running for twenty-seven.

Happy Belated Birthday to me! ;)

I turned 27 on April 15 and am still smiling about the awesome events and turn arounds I'm making in life. We spent my birthday weekend in southern Oregon with the Waltz family in Medford and packed the days with some fun goodness. The main focus for me being that I would be competing in my first 5K race. Picking up the packets and shirt for the race the day before was already making my stomach a bit jittery.. thank goodness I was doing this with my sis-in-law Stephanie (but she is already a great runner which made me feel like I'd be holding her back..).

yes, these sweating pears (it was the Pear Blossom Run) were a slight anticipation of what was to come.

One thing I never understood about runs and marathons is why they start before the sun is even out. After doing this, I now understand. It felt AMAZING knowing that before 8am, I had already ran (and walked) over 3 miles and did this with about a thousand other people. I remember praying a couple times (the night before.. the morning of.. during the run..) 'please do not let me pass out during this and let me finish this!'. Yes 3.2 miles may not seem like far at all - but for someone who has never really been a "runner" it is slightly intimidating. Plus I didn't exactly do a great job of training for it. My bad. But now I want to do this more. I am looking at future run/walks around Portland in the area and will definitely take better training cues too.

#5112. That's me. At 6:30am... eesh.

me and Steph getting ready to join everyone and stretch out.

When we started I started having super uncomfortable pain along my left shin. So much so that we stopped and I stretched it out but didn't let it stop me. In fact, moving forward from that it actually got easier! I am so appreciative of Stephanie and her being so patient and such a good coach/support to do this with! Even if she finished 1 second before me haha.

after crossing the finish line!!!

I have new respect for runners and realize they are in fact athletes too! I always thought of myself as super active and was always in sports growing up but never really focused on running as a challenge in itself. But when your body is the machine - you find out how strong you really are. It was great to do the run and I look forward to doing it again! And hopefully along side my guy (after all his ankle rehab is complete!). 

It was a cool birthday gift to myself to set up my year of renewed fitness. I am getting far more serious with nutrition and working out. I was in great shape after high school and throughout college, but when you don't have the scheduled and already set in place time to go hit the gym it's harder to make it happen. But now me and T both have memberships at Crunch and it's great to motivate each other and congratulate each other on the accomplishments. 

I am so glad I decided to do the Pear Blossom. After all it was just 3.2 miles right? ;)

**I will write a bit more about my birthday weekend next time and share the other cool news that happened that weekend as well!

Share + Tell About February

It's been a recurring theme that I have been letting a few weeks lapse before I blog - eeesh! 

I feel like I have lots to write about, then I'm not sure who reads this and then realize that it's my blog (hello!) - doesn't matter who reads it, it's my own little public journal anyway. ;)

I'll share some February sparkly moments to recap the last 4 weeks or so.. (I like to think I forget the snarky moments). Plus the happy is always worth re-telling I think. :)

Sparkly: to be brilliant, lively, or vivacious.

1. Taxes Filed. Ba-bam! We did our taxes ourselves this time and it was so much simpler than I expected it to be!! If you want to know the site we used (it's totally legit), message me and I'd be happy to give you the details!

2. Financial Blessings. So after filing our taxes, we got our tax money which is pretty awesome.. but we also had a few other prayers answered. For the past year we have been really getting serious about our debt repayments (credit cards, student loans, etc.) kicked to the curb. I have definitely been one who has stressed about money and how in the world we will save for a house, our future family, etcetera etcetera. Well, we are seeing a few prayers get answered! We paid off a credit card last month! Yeah!! We also have been given "breaks" on a couple medical bills for both of us. Nothing we sought out or asked for, just blessings that were total surprises for us.. example: I called my dental office to get clarity on my latest bill that seemed a little bit higher than usual. The billing person on the phone waived nearly half the bill. Just Because. Amazing.

3. Travis's foot. It's healing!! On the outside it looks totally normal and healthy. Although the bone break is a slow heal at this point, there is progression and we are so thankful that surgery was not required and that Trav can get around okay and still do his work as well! We also got a surprise on the medical bill we were anticipating this month too. There was more credit (billing money) on a medical card that is through T's work so we didn't have to pay as much as we thought we would on our end. Praise the Lord!

