Ta Daaaaaaaa!

I did it! I have the blog all up to date. It took me a few hours today to get it done. Considering it feels like 100 degrees outside, I needed some excuse to stay in. Now I need to focus on getting ready for vacation. We leave in a few days for a trip to Adventure Land and then up to Iowa Regular Baptist Camp in Clear Lake, IA. I'm sure that will leave me plenty to blog about when we get back home!

Brianna's baptism

Brianna made a decision recently to get baptized at church. It is our belief that when a person is old enough they can choose to get saved. Getting saved is choosing to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord & Savior & having a relationship with Him. Getting baptized is also a decision that only that person can make & is symbolic of Jesus' death, burial & resurrection. Which is why we believe in full immersion baptism.

I wanted to just put that out there because there are many different thoughts & beliefs to what baptism is. This is what it means to us. Here are the pictures of that special day:

Can I hear a PRAISE GOD! or AMEN!

Mom2Mom leadership retreat

I recently joined the leadership team for Mom2Mom which is a ministry of the local church where I attend. I am taking over registration. Together the 11 of us work to put on this club that is open to moms of all ages & walks of life. We offer a chance for the moms to come & enjoy some mommy time. A typical morning includes a hot breakfast & a speaker who will educate & enourage us during our years of motherhood. All while their children are being care for. And it's FREE!

Every summer we all meet and get away to Little Swan Lake where Marianna Schreader hosts us in her beautiful home. There we kick off the next planning year with a lot praying, planning and just thinking things through. We also have a lot of fun staying up into the wee morning hours being all silly and crazy. Here is a picture of our whole team:
Marianna is quite the hostess with the mostest. She spoils us lavishly with a ton of homemade cooking & other treats & gifts. She even brought in a massage therapist and we each got a 20 minute chair massage. We also got a goody bag, which among other things, included a pair of socks. They were the most comfortable pair of socks and we loved them. So to thank her we took this picture and are going to frame it for her to have as a reminder.

I

2 races, back to back weekends

Opportunity presented itself to race on two consecutive weekends. The first one popped up just days before the event. Meaning, I didn't know about it well in advance. I saw another racing friend who asked if I was racing at Good Hope in a few days. As it turns out I was going to a retreat that is closer to Good Hope than where I live. So I took it for a "sign" that I was meant to run this race.

Now about, that retreat I was at (will post about that soon)....it was spent with several other women and we did not get to sleep until 2-3 a.m. that morning of the race. My friends thought I was crazy for wanting to get up on a saturday at 6 a.m to race, retreat or not. But I thrive on that racing high that it makes it so worth it. So despite my lack of sleep, I got up & went, leaving my drooling & snoring girlfriends behind.

I should also note that I really haven't been running a lot. I have had a horrible back problem that has sent me to see my chiropractor many times. And I had a good friend, who is a former massage therapist, work on my back for well over an hour. So my running was put on hold. It had been a whole month since my last race as well.

This was a smaller than usual race. Probably about 25-30 people were there. We probably double the population of the town just by being there...haha. I purposely took it easy to get a good feel of my back. I didn't want to re-injure myself. I still managed to win, even though I ran bout 2 minutes slower than usual. Still, not bad though since I had very little training in between races.

I didn't have my camera so no pictures. I took a picture of my shirt & ribbon together. My friends teased that it looked like a ribbon they would stick on a cow at the county fair. Ha....ha, I'll take it, even if it means I'm a bit of a heffier. : )


The next weekend I raced in Abingdon for the Rock 'N Rally. This was a fundraiser for a high school girl who has cancer. This is the group picture we took of the Y staff & members.

My running improved a lot over that week. Once I had run the week before & knew that my back was much better I was able to push myself a little bit more. There was a much larger crowd this time, about 150 or so. Including a college girl running for Knox College. Yeah, so that means I didn't win. But, that is OK! Seriously. Besides I can't compete with someone 10 years younger than me who's never had any kids. Two completely different situations there. I did, however, finish only 40 seconds behind that girl and was able to place first in my age group. I was back more within my normal racing time for this race. I'd sure like to race a bit faster, but I'll take what I can get for now.

Another reason I was glad I didn't win was the awards they gave out. The top female got a trophy. I have a dozen....or several dozen trophies that look just like the one they awarded her. BORING! However, by placing in my age group, I got a medal. Not just any medal (I have several dozen of those too), but one with a hot pink ribbon. Oooooo, something different to add to my collection. I like that!

School's Out Party

We held our annual Peterson School's Out Party. We had close to 40 kids come to our house for the evening. It's pure chaos, but so much fun. I created a slideshow of pictures since there are so many.