Isaiah 40

I was reading in Isaiah 40 this morning and this verse really jumped off the page at me:

Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales;
Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust. - Isaiah 40:15

Wow. If the nations are like a drop...then what are you and I? Yet, He loved us enough to send Jesus to die for our sin. So thankful that God loves me that much.

The past week

Wow, I really should blog a little more often. It's been over a week, but this has been the most consistent I've ever been with blogging. Last week was Thanksgiving. What a fantastic week, minus the exhaustion I had at the end of the week. I had the carpet in the house cleaned Tuesday; that's a whole 'nother story in itself. Suffice it to say that it's clean and I paid more than I planned on. Tuesday night was the community-wide Thanksgiving meal at church. There were many faces I did not recognize that were there, so many people from the surrounding area, not just the church. Lots of food, but not much left over. Wednesday was another crazy day with having to pick up milk and starting on Christmas shopping for the kids and giving blood. Fortunately, my kids were with the in-laws and I could do all that stuff by myself. My parents arrived Wednesday afternoon with my nephew. Later in the day, my brother, his wife, and their daughter arrived. It was a fun time from the minute they stepped in the door. (The baby had pooped out her clothes and had to be put in the bathtub to get cleaned off AND my brother had to take care of her because my SIL can't lift her right now). All that was taken care of and I decided to start cooking for Thursday...just the cornbread for dressing. My cornbread mix was old. Like 2 years old. So, I throw it in the trash and make a late night run to Food Lion. My brother went with me and we got to catch up with each other.

Thursday was great. I love having a house full of people. We missed Phil and Beth and their kids, though. I woke up at 5:45 Thursday morning and was wide awake, so I went ahead and got up and baked pumpkin bread for breakfast. The turkey went in as soon as the bread came out. Couldn't find the giblets, though. Apparently they were hiding in the neck cavity. I'll know where to look next time. Got all the food cooking in the time frame I planned...almost. I didn't prep some of it before time to put it in the oven, so that threw my schedule off a bit. I also, after looking at the cornbread and consulting with my brother, decided that we didn't have enough cornbread for dressing. So, we made some more. We had a great time eating and conversing and just being with each other. Kristin opened birthday presents right before we ate. We sang to her and had strawberry shortcake after lunch. Everyone left before evening except my parents, who were spending the night.

Friday morning saw me taking Clayton to work after I stayed up until midnight reading. I decided to start making use of the Kindle app on my phone and have since discovered that I actually like reading on it. After I got home from taking him and stopping at Target for coffee and something else that I can't remember and breakfast from Chick-Fil-A, we got the Christmas tree and decorations out. My parents left for Atlanta and the kids and I put up the tree and decorated it. I got an hour nap before it was time to get Clayton from work so we could head to Atlanta ourselves. We made decent time to Jason and Allison's house and we actually met them at Jim & Nick's for supper. Good food and fellowship. Got to their house after eating and Allison's sisters, brother-in-law, nieces, and nephew showed up to decorate cupcakes and presumably to play games. Yeah, the game part didn't happen. They finished decorating cupcakes sometime just before midnight. Hilarity ensued not long after everyone got there, mostly on my part. I was so tired that just about everything was funny. I laughed so hard I cried...at what I have no idea.

Saturday was my niece's one-year-old birthday party. We had lunch and cupcakes. All in all, a good time with family...even if I had a headache and was exhausted. I actually slept on the way home from Atlanta and it didn't take me long to go to sleep at all. I went to bed fairly early Saturday night and took a nap Sunday afternoon and went to bed early Sunday night. I skipped a meeting and church Sunday (night) in order to get rest. I woke up this morning feeling much better.

We had a great week, but I'm glad it's over now.

Plateau

The weight loss has hit a plateau. I'm losing and gaining the same 3 pounds. So, in an effort to get past that plateau, I decided that I will take 4 hours in each day and do a couple sets of a couple exercises at the top of each of those hours. I started Thursday and also did it Friday. I ran a 5K today, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to skip it today. I'm doing 2 sets of 15 of the following: jumping jacks, torso twists, lunges, squats, triceps extensions (with a 3 or 5 pound hand weight), biceps curls (with 5 pound weights), side lunges, and wall push-ups. It's doing 2 things for me: 1) getting me off my butt while I'm working and 2) giving me a little more energy during the day. I've also seen 1.5 pounds drop from Thursday to Friday. Don't know if that is because of the exercise or doing better with my water or what.

