Alright, let's hope this will get me caught up... before the next hiatus. Warning: long post, no pictures.
I'm loving Bryan/College Station, seriously loving it. It's hard to imagine how I ever truly loved Dallas. Except for friends, there's not much about the big city that I miss. I love the fact that I can go from my house in Bryan to south CS in 10-15 minutes. I'm actually early (or at least on time) to most places – which is a huge step up for me! I've finally settled in to a new norm here. The roomies are great, and it's been a blessing to be out of an apartment and in an actual neighborhood. Less stress, less noise, less corporate work = win.
That said, life has not slowed down in the least. But then, I don't think it's in me to really slow down much. Here's what been going on:
Dallas trip: Made a quick weekend trip back to Big D last month. Needed to take the Mac in for a battery replacement and figured I'd stick around and spend time with my pals up there. As soon as I drove in to town, and subsequently hit rush hour traffic, I thought – nope, don't miss anything about this place. I did eat at Panera twice and revamped that statement slightly (although I have since discovered that CS is getting a Panera soon!). But, it was a great time to celebrate birthdays, run at White Rock, worship, stay up late talking, hang out over pizza and American Idol, and share conversation over coffee. One of the neatest things about friendship with all different kinds of people is the unique perspectives you get on life. I've found that I am just as blessed and challenged by those very different from me as by those whom I have much in common with. It's refreshing to be able to share life with people from various backgrounds, cultures, and beliefs.
Gearing up for Guinness: Mercy Project's epic 49-hour baseball adventure is upon us. I'm hopeful that the 50+ players will not be so sick of my weekly emails that they fail to accommodate my lack of skill on the field, but one way or another, it's about to all go down (March 30-April 1). This is another one of those things that I am excited to see come to fruition. There will be countless innings and unfathomable scores along with great food, one huge campout, and (hopefully) lots of enthusiastic community support. (Beer Fest at the same location that weekend – score!) There will certainly be A LOT of money raised that will be a huge win for the kids in Ghana. We are excited!
Also upcoming: BCS Marathon Registration Opens – May 15, Art Auction – June 16, and Summer Group Trip – early July. Great stuff happening for the Kingdom.
Ghana Bound: It's that time again. 3 hours to DC, then a "short" 10 hour hop to Accra. 4 of us leave tomorrow (!) for an 8-day excursion – visiting villages, meeting kids on the lake, and whatever else we can get into. Please pray for our journey, that God would use us to further His work, wherever and whatever that may mean. I am pumped about being back. Honestly, this trip has completely snuck up on me. I'm not sure how that happens, but it just has. Testament to everything else going on, I guess. It's sometimes easy for me to lose sight of the big picture stuff when I'm focused on t-shirts, planning, emails, and day-to-day tasks here. Thankfully, I'm often reminded that this work is not about my schedule or to-do list. God is doing so much through Mercy Project; He continues to show up in ways beyond what we can imagine or hope for. "Hanging on for the ride" is right where I want to be: learning to surrender control and just be grateful for the journey. I have much to learn; thankfully we serve a gracious God.
Race week was insane. A good portion of that was because I moved down 10 days before race day and spent a good amount of time trying to figure out which end was up, but there was so much excitement surrounding the big weekend that I really would not have wanted it any other way. It was such a cool experience to see everything come to fruition, to see the end result of months of work. So many people gave up hours of their time to make this event great. (We had fantastic design/advertising as well – check out The Bright Agency here.) Having been to several marathons in the past, I naively thought I knew what all went into planning/organizing something like this. Ha. Hahaha. Boy, did I have a lot to learn (and still do). I also thought things would come to a screeching halt afterwards. Oh, I'm such a newb. But, let's not get sidetracked...
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| awesome volunteers setting up at the start |
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Aside from a "small" shirt order glitch, everything went off without a hitch, and we were able to step back and enjoy race weekend once it arrived. There was so much positive energy at packet pick-up and leading into Sunday morning. The weather was perfect, the volunteers and spectators were fantastic, and the race itself was a blast. I was especially excited to run the course, as I had only driven it one time and was still learning street names and my way around town. But it was honestly so much fun, maybe more so than past marathons for me. I had some doubts about running in a small event, but I loved it. And there were inevitably those moments that I chided screamed at myself for ever considering running another marathon (along about mile 22), but we all know how that turned out. I am already planning #7.
