My week

My mother had another car accident. That’s two in one month.

My 5-year old had six fillings.

My baby was diagnosed with leg length discrepancy.

My father-in-law is admitted to the hospital.

My job laid off roughly 10% of staff.

I struggle with sickness and fatigue.

$1700 out of pocket.

I’m drained.

My wallet is drained.

Isaiah 41:10 says “I will strengthen you and help you…”, well, it is that strength I will need and the generosity of people to meet my goal for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and to get me through this time.

It’s been a long while

I shouldna left you

Without a dope blog

To step to, to step to

Okay so it doesn’t quite sound the same as the original but the point is still the same. I have been so busy but now have a brief moment to breath. In…out…

Breathing over, time to work on the fundraiser. I will be hosting PJ’s Polar Express Party to raise funds for LLS.

I’m in a tense moment because it looks like they will be scheduling my mother’s surgery close to if not during the marathon week.

Barack Obama – please do something about the uninsured and about health care!!! Fix it please.

Love and peace from a woman who is not city slick nor country greasy,

MVP

Behind

I am now officially behind in my training. Everytime I saw my coach, she said I was to do eight miles. I’ve been doing eight miles for a month now. I thought it was some new technique. It turns out, we should have built up to twelve miles at this point. I’m scared and I don’t know what to do. And I’m behind on my fundraising.

All I can do is keep moving forward. The mission is so important. I don’t have time to be discouraged.

Tired celebrity

I’m jealous that Sandy’s team trains together for cross-training. We have to do our assigned cross-training on our own. We’re up to ten miles this week and for the first time, I’m scared. Seven miles and eight miles were difficult. I missed nine miles because of the fundraiser. Can I jump from 8 to 10? I guess I’ll just have to. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me – that is what I will be telling myself every step of the way. To add to that, everyone is recognizing me from the newspaper article and I have to tell my story and do speaking engagements but so far, it hasn’t resulted in more donations. I need to meet my fundraising goal. Oh, and I’m also jealous of Sandy’s super great pictures which were probably taken with her super expensive fancy camera. Even if it was taken with a cheap point and shoot, all her pics are golden to me.

So true

Thought for the day courtesy of Dr. Hamilton, who I saw at the gym this morning, “YOU’VE GOT TO SWEAT LIKE A PIG TO LOOK LIKE A FOX!”

Budding Picasos and Monets?

I have the following quote as the close to all of my emails “Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it. Autograph your work with excellence.” It’s a nice phrase, but do we really? And if we do, does it apply only to our “day job” or does it extend to our homes? Our churches? Our parenting? Does it sometimes seem like we give our all to our employers and then settle for second best in our lives? We go to work sick but stay home from church if we are sick. We’ll let the house stay in disarray but make sure our office is clean. As we fulfill our purpose and see each person, each entry in our schedule as a divine opportunity to minister, we need to consider the portrait we are painting.

Turned

Like a vampire, my oldest son PJ has turned…expensive. When I asked what he wanted for his fifth birthday, he said a speed racer car. OK, not so bad. What about his party though? He chose a place that I will rename the Leapin Primate to avoid liability. It is a place that has a bunch of various inflatables, costumes, etc. and very expensive. Gone are the days of having cake at home. At least he is not too selfish…he’s been telling everyone he knows about his involvement with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. He also has been using his Sunday school lessons to encourage anyone who has a problem to pray. But Leapin Primates in this economic environment? We’ll see if I can make it work.

Post-Birthday

Sandy just sent me pics from my birthday. It made me sort of sad because I miss her and Vaughn so much. She should leave NY and I should leave NC and we should live halfway – DC. Unfortunately neither my husband nor her boyfriend are having it. http://sandyjenetephotography.blogspot.com/ Anyway the pics are great.

I did a presentation this week about potty mouths and communication. The same person who is saying poopy head as a child becomes a grown man saying the word shirt without the r in it. The s word in my family is shut up or stupid. The f word is fat. I thought about all these words that we don’t want a child to repeat and yet you hear them all over the tv and in life. We need to be cautious in our communications because you can’t really take words back.

