growing.... growing.... gone!

Oh Kaiden...the other night when I was trying to get Keane to sleep you and your 5 year old self walks in and asks "MOM, is this is a zit?" and points under your neck. I stifle a laugh and answer you "No kaid that is just a vein, you won't get zits until your 13". This is my boy who I swear is 5 going on 13. He begins many sentances with "when I'm big like daddy.....", and he tells me in the car one day "Mom when I grow up and am big like daddy I'm not going to live with you anymore"...oh that broke my heart! He then went on to say he would probably be a surfer. You do that Kaid! You do anything you want to do and your dad and I will support you. I'm coming to the realization that in another 5 years Kaid will be 10 and then 15 and then 20. This growing up thing goes way to fast. It is bittersweet. I will miss my children as babies but will enjoy seeing the many seasons in their lives. At 5 years old I can already see Kaid's compassion for others. He is very sensitive and although not always the kindest with his brothers (rightfully so) he is the first to sense when someone is hurt or left out and he will try to fix that. I also see in Kaid and Keegan a child like faith for God which brings me much joy. I can only pray that God will protect them and help me be the best mom I can be as they are growing older.

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.
Proverbs 22:6

This says it all right here

Ethiopian Orphans from Simon Scionka on Vimeo.

Happy Birthday Kaid & Keegan (Part 1)

On October 3rd Kaiden Riley turned 5 years old! We came a week early to Michigan before the Chicago Marathon so we could visit family and we were back just in time to celebrate Kaid's birthday on Sunday (Oct 3rd). Grandma Faith made it a fall birthday party for all the boys and they each had their own cake with candles to blow out. Keegan turned 3 on September 3rd..and Keano turned 1 on October 13th. There were 16 kiddos in all that day and our first event was going to the pumpkin patch to pick out some pumpkins and go on a hayride. We also got talked in by the men (Mike & Scotty) to go in a corn maze with all the kids. Thankfully we had 6 adults to keep everyone in tow. The adults were Scott's cousins Kelly and Tona, her husband Billy, Mike, Faith, Scott and me. Yes we were largely outnumbered. Thankfully nobody went MIA in the corn maze and we all made it out safely. We then hopped on the wagon and rode over to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins. The older kids picked out their big pumpkins in what took seconds as soon as they hopped off the wagon. 3 year old Keegan however wanted to find the perfect pumpkin. His qualifications for the perfect pumpkin: it must be tiny (the smaller the better), it must have a good handle on it for holding aka: a long stem, it must be a bright orange with no other spots, and it must be round. Pumpkin after pumpkin failed Keegan's test and he finally found the perfect one 10 minutes later. After all the 16 kids pumpkins were measured and paid for we headed over to the barn were there were horses, goats, chickens, sheep, and kittys to be pet. Keegan loves horses and their were two beautiful giant horses that he enjoyed petting. As we were petting the horse I heard some commotion going on behind us. Come to find out...one of the kids let the sheep out of the fence! It was running around outside. I personally thought this was the funniest thing ever. You gotta love the mind of a child...we'll never know if it was an accident or on purpose! This wraps up part 1 of the birthday party day. Here are some pics of the hayride...stay tuned for part 2!

Happy 1st Birthday Keano!

Keano...to my funny little guy...you turned 1 year old on October 13th, 2010! How the past year has gone by so fast. We've watched you grow so much the past year. We love you so much!

Chicago Marathon

Yesterday 10-10-10 I ran the Chicago Marathon as most of you know! It was such an amazing expierience that I will always remember. 45,000 people and I place 8,126. I ran the 26.2 miles in 3:59:16...just under 4 hours (the time I was going for)! The first 22 miles felt like nothing. It wasn't until the last three miles that my muscles started tensing up like I've never felt before, but there was no way I was about to stop running. I put one foot in front of the other until I got to that finish line. The end was all worth it as I was greeted with a medal and a nice cold gatorade. I ran the race in my Team World Vision jersey with our two sponsered children Bonface from Kenya and Dinkishe from Ethiopia pinned on my shirt. (Which is kind of ironic because the first place winner for the marathon was from Kenya and the second place was from Ethiopia). Looking at our sponsered childrens faces kept me going till the end as I knew I was running this race for them. Our team raised this money specifically for wells to be built in African villages of Kenya and Ethiopia. It was so cool how everyone on Team World Vision supported and encouraged eachother through out the race. You saw an orange jersey and you hooped and hollared to eachother! There was a connection there with eachother. As we all knew exactly what we were running for. This is definatley not the end of my marathon journey. It's like eating chips and salsa...once you eat one you can't stop. I already have my next marathon I will be training for in March, the ocean drive marathon. I will still be running for team world vision and gathering donations to be built in Africa. So if you couldn't donate this time, you'll have your chance to donate again. Thanks so much for those of you who did this time. And a special thank you to my husband who encouraged me when I wanted to give up.

3 1/2 weeks till CHICAGO MARATHON!!!!

Okay so if you couldn't note the excitement in the title to this post...there is only 3 1/2 weeks till I run 26.2 miles! yoohoo! So pumped! A few weeks ago I did a 15miler and this Wednesday will be my big 20 miles before race day. So please please keep me in your prayers that day. It'll be long, it'll be hard, but very worth it! I only have 3 1/2 weeks left of fundraising as well. Which means we are down to the wire. If you wanted to donate to world vision to help build wells for clean water in Africa and support me in running this 26.2 miles please right now go over to my fundraising website and click on donate. $5.00, $50.00, or even $100.00! Whatever is on your heart to give please do it. This is exactly why I'm running....our team will have raised over a million dollars to build wells in Africa so they can have clean water when this is all said and done. My website http://twv.convio.net/goto/irunforafrica
donate! Thank you so much everyone!

Last days of summer