5ks are Fun

I love to walk and run. I love to be with my friends. I love to be outdoors and enjoy the beauty of nature. When you can combine all three of these elements, I love love love it! I've done four different 5ks since September, each with different friends.

Today's was the Hills for Humanity Trail Run and Hike in Portland, put on by OHSU medical students to raise funds for clinics. It was a surprisingly small event.  Our names were not on the list of about 10 participants, though we had both signed up online. But they added our names to the list and gave us our race bibs anyway! It was a gorgeous day and a beautiful hike with lots of hills. After running the up the first hill until we nearly died, we walked the rest of the way, which had been our plan anyway.

What a treat to spend time with Melody Roth, who was my best friend from junior high through a year at Rosedale Bible Institute in Ohio, and a year in Holland. It broke my heart when we returned from Europe in 1979 and she stayed in Philadelphia with our friend Lisa. I think I cried halfway through the flight across the USA! But she ended up back in Oregon, though Portland seems too far away for us to get together much! She mentioned on a Facebook chat that she'd been thinking it might be fun to do a 5k together, and it didn't take me long to send her a few links to choose from!

The Finish Line!

 Afterwards, we went back to her house where I admired her beautiful landscaping and the metal art sculptures she has made. Then we walked down to a local coffee shop, where I went really wild and crazy and ordered their special:  a Honey Lavendar Latte. The barista