My 5K time today was 36.13. I'm happy with that time...I had to walk in a couple spots. Not used to a trail run.

Four times in two chapters

I sat down at the computer this morning with the intention of blogging. I decided to start working instead. Where are my priorities? Ha. Anyway, was doing my chapter study for John 15 this morning and came across the "whatever you ask in my name, I will do it" (my paraphrase, obviously) verses. Again. Twice. Again. I had already read that (twice) in chapter 14. Must be important, huh? For Jesus to repeat it 4 times. Not 2. Not 3. Four. Got me to thinking about my last blog about these verses and my request, if you will. Child number 3. It gets discouraging after a while waiting for God to bless us with that child. It's been almost 4 years since we stopped preventing pregnancy. That's a long time. Our first child took 7 months to conceive, the second 18 months. Trying to earnestly seek Him and patiently wait. Yeah, I have my own set of criteria that I want met. Will it happen? Maybe. It's HIS timing and HIS will. Not mine.

Veterans Day

I do not want to neglect the fact that today is Veterans Day. I am very thankful for the men and women who serve this country so that we may have freedom. May God truly bless you in all you do.

Running stuff

This week hasn't been a good week for running. I was under 2.5 miles both Monday and Wednesday. Saturday, Andrew and I went to the track to run, but he didn't make it a full lap and gave up, so we came home. I ran once we got here and did 3.1. Then Monday and Wednesday. Not going to look up distances, but I was just so tired both those days and my legs just didn't want to go. And then we have today. Friday. The end of the week. My best run yet. I did 3.5 miles in 40.46 today. I was aiming for 3.5 all week, but just haven't been able to do it. Well, I got it today. I plan to hang out at 3.5 for the next week or so and then add between 0.25 and 0.5 to my distance for another week or so and just build up from there. That's the plan, anyway. Cold weather is good for running...it was about 35 this morning. My legs are numb from the cold and I'm dripping sweat. What a combination.

John 14:13-14

"Whatever you ask in my name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it."

The promises of God. If you (BELIEVER) ask in His name, He will do it so that the Father may be glorified.

Every time I think I am content with the 2 children I have, I hear something or see something that makes my heart yearn for the 3rd child that we have not yet been blessed with. Today it was a simple story from Beth Moore about her daughter finding out the gender of her 2nd child. The image of Beth Moore digging into a gift bag and pulling out pink items was enough to bring me to tears...and enough to bring me to earnestly start praying for child #3. Claiming God's promises today...that in HIS time we will have our precious #3 child and HE will be glorified through that child.

Not a lot of detail

Not going into a lot of detail, but the next step has been made. Glad that part is over with. Clayton is settling into the new job (now in week 4) well. I am SO thankful for that. A few changes have been made as far as hours, but it still works very well for us.

I had a GREAT run Wednesday. I hit 30 minutes and decided to see how long it would take me to hit 5K. Got there in 37.14. I was excited that I did that much. Loving the cooler weather. My next running days should have been Friday and Monday. Yeah, didn't happen. Both days I woke up needing to crawl back into bed, so that's exactly what I did after I took the kids to school. Planned on running today, but that didn't happen because our power was out when it was time to take the kids and I wanted to be sure to have a hot shower when I was done with the run. I had no idea when the power would be back on...good thing I didn't run because it did not come back on until 9:30. I may just take this week off and start back Monday after the time change and don't have to wait until almost 8 until it's light enough to get out.

I am going to a Bible study at church on Thursday nights. It's a great study because it is fitting in with my life at this moment. Unfortunately, this will be my last week going because Clayton's school schedule starts back next week. He'll be in class Monday through Thursday evenings. I can still plod along at my own pace, though.

I am very thankful for 2 women God has put in my life that I'm just now really getting to know and to rely on for their encouragement.

Anyway, that's just a little update. We're continuing to plod along here some days and speed through others. God is good through it all.