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| elite athletes leading the pack |
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One of the coolest things about this race was knowing so many of the runners and watching them finish. Even watching complete strangers cross the finish line was inspiring to me and something that I haven't really done before in a race. It's usually finish and take off for me, so it was really neat to be there until the last runner came through. Being somewhat towards the end of the pack time-wise, it's easy for me to think the "good part" of the race is over by the time I arrive. But I was reminded that each runner has their own goals, their own race to run, whether they come in first or last, each is a unique victory to be celebrated. It was so fun to be able to witness those moments.
By far the greatest thing over the course of the event was that so many new people were able to hear about Mercy Project and the stories of the children in Ghana. It was a great platform and opportunity with which to share our work as well as help out a local children's charity in the process. What started as a small idea (not mine!) back in the summertime completely snowballed into something far greater than we could've imagined. Once again, God used some very ordinary people to accomplish great things for the Kingdom.
A few facts about the race:
• In it’s inaugural year, the BCS Marathon was the largest marathon/half marathon in Texas outside of the four major metropolitan areas (D/FW, Houston, Austin, San Antonio).
• Marathon ranking website www.marathonguide.com currently shows the BCS Marathon with 5/5 stars on organization and course, and 4.5 stars on fans. This is based on nearly 200 reviews from runners and currently makes the BCS Marathon the highest ranked marathon in the state of Texas, over Houston, Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio.
We're pretty fired up about these things for several reason, but mostly because we think this is a great opportunity to grow awareness in the community and raise a good chunk of change for children locally and globally. They are the true winners out of it all.
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| banners along the final stretch |
So, mark those calendars for December 9, 2012. We're adding a children's race on the Saturday before the big race and expect to host many more folks this year. Registration opens on May 15 via the race website, and we are already planning for another successful event. Can't wait!
*Photo credits go to Mr. Field. You can view these larger by clicking on them.
If you've been around a runner, or are a runner yourself, you've most likely heard this saying. If you haven't, eh, chalk it up to "one of those runner things". I found this type treatment when I was researching subway signs the other day and thought it was pretty cool. While there are no speed contests in my training lately, I do find myself up before the sun quite often. I hate, HATE getting out of bed in the mornings, but it tends to grow on a person after a while. Compared to Dallas, this place is so quiet; that early morning time is a really great way to start the day. Peaceful. Sunrise. All the newspapers are out. "Good morning" exchanges with the elderly folks coming out to retrieve said newspaper. Time to reflect on the day ahead. And/or write my "to-do" list!
So this morning I have welcomed the sun (and the wind, surprisingly), consumed my peanut butter toast, turned on some chill music, and am ready to tackle the day.
Music of the day: Gungor... really liking the song Beautiful Things. Some of their other stuff is whiny.
You make beautiful things,
You make beautiful things out of dust.
You make beautiful things,
You make beautiful things out of us.
All around,
Hope is springing up from this old ground.
Out of chaos, life is being found in You.
You make me new,
You are making me new,
You make me new,
You are making me new.
Here's to Friday.
Today I am thankful for peanut butter, foam rollers, Skype, t-shirt sheets, and John Denver.
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Really trying to be mindful of the season of Lent this year and lean into that time. A great paraphrasing I've been mulling over today, via a friend's site:
"Trust me enough to spend ample time with Me, pushing back the demands of the day. You will find that you can accomplish more in less time, after you have given yourself to me ... As you align yourself with my perspective, you can sort out what is important with what is not. Don't fall into the trap of being constantly on the go. Many, many things people do in My Name have no value in My Kingdom. To avoid doing meaningless work, stay in constant communication with Me. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you."
(Luke 10:41-42, Psalm 32:8) --Jesus Calling by Sarah Young
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This little gem arrived in the mail today, Mammut's S-Lite. I get really excited when packages arrive – even more so when it's something this cool. May have to do a little night running to test it out. Here's to hoping there's a good ending to the one that shattered on the tile floor...
Next up, Mercy Project and BCS happenings.
