Letters from Taryn

As you may know, we sponsor a child (Taryn Chichina) in Kenya through Compassion International.  We enjoy receiving letters from our child.  She is such a sweet girl and is doing so well.  In her last letter, she stated that her new favorite sport is running- a girl after my own heart.

As the kids get older, we are going to try to get them more involved with writing to Taryn.  We think this is a good way for them to learn about life in other parts of the world.  This is also a good way to get them started in mission work.  The Compassion program has a mobile "experience" that travels around the country.  This group sets up a series of rooms that are re-creations of the environments in which some of the sponsored children are raised.  The Compassion Experience is free the visit.  A few weeks ago this program came to our area, so we decided to check it out.  It was wonderful.  When you check in, you are given a headset hooked to an ipod.  As you move through the different "scenes" of a child's life, you hear the story of this kid in his/her own words.  We walked through the life of a girl in Uganda, and it was very moving.  After we finished the kids wanted to go through again, so we did the walk through for a boy from Bolivia.  I think what Olivia and Owen took away from this experience was a little bit of understanding that not everyone in this world is as fortunate as they are.  Hopefully this will lead to future conversations about helping others who are less fortunate.

Angry Tortoise 25K

 After having such a good time at the Superman 8k, I was eager to try another trail run.  I kept my eye out for a local event, and found the Angry Tortoise 25K (15.5 miles).  This race was held in a state forest outside of Jacksonville.  I couldn't convince anyone to go with me, so I went solo.  I'm glad I didn't sit it out because the course was awesome, the weather was beautiful, and I felt so good just being out in nature.  Due to the race being in a state forest, we had to bring our own water container (they couldn't hand out cups).  I bought a camelbak to wear, but ended up not needing it because the weather was so nice.  The miles flew by.  It had been a rainy few weeks, so there were a few "water obstacles".  This just made the race more fun.  I finished with a time of 2:40:02.  I am definitely interested in doing this run again next year.

Father-Daughter Dance

 The Annual Father-Daughter Dance is THE place to be on the first weekend in February.  Olivia always looks forward to spending this time with her Daddy.  We start planning her outfit weeks before the dance.  This year, she chose a pretty pink dress with sequins on the belt and straps.  I curled her hair to her specifications and put a little make-up on her.  Her daddy came to the door to get her and brought her a beautiful corsage.  The big thing this year was that she got to sit in the front seat of the car (which she has never been allowed to do before).  After a nice dinner at Captain Joe's, these two made their way to the dance.  Brian took several pictures and video clips of the dance, and it looked like a fun time.  Brian reported that this was the "year of the balloon" because the girls spent a great deal of time playing with these decorations.  Olivia was glad to see Claire and some of her friends from school and church at the dance.  She was all smiles when she came home.  I'm so glad that these two get to spend this time together.  And, as a side note, Owen and I had a great time too.  We ate pizza with Granny Mel and then we watched The Croods on Netflix.

Introducing... Addison Grace Sanders

I am so excited to post a picture of my niece, Addison Grace Sanders.  She is the daughter of Brian's brother Gary and his wife Katie.   She was born on Jan. 29th.  I have been looking at pictures of her on Facebook for several weeks now, and I am convinced that she is perfect in every way.  I'm really hoping that we'll be able to make it up north to meet this little princess this summer.  I can't wait to get that sweet baby sugar.

Superman 8K Trail Race

Our little running group kicked off the new year at the Superman 8K trail run. This was approximately 5 miles of dirt roads, forests, and trails.  We even ran over a dam.  I have not done much trail running in the past, but after this race I want to do more.  It was SO much fun.  The runners for the 8K were Quincy, her boyfriend Chase, me, and Jessica.  Jessica and I won our age division, Chase placed in his.  My time was 43.04, which I was happy with.  After the 8K, there was a fun run for the kids.  I ran with Natalie and Thomas ran with Audrey.  These girls also did a great job.   I really hope that this race becomes an annual event, because it was loads of fun.

Ringling Bros.

 A few weeks ago Brian and I took the kids to the Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus.  We both remember going as kids and thought that this would be a fun experience for Owen and Olivia.  In the end, I don't know who enjoyed it more- the kids or their parents.  It was so entertaining.  We witnessed all of the usual circus fair- acrobats, trapeze, tightrope, clowns, lions, tigers, elephants.  It was a blast.  I think everyone's favorite was the globe with the motorcycles.  Those people are crazy to ride in that cage.  They certainly must practice a lot. This was definitely a fun afternoon.

Jacksonville Bank Marathon

 On the last weekend of 2013, I ran the Jacksonville Bank Marathon.  I was really hoping to do better in this race then I did in my first Marathon, but I did not.  I finished in 4:54:54.  I think that a big part of the problem was the rain.  It started raining between mile six and seven, and continued to pour throughout the rest of the race.  In essence, I ran in the (sometimes heavy) rain for about four hours straight.  Even though I was hoping for a better time, I am happy to have finished this race in under five hours.  This is definitely a race that I'll never forget.  

The Jacksonville Bank Marathon was my last race of 2013.  In all, I ran twelve 5ks, three 10ks, one 5-miler, one 15k, two half marathons, 2 full marathons, one triathlon, and several fun runs with the kids during 2013.  I PRd in the 10k distance, which was not something that I expected to do. The new year is already off to a great start.  Last week, I completed my first 5k of 2014- the Cool Shark 5k- and placed first in age group with a time of 25.06.  I hope to continue to increase my time and distance in this new year.  I also want to learn to swim a little better and complete a few triathlons this year.