Anyway, the so-called hurricane didn’t do too much down here except derail my training schedule. I still haven’t gotten my 5miler in. I did do 3.25 this morning on the treadmill which is very different from running in the community.  I may do more after work. Fundraising is tough and is going more slowly than I would like. The fundraising is actually scarier than the thought of 26.2 miles.

WADE IN THE WATER

So Hurricane Hannah is hitting the east coast and I have to leave in rain and high winds. Hurricanes make me nervous since I was locked in place by flooding during Hurricane Floyd. Oh well, time to wade in the water. My run tomorrow has been cancelled, which is a bummer. PJ is unlikely to sleep on his own since storms scare him. Worse yet, my husband is working night shift so I’ll have to be brave all by myself. Anyway, the adventure begins…

What would you do for Diddy?

I have been watching the tv show “I Want to Work for Diddy.” The show is similar to “The Apprentice” with more of a vibe where James Bond meets hip-hop. On a recent episode, contestants were challenged to create a viral video with the theme “What would you do for Diddy?” Men got waxed, women plucked out their eyelashes and snorted Vodka up their noses. People on the street danced and allowed themselves to be written on.

It made me think of how we complain about what we do for God and place limitations on our involvement. If were asked to do any of those things in the name of Jesus, we would find it demeaning, beneath us somehow. Isaiah 58:10 says “If you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like noonday.” While we all have to rest and recharge, it is clear that our greatest investment is in each other.

Spend freely

        Spend generously

                Spend often

               

Spend yourself as if you were making the “What Would You Do For God?” viral video.

Equipped and ready to go

Yesterday I went shoe shopping for myself and Mom. We ended up with great pairs of Brooks, which made all the difference in the world. Mom is a sort of Martha Stewart perfectionist and gave the sales clerk a hard time that the shoes were men’s shoes because they didn’t have her size in women’s. These shoes were so comfortable and I actually ran faster this morning, which was great. I also bought both of my sons a couple of pair of shoes but not for running, just for back to school and church.

Speaking of church, PJ attends a Christian pre-school. At this school, they do church on Wednesdays and the kids run the aspects of the service except the sermon, which is done by the youth pastor. Today, PJ’s the pseudo chaplain – he gets to lead the prayer and is very excited about it. Last night, when I was talking about a situation, he told me to pray about it and that God would help me. Wisdom from the mouths of babes.

Isaiah 49:16 says “I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.” My mental image of this is tattoos. We are permanently inked on God’s hands and He doesn’t erase us or get it lasered off when we make mistakes. What are we that He is so mindful of us? Thank God that for His love, grace, and mercy.

Peace be multiplied,

Mary - NC

What to do when Mars attacks

Have you ever seen the movie “Mars Attacks?” Those cute little clever aliens were vicious. I thinks Mars attacks all of us. My acronym for Mars is:

MALEVOLENT

ANNOYING

RACOUS

SITUATIONS

When the Martians attack, they tell you, “I come in peace,” but then they shoot you. The Martians maybe cute but they are liars. What situations in your life seem to be the answer but rob you of your peace? The people in Mars Attacks welcomed the Martians the same way we invite things into our lives that aren’t good for us. The Martians in the movie loved to party and the only way to kill them was to play the time of music that made their heads throb and got all in their head. Likewise, you should respond by filling your mind and your atmosphere with words and rhythms that inspire you. Those lying Martians can’t stand it. Tom Jones emerges as a Christ-like character in the end. But you don’t need a Christ-like character when you have the real thing, a Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). So when Mars attacks, don’t let them rob you of your peace, rock their world.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

Another busy Sunday

So it is another busy Sunday but I decided to take a moment out to write. In the words of the old Negro Spiritual "It's another day's journey and I'm glad." PJ (the four year old) is beside me distracting me so if you suddenly see gibberish on the screen, chalk it up to a preschooler. I try to read my fellow life purpose coach blogs and websites fairly regularly and I am so proud of the work these ladies are doing, particularly my instructor, Kelly Thorne www.ibloom.us and also a wonderful Canadian, Rosalie Garde. http://ministrytowomenlpc.blogspot.com.

