Sooo sore from Squats!

This week I decided to start gearing up for the Beach to Bay Relay in Corpus Christi on May 15th. Ross and I will be joining a few our our Southwest friends to form a marathon relay team.. The 6 of us will each run about 4.5 miles to complete the relay. I haven't formulated my goal time yet, but I just know I want to improve my speed. I'm thinking about an 11 minute mile pace goal, but I'm not dead set yet. I'm sure after talking it over with Ross he will encourage me to shoot for just over 10 minutes...so we'll see.

This week I'm trying to run 4 days and complete a cardio/bodysculpt DVD 2 days. Yesterday I completed level one of the DVD "Biggest Loser-Cardio Max" and OMG I am feeling it today. I actually woke up in the night and said "Oh, my buns!" and Ross thought I said "Oh my, God!" and was like "What's wrong??!!" It's a good burn I suppose, but I'm a wimp when it comes to pain tolerance. I probably did 500 or more squats throughout the 25 minute workout. I'm not sure I'll be able to handle it again tomorrow...but I will try. Today I'm hopefully going to go for a run and work out some of the soreness.

Spring has Sprung!!

I'm so happy. Today begins my official Spring Break Week! So far, I slept in, checked email (nothing there), went on a run, read some blogs, and ate a piece of cheese... I'm taking things slow...don't want to get worn out on my first day of break or anything..haha.

Anyway, what a beautiful weekend we had here in Dallas! Ross and I have spent a lot of time indoors watching movies (Up in the Air and Food, Inc.), so it felt really nice to be outdoors a lot of Saturday and Sunday. Saturday we moseyed on over to the Greenville St. Patty's Day parade. We just caught the tail-end but really that was sufficient. We met up with Southwest friends and walked all the way down Greenville to Dyer St. Bar for one drink and then over to Desperados Mexican Restaurant for lunch. At that point, we were all pretty zonked from walking in the sun and wind all morning and I took a nap the rest of the afternoon. That evening Ross and I watched an hour and a half of Barbie and the 3 musketeers with our niece. Trust me it's SOOOO hard to say "No" to someone this precious.

On Sunday, we got up early and got a Pearl Latte at the Pearl Cup...my fave!! Then we watched runners just past mile 10 at the Rock n Roll 1/2 marathon. Every race that I run I am so motivated by the crowd's cheers. It really means so much to a runner and it helps keeps us going. So even though I didn't get in gear enough to run in the race, I wanted to go cheer. I knew a handful of people that would be running and tried to figure out what time they would be running by mile 10. Even with thousands and thousands of runners passing by me, I found all three people I was looking for! It was pretty exciting. Ross and I cheered for hundreds of runners we didn't even know and I loved it. Runners would run out of their way to give us high fives and say thank you. We got told so many times how awesome we were and how thankful they were to have us cheering. People who run are so positive and I love it. It's a great crowd to be in. I'm planning to run the race next year...already registered, yikes!

After cheering for an hour or so, we drove over to church and walked around uptown for awhile before church began at 11:15. It was a fun little morning. We spent the afternoon watching Casino Royale and all the special features (one of Ross's favorite things about movies..).

All in all it was a fun weekend spent with my sweet sweet husband. I am so blessed to have him by my side and to do life together. He is the best.

Awesome and Not

I'm trying something new that I saw in someone's blog recently...

Awesome: My class made it through our dress rehearsal/video taping for Spring Program! We've been practicing for over a month and tomorrow is our big day! No more practicing!!!!
Not: Today was the first day with the stage lights turned on and the majority of the class was either turned around staring at his shadows or holding his hands over his eyes and yelling "Ms. Barry!!!! When are the lights going to get turned off!!!" throughout the entire 6 minute performance (which we had to do 2 times through)

Awesome: Warmer weather and wearing short sleeves!!!
Not: Inside recess today due to wet grass and mud means cranky-wild boys!

Awesome: A late birthday present from a friend! Wine, chocolate, bubble bath, and scented candle!
Not: Flights are sold out for this weekend from Dallas to St. Louis so we can't make it home to visit my family

Awesome: Just got Food, Inc. in the mail!
Not: I'll probably be really grossed out and scared to eat food unless I know where it came from.

