) today!  I'm pretty sure I've officialy lost my mind.  Jarod signed up for the RnR NOLA as well and is planning on running it with me. WOOT!  I'm hoping to also do a Warrior Dash in April since they are having one in Mississippi this year.  Going to wait a little bit before I officially sign up for that though.