Favorite Things (Part 1)

"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things"

Here are a few of my favorite things from this year. I am listing them in no particular order:



Library- books, books, and more books. Shhhh. The quiet , the smell, the comfortable chairs, the kids section the books, books and more books..LOL. Yea, its weird and I know it, there is only one other person I know who likes books and libraries other than me (shout out to kish). I love to read , I mean I love the whole reading experience! Here are few pics of a couple of home libraries that I would love to have in my home.

Favorite Blog- The Pioneer Woman. Just take a look around this blog and you will soon see why i loove this blog. Netflix - ahhhh what a wonderful invention, I know this has been around for a long time but we have been overseas for a loooong time and didnt have access to this wonderful ammenity. PS3 finally has a purpose besides taking husband and sons hostage for hours at at time. Now I can watch old and new movies at the punch of a button. I have found my self vegged out on more than one occasion watching old 80s movies and hosting my own individual marathons with the names like , The Best of Molly Ringwald, Steel Magnolia Mondays..LOL...anyway , You get my drift...I heart Netflix!


Le Creuset Dutch Oven (Kiwi) - For as long as I have been able to cook, I have had a love affair with dishes. Pots, pans, plates, servers, you name it. I have sooo many dishes but next to my Pampered Chef Cookware this pot is on my "cant cook without" list. I have made wonderful soups, stews, neckbones, ox tails, LOL.. peas, beans, and even fried and smothered some chicken in it...oh..and I have even did a roast in it in the oven. This is such a versatile pot and I highly recommend you make this part of your kitchen collection.

Favorite Drama - For Colored Girls.I saw it twice and it was just as compelling. I didn’t know what to expect when going to see this movie, I had heard that it was a play but I had never read or saw anything about this until this movie came out. I loved it.

Favorite Comedy- Date Night...Hillarious!! This was sooooooo funny. I love both Steve Carell and Tina Fey. For all of us parents out there who look forward to date nights can certainly appreciate the spirit of this movie. The funny thing is , we went on a date night last week to Olive Garden and it was soooooo packed that we had to get a number and give the hostess our name so I said, "Tripplehorns" and she died laughing...LOL..so for the rest of the night we were known as the Tripplehorns.

What are a few of your favorite things????

5K

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race,
I have kept the faith
(2 Tim 4:7)

I have been training myself to run a 5k since March and the time has finally come. My husband ran with me at my pace so I am thankful to him for that...It was definitely an experience of a lifetime and I look forward to running another one soon. There is one coming up on Aug. 21 but I am not sure if I can handle this heat again. It was sooooo humid and sooooo hot, I got to the end and was throwing up...LOL, yes i got the full race experience...and I also ran a persoanl best time of : 30:33. I hope to next time to either match this time or beat it. Thanks to all the support from my family and friends that kept me motivated to run...

The Forcaster and Me before the run!

Me strectching out the muscles and the nerves!!!

I know my headphones are huge..LOL..but they keep me in a zone and I HATE earbuds, they dont stay in my ears, they are more of a distraction to me.

(IPod Music for 5k: Youthful Praise - Resting on His Promise Album)

At the starting line, giving the kids the thumbs up!! Mom and Dad

are ready to go

Thanks NCBC Fire Dept.

Contentment

11I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13I can do everything through him who gives me strength. (Phillipians 4: 11-13 NIV)

With the school year getting ready to start and parents hustling and bustling out to the nearest Wal-mart, Dollar Tree, or Office Depot, to get school supplies or to the local mall or a nearby outlet to get there kids all decked out for the "first day of school". I began to think on my own childhood and how when I was growing up, getting new supplies and clothes for school was a big deal. Most kids showed up to school with the lastest clothes, shoes, hairstyles, binders, pens, pencils etc. Kids stayed up putting their outfits together, laying them out on the bed and matching it with the latest shoes and acessories.

I wasnt as fortunate as many of the kids at my school, I grew up with three younger siblings and times were very hard for my family so new clothes was something we rarely got, and we only got the basic and i mean basic supplies for school meaning pencils and paper and maybe a folder. I think i may have had the same back pack all four years of highschool and No...it wasnt a JanSport like everyone elses. I soooo wanted the cool clothes, the Duck Head, Girbaud, Hilfiger, Polo, Guess, Nike, Cole Hann, and the list goes on and on but my wardrobe consisted of mostly of hand me downs and shoes from PayLess or WalMart that were noticebly knock off of the more popular versions...lol..I was mortified most of the time and was never satisfied with what I had. I knew my mom couldnt afford certain things, but it still didnt take away the taste of brand new and brand name things...

Somehow I think that , that discontent, carried over into adulthood and I found myself always wanting more, and then when God blessed me with more, I still wanted more. We got the degree, but now I need a better degree, then we got the promotion, but that still not enough...we just want more more more. Never Satisfied!! Then one day I realized that true contentment, cant come from man or material things it can only come from God. He is our father and everything we need can be found in HIM. We dont have to worry about the cares and burdens of this world we know that our God our Father, has our back. Just like he feeds the birds of the air and takes care of the lillies in the field, HE will take care of us.

Pressing Pays Off!!

I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:14 KJV)

In March of this year, I decided to take up running. I know thats not something people usually "take up" but because, I wanted to be healthy and active, I decided to go with running/walking, something that i can do that doesnt require a lot of equipment, and can be done anytime. I started using a website called Dailymile.com to log my miles and to get motivation from others. I also have it set to post my miles on my facebook page so all my friends and family can see it as well. It helps me stay accountable too. A few friends of mine have joined to and it has been fun to keep eachother motivated to keep moving.

Over these few months I have noticed how "pressing" pays off!! I went back and looked over my logs that I posted back in March until now and WOW , my times and my attitude have definetly changed. I started off, logging my runs and posting negative and whiney comments about how the run went. I complained about everything from the weather, to my legs hurting etc. My times were SLOW as well, I noticed that in the beginning it took me about 11-12 minutes to run a mile, whereas now I can run a mile in 9min 20 seconds on average. It may not look like much but it a HUGE improvement and it took about 5 months for me get here. I am now up too running about 10-15 miles per week and now have the confidence to run a 5k coming up in August!! Im so exicited.

While sitting back and reflecting on this journey 1 Corinthians 9 :24 comes to mind that says, " Dont you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win!" This verse and the scriptures that follow it talk about the attitude of an actual runner and the discipline it takes to train to be able to actually FINISH a race, but the example is given to help us as Christians better understand what it takes to Live for Christ so that we can Live Again. In my journey to be able to run a 5k race, it took discipline in a lot of areas. I had to push past pain and push past the thoughts of giving up, almost on a daily basis just to get to this point. I had to have the proper training gear ie shoes, watch, clothing etc. in order to be able to train properly. I even had to go online and do a little research on a few things to learn more about running and how to train and prevent injuries. I even asked friend who were runners questions too, to kind of get some first hand information. I realize that the same thing applies to my spiritual life. The same determination I had for running, can be applied to my walk with Chirst.

There are things that I must do build my spiritual endurance. Praying , studying , fellowshipping with the people of God, ministering, and evangelizing are "exercising or training" for the Christian. Yes there are days when I dont feel like reading or studying or even praying but I MUST!! If I dont , just like in running, then I wont be ready to run the race. I need to train properly for when the time comes for me to be able to pray or minister to others I will be Ready!!

I just want to encourage you all to continue to press, I know that at times it may get hard and may feel like you want to give up or its just too hard but DONT....I dare to you to keep PRESSING IN and to remember that WE run to get an ETERNAL PRIZE, So run with purpose in every step... God Bless...