I know I'm about an hour and 34 minutes late for an actual New Years Eve post... I mean, the clocks already struck 12, its already 2013, and Mark and I just got home from spending the evening at my parents with  my family to ring in the New Year.

But before I write a New Year 2013 post and start making my resolutions and goals for this year I just want to premise it with this prayer. This worship song that we sang in church this past Sunday... I've sung it many times, it's not a new song. But as I sang it yesterday (or technically two yesterdays ago...) I felt moved to claim this as my prayer for this year. To lay this as my foundation for whatever hopes and dreams and goals I want to accomplish in 2013...

That no matter what takes place, I will bless HIS name.

Blessed Be Your Name

In the land that is plentiful

Where Your streams of abundance flow

Blessed be Your name

Blessed Be Your name

When I'm found in the desert place

Though I walk through the wilderness

Every blessing You pour out

I'll turn back to praise

When the darkness closes in, Lord

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your name

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be Your name

When the sun's shining down on me

When the world's 'all as it should be'

Blessed be Your name

On the road marked with suffering

Though there's pain in the offering

Every blessing You pour out

I'll turn back to praise

When the darkness closes in, Lord

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your name

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your name

Blessed be the name of the Lord

You give and take away

You give and take away

My heart will choose to say

Today we will take down all of our Christmas decorations... put away our first tree with the "Our First Christmas"and "New Home" ornaments, take down our outside lights, and pack up our first stockings and hand me down nativity sets. All of these things and more are reminders of our first Christmas together as a married couple. These are the days you hold dear to your heart and share with your kids in a decade or so... you know those stories your parents told you? Something that always starts like "When your dad and I were first married..." Or "The first Christmas breakfast your mom made me..." Have you heard those stories? Well I love the thought that we're living those moments that will become fun stories to tell our kids in the future.

They might go something like this...

"Your dad and I bought each other a puppy for our first Christmas." hopefully Piper will still be with us and we can point to her and rave about what a good dog she is but we'll probably tell them that "...she loved to pull off all the ornaments on our Christmas tree and chew on the fuzz of the tree skirt, but she was the hit of the party when we took her over to your grandparents houses." I'll probably laugh as I remember how rambunctious my parents and my sisters new dogs were when they were together but how sweet they were when they played with the new puppy... and how cute they were in the scarfs that Aunt Erin made for them!

 I might include.."it was hard for me at first when I thought about your aunts and uncles at home, with their matching Christmas PJ's, lining up in the hallway to go see their stockings and knowing I wasn't going to be a part of that any more... but your dad made it easier for me by being excited to wear the Christmas PJ's that I had gotten him to match mine." I'll tell them how traditions got started... "I was a little sad that I couldn't go with Grandma and Grandpa Kessler to the Christmas Eve service since Grandma and Grandpa Poindexter open up presents on Christmas Eve, but thats how we started the Christmas Eve brunch with the Kessler family! So I could still see my mom and dad on Christmas Eve." 




They might be bored and think to themselves that they've heard these same stories a thousand times but you can bet I'll be telling them with a smile and a warm fuzzy feeling in my heart because I couldn't have enjoyed my first Christmas with my husband any more than I did.

Maybe next year we'll have a two legged little one to ooh and ahh over instead of the cute little 4 legged creature in those pictures! Wouldn't that be fun???

I am so excited to introduce you to the first addition to the Poindexter family!

Our Christmas puppy,

 little miss.... Piper!

Per usual I had the afternoon off today, but Erin and I decided to get some last minute Christmas projects done instead of doing our normal "Well Balanced Wednesdays"... We probably won't get a chance to resume those until after the New Year.

On my Christmas list today? Wrap the presents. Choice of wrapping paper? Brown Kraft paper. Bought for $1 at the Dollar Store... Holla! (Holla??? I don't know where that came from...)

Anyhow.... I'm in love with wrapping presents with brown paper. Its affordable. It can be used for any occasion with the right ribbon added. And it is really just so beautiful in that simple, old fashion kind of beautiful. 

All it takes is adding a small embellishment and it is good to go! I did see some adorable add ons on pinterest including doilies, embossing, adding ornaments etc. but that defeated my cost efficient plan for this Christmas, so I just used ribbon. Maybe next Christmas I can spruce them up a little bit more. 

Mark and I didn't get each other much in the way of presents that can be wrapped, instead we decided to go in together to buy each other our puppy! 

Most of the ones pictured above are for other family members that we'll pack up and take to the different houses on Christmas day... but I am happy to have them here and wrapped for now because they are keeping our tree company until Christmas. :)

Had a very productive Well-balanced Wednesday today!

I ran 3 miles in under 26 minutes! Averaging 8'45" a mile - woop woop! Now that my marathon is over I'm loving these short runs.

Afterwards I headed over to Erin's where we did a 20 minute legs workout (yay me, doubling up on my physical activity today!) We did our bible study and then started a Christmas craft that I'm really excited about!


Our bible study today was on Rahab. What a powerful message she gives. Growing up I always knew her as the prostitute that hid the Isrealite spies at Jericho (not that I knew what a prostitute was growing up) and because of her good deed she saved herself and her family. But theres so much more to her and her story. I delved more into her life a few years ago when I read a book by Francine Rivers (see below) but as always, I gained new insight re-reading the scriptures involving Rahab's life this past week. Really, Rahab is trophy of grace that wasn't yet in the fold of Isreal, but she heard about the God of Isreal and all of the great things He had been doing and chose to believe. She had never seen or heard of the gods of her pagan culture doing anything, but she also had no knowledge of the Law like the Isrealites had for the One true God. But because she believed in God, before really "meeting" Him, she already cast her lot with His people. She discovered that just like He had protected Isreal, He would protect her as well. An interesting thought that this study pointed out, was how she responded to the spies initially. If you can just imagine these two spies sent to scope out the land, finding themselves in a home of a Harlot... a profession they clearly understood was wrong. Can you picture how nervous they might be? In a strange land, enemies surrounding, wondering if they could indeed conquer this walled city, and getting lodging from a woman whose morals are questionable... But she is so confident that the Lord has already given Jericho into their hands and has no hesitation in telling this to them. The spies then go back and tell Joshua. Think of the impact Rahab's faith had on these men and then on their leader! God used her faith to encourage Isreal to attack the city. The faith of a prostitute. God can always use our faith in someone else's life when we trust Him. Rahab also acted on her faith and when the spies told her to put the scarlet cord in the window in order to be saved, she did so immediately. As soon as they left. I think about all of the times I've been told to do something and how often I've waited until the last possible second to complete the task. What would have happened if Rahab had waited? Would she have gotten that scarlet cord out in time? She wasn't willing to take that chance and because she obeyed immediately she was saved and she also saved her family. She was eventually adopted into God's people where she "lived in the midst" and tradition holds that the man she married, Salmon, was actually one of the 2 spies who lodged with her. Salmon was a prince of the house of Judah, so not only did Rahab become a part of God's people but the pagan harlot married into one of the most prominent families in Isreal. ON TOP OF THAT, she is mentioned in Hebrews 11, the faith "hall of fame". AND ON TOP OF THAT, she is ancestor to Jesus Christ. One of Christ's great great great great (you get the picture) grandmothers was a prostitute. The way God takes a persons past, when that individual is open to receiving His grace, and uses it in amazing ways for His glory is, well not surprising, but definitely inspiring and humbling.

This is the book by Francine Rivers that I mentioned. It is part of her lineage of grace series that tells the story of the 5 women mentioned in Jesus lineage. It is fictional but based on history and truths from the bible. I'd highly recommend reading all of the books in this series. 

26.2

My Marathon Journey

Two days ago I accomplished something that I would've called you crazy for even suggesting 5 years ago. I finished a full blown 26.2 mile marathon. 

This whole process started in college in 2009 when I was surrounded by insanely fit people who loved to run. I had always loved and played sports, especially soccer which required large amounts of running, but I had never really run just to run. My mom was runner though, in fact she ran a marathon in 1998. She had always inspired me and deep down inside I had always wanted to run a marathon - I just didn't think I would ever actually do it. That is until that one day in class when someone told me they were signing up for the Rock n Roll half marathon that summer. Suddenly it hit me that I was actually capable of running one if I really tried... so I did. I finished my first momentous race, 13.1 miles, in September of 2009. That race ignited a fire in me, a love not only for running but for the excitement of race day and the thrill of accomplishment. Still, I was pretty sure running a full marathon was a long way off, if I ever did one. Since then I've finished 4 half marathons and several small races, which compared to many runners is not that significant, but to me it felt pretty good. I was beginning to feel like a pretty accomplished runner, until my best friend Robyn began dreaming about doing a full marathon. Before I knew it Robyn, another friend and mentor Sydney, and myself were signed up for the OBX Marathon on Veterans Day weekend.

This past summer I spent many early mornings with Robyn and Sydney training for this race. We spent hours out on the streets and trails before and after the sun came up running (and sometimes walking) our little hearts out in preparation for our big day. As we spent the night before our race with family and friends (Robyn's parents, the Websters, graciously offered us their beach house which happened to be right along the race course and made us a delicious pasta dinner the night before!) laying out our clothes and making our playlists, I could barely contain my excitement. I had no idea how the next day would unfold, it was almost as if I had never run a race before.

As we stood in the starting coral the next morning I realized that this was a much smaller race than I expected in terms of how many people were running it and I began to worry that I would be coming in dead last. We patiently listened to the National Anthem and then before we knew it we were off. The first 6 miles flew by. Even though I was running a slow pace I'd never felt 6 miles go by as fast as those ones did. Maybe it was the fun of it all. People were cheering from in front of their homes and the other race participants were very friendly and encouraging. Robyn and I sang out loud to our ipods and probably entertained quite a few people that first leg of the race. We easily made it to mile 7 where her parents house was. Mark and her parents were outside waiting for us, they took pictures as we ran past and handed us our water bottles for the rest of the race. 

Shortly after we followed the course into the woods and it wasn't until after the race that we realized just how hard that portion ended up being. The course took us up and down several little hills and through winding paths of dirt, mulch and sand. This was a surprise to us because we had been told the course was mostly flat. By the time we made it back out on the street we had reached the half way point. 13.1 miles. We were still feeling pretty good, and didn't realize the beating that our bodies had just taken in those woods. Mark and the Websters were there to cheer us on again as we passed the half way point. The course then took us out on the main road where Sydney's family, my family and more friends were lined up to cheer us on. I felt so blessed to have so many people supporting us in our journey.

At mile 18 Robyn and I decided to walk. Many people around us had begun to fall into their walk/run strategies, just trying to conquer this race in chunks. We did the same until mile 19 when we decided to just walk for a whole mile until we got to mile 20 and then see how we felt. As we approached the 20 mile marker my family was there again cheering us on. As I saw my mom up ahead and then looked down at my watch I started to tear up have a mini melt down. My mom had finished her marathon in under 5 hours and she had always challenged me to do the same. As I got closer to her I knew that dream wasn't going to become a reality. It had already been  over 4 hours and I still had 6 more miles to go. (Which meant at least another hour.) I was feeling exhausted and overwhelmed by the emotions of it all. My mom hugged me close (in all my sweat and smelliness) and assured me that this process was about finishing, not about time. And that I just needed to focus on finishing strong

 

I pulled myself together and continued on, slightly embarrassed that I had fallen apart so easily in front of so many people, and walked with Robyn until mile 21. Robyn told me at that point that she was going to have to finish the race walking and she urged me go on. I struggled with leaving her. I had always imagined us crossing the finish line together and I had assured her I wouldn't leave her if she needed to walk, but she selflessly encouraged me to finish out the race with whatever energy I had left. 

So I did. I ran the last 5 miles. I ran my heart out. I even ran up the monstrous bridge that I thought would be the death of me. After I passed mile 25 I could feel my lungs starting to burn, I felt like I was gasping for air. My feet felt raw in my shoes and they screamed at me with every step. As fast so those first 6 miles went by, I couldn't believe how long this last mile seemed to be taking. As I rounded the corner towards the home stretch, my mom was there once again. My ever present cheerleader. She jumped onto the course with me when she saw me running (last time she saw me I had been walking) and ran along side me. I told her I couldn't breathe and she told me I was almost there. 

She ran with me until we got to the 26 mile marker, as we turned another corner I could see the finish line - friends, family and my husband lining the way. My mom stepped off of the course and told me it was all mine. She told me to own those last .2 miles and so I did. I felt energized as the announcer called my name and waved and smiled as I crossed the finish line. Instantly - despite the grueling 5 hours and 53 minutes that I had spent on the course - I knew I wanted to do another one. The thrill of accomplishment and pushing my body to do what feels impossible is like a drug to me. I love the feeling. 

I was able to see Robyn cross the finish line shortly after. And about 55 minutes later went back to run the last half mile with Sydney to get her to the finish line. Bowing out of course at the last .2 miles to let her own her finish line like my mom did for me. 

We celebrated together after the finish. Reveling in our achievement and thanking those around us for their love and encouragement along the way. It is impossible to describe how perfect it was to have those we loved there to cheer us on and support us in our crazy venture. 

Words can't describe how perfect it was that my mom was there for me for my first full marathon. She was there in all of the perfect places, when I needed her the most, to push me forward. I will never forget her presence, her words to me on this day, and this whole experience as long as I live. 

I am now in post marathon recovery mode. Bandaids cover my blistered feet, I have a toe nail or 2 that are hanging on by a thread, my muscles are sore to the touch and I'm walking with a slight waddle...

...but I'm already planning my next race. I'm thinking a triathlon maybe??? : )