You pay for the music, but you do get to dance

I am often surprised at what inspires me.  Today, it was Phil Vasser.  I was listening to my iPod while cleaning out my car.  The way he sees life, nobody is happy with the way things are.  The trouble with the world these days is it's getting way too easy to drive away.  As hard as it gets, some things are worth sticking with...pay for the music.  

It has been a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas.  The girls have been in and out of the house, with friends.  There was much noise and chaos; A little too much Mario Brothers; laughter and fellowship.  We have been dancing with joy.  

I think it will be like that when we get to heaven.  Jesus paid for the music of salvation with His life.  But one day we will dance together with the family of God for eternity.

The Day I Met the Mountain

     Five years ago at the beginning of my running adventure, I ran the Deep Hollow trail half marathon.  I only had three races under my belt, only one a half marathon.  I was going to homecoming at my alma mater and thought "how hard can it be?".  Well....5 years ago, I vowed never to run it again.

     Earlier this year, daughter number 2 (Andrea) was bitten by th running bug.  She ran the gate with me.  Number three (Joanna)  went to boot camp and was forced to take up running.  Number four (Krista) increased her running to improve her tennis game.  We (all five girls) were going to be together in Lynchburg, home of the dreaded deep hollow.  Andrea wanted to run the half, so we thought it would be an adventure to run together.  The little girls and Andrea's roommate signed up for the 5K. Andrea, Christie and I took the HM challenge.

      The weather was perfect. At the beginning of the race, Andrea introduced me as her mom.  The young girl beside me said "you are beast".  I guess if I had looked around I would have realized then, I was the oldest female.  There weren't even many males older than me.  I might have realized that this was a race for the young not the young at heart.  But I have always been the stubborn type.

     The beginning of the race was straight up, single file, I was about five up from the back.  The trail (term used very loosely) was marked by orange ribbons and arrows.  There were two small stretches of open gravel road where I ran and passed several people, but that was the only running I did.  When you could actually see the path, it was about wide enough for a bike.  It was mostly covered by leaves.  Some of these narrow paths were ledges.  Small narrow bridges were crudely built over the smaller streams.  Smaller trees were cut from the path leaving stumps about 1.5 inches tall. They were the same color as the trail so not easily seen.  Roots and rocks also littered the trail.  80% (maybe an exaggeration, maybe reality, not sure) was straight up.  It got to a point when I would look up at the next incline and just say "really".  It was like childbirth when the contractions are really difficult and the rest between them isn't nearly enough. The big green monster is nothing compared to the Mountain.  Running up this mountain was not like the bridges because you couldn't count on down hill.  Down hill wasn't very long and it was just as difficult navigating.  You couldn't run for fear of tripping or sliding down. 

     I lost the crowd I was running with at about mile 7, so this part of the race I ran alone.  It was disorienting to be deep in the woods all alone.  It was very quiet.  The canopy prevented sight of the sun.  This was strange, as I always battle the sun running in Florida.  About mile 10 I caught up with the girl I had been running with earlier. We ran without event until the final aid station, just past mile 12. That was about 11:20, 3 hours 15 minutes after the start.  Not bad for an old lady.  She ran these trails often, so I was following her in.  We were moving right along, following the arrows, when she turned around and said I think we went the wrong way.  We back tracked to where the last ribbons were, still confused, and decided to go the other path.  We ran for a little while, commenting that this was a long mile, when we ran into two girls who had just passed the last aid station.  We had just run our first circle.  We ran around again, still not sure where we were, when we saw some big green arrows that we had passed two times before.  There was a huge incline that I didn't want to climb again.  One girl went that way.  The rest of us got on our cell phones and called friends and family at the finish line.  We found benches (which meant we were close to camp) and sat and waited for rescue.  He showed us a short cut and we saw the lake and the finish line.  I had decided that this would be the first finish line I would walk across.  As I neared the finish line, Baby Krista came running to meet me.  She said "Mom, you can't walk across the finish line". So I ran and I wasn't the last one in.  My friends and family were there cheering me.  I was reminded of how blessed I am.  I thought of Jason Crabb's song, "Life is Tough, but Love is Stronger". Not just the love of friends and family, but the Love of our Lord and Savior.  His love was stronger than the sin he bore on the cross.  He paid the debt of salvation that changed our lives, changed our families and changed our friendships.

