A Day to Remember

This past Sunday was definitely a day to remember in my book, one that I had been looking forward to with anticipation for weeks.  And it didn't disappoint.  The day started early, as I had to set my alarm for around 5:30 a.m. in order to battle traffic and road closures to make it to the start of the Pittsburgh Half Marathon.  I had trained hard for this race, and was planning to run a lot of it with my awesome friend, Sara.  We started off fast (too fast, as it would turn out) and cruised along at a stellar pace for the first 8 or 9 miles.  Sadly, the combination of sunshine + warm temps + hills eventually took their toll and we both slowed considerably in the final miles.  Also, mile 12 was totally uphill.  That's just cruel, course designers!  I had really wanted to finish in under 1:50 and despite passing the 1:50 pace guy on my sprint (okay, fast jog) to the finish line I clocked in a few seconds over that.  Still, I had a blast and my time was significantly faster than last year.  Now to attack my PR of 1:44...

After the race, I drove home, showered, and ate and drank as much as I could cram in before getting in the car again to drive to Hershey, PA to meet my favorite band, Lady Antebellum.  I am so glad that you don't have to stand up to drive, as my legs were definitely protesting all the movement at this point.  I stopped to pick up my sister (who offered to come along the night before a final exam - who is this person?) and we hit the road again.  I was able to meet all the members of the band, ask them a few questions, and just hang out for a bit.  They are amazingly wonderful, and the whole experience was one I will not soon forget.  A big shout out to Eric and my mom for covering childcare for the girls so I could make this happen!

A Moment

A conversation between Emily and I on the way to school today:

Emily: "Mom, I want to be both when I grow up."
Me: "Both what, honey?  I don't understand."
Emily: "Both a mom and something else.  Like have a job."
Me: "That's great honey.  I think you should do that someday."
Emily: "Yup, I am going to be a mom and a ballerina.  I'm going to have lots of beautiful tutus and my kids will come and watch me dance every night."

And there it was, one of the moments that makes my heart burst with love for my oldest daughter.  Having kids is so hard.  Each day brings challenges and mistakes and exhaustion.  But everyday I get at least one moment like this one, and I don't know how or why, but it makes all the other moments worth it.

Growing

This morning when Emily walked down the stairs after waking up in the morning, I was awestruck by how big my baby is getting.  This happens occasionally when I'm not expecting it. I'll glance over and suddenly be close to tears as I look at her, blown away by how beautiful she is, or by the sheer size of her.  The other day I was folding laundry, looking at her pants and wondering how they fit her legs.  They seemed impossibly long.  This girl and I, we've had our share of battles lately.  Perhaps a taste of what's to come as she gets older, I'm not sure.  She has a strong will, she pushes a lot, and I push back.  She tries my patience on a daily basis it seems, but sometimes when I look at her face, that all fades away.  She's simply perfection, my Emily.

The Pursuit of Patience

I am not a patient person by nature.  I wish that I was, and I envy people whose patience is seemingly endless, but I'm not.  If you asked my family and close friends, I am sure they would agree.  But one of the lessons I've learned through parenting is that there are times you are forced to be patient.  If you don't, you end up losing your cool about a dozen times an hour because it has taken your child longer than necessary to get dressed, or you watch your child make yet another mess just as you finished cleaning up the last one.

Do things like this still bother me on occasion?  Sure, but I'm slowly learning to let go.  One of the reasons I know I need to grow in patience is because I can hear the tone in my voice when I speak out of frustration and impatience with my children.  It makes me cringe.  And what's worse is that sometimes, my frustration has nothing to do with the child I snap at.  For example,when Sophie is going through a particularly needy, clingy phase where even disengaging her to go to the bathroom by myself is an ordeal, I am much quicker to speak harshly with Emily when she accidentally spills her milk.  Is it fair?  No.  Is it human nature?  Maybe, but I so badly want to be better than that.

As often happens when I struggle with something in parenting, I find help and a little perspective by drawing a parallel from my faith.  When I examine my own life, how frequently and how badly I screw up on a daily basis, I am beyond thankful that I serve a patient God.  A God who is always waiting to welcome me with open arms despite my transgressions.  So my prayer is to slowly become more like my God, who "is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love" (Psalm 103:8).

Spring Fever

(Before I begin this post, I offer my apologies for this neglected blog space.  I don't know how it started, but the posts weren't getting done, and then I wasn't sure what I wanted to blog about, and well, things snowballed.  I've decided to begin with a post of pictures, because that seems easy enough, and then go from there.)

