My Wednesday walk/run ramblings...

Hello Dear Friends,
I love writing to you all.
I'm not good at writing letters with pen and paper. I have good intentions, but we all know how that goes, so blogging is the perfect way for me to keep in touch with so many that I love.

Just a few random thoughts that I started writing down Wednesday,
that somehow spilled over into Thursday...
that may spill over yet again if I don't get with the program and finish this post.

First my goofy move of the day, well Tuesday.
I knew that I was officially back into the swing of exercising when I was on my way to a doctor's appointment yesterday and I just barely caught myself before I squeezed my water bottle over my head in the still hot car. Yep. I do that regularly running on hot summertime roads and trails. But NOT on the way to the doctor. Not my brightest moment of the day. But funny.

My normally~at~home~still~kiddos have been gone to Bible camp this week. I had all of these ideas of getting a LOT done...ahem...Not so much. I haven't painted one little ol' piece of furniture. I haven't worked on one single itty bitty household project...and believe me there are still plenty to chose from. And while I have done a tiny bit of mending, I haven't even sewed much to speak of. I have done my normal housework: laundry, a wee bit of cooking, dishes. Nothing to write home about.

Friends have said, "Boy, I bet you are really missing your kids!" and, not even feeling guilty, I said, "I am really enjoying a quiet house and time alone with hubby." I love my kiddos. I shore do. But after so many hard months of high stress, chaos and anxiety, I am not minding a slower pace. I am not minding not doing much at all. I am not minding solitude and pondering time. I am NOT ready for my kiddos to be gone yet. But a little down time has been nice. And they are having a wonderful time at Bible camp.

I have used my quiet free time to go on a lot of long walk/runs, to spend a LOT of time in prayer, to do some extra Bible study, and to try and do some extra nice things for hubby and other friends and family here and there. I joked since my kiddos were gone, I was working on my wifey/sister skills. :) I picked up ice cream a few times this week and met hubby for a quick ice cream in his office date. Alas...there was not much smooching involved...
Hubby has windows in his office...sigh...
But in the evenings...
Yep, we watch the Tour de France...

What did you think I was going to say?
wiggles eyebrows mischievously
;)

I spend most of my time in prayer while running and walking.
Deep meditative prayers, that are often disrupted by,
well, sort of,
Attention Deficit Disorder Prayers.
Prayers of overwhelming thankfulness that often interrupt my prior thought.
A lot of thanking God for whatever bird or wild flower has just come into my line of vision, for the sheltering arms of a huge Oak tree that gives me a few moments respite from the hot sun as I run under it's cool branches and feel the most delicious breeze wash over me and refresh me for just a moment before I am out of the shadow, and under the hot summer sun again.
I thank God for trees a lot.
For the varying shades of greenness of each one. For the different varieties he has given us.
For the wonderful shade they create. For the idea of sheltering beneath them which draws me to God, and makes me remember that He shelters me in His arms at all times.
For the bliss of a moment in the shade and the cooling breeze that always accompanies my brief respite there.
Tress always make me thank God and ponder His infinite mercy for making something as lovely and magnificent as trees, just for our enjoyment. Just because of His infinite love and care for us.

Anyway.
I may be deep in prayer for someone's marriage, when this lovely little pair of Mr. and Mrs. Bluebirds just flit right over head, and I interrupt one thought of prayer to say thank you Dear Heavenly Father for those husband and wife bluebirds, I mean, bluebird mates. Because my prayer is spilling out right then as I run and breathe, and I catch myself praying, I don't mean to sound flippant...of course bluebirds are not married, but thank you Father for these beautiful bluebird mates. For the brightness of their wings, for creating so much just for us to see and enjoy. Thank you for blessing me with so much...
I'm not kidding.
My prayers are often interrupted and rambly.
Go figure.

But I know that God knows my heart.
He knows how thankful I am for every beautiful sight he allows me to see, every beautiful morning songbird he allows me to hear.
He knows I am trying.
Oh, I am trying with all my might to please Him.

I know I fail.

Of course HE knows I fail.

And I am so thankful,
so thankful above all else for His infinite mercy and grace for me.
For His infinite patience with me as I long so much to be more like Him,
to be more pleasing in His sight.

Yep, I have a long way to go. We all do. Aren't you so glad, along with me,
for God's unchanging nature?

Spending time in prayer being thankful is so good for you.
The more thankful you are,
the happier you are.
Not to mention it truly helps you to keep a humble, content outlook and focus.

But, onto some ramblings.
Two more odd little tidbits.
Two fortuitous little bits of information that have helped make my running more...
well bearable,
since I can't quite call it fun yet.
:)

I squirt myself with my perfume every morning when I get dressed out of sheer habit.
Hubby really likes my perfume, and I like that.
(No comments from the Jensens, my kiddos or Kara about aforementioned perfume.)
Ahem...
A girls gotta have some secrets.