Thoughts from a slow girl... :(

I just got an email from the Cowtown 10K with all my stats from the race last weekend. It was kind of cool, but it just got me thinking how SLOW I've become in the past couple of years! I didn't help that sometimes they refer to the "gun time" instead of the "chip time" when I started the race 15 minutes late! (Couldn't find the starting line...oops)

How has this happened!!?? Well, I'm pretty sure it can be narrowed down to weight gain and lack of consistent training...yep, I'd say that's the culprit. Anyway, now I'm just embarrassed that my stats are up on the world wide web for anyone to see. I've actually added over 2 minutes to my mile time in about 2 years. I didn't know that was possible, but apparently I did it.

Now my mission is to find another 10K in the next couple of months and make it a goal to beat my time from the Cowtown. Anyone know of a good 10K in the area? I'm desperate to beat this time so I don't have it lingering over my head any longer.

Fun February

I've realized that I post about once or twice a month. Is that a big no-no as a blogger? I don't really know what the appropriate amount of blogging is. Is it just supposed to be consistent? Well, if that's the case I guess I should meet my February quota...wait February is over, you say??? Argh. Well, I will dedicate this post to the second half of February, since it was a wonderful whirlwind.

Ross and I were able to host 3 sets of visitors in February. Ross's roommate from college and his fiance from Chicago visited us for a weekend. We were able to hangout in downtown Dallas and visit the Nasher Sculpture Garden, Dallas Museum of Art, and the Crow museum of Asian Art. We hit up all of our favorite restaurants and coffee shop, The Pearl Cup. Can you say yummmm? :) If you frequent the Pearl Cup, don't you just love the vibe there? So chill, funky, and artsy all wrapped into one! The Pearl Latte is to die for! It's apparently a special/secret recipe and if you haven't tried it yet, you absolutely must!

One of the sculptures in the Nasher garden: "Walking to the Sky"

Mid-month we were graced with a visit from our friend Guillaume from Paris. This is Ross's buddy he met while studying abroad. We ate 3 full meals of Mexican while Guillaume was here and had a "Crepe Party" in honor of his French-ness. We had a blast showing him Texas. He was only upset that we didn't make it to a shooting range so he could fire a gun. He felt that would be the ultimate Texas experience.

Guillaume and Ross making crepes for the party.

This past weekend, my lovely sister flew in for a short weekend to visit us and run in the Cowtown 10K with us. We also had a blast even though we were sore and exhausted for most of the visit. Besides the experience of running 6.2 miles with my sis, the other highlight was having her come to school with me on Friday. It was so fun having her there to meet my students and get to know them. She LOVED them and thought they were so sweet and adorable. Obviously, they had her fooled. Only kidding!!! I think they are precious too.

Our other exciting news from February is that we started a small group/bible study at our house for young married couples at our church. We've been a part of a small group/bible study for the past couple of years and our group recently decided to split up into 3 groups in order to accommodate the growing number of young married couples in our church. So, Ross and I decided that we could take a group. We were sad at first to disband our group that we had grown to love so much, but we are excited for this new venture. Both Ross and I felt led to do this in order to reach out and connect with other couples at our church who may not feel as connected to the body. We were blessed so much with rich and genuine friendships by being able to be in a couple's small group and hope that we can provide that opportunity for other couples who are looking to connect with others in the church and work on their marriages at the same time.

And, there it is...the month of February all rolled into one blog. How'd ya like that?

Prayer in School

Since Ross and I were in Illinois for Christmas we missed the white Christmas in Dallas, but little did I know we would have a White Valentine's Weekend!! And yes...I am starting the weekend early because I was just informed that our school is cancelled for tomorrow, yippee!! No school Friday and no school Monday for Presidents Day!

