There was a lot of misery in the Faulk house last week. It began the weekend before when our niece, who our girls spent the night with, had a little bit of a stomach bug. The girls came home and had a little bit of the same, and after a day of recovering on Monday, we thought they were both done. They were not. They continued to have stomach issues through Friday evening. Then, Wes woke up sick on Saturday, and before I could get him well, I was sick, too! (Meanwhile, our nephew became sick with something that was totally different than what we all had, and my niece has been fine. So, I’m thinking we had two different bugs in our two different households.) We spent Saturday letting the girls take care of us (which means we let them crawl all over us as we laid there helplessly on the living room couches), and Emma was kind enough to wake me up several times that night, thanks to the “scary noise” from the thunderstorm, making my trips out of bed a “two birds with one stone” kind of deal as I was able to take her to her room and go throw up in the bathroom again. (I tried to explain to Emma that the noise was just God watering the animals, but she wasn’t convinced until the next morning when she told Wes, “God was just waterin’ the animals, Papi!,” as though she hadn’t been a bit scared. Grr.)

Thanks to little sleep, we were able to make the sunrise service with Wes and the breakfast that followed. They had cantaloupe, which made Emma’s whole week. We’re on the mend now, hopefully. If anyone else shows signs of this thing, I may just make them move out. (Hear that, Charlie?!)

Earlier in the week, when we weren’t feeling like death, Wes registered us for the 2012 Disney Marathon. I’m excited about this for two reasons. One, because the medal for completing the marathon is really cool. Two, because it means we’ll be going to Disney World again. Notice how I didn’t say that I’m excited about actually running the 26.2 miles? I’m wondering (as are my legs and my heart) how I’m actually going to do this, but we have a plan in hand and are determined. Wes, who could totally finish under five hours, opted not to take that route on his registration because he wants to run alongside me. He may regret that when I demand that he carry me piggyback for the last ten miles, but for the time being, we’re both looking forward to accomplishing this big dream together. We’ve looked at the running route online, and we really can’t wait to run through all four parks together. What fun!

Just to make sure that we stay faithful to seriously training in the meantime, Wes also signed us up for a half-marathon at the end of July. The event is actually called the Sizzling Summer Half-Marathon because (as you would imagine) it’s going to be hot. But, hey, if we’re training in the heat before then, it shouldn’t be that big of a deal, right? Right?! Before we can get there, though, we’re scheduled to run our first 5K this Saturday. We’ve never even run a 5K, and we’re signed up for a marathon. Dreaming big, I tell you! If I haven’t said it before, I’m very thankful for a husband who is so serious about being healthy and staying fit and making crazy big dreams come true. And who is willing to let slow, old me join him!

Our runs have been much cooler lately, thanks to the rain we’ve been getting. Ana was so excited about the rain because “your lettuce will grow now, Mommy!” I don’t actually have any lettuce growing in our yard, but the plants I have planted do resemble lettuce. (I was told they were the sturdiest little plants ever and that I would have a hard time killing them. We’ll see about that…) I’ve been watering them pretty faithfully, but they sure do look better after natural watering, as does the grass. So thankful for the rain!

I’m also thankful for Facebook. I have a love/hate relationship with it, and you’ll probably hear me say that I’m leaving it for good a few more times in the next few years, I’m sure. I really wasn’t missing it this last time… until we realized how often we were using it to communicate with people around here. People don’t respond to emails or phone calls quite as faithfully as they do to Facebook. So, we’re back! Let the love/hate continue on…

And I need to get this laundry done. And this house cleaned. And about a hundred other things. Hope your week is off to a great start!