Landing in London

Travel day one: complete. WHEW!

It's blog time!!!

Our departure from PDX was sad, but easy comparatively speaking. We flew in a little tiny prop plane which wasn't good. I tend to get motion sickness on little planes. I should have known to just take the Dramamine, but I thought it would be okay. It was fine, but I was left with a yucky feeling in my stomach and a wicked headache.

The Vancouver airport is really pretty! Very nicely laid out, very clean and lots of shops and restaraunts to explore. Our flight was delayed nearly 3 hours because of thunder storms in Asia, so instead of having a 2 hour layover it was almost 5 hours.

Eric waiting at YVR.

The flight from Vancouver to London was the longest flight of my life! I sat next to a very nice South African man who lives in southern England. He had some helpful tips on how to navigate the hugeness that is London.

After disembarking in London we waited for an hour in the customs line. We got our baggage and exchanged some currency. It took a while to figure out the Undergroud, but we did it and were on our way to our hotel.

I want you to keep in mind that I'm extremely tired, hungry and thirsty at this point. We've been eating nothing but airplane food and fast food so I'm not feeling very well either. We were standing on the underground chuckling at the "mind the gap" reminders when this little family gets on the train. Eric moved aside so the man could push the stroller into the car. After about one stop the man steps up and puts his face about 2 inches from Eric's and just stares at him. When Eric asked if he could help him and what he wanted, the mand didn't respond. He was just trying to intimidate him or something. It was way creepy and I was thankful that we only had a few more stops.

When we got off the train, I lost it. We found a sopt to stand where we could organize our stuff and I broke down in tears. I was shaking from the creepiness of the nasty dude. We discovered that you have to tap your Oyster card on your way out of the underground too. The guard chased us down and explained it to us. By the time we got out into the street I was a wreck. We stood on the curb while Eric tried to hail a cab and I just cried.

The cab driver was great. He said in his 10 years of driving cabs he'd never taken anyone out "so far" to their hotel. Whatever. It wasn't that far... at least I don't feel like it was. He was helpful in calming me down and reassuring that the creepy dude was a "whack job". I think I tipped him too much, but whatever.

Our ghetto "hotel" room.

Our "hotel" is very ghetto. It's more like a hostel than a hotel. It has a kitchen down the hall equipped with everything we'll need including a washer and dryer! The bathroom is also down the hall which is a complete bummer.

We walked to a grocery store for some basic food stuffs. I made a lame attempt at dinner by cooking some pasta and adding a prepackaged sauce. Thankfully I found peppermint tea, which should soothe my stomach.

We'll have to do quite a bit of walking tomorrow to get where we want to be, but I don't really care about that at this point. We're here and I'm looking forward to sleeping in a bed (regardless of how small and ghetto it is).





I'm sure this isn't a very well organized blog post and that my grammar isn't very good. For that, I appologize. Hopefully after a good night's sleep I'll be more cheerful and organized about writing. I'm going to take a shower and wash the stench of this day off me!

T-minus...

2 days, 15 hours and 42 minutes

That's how much time I have until our plane takes off for London.

Did you catch that?

LONDON! We're actually going to Europe!

Our long planned, long awaited trip is finally here! The guide books are read, dog-eared and reread. The tickets are purchased, the reservations made and the luggage is out, waiting to be packed. All I have to do is clean the house, do the laundry and pack.

This trip is a big deal. It's not just a big deal because it's our first trip overseas or because it's the longest vacation we've ever taken or even because we've never been away from our children this long. It's a big deal because we came from near financial ruin to being able to save enough money to go on an extended vacation like this.

It was a lot of work and through our consistency, determination and God's provision we have met our goal! That's an awesome feeling!

So do you want to know where we're going? (As if you don't already know!)

We will be spending 3 days in London.

Then we fly to Dublin and spend another 3 days there.

After that we rent a car and drive around the rest of Ireland for 11 more days.