Anyway, so, just out of habit, the other day before I ran, I squirted my perfume on my running clothes. NOT on purpose, because, let me tell you, no amount of perfume is going to cover up the funk you work up running.
Nuf' said.
However, I did, and that day when I ran, the horseflies that torment my running existence, left me alone.
I made up a little ditty as I ran, something like:

What's good for hubby and puts a smile on his face,
The horse flies don't like the way it tastes...

Yes, sometimes I am beyond lame.

But now I spray that perfume on every day before I run.

Tidbit number two.
Every morning before I run I was washing my face with Dove soap, like I do every day.
Well, it is hotter than a fire cracker right now.
It's been in the upper eighties when I start, and ending in the nineties by the time I finish and that is early~ish in the morning.
Sweat is pouring off of me.
Not a pretty picture, I know, but you have to have the details for this story.
So, as the sweat starts to seriously run down my face, it has been burning my skin like nobody's business.
I started to wonder if I had acid sweat.
Hubby was sure it was from too much salt.
Hubby likes to blame a lot of things on my salt intake.
He mostly just likes to harass me.
That hubby of mine.
:)
But I got to thinking, hmm...I wonder if it is some kind of reaction with the dove soap and sweat.
So, today, I did NOT wash my face before I ran,
and
TA DA!!!
No burning/acid feeling on my face!
Hooray!

Just passing these tidbits on,
in case any of you gals need some running/walking in the super hot sun tips..
or just a good laugh on my behalf.
:)

A few confessions now.

I love the idea of getting up early, but I'm not great at it.
Barf.
I would love to get up every day at 5:30 and run.
Every night, I think it sounds like a wonderful plan.
But almost every morning I have to fight going back to bed after hubby leaves.
The alarm goes off at 6:30 and hubby hits the snooze until 7:00 and we get up.
Pit-i-ful.
I know.
But it's how we roll.

I am not "naturally" submissive.
I have to work at it.
Hard.
I'm getting better.

I make up goofy songs all the time.
All. The. Time.
See aforementioned horse fly tune.
The grandblessings love it.
Hubby?
Eh, not so much.
One of our family favorites,
o.k., one of my favorites, is

"Here's the scoop,
eating oatmeal helps ya poop."

Yep. They're not always pretty. Just little ditties all day long.
But I also sing a lot of church songs too.
Singing, even silly songs, is just good for you I think.

Well, that's all for now.
I'm sure I should be doing something productive.
:)

Hubby will be home soon.
I need to go put some perfume on.
wink wink

Love you all!
I hope your night is wonderful!
Love
~m.

Mother's Day, Meanderings and Motivation

I'm afraid this might be a rambling post...

I know. I know.

That may strike fear in some of your hearts as I tend to put out some purdy long posts as it is.

Bwahaha!

But at least you are not a captive audience.
You can always click that little "X" up there and walk away.
Or if you have a few minutes,
you might pour yourself a nice cup of hot tea...
or hot cocoa,
maybe a glass of lemonade if it's a scorcher in your neck of the woods...
curl up in your favorite spot on the couch with your laptop,
or cozy up in your computer chair and sit a while.

Just a lot of this and that in my head.
A few things to say.
Nothing particularly important.
Just some ramblings about a lot of different things lately.
Random tidbits,
happy memories,
plans for the future,
Hopes for tomorrow,
contented thoughts about today...
wow...
I'm even rambling about rambling...
nice.
:)

Our beautiful start to this LORD's day, began with Worship of course.
Made all the sweeter to me, because my dear hubby hobbled his way
to services with us.
It was painful, but he is one tough cookie.
And he went back with us tonight too.
Thankfully, every day he is making progress.
We go back to the surgeon this Friday to get the bandages off and staples out...eek.
He is hopeful that we can stop giving him his nightly Lovinox shots in the stomach.
Blood. Clot. Prevention.
Yep.

He has given some serious thought as to how dying from a blood clot might not be so bad.

Probably not just ONE of the worst parts of this broken leg dilemma,
but THE worst...

Hubby is needle phobic.

I am not on his most favorite people lists for at least a few minutes of every day.
But we are getting by...

but onto Mother's Day!

My Mother's day actually started Saturday night, when Josh got home from work.
We were all busy wrestling a bed out of his old room
(that he is still in)
that we had moved out of his new room
(so I could paint)
when he got home from work...that is another story...
but really, you don't have that much time...(and hubby is a callin' me...)

After it was moved and the huffing and puffing had subsided, I sailed into the kitchen
to point out how lovely it was to look out the kitchen door at the beautiful,
newly sided exterior wall...
Then when I turned around, I saw this breathtaking bouquet of
multi-colored roses on the table.

The kiddos had a good laugh at my expense for missing this gi-normous bouquet,
in my haste to point out the work Robert and Dustin had accomplished, while Josh was at work (besides all the painting that Candice and I accomplished...I love productive days!)

Ahem.
O.k.
On to today.
(which by the time you read this will be yesterday.)

Purdy Pictures

This is the beautiful Mother's Day bouquet that my super duper children
plotted,
planned
and purchased.
***happy sigh****
I do love those chilluns of mine!
Not to mention purdy flowers!

