What's Going On

It's taken me a while to update our blog. It isn't that things haven't been going on, but it just seems I haven't taken the time to post about it. So, I'll try to give it to you in a nut shell.

First of all, a teacher friend of mine always had the goal to run a half marathon, so she asked if I'd want to train with her. I told her upfront that I would be glad to train with her, but had absolutely no intention of running the half marathon. Well, guess what I'm doing this weekend --- running the Eisenhower Half Marathon in Abilene, Kansas. Here's the crazy thing --- I'm excited about it! I have adapted it now as MY goal, and yes, I think I'm crazy that running 13.1 miles at one time could make me excited. Luckily, there are 2 other friends in this with me, so that has made the training much easier. Today we did our last long run - 8 miles. To give this a little more of a purpose, I set up a Cause on Facebook for the NFED and am raising money for the organization through my half marathon. I had no idea if I would actually raise any money or not, but decided to try. Well, to my amazement, I'm currently at $900! Now that I've raised that much for the NFED, I am really hoping it might get to $1000 before Saturday, April 10 when I run. I am giving 10% for every dollar given. It has been pretty exciting. To really share my purpose for doing this, I had a shirt printed to wear for the race (and had one printed for Chris to wear on the sidelines too).

The front of the shirt - mMay seem like a strange statement - it was Chris' creativity. Since many with Ectodermal Dysplaisas can't sweat, we thought this would be appropriate. Hopefully, when people don't get it they'll ask, and then we can be spreading more awareness. I know, I get excited about the little things.

Back of the shirt

Yesterday and today as a family we decided to start working outdoors, since the days are finally becoming a little nicer.

Ryan
Hired lawn mower man

Grant
We'll call him the hired lawn mower man "want-to-be".

Grant headed out to the garden with his pail and shovel. The wind was really strong and chilly so I thought the hat was necessary.

Grant wanted to help plant the onions.
He liked "tossing" them from where he was standing.

Trying to get him to "place" the onion bulb in the correct place.

Grant out in the wheat field (I think he tried to escape).
Luckily, his wonderful brother Tyler went out to bring him back.

Andrew received a shovel and rake as an Easter bunny present from his Grandma and was very excited to work in the garden with me today. But, he had a fever all night, came to work for a short while, said it was too cold and went back in the tractor with his Dad. I'll have to make sure and post pictures of him helping "weed" the garden later. So, that's what we've been up to. Have a Happy Easter, as we remember the huge sacrifice Jesus made for each of us, dying on the cross, and then raising again on Easter morning. Thank you!