Our last two nights in Ireland will be spent in a 14th century castle!! We figured we should end the trip with a bang.

I'll post as often as I can along the way. I'm really excited about the photo opportunities I'll have and can't wait to share what I shoot!

Race for the Roses

For the last 12 weeks I've been training for a half marathon. I did the Race for the Roses here in Portland last year, but I hurt so badly afterward that I decided if I trained a little better, maybe I wouldn't be in so much pain.

The training schedule was intense. (At least for me.) It started out at running 15 miles in a week and worked up to 29 miles in a week. Every Saturday was the "long" training run. It was anywhere from 6 miles to 12 miles.

While the training was challenging and I had my bad days, on the whole it was really good. I did a lot of the shorter runs on the treadmill so I didn't do too much damage to my body. All of the long Saturday runs were either on the track or on the street.

Two weeks ago I did the 12 mile run and it was fabulous! I didn't struggle with it at all, the weather was nice and I felt really good afterward. So I wasn't really that worried about the actual event. Let's face it, if you can run 12 miles, 13 isn't going to be a big deal right?

I learned the hard way that I was wrong.

Everything depends on how you're feeling that particular day and when I woke up Sunday morning, race day, I knew right away that it was going to be a hard run. I can't really explain it. My body just felt a little "off". I hadn't slept well the night before, my stomach was a little uneasy and I just felt exhausted.

I was determined to finish though.

I did struggle from mile one, but I had a few moments of easier running. My hubs and kiddos came down and stopped along the route to cheer for me and that meant the world! There was a time that I was ready to cry I was so frustrated and I looked up and there's all my guys cheering for me on the side of the road. That gave me the pick-me-up I needed!












My goal from the beginning was to beat my time from last year. That didn't happen, but I did finish strong. I'll go back next year and try to do it again.

My official time was 2:38:45 and really, that's not horrible. I ran my second half marathon and that's nothing to sniff at!

Me and my little dudes after the race.

"Remind Me Who I Am"

Today my day started out just like any other day. My alarm went off at 7:15, I woke the kids, fed them, packed their lunches and got them off to school. Then I got some breakfast for myself and sat in my office to browse Facebook while I ate. (Because you know, life's too short not to multitask.) That's when my day changed.

A friend posted a music video. In itself, not unusual. I wouldn't say I know this friend particularly well, but I enjoy her posts just the same. It was a song called "Remind Me Who I am" by Jason Gray.

Mr. Gray sings about needing to be reminded who he is from time to time because of regret, loneliness and other such things. He sings about needing to be reminded that he belongs to God and that he's a beloved child of God.

"When my heart is like a stone
and I'm runnin' far from home
remind me who I am.
When I can't recieve Your love
afraid I'll never be enough
remind me who I am.
If I'm Your beloved
can You help me believe it?
Tell me once again who I am to You
who I am to You.
Tell me lest I forget who I am to You
That I belong to You."

I clicked on the video and every lyric I listened to got to me. (Especially the above second verse.)Music generally speaks to me louder than anything simply because it's a language I understand well. You name a situation, and I can probably come up with a song that fits it. Well, this time the song fit me perfectly.

God's timing is always perfect. He knows more about me than even my husband. He knows my hopes and dreams, my insecurities and failures, my thoughts, intentions and even the deepest desires of my heart. He can count the hairs on my head and the freckles on my nose.

This song was a good way of telling me that God is the perfect person to remind me of who He knows I am. And that I NEED to be reminded of that.

I've been mad at God for quite some time now. I've got several reasons, none of them good. Because of that fact my spiritual life sucks. I'm not saying that because of this song, that's all going to change. It's just not that simple, but this song has given me a new place to start praying. Obviously I've lost my way somehow and need to be guided back to the designated path.

I'm not writing this because I want you to feel sorry for me, or to get attention. I'm just sharing my thoughts in the hopes that maybe it speaks to someone else who needs what I need...

To be reminded who we are in Christ.

