Even though I wasn't able to spend the holiday with the kids, I have been blessed with several days with them following. I'm reminding myself that it does not matter WHEN we celebrate holidays with each other ... each and every day together should be celebrated. We spent a lot of time at home together this weekend ... SLOWING LIFE DOWN, just enjoying eachother, we surrounded ourselves with friends and enjoyed preparing for the holiday season.
This week marks the one-year point when life changed (HERE) for me. This year, I am more thankful than ever for every single blessing in my life. With all of life's changes and curve-balls over the past twelve months, I have so much to be thankful for. So many constant, lifelong blessings that have existed and so many new ones that I have discovered. It took experiencing some tough times for me to realize who some of these blessings are, and for me to remind them that I am thankful for their support. I truly am thankful for the experiences ... the good and the bad. From them I have have learned, I have grown and I have conquered. One year later, I am still me ... I am just a better version of myself. And, I am blessed.
- My 2 happy & healthy children
- My wonderful parents, Little Diva Sister
& my awesome support system
- The relationships & friendships that have been
strengthened over the past twelve months
- The new friendships & relationships that have developed
- My flexible, stable & supportive work environment
- My wonderful parents, Little Diva Sister
& my awesome support system
- The relationships & friendships that have been
strengthened over the past twelve months
- The new friendships & relationships that have developed
- My flexible, stable & supportive work environment
- A comfortable HOUSE that now also feels like a HOME
- The sport of running & all of the physical, emotional,
mental, social and financial outlets it has given me
- The sport of running & all of the physical, emotional,
mental, social and financial outlets it has given me
- And last but not least ...........
my coffee and Diet Mountain Dew :)
my coffee and Diet Mountain Dew :)
It's not what we say about our blessings,
but how we use them, is the
true measure of our thanksgiving.
~W.T. Purkiser
With Little Diva's birthday a few short weeks away, this book was filled with birthday-themed excitement. Little Diva has struggled with us for years to put her hair in her standard (and well-known) pigtails. In the book, Gracie is frustrated with her mother for wanting to put bows in her hair. She ends up wearing the pretty bow that matches her pretty party dress.
We started with twelve members and I'm told that the class sold out in an hour and a half when registration opened in the Summer. There were just as many women on the waiting list. I'm so happy that so many women want to do something so positive for themselves. Of the twelve women, we only had two not join us on race day. One had scheduling troubles and just could not get to the scheduled training runs and was doing it on her own; the other preferred walking very long distances and just could not fit the running in on top of that. I consider the group to have been a huge success, considering we did not lose anyone due to lack of motivation or frustration. Everyone was still active and keeping their commitment.
Most were smiling out on the course, some struggled at times, but I continued to remind them to focus on their breathing, to get into a rhythm and to have fun. Their experience over the past nine weeks and their legs would carry them through to the finish line ... and I hoped that they would finish with a huge smile on their face. The hard work was done .... this was the fun part!!