4.  Sweet Valentine's. Knowing that Trav was still on crutches and not driving when that lovely day rolled around. I didn't anticipate flowers or anything really. And I was totally okay with that! As I pull up to his work to pick him up, he was standing outside crutch under one arm and flowers in the other. He had someone at his work take him to the store so he could surprise me with my favorites. Yellow daisies. :)

5.  We have been getting more involved in our church community. I said before how we were getting involved in a new group of 'young marrieds'. (Couples married 5 years or less led by a couple who've been married 20 years.) It's been so cool! We get together with about a dozen or so couples for dinner and talk about married life and how to encourage each other to still fulfill the mission of God in our relationships.

6. We booked our Anniversary trip for the summertime! July 10 is our wedding anniversary and this summer we are going back to where we Honeymooned because we loved it SO much! The San Juan Islands. We cannot wait to go back and visit and play on the islands up north. I'm already looking forward to wearing sun dresses and enjoying the water in the evening time.

So that's a fun recap of our February goodness. I also am going to add this super cute link because it is just too darling not to share and I'm sure you will smile - in fact I'm quite positive you will say "aww" within a minute of the video. It's that adorable.

Anxious.

That word has been in my life since I was 14 years old. I'll be able to share more of my "anxiety" story in later posts, but wanted to just post what I will call the 'prelude' of how anxiety has affected my life. I am someone who is/was 'diagnosed' with panic + anxiety disorder the summer after my freshman year of high school. It was fairly a new thing at the time and I remember not knowing what the doctor was really talking about, but I knew what I was feeling and thinking through the whole episode(s). It was not until 2007 I really started to be a believer in God. And with that I started to learn more about the Bible and how much other people have been affected with anxiety too! I remember coming across a verse through different venues and only in the last few years has it become a personal influence on me.

Phillipians 4v4-7

(Sorry for the blurry affect on the sides there.) This verse has been one that when I look at my Bible at the notes and underline marks and such, I can see that I have personally written around it, underlined it and noted it on the margins at least 3 different times. Each time I read those couple sentences I am reminded that it will be okay. Really. It will be o.k.a.y. Give it to God and just release the tensions, anxious feelings, racing thoughts, etcetra and instead turn those feelings into prayers of peace and contentment. 

I feel like I'm being so vague in this, but I want to just start opening up about how anxiety has been a big obstacle for me and I feel that I'm at a point where I am really starting to kick it to the curb! It's been a long, super bumpy and very windy road but I am finally starting to feel a bit of release from it and am hoping that with my sharing other people can also know that they will be okay and that they are not the only one dealing with it.

This is such a big leap for me and I typically only talk about my anxiety with folks who have known me for a long time or whom I trust greatly. After almost 13 years, I feel ready to open up about something that I had been embarrassed about. So, if you're reading this, just know that everyone has battles that they deal with - some just are not as easy to see.

I'm also excited to share the things that helped turn that anxiety into feelings of joy, happiness and enlightenment. I also feel super blessed to have a super amazing husband and fabulous family that supports me and encourages me when things get panic-like for me. I also hope that one day I will be able to reach out to someone who deals with anxiety too and be able to tell them that it will be okay. I would love to be that person in someone's life. Maybe I already have been.. how amazing that would be.

Prayin for Portland!

Check out the video below and learn a bit about something super amazing going on in our city: Portland.

Seven Promo from JP Watson on Vimeo.