I sure wish I was better at snapping family pictures.
Ashley and Nathan and our sweet grandblessings, Angelbaby and Sugarbear all came over today.
The whole brood back in the nest for a day.
Happiness. Pure. And. Simple.

I do love having all my chicks and grand chicks under my wings.

But, did I snap one single, solitary photo of that sweet crew?
Nope.
Nada.
As in Not One.
Tonight (hence the lighting not being sooo great) I thunk to snap some
pictures of these BE-UTE-I-FUL flowers...
but my kiddos...
sigh...


I am down right partial to family! I know with every cell of my being how blessed I am to have my dear hubby and sweet children. Every day they are more precious to me...
I'll get to some more thoughts about counting our blessings and focusing on today in a minute...
I warned you it would be rambly.

Anyway...
We decided, yesterday, that the perfect Mother's Day would include carry out pizza on paper plates and a nap some time in the day.

Mission Accomplished!

After stuffing our faces (and tummies) with stuffed crust pizza,
I cozied up with those little babies and read some stories upstairs in our study.
Then, I settled in our comfy, white, over pillowed bed with my sweet grand blessings.
Just in case you didn't know: A nap with your grand babies is PURE BLISS.

Did I mention the day included flowers?
Yep!

So it was a perfectly lovely day.
I couldn't have asked for better.
While we girls all napped in various cozy locations, the fellas played Kansasopoly.
(Well, thankfully, poor, broken legged hubby napped also. This was a long day for him.)
Then we visited some more, snacked a little more,
laughed a lot and listened to a little music.Tonight, after evening worship, hubby relaxed and propped up his leg a bit
while Candice and I got a nice walk in and the boys went for a short bike ride with Josh while he ran.

It was the perfect Springtime evening walk.

Every time Chasity, Shauna and I would run, we always talked about how God rewarded us with something beautiful in His nature for us to see, hear or enjoy.
Many a run we spotted vibrant, indigo buntings, always flitting right ahead of us as we ran.
Songbirds, deer, rainbows, heron, sunsets (alas...not to many sunrises in our running history), owls, bats, butterflies...always something beautiful.

Tonight was no different.
As Candice and I set off down our gravel road the cool of the evening almost sang a springtime lullaby to us both. Without sounding downright daft, nature is enthralling to me. I often feel wrapped in a cocoon of contentment and calming peace when I walk or run down our little country road.
As we walked we talked. We listened to each other and the lovely sounds around us, and we just soaked in the beautiful gift of this spring evening.

There was a sweet smell, like honeysuckle, already on the gentle breeze, with a tangy whiff of cedar every now and then. We talked about her upcoming graduation as we heard an owl calling from the tree tops and the peepers chirruped to us every step of the way.

I have three favorite sounds in nature.
Frogs singing.
Owls hooting.
and my most favorite of all...
the tender~sweet call of the whippoorwill.

As we huffed and puffed our way up the big hill, we caught sight of a bat...
then another,
and then one more.

Then we heard the first cicadas singing their summertime chorus with the frogs...but the best was yet to come.

As we made our way home,
the first sweet notes of a whippoorwill drifted to our ears.
Then we heard another, then another as their song followed us all the way home.

I can't put into words how moved I feel when I hear this simple creature singing.
It moves me deeply, unexpectedly every time I hear one call.
I don't care if you call me sappy.
It overwhelms me, but in a good way.

It is another reminder that I am
blessed above measure.

Thankful.

Grateful for another day with my husband,
with my children,
and grandchildren,
in our home here in the country.
Thankful to enjoy another Spring.
Another evening.

Focused on today and so thankful for it.

It is liberating to shake off tomorrow.

Box it up.

Put it aside.

Save it for tomorrow...when it will be today.

But today, just focus on today.

I've not mastered it yet.

But each day that I do,
as worry or wondering creeps in,
and I am able to stop it,
and leave tomorrow right where it belongs...
and bring my focus back to today,
it's like a heavy, heavy burden lifts off of my shoulders.

Liberating is the best word I can come up with.

It's so easy to borrow trouble worrying about things that may never come to pass,
or about things we can not change in the past,
or that are beyond our control in the future.

God wants something better for us.

His plan is one of peace.

No matter what is going on.
No matter how deep the pain and suffering.

He wants us to be Peaceful.

Content to live in today.

I love days that I get this.

I hope to get this more often.

Not just on easy days like today,
where I see all these blessings right in my face.
But on the cloudy days too.
The life is hard in your face days.

I'm working hard to live in today.

Working hard to see what a blessing today is.

I love this old saying/prayer:

Dear Father,
Please grant me
the serenity to accept the things I can not change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.

It seems so trite.

But it's the truth.

It's talking about living in today.

So, let's get to it...
well,
after a good nights sleep.

Dear hubby is calling, "Marie, you coming to bed?"

Nite friends.
Love,
~m.

p.s. the motivation is get out there and move!!! God will reward you with something beautiful every day if you just get up, get out, and get busy!
Love to you all.