My son keeps doing things that he is not supposed to do and when asked why, invariably answers, "I don't know." And we do the same things whether it is about our wellness, habits, or other areas of our lives. Like little PJ, our answers may range from pleading ignorance or go from the ridiculous to the sublime. I always tell PJ that "I don't know is not an acceptable answer for our own personal behavior." What if we held ourselves to that same standard?

The boys

Here are the boys that keep things going. These pictures are over 8 months old now so you’ll have to view my cousin’s blog to see the most recent pics that she took while she was in NC. One picture was taken with my mother spoiling them. The second picture was on Christmas day. These boys make me laugh, cry, run, jump.

<<Nana's boys.jpg>> <<christmas.jpg>>

That time of the month

Well, it’s that time of the month. Not for PMS or anything hormonal. The close of the month is invariably hectic for me on my job and it seems like my personal life follows suit, too. For my friends that don’t work, they just don’t get it. They call me at work like I have time to talk. They call me at home and my children are swinging from chandeliers (not really, I don’t have any chandeliers but you get the picture). Why aren’t they working? No they aren’t injured and they aren’t on maternity leave. They don’t have children and are not stay-at-home Moms. I actually don’t understand the rationale, but there are actually people who lay out while they pursue their dream and they hustle and nickel and dime but yet they are in their forties and no closer to their dream. We all have dreams. Most of us work the proverbial day job until the dream becomes a reality.

But I digress. I am supposed to be living life on purpose but lately I have let the activities of life drive me to distraction. I have surrendered to the madness of this flurry of activity instead of submitting my schedule to God. I am mindful of Psalm 32: 8 “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.” If I follow Jesus’ model, he made time to rest, time to fellowship, and time to minister. Side journeys did not throw him off course. He lived his life on purpose.

That time of the month is not an excuse.

Life…on purpose.

Dare I?

Will you?

Rush

Rush, rush, hurry, hurry might be the lyrics to a Paula Abdul song but today it must be my life’s anthem. Today, I missed my workout because I had to take my one year son to the doctor post-haste to make sure he was current on his immunizations so he could get into a toddler school program. Then, I rushed to work. My co-worker, who in addition to her Fleet Management duties was an aerobic instructor died of a massive heart attack and her funeral is today. But, of course her funeral is the same time as my older son’s pre-school orientation. Then, this also conflicts with the wellness class I teach Thursday nights at church, so I had to cancel it. Everything is such a rush for me.

Labor Day is approaching and I’m glad for a day from work…or should I say, my day job. Because I plan to use that day to catch up on my fundraising for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s team-in-training (I’m training for the Walt Disney World marathon) and for everything else I am so behind on. I’ve always heard the expression “no rest for the weary.” I’m beginning to wonder if the expression is really as my co-worker states “No rest for the wicked!” Have I done something to deserve this?

Here I am with my honored teammate, Harry Rogers. My whole family has gotten into this. My 62 year old mother is running. My cousin Sandy, the world’s greatest photographer http://www.sandyjenetephotography.blogspot.com/ is running with her mother and her son, who will be a junior this year. My sons will be doing the diaper dash and toddler trot. We have started a blog about the three generations of us running. http://3generationsrunning.blogspot.com/ . If you want to give, my Team in Training website is http://pages.teamintraining.org/nce/wdw09/mpattermy6

<<000_1990.jpg>>

Oh well, I know everyone, especially the parents of tots are equally stretched out, so in the words of my pastor, “Stop Complaining!” (www.cmbchurch.com) In two years time, I’ve watched three seemingly healthy and young co-workers die suddenly, unexpectedly, with no previous illness. You just can’t take anything, anyone, any day for granted. I just need to keep in mind Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, …plans to give you hope and a future…” Vs. 13 says You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” It seems that you have to make time to do the seeking. There is purpose behind everything going on. But you can’t see your purpose if you get so caught up in the busyness of life.