This week is spring break for Emily and Sophie, as both preschool and MMO (which stands for Mother's Morning Out) are closed.  Not such a big deal, except that it means I am not working much this week, and instead of only lining up activities and adventures for two days, there are many more hours to fill.  So, spring "break" isn't very aptly named for this momma.  Blessedly, the weather has been pretty good, and we are spending a lot of hours outside swinging, sliding, and generally just enjoying the warm sunshine on our faces.

Sophie isn't intimidated by anything, and will go down the smallest slope to the tallest slide!

Emily occasionally practices her dunking, much to the delight of her father.

"Oh no, no one is open, now what do I do?"

Always the little fashionista, Emily swings in style.

Children's Museum

Yesterday I took Emily to the Children's Museum for an afternoon of fun with Daddy. We had been looking forward to it for a while, and occasionally Emily would tell me things like "Daddy, sometimes I just can't sleep because I'm thinking a lot of things about the children's museum". Part of the fun was getting to ride the bus on the way there and back, which Emily got quite excited about. The museum turned out to be even more fun than the bus, and had new exhibits since we'd been there last.

Waiting eagerly for the bus.

Crawling through the giant tires in the garage room.

Emily climbed the rope net all the way to the top without getting scared (unlike last time).

We made a wheel to roll down the track.

The water room was once again a BIG hit (despite some wet socks and shoes).

Emily overcame her fear of the giant tunnel system and discovered it was lots of fun.

The only exhibit that was a bit of a dud was the craft workshop where the two of us spent fifteen minutes wandering around wondering exactly what we were supposed to make until we decided to just go ride the virtual car again. We agreed that Mommy could take Emily there to try some crafts some time. It was a great afternoon, and Emily told me when she went to bed that she was thinking about the museum so much she just couldn't fall asleep. Somehow, she was tired enough that she still did.

Fader Fundraiser Letter

Dear Family and Friends,

On May 6, 2012, I will be lacing up my sneakers to run the Pittsburgh Half Marathon. And while many of you know that running is one of the things I love best, you not be as familiar with something else I love: the Fader family. Eric and I first met Jason and Heather Fader when they came to live with Eric and I briefly in the fall of 2000 in Ann Arbor while they were searching for a more permanent home. Heather is the sister of one of my best friends, so Eric and I were more than happy to have them be our guests for awhile. They have been dear to our hearts ever since, and I can say with complete sincerity that they are two of the people whom I admire and respect most. They live out their faith and their calling with such dedication and joy!

Here is a bit more about their story:

Both Jason and Heather Fader sensed that God was preparing them for medical missions even as children— Heather in Wisconsin, and Jason in Kenya, where his parents were medical missionaries.

In 1995, Jason and Heather first met in a general chemistry laboratory at Calvin College in Michigan. They were married shortly after graduating in 1999. Then, while Jason was in medical school at Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine in Chicago, Heather completed a Master of Arts in Teaching and began teaching high school chemistry and Spanish. They moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 2003, for Jason’s residency in general surgery. In 2005, their daughter Anna was born, and in 2009, they adopted Abigail from Ethiopia. It was also in Ann Arbor that they met two other families from their church who similarly felt called to medical missions. The three families decided to begin
working together to serve God as one team.

From 2009 to 2011, the Faders and their team served at Tenwek Hospital in Kenya. Jason and the other physicians in the group cared for patients and also trained and discipled Kenyan interns and residents. During those very fulfilling two years, the team added two more doctors to their numbers and explored options where they could continue teaching medical trainees in a long-term setting.

The whole team feels called to move to Burundi, in Central Africa, to be the clinical teaching faculty for medical students who attend the medical school at Hope Africa University. These eager students have had no permanent faculty since the medical school began in 2006. This is an opportunity of tremendous potential to train and disciple African medical students who will be the leaders of this underserved, impoverished, post-war nation.

Of all the many worthy causes to support, I find myself first and foremost wanting to invest in the Faders and the McCropder team.Jason and Heather told us recently that the entire country has a total of nine surgeons! Can you imagine that?! Talk about being able to fill a great need! However, given our current financial situation (Eric in school full-time and me as a mostly stay-at-home mom to Emily and Sophie) we aren't able to support them financially as much as we'd like. So instead, I am pledging to fund-raisefor them while I train for this half marathon. I think of them often while I run, and the good work that they are committed to doing in the Lord's Kingdom.

If possible, would you prayerfully consider making a donation to their cause as I run to raise awareness of their good work? As little as $1 per mile that I will run (13!) would be so much appreciated.

To donate on-line, just visit this website:
http://www.whm.org/give/missionary?ID=51320
Or, if you would prefer to give or send me a check, you can make it our to World Harvest Missions with Fader in the subject line. I can make sure you get a tax-deductible receipt.

Thanks so much for considering! Please let me know if you have any questions.

Blessings,

Sarah