Pretty cool huh? We have been steadily attending Solid Rock (Sunday mornings back in Beaverton when we lived there this past winter/spring time) and have been going to their downtown location on Saturday nights the last 4-6 weeks. John Mark who was in that video is one of the Pastors at Solid Rock and we love listening to him speak. What's even cooler? He's my husband's age! Which leads me to another cool thing: About three quarters of the church community there is between 18-35 years old. We feel like we fit in and have found a cool cause to be involved with. It's called Seven. Just like what was mentioned in the video (or if you couldn't load the video..) for 7 weeks on Wednesdays, there are gatherings at a different church each evening (on top of the early 6:30am crew and noon group) at 7pm that get together to pray and talk about how we would love to see Portland grow and build a terrific community of believers and also just ways to strengthen what is already here too. We went to the first night (last night) and it was incredible! Take a look at the photo below..

via original photo on Solid Rock's Facebook page

Plus there was an over flow of more people behind this camera person in the large foyer area too. The whole church was packed! (I would estimate over 1,000 people easily.) It was so cool to be among other believers and really amazing to be with SO many people in our age group! I totally encourage friends to come and enjoy the event on Wednesdays or even take time at home during that 7pm hour and think of ways that Portland could use prayer. I'm a newbie with prayer and half the time speak in bullet points of thoughts and ideas, but it's all good God loves any way that you can communicate with Him. :)

It felt great to pray for colleagues, community leaders, restoration of our lives, neighborhoods, families, marriages, teachers and even the local economy. But that was just our small group of 5 people, imagine what over 1,000 people were adding to that list!

I love Portland and I am learning how prayer can change things or help us understand why God has things happen the way He does. I have loved learning so much through the teachings at church and we are excited for next weeks gathering too. I will close this blog entry with a photo of Travis becoming baptized and a member at our previous church a few years ago. This was truly the beginning of 'our' walk as a couple and was quite a beautiful moment indeed.

Church + Community

This spot is at Camp Magruder. I took this photo while at the WUMC's Women's Retreat.

Ohh Sunday. I love Sunday. Wanna know why? Well you were going to find out anyways. Without further ado: 1. It's the 2nd half of the weekend. It means to me "yes! I get another day to recharge." Saturday usually involves the errands, and the 'gotta get this done' type of activity. 2. Sleeping in and cozy breakfast with my husband. Sometimes due to work activity - Trav will have to work on Saturdays, but we almost always get to enjoy our Sundays together. Love that "lets take extra long to wake up" and just have a morning snuggle. Too mushy?  3. The third thing has been missing lately.. Church. We both love going to church, participating in worship, learning more about the Bible and growing together in our faith and our walks.

Before going too far, I suppose I should give a little background about my upbringing in this area. Growing up I knew that my mom was raised with a Catholic upbringing and my dad having a Methodist life (they were both super involved in their churches too). When they married they decided to allow their daughters to grow on their own spiritual path and make decisions for themselves in that area. *However, I do now know that both of my parents wish that as a family we had done more activities in a church (Catholic or Methodist) and had more of a background in church.* In high school I started getting curious about church and participated many times in friend's youth groups and became interested in learning more. When I was in college I can word it sort of like I "lost" my faith or put it on the back burner and did not give the necessary attention I should have.

It was not until after my Dad passed away (October 2007) I started to feel a "pull" to find a church and find out 'why' I lost my Dad. My first knee-jerk reaction was to get mad at God for taking my Dad, but in a way I felt a peace for him. No more pain. No more health impairments requiring pain, medications and sadness for him. He was able to see me graduate college! (probably one of the first actual prayers I can recall making.)

In my search for a church. I found a wonderful community in a Beaverton church. I became a Member of the church, I was involved, made so many wonderful friendships and bonds while attending that church. I was even a link in helping Travis get back to his faith and he too becoming a Member of the church and being super active in events and planning there. After attending for a few years we learned so much and wanted to learn MORE. We wanted to grow more and seek a community that spoke well to us. There are zero ill feelings to us leaving that church in search of a new 'home'. It is important to me that we are with other like-minded individuals (young married couples and families).  We have been able to participate in other churches and have been in awe of all the amazing communities that are formed all over Portland. 

Lately we have let ourselves be 'busy' and have not been able to make the commitment that we once had with church. Currently we both want to be able to make that commitment again. My hope is that 1. we find a great welcoming community that fits for us. 2. we are able to get involved in a small group. 3. we can become stronger and develop our personal faith more. Whether it's a small church or super big church - that doesn't matter. The core of what matters is loving one another and treating each other well. And that Jesus is a friend of yours and mine. :)

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." - Jeremiah 29:11