Climbing Life's Mountains

Mike and I are celebrating our 35th wedding anniversary and this guy deserves a medal for putting up with me for so long. We met when I was only 17. We fell in love immediately and we were married six months later -- we had to wait until I graduated from high school and I turned 18. He was a first-year student at Purdue University and I cried when he took me home after our first date because he had to go back to school the next day. Those tears led to dropping out of college, a short engagement, and living in a mobile home until we could afford a house. This is me (the skinny girl with the big glasses) with this guy (with lots of hair) I barely knew and would soon marry. High School Prom 1981 We knew nothing about marriage and definitely knew nothing about what God thought about marriage. We were just two teenagers in love and starting a life together.  I love the way God gives us a biblical picture of marriage through His word.  Jesus refers to believers as...

Before . . . Going on a mission trip was never on my radar until last year after Mike started a new job and lost vacation time meaning I had three weeks compared to his one week. I never really had a heart for missions and we didn't even have a church home at the time but I knew I was giving a week's vacation to the Lord. Right after we started visiting Fellowship Church Pellissippi, a mission trip to Nicaragua was announced. This trip got my attention for several reasons but one reason was because the team would be working alongside the Weber family and I was familiar with their ongoing ministry in Nicaragua. I knew God was calling me to this mission trip so I stepped way out of my comfort zone and I said yes to God. During . . . Salinas Grandes, Nicaragua is unlike any place I'd ever been before. We started most days with feeding programs where we prepared and served food, played with the children and taught them a Bible story. These were the most well behaved c...

Weight gain has never really been a problem for me until after I had a partial hysterectomy. I suddenly  found that I was gaining weight right in my stomach -- the belly budge. It wasn't a lot but it was more than I was comfortable with. I was working out, doing crunches, doing sit-ups and nothing was taking away the budge. I was told by a doctor that it was just a result of turning 40 and that I was not overweight and not to worry about it. Well, I did worry about it . . . I worried about it a lot. Not only did I worry about it but I became frustrated with exercise and not seeing the results I wanted. The first time I heard about Diastasis Recti was after a Beauty Hunters workout. A physical therapist had me lie on my stomach and with her fingers, she could feel the rather large separation in my abdominal muscles. She told me to stop doing crunches and sit-ups because I just making the condition worse. Diastasis Recti a condition in which the abdominal muscles become stretch...

Before we ever started this hike, I read a blog post that said "sign the will." I believe it and we should have "signed the will" before we left. If you've followed our hikes, you know we've done some crazy ones like Half Dome in Yosemite, Angel's Landing in Utah and Havasu Falls in Arizona. A lot of planning goes into a hike like this and I knew going into this one that we were not prepared . . . but I didn't know how unprepared we were. There are several trails that lead up to Mt. Katahdin, the highest mountain (elevation 5267 feet) in Maine. We started the hike by signing in at the ranger station, letting them know our start time and which trails we were taking. (It must be dangerous if you have to sign in.) The trail to Mt. Katahdin started out easy enough. We went up the Chimney Pond trail which was a little over 3 miles. The trial was rocky and a little challenging but not a bad start to the day. When we finished this part of the trail, w...

If you read my previous blog, " Let"s Talk Church ," you know I was pretty discouraged about church. I wrote that post on a Sunday morning when Mike went to church and I stayed home. I had gotten to the point where I was going through the motions and my church joy was gone. After a few years of feeling like we were just wandering in the desert, I had given up. Since that post, God has done some crazy good things and I just want to give you an update so you can see how God is working. Three weeks after that post, on a Sunday morning, we were faced again with the decision of where to worship or if we were going anywhere. On Facebook (God can use Facebook for good), I saw a post that Brad Raby who we knew from NorthStar Church was joining the staff at Fellowship Pellissippi and would be preaching that Sunday. Why not? We had no place we had to be so we gave it a try.  After the service, held at Karns High School, we talked about how much we enjoyed it and what we had lear...

I'm always hesitant to use the word "diet" because what comes to mind is depriving yourself of food, watching the scales, and trying to lose wait. When I say diet, I'm talking about ditching the scales and making healthy choices. As most of you know, I began working out at 5:30am (2xs/week) last January and I'm happy to say that I've stuck with it an entire year. It's not been easy! During one of my first workouts, I walked out in tears and was ready to give up. Now after 12 months, I'm ready to move on to year #2. Look at those skinny arms in the picture from my first workout last January. I think I'm making a little progress. I'm at least confident enough now to wear a tank top! :) It's never been about weight loss for me (although that would be nice.) I've actually gained weight this year which is why I had to get rid of the bathroom scales. It's all about being healthy -- not only by exercising but also by eating be...