I just want to share a cute little story about something that happened at school today that just made my week. :)

Today at school we showed our parents how much we love them by having a "We Love our Parents Party". Strange name for a party, I know, but I didn't come up with it...it was school-wide. The kids and I had been preparing crafts and snacks for this party all week. We had the picture frames painted, the Valentine Hearts made, , our special song was perfected, and the sugar cookies were all ready to be iced. All we had to do now was pass the time until 2:00 when the parents were supposed to show up. I decided about an hour after lunch that we needed to take a little quiet/rest time so we wouldn't be too restless for the party. As we all cuddled up together (my 5 little boys and I) for a rest, one student asked if he could say a prayer for all of us. Of course, I said "that would be a great idea". And he proceeded: "Dear Lord Jesus, Thank you for my mommy and daddy and for letting them come to my school for the party, Amen.". And as simple as that was, it was the most precious and unexpected thing! All of the students got quiet (very unusual) and listened. Then another student said can I pray now? Then he bowed his head, and said some prayers under his breath and ended with a resounding AMEN! (As you are reading this...remember that I don't teach at a Christian school.) Then each of the students asked for their turn...however the rest of the "prayers" started with "Once upon a time..." and ended up being about Scooby Doo and Mario and Sonic. Nonetheless, they all just made my day! How precious are my little preschoolers??

Have a wonderful WHITE weekend!

The big things in life.

Hello bloggers. Once again it's been awhile to say the least, but I'm trying and that counts for something.

This has been a pretty crazy 2 weeks for me and my family. We started off our 2nd week of the new year with a bang at church with our Annual Corporate Fast. Since Ross and I have moved to Dallas this has always been a cherished time as we attempt to start the new year off on the right foot, evaluate our lives, and get things in order. The word for the week at Trinity Church was EMPOWERED. How awesome is that. We don't want to live mundane lives and call ourselves "Christians" just because we go to church. In the days of the early church, people didn't even call themselves Christians but they were called that by the people who saw them live their lives. It was apparent that those in the early church were followers of Christ...not because they attended church...but because their lives were empowered as they lived out the gospel. Throughout this week we started thinking about what it means to "tear down the walls" of the church and actually BE the church. Anyway, God is showing us some things about himself that are changing us...but that's for another blog another day.

Moving on to Saturday, the last full day of our fast. I woke up around 7 am because I planned to go serve at a place that helps women who have been victims of human-trafficking. I was going to be giving facials, pedicures, and manicures to these women who have been rescued, however God had a different plan in store for me that day. I woke up and was totally sick with a bad head cold among other issues. Shortly after waking I got a call from my mom explaining that my dad had just had a heart attack but was currently stabilized and waiting to be taken by an ambulance to another hospital. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. This type of thing happens to other people...not to my dad. The word "stabilized" just kept ringing in my ears. I decided to forgo the mani/pedi giving and stay at home where I could be on the phone with family members and hear each update as they received word from the doctors. I was able to find a flight home that evening which left me in Dallas and away from my family for the remainder of the morning and afternon which turned out to be the best situation. I was able to start interceding for my dad's physical health, emotional state, and spiritual state. I was able to get healing over the head cold and pray for God to use me once I got home. It was an amazing time of prayer and God gave me such peace that my dad was going to be ok and that he was going to use this incident for his glory. As I departed Dallas, I felt totally empowered to whatever it was God had in store for me in Illinois.

There is so much more to this story, but to keep things short...when I got to the hospital I was able to talk with my dad about God's plan and speak faith over all the fear he was dealing with. For the first time in my life, I prayed outloud with my dad and laid hands on him. I am so thrilled at the way God is moving in my family's life. I can see that God is softening my dad's heart to Him and that he truly does have a plan for my dad's life. I am just clinging to the verse that says that 'your entire household will be saved' (paraphrase).

Thank you Lord for moving mountains and for upholding all your promises. "Ask and it will be given to you, Seek and you will find"

This experience (with the help of my Aunt Jan) helped to remind me that there are Big things in life and there are small things in life. This was obviously a "big thing" and after you experience the "big things" you can start to see how the "small things" aren't really all that 'big' afterall. I just love finding pieces of wisdom when you least expect it. :)

Keep praying for my dad! For God to continue softening his heart both physically and spiritually and for my dad to be free of any fears and anxiety from this experience.