Seems like there is always someone missing

I am not sure I ever spent a lot of time wondering what empty nest would feel like.  I guess I was just too busy with the kids.  Well now I have time, not only to think about it, I can experience it.  I am not sure I like it very much.  There are many days I wish for a do over.  Not because it was so horrible and I want to do it again better.  I wasn't perfect, but I enjoyed those days.  They were difficult sometimes, but our house was full, noisy and very chaotic.  Three of the girls are out changing the world in their own way.  They are enjoying their new adventure.  The three of us left at home are feeling the empty space left by the ones that are soaring.  It will soon be just two as the baby will fly away too.  That is how it is supposed to be.  I will make it through this transition, just as all my sisters before me.  I will be proud of my girls.  Most of all I will forever be thankful for the one who has chosen to stick with me on this journey.  I guess my nest won't be completely empty

Angel Armies and Prayer Warriors

Sending my daughter to San Antonio for Basic training all alone was so difficult.  Equally difficult is not being able to talk to her and help her through it.  It may appear that to some that she is all alone. It may even feel like that to her at times, but it is so not true.  As my youngest daughter so succinctly said "she has Jesus".  This Friend has an army of angels at His command to strengthen her when she is weak.  She has an army of prayer warriors lifting her name up in their talks with our Savior.  As I cry because I miss her so terribly, I know that God is in control and she is safer there than here because she has followed His plan and He has great things for her.

They ain't all bad

My life has been a whirlwind, sometimes I can't tell which way I should be going.  It seems I can't even go to Target without a melt down.  The word that describes my life right now is bittersweet.  I will start with the sweet.
 My girls are transitioning into wonderful godly women.  They are making great choices and I am very proud.  I just spent a week with a house of young people, friends of my daughters.  A more polite considerate group of kids you wouldn't meet.  They cooked, cleaned and fit comfortably in my home.  They are articulate and spiritually sound.  They have plans to carry the gospel all over the world.  I am blessed to have spent the week with these kids.
Briana will graduate with honors in May.  She is not sure what she will be doing after that.  Pray than she will find the job God has for her.  Andrea will finish next year.  Krista is finishing her junior tennis season and keeping us very busy in the process.
Joanna leaves next week for Basic Training.
Off they go and I look forward to seeing and hearing of all their accomplishments.

May your New Year be Filled with JOY

For nearly 20 years I have given out Christmas cards with our family's picture on it.  We usually take it at Thanksgiving.  Andrea had to work so she didn't come home for Thanksgiving.  I wasn't interested in giving out cards with one child missing.

I decided to do something different and send out Happy New Year Cards with a picture from Christmas when they were all home.

And home they were, our house was filled with lots and lots of noise and people.
This last year was a year of changes, but 2013 looks to be even more eventful.

Briana starts her last semester of college.  She will graduate from Liberty with a Business/Marketing degree.  Now comes the hard part, getting a real job.  She may finally move completely out, which will be a little strange.  Briana has always been very attached to home and family.  Pray for her as she seeks the Lord's will in the next stage of life.

Andrea is a Junior at Liberty.  She is studying Health Promotions/Nutrition.  She stays busy with school and working at J Crew.  She is our social child and brings many new people into our lives.  We visited her for her 21st birthday and met her friends at her birthday party.  She has certainly enriched her life with many great friends

Joanna graduated HS this year.  She also finished her AA at the community college.  She is joining the United States Air Force.  She swears in on Thursday.  She will be in a civil engineering unit.  It is what they call a Red Horse unit.  She will travel and build things.  That is a little simplistic.  She will be reserve and plans to attend Liberty when she is not deployed.  We are very excited for her.

Krista is a junior in HS.  She has worked hard at tennis this summer in hopes of moving to the next level.  This should be a great year for her as last year was not too bad.  There should be a trip to the state tournament in the very near future.

Not much has changed for Jimmy and I, except for the fact that we are getting (and feeling) much older.  Jimmy is still working and working and working for Sysco, we are grateful that he is healthy enough to work as hard as he does.  He is thankful for the ice pack, it seems he is icing different joints and muscles each week.  I am still running, Jan 1 completes my 5th year.  I have good days and bad days, but glad I can still hit the streets.

For those of you who have been friends forever, here are some pics of the extended family.  Mom (Esther) retired this year.  Dad (Jim) was supposed to but Winn Dixie or whatever it is called now had other plans and keep extending his time there.  Both are doing well.

Parents, sisters and husbands.  Margaret was not here this day

Most of the cousins...  All grown up

May Your New Year be Filled with Joy

From the Tyson Family