Stephen Foster State Park

 Olivia had to do a school project about a certain group of plants (trees, flowers, and desert plants were some of the options given).  Since we live near the Okefenokee, Olivia chose to do Swamp Plants.  We wanted some pictures of plants for her project, so we decided to make a trip to the swamp.  We've been to the Swamp Park in Waycross several times, so we decided to try something new.  We drove an hour and a half to the southern entrance at Stephen Foster state park.  This was deep swamp country, and it looked different than the park in Waycross.  In Waycross the swamp canals are narrow and dense with vegetation.  The park at Stephen Foster is where the Swamp meets up with the Suwannee River, so the water is wide and looks more like a lake than a swamp.  Still, there are plenty of alligators and other wildlife.  In addition to the gators, we saw deer, turtles, and lots of birds.  We took the boat tour and also saw different types of plants.  I couldn't believe how many people were out canoeing and boating.  The swamp was full of people!  The kids and I had a good time and gathered lots of info for Olivia's project.

We added the pictures that we took to Olivia's project.  I think that it came out cute.

101

March 1, 2014 marked my (great) Granny Moore's 101st birthday.  Her (very large) family had a luncheon at Captain Joe's to honor this special event.  Before we ate, Granny Moore stood up, thanked everyone for coming, and told us that she loved us all.  It was an afternoon full of fun- a true celebration.  As always, I am in awe at the amazing health of my great grandmother.  She truly is an amazing woman.

Stop Hunger Now

 This year the kids and I volunteered with Stop Hunger Now.  The area churches (including ours) have been participating in this day of service for three years now, but this was our first time volunteering.  The goal of the program is to raise money to provide food for people in developing countries and then volunteer to pack the meal packets.  This was such an amazing experience.  I was in awe by how well-run the process was.  There were three shifts of volunteers.  Volunteers from our church were among those working the first shift.  Each person had a job.  Some held the meal bags under a funnel.  Others measured and poured into the bags food staples such as rice, beans, and grain.  Completed bags were put into trays which were picked up by "runners" and brought to the front tables to be weighed, sealed, and put into boxes.  Owen and Olivia were runners.  They walked around the room bringing empty trays and taking full trays to the proper destinations.  They did a really good job.  I have had several people comment on how well they did- which is good because they were pretty much unsupervised by me.  I was way too busy with my job- which was weighing the bags.  Mama, Quincy, and the Brooker family were at the table with me.  After weighing the bags, we handed them to Quincy who sealed them.  In our 1.5 hour shift we packaged something like 35,000 meals.  It was crazy.  I'm not sure what the final meal count was.  Hannah and her girls worked the last shift, and she told me but I forgot.  It was over 100,000 meals.  This was an amazing experience, and I hope that we get to participate again next year.

26.2 w/ Donna: The Do-Over

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After last year's disaster at the 26.2 w/ Donna (my first marathon in which I injured my knee and ended up limping for miles to the finish line), I decided the I had to go back and conquer this course.  Quincy and Maura also wanted to do this race again, so they signed up to run the half.  We went down to Jacksonville on the day before the race to pick up our packets and visit the expo.  We made sure to put our names on the large "signs" of encouragement.  These signs are taken and put on the course to inspire the runners during the race.  We were so involved with all of the goings on at the expo, that I didn't really notice my race number until we got back to the hotel.  I had been assigned in the last wave.  This is generally the "walker" wave.  I was a bit concerned about this because I knew I'd be weaving in and out of people for the first couple of miles- and I was.  I literally passed a man who had his foot in a boot and was doing the half marathon on crutches.  This was not a good start.  Luckily, things went well and I found a group of similarly-paced runners around the 5k mark.  The race was every bit a fabulous as I remember.  The course winds through the beach communities of Ponte Vedra and Neptune, Atlantic, and Jacksonville Beaches.  There are even a few miles that are run ON the beach.  The people of these beach communities really go all out.  Many houses were decorated in pink ribbons.  I was offered so much food and drink that I couldn't possibly take it all.  And my favorite part- a lot of the residents tried to entertain us as we ran.  There were several houses where bands were playing, two different guys had a karaoke machine going, one had an accordian, one guy was dancing in a blue "puffy" suit, and two teenagers were doing flips and breakdancing-type moves in their yard.  It was definitely NOT a dull race.  Toward the end of the race, the weather began to turn bad.  It rained on me for the last couple of miles.  They ended up having to cancel the race and pick the remaining runners up off the course due to lightening.  BUT- I was not one of them.  I finished the race prior to it being cancelled with a time of 4:33:37.  This is a PR for me (by like 15 minutes).  I feel really bad for those runners who did not complete the race.  I would cry if I ran 24 or 25 miles only to not be allowed to finish.

Sidney Lanier Bridge Run

 Quincy, Jessica, Maura, and I ran the Sidney Lanier Bridge 5k this year.  This is race has been certified as the "toughest 5k in Georgia".  Runners run over the bridge, and then turn around and run back.  The weather was nice, but really windy.  I could  feel myself getting knocked around a bit at the top of the bridge.  My time was 26:44 (8th out of 64 in my age group).  I always enjoy this race and was so happy to get to participate in it again this year.

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.