Just some updates this Monday morning…

– We ran eighteen miles last Friday. WOO! This was kind of a big deal to us since our training for our last marathon kind of fizzled out once we got to sixteen miles. We vowed to do better this time around, but we were both doubting our ability to do so last week when EIGHTEEN (said in a menacing, low voice) loomed on the horizon. Wes did his before sunrise while I got the girls up and ready for school, then once I got back, I armed myself with Powerade, gels, and ibuprofen and set off. I passed Wes at mile sixteen for him and mile two for me, then realized that my gels had fallen off of my Fuel Belt along the way and that my Powerade was dripping out of its bottles. Never fear, though, because I still had the ibuprofen, which I took at a very hot fourteen miles, making it back home tear-free and feeling good at eighteen miles. (Found my gels on my return trip and picked them right back up off the sidewalk. Those things aren’t cheap!) Look at us, running eighteen miles!

– Somewhere between then and now, though, the top of my left foot has gotten bruised. It feels fine if I’m wearing my running shoes but feels broken when I’m not. Since I don’t intend to live the rest of my life wearing my running shoes, I’ve been taking it easy, putting ice on it, and praying that it won’t be an issue much longer since our first marathon of the season is just two weeks away. Eek!

– I’ve been trying to adjust to a new schedule now that the girls are in school. Haven’t they been in school now for over a month? Shouldn’t I have it all together already? Yeah, well. It’s October, and I think I finally have a routine again. For now. Monday is laundry and housework. Tuesday is the ladies’ Bible study at church. Wednesday is volunteering at the girls’ school. Thursday is lawn work. Friday is our long run. Seems simple enough, right? It’s good to have a plan.

– Speaking of that Tuesday event, we’re now having a ladies’ Bible study at our church on Tuesday mornings. (You probably already got that from what I wrote, though, right?) I’m “teaching” this study, but since I’m fairly certain that I have nothing new to share with spiritually mature women who have been walking with Christ since before I was born (and there is at least one precious woman who has been walking with Him since before my father was born), we’re studying Scripture with the aid and help of a great study by John MacArthur called Twelve Extraordinary Women. It’s one of my favorites, and I’m enjoying studying through it again. So excited to be able to study the Bible with these wonderful ladies who have so much to teach ME!

– Ana and Emma continue to amaze me with what they’re learning… even if I only catch glimpses of it here at home. Ana’s Spanish teacher found me last Wednesday to tell me that Ana understands everything she says in class and that she’s even responding back in Spanish like the rest of her classmates, all of whom had their kindergarten year in dual language. Because neither girl has been all that great at telling me what they’re learning and what certain Spanish words mean, I wondered if they were getting much of anything out of class at all. I’m assuming that Emma is having the same experience, as evidenced by the random occasions when she uses a Spanish word to tell me something, even if she can’t tell me exactly what that word is in English. For example, the ice cream truck was going through our neighborhood the other day, and when the girls and I got outside to try and catch it, we couldn’t hear the music anymore. Ana and I were talking about this, when Emma, in an effort to get us to hush so she could listen more closely, started shouting, “Escucha! Escucha!” She couldn’t tell me what that word was in English, but she knew what it meant in Spanish. That’s some sort of progress, right?

– And for your random Monday morning entertainment, here’s a pie chart of what I like about Walt Disney World…

Isn’t that great? I’ve been trying to figure out a way to include it seamlessly into a blog post, but nothing ever fit. So, now, I’m just fitting it in with all these other random bits of info. Enjoy!