Here's the link to the video if you'd like to give it a listen. ; )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKyY8zfjBMQ&ob=av2e

What do I want to be when I grow up?

A couple months ago I took a personality test that gave me a lot of insight into why I function the way I do. For instance:

-I learn best in a group setting where there are ideas bounced around and discussion to better understand a subject. Which explains why I was always such a horrible student! Reading facts out of books and taking tests isn't the best way I learn.

-I am a "relational" person. These people need to be part of friendships and small groups that are growing in depth and vulnerability. Which explains why it's so important to me that I lead a transparent life and don't like being lied to or superficial relationships.

-"You have a tendency to have an insaciable appetite for more. It seems impossible, at times, to feel content and greatful with what you currently have or possess." Yep, that's hitting the nail on the head!

-"Sometimes you find yourself being involved in so many interesting things that you have not mastered any of them. You may find that you can't seem to land on what you were made to do because you seem so well suited for lots of things."

That point is where I had my "ah, ha" moment. I have lots of hobbies. I love the outdoors: hiking, biking, rafting, camping you name it I'm up for it. I am fairly well read and can hold a decent conversation about books. I can sew, knit, crochet, do crafts of all sorts and do finer needlework. I love physical activity: running, swimming, zumba ect. I love, love, love music. Listening, learning, practicing and performing it. I also have a fairly decent photographer's eye.

I became frustrated with myself after I wrote our Christmas letter this week. I wrote about all the things I've done over the past year. I became frustrated when I asked myself how well do I do any of those things.

There are a couple that I've been doing most of my life. I've enjoyed working with yarn since I was a child, so naturally I'm a very good knitter. As long as I can remember I've loved music. I have invested countless dollars and hours into music. This is what I think I'm the best at. I have a well trained ear and can play my instrument with ease.

This brings me to the big question. What is my calling? Besides being a good mother, I don't know. Because let's face it, after the kids leave I'll have to find something to do. I don't have a college degree and I don't plan to ever go back to school. In today's job market, that's a bad thing.

I don't want to be a professional musician because I don't like competition. (People pleaser)And I'm definately not a good private teacher. I'm pretty sure I'd be miserable if I was made to knit all day so that I could earn a living. And I've yet to learn of a company that would pay me to sit and read books all day.

It's a frustrating place to be and I'm not sure I'll ever have the answer I'm looking for. I'm also not really willing to give up any of my hobbies. That tells me that I just have to manage my time better. There just aren't enough hours in the day to do all the things I want to do. I should probably be a little more greatful to God for all the seeming "talents" he's given me. Even though it's confusing sometimes.

Apprehensive Excitement

For three years my husband and I have been trying to plan an Irish Getaway. We've postponed this trip twice. Always for financial reasons.

The first year, Eric felt it was irresponsible to go on such an expensive vacation when we had a significant amount of credit card debt. He was right. So we postponed our trip one year and used the money to pay off our credit card.

Last year we had planned and saved. We were SO excited! Then we were hit with a huge financial brick. We had to use everything we'd saved plus a generous loan from a family member to dig ourselves out of financial ruin. Once again, Ireland got postponed.

Which brings you up to date.

Our debt will be paid off this month *insert angels singing here* and we can start planning again. We've covered our financial bases well this time. (At least for the foreseeable future.) We're starting to plan for our trip... again.

I have to admit that I'm quite apprehensive this time. I've been disappointed twice before and I'm a little bit afraid to let myself get so excited only to be let down again.

Then I look up at my office windowsill and see our "Ireland or Bust" jar. We've been diligently putting our change and spare dollars in there. It's quite heavy now! That makes me excited!

I'm looking forward to planning this trip again. I know that God's timing is perfect and that we'll enjoy the trip much more because of what we've been through.

Today's Blessing

This has been a really bad week for me. I'm not even going to go into why. All you need to know is that today, I'm blessed by this promise:

"I remember my affliction and my wantering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope; Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness" Lamentations 3:19-23