Things I'm loving right now. . .

1) Steve Green's Hide 'em In Your Heart Songs CD---we bought this CD for Luke and Charlie a couple of weeks ago and love it!! Every song is a Bible verse and there's often a quick explanation for the verses. Luke is singing the songs at home--meaning he's learning scripture! There's one song "Children Obey Your Parents." Well several times at home already, I've asked Luke to do such and such, and his comment is, "Okay, I will obey you like it says in that song!" Super!

2) Chick-Fil-A's new Peppermint milkshake---100% perfection! Peppermint and chocolate=pure happiness!!
3) Praying the Scriptures for Your Children---I also bought this book recently and think it's wonderful. The thing I want most for our boys is for the Lord to capture their hearts and for them to grow up having a relationship with Him. This book is helpful in gathering Scriptures that pertain to certain subjects we often pray about---health, safety, relationships, salvation, etc.

4) Southwestern Chili---I get so excited for cold weather for many reasons, but this chili is one of them. Here's the recipe. . .

1 lb. ground meat

2 cans corn

2 cans kidney beans (1 light, 1 dark)

1 can rotel

1 can stewed tomatoes

1 pack taco seasoning

1/2 pack ranch dressing seasoning

Brown the meat. Pour into slow-cooker. Pour rest of the ingredients on top. Stir and cook!! Can be made and cooked overnight. I usually start it in the morning and cook for 8 hours! Best with jalapenos on top and scooped with Fritos Scoops!

and finally. . .

5) The show 24! It's baaack!! Well almost. For those of you who are also addicted, there's a 2 hour premiere on Fox, this Sunday night! The official season kicks off in January. CANNOT wait!

long run thoughts

Several of you have been asking how my half-marathon training is going. After my 8.1 mile run yesterday, I can say it's great. Last week though, after running just 7 miles, I thought I was going to die! It's funny/annoying to me how I'm never sure how I will feel after a run. Some days are great, some are tough. Here's a brief glimpse into my run yesterday. . .

Yesterday was beautiful---it was crisp and cool, but sunny. I made sure to take some Emergen-C (that powder you put in water) to give me an energy boost. I also had a slice of raisin bread before running. Usually, I don't have breakfast beforehand because I worry about getting cramps, but I thought trying to tackle 8 miles on an empty stomach would be rough. I also had my iPod with me, which I've been using on longer runs. However, the running mix I created back when I started this goal ended at about 40 minutes. I was to be running for an hour and 20 minutes this time, so I found my Sing-Along songs playlist I created a long time ago. I'm running through some great songs when suddenly, Celine Dion's "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" comes on. Don't know if you know the song--but it starts out pretty slow. I almost skipped it, but something made me keep listening. Some of you know this about me---I used to love Celine Dion. In fact, I still think she's one of the greatest singers of all time! Back when she was in full force, right before Chad and I got married, my roomie, Erika, her boyfriend at the time and Chad and I went to her concert. It was AMAZING!!!! There are four responses I can picture you having now. It's either A) Oh, I love her too! B) Yep, she's great, but I'd never tell anyone I think so. C) Laughing out loud, because you think it's funny I'm admitting I love her or D) Ummm, I don't think we should be friends anymore. My sister would choose D, but she's related to me, so she still has to be my sister!

Anyway, Celine helped me power through for a little bit. Then I started thinking about our dear friends Lauren and Ben. They just finished the NYC maraton!! That's 26.2 miles!!! I was thinking about how Lauren was told to tape her name somewhere on her so as she was running the crowd would shout Go Lauren and cheer her on! So, as I was running, I wondered if I could do that in a half-marathon, because I was going to need it! In fact, during one of the toughest points of my run yesterday, I considered saying to people as they passed me going the opposite direction "Hey, I could use a little encouragement!" and "Could you give me a quick pep talk?" Yep, I put aside all of my pride during runs. Why not ask for help? I didn't yesterday, but that doesn't mean that I won't be begging for encouragement in the future! I only have 3 weeks left before this run and a couple of long runs still ahead.

All in all the running is going well. Chad and I are still rotating days for our runs. It has been LOTS easier to run at 6am now that it is daylight again. I'm hoping that can last a little longer as we approach race day. Also, as I mentioned in an earlier post, we are running as members of Team Sam Grant. Please keep little Sam (he's the 7 month old son of friends in our Sunday School class) in your prayers as he is enduring chemo to get rid of his eye cancer. He's a champ!

Luke votes 2008!

Chad and I chose NOT to mention either way who we voted for to Luke and Charlie (like Charlie would have a clue either way about what we have or haven't said). All Luke has heard us talk about were the LONG lines to early vote. He knows the names of both candidates and that's about it.

On election night, I decided to have Luke weigh in on our country's election . . .not sure where he gets his opinions, but it sure is cute! I tried SUPER hard to get this posted on election night, but had trouble with the size, etc. Thanks so much to my friend Chris Hill, who is a huge computer genius and took time to talk me through some steps to finally get this posted! Additionally, after you hear Luke weigh in, my sweet husband finally decided to blog again after months without doing so. It appears our national election moved him to speak too!

little trick or treaters

Our little Pumpkin and Bob the Builder were on hand for Halloween! So much thanks goes out to Jennifer (and Wilson and Hil) who let us borrow the overalls for the Bob outfit! I thought we were set to be a fireman, but Luke had other ideas!!

A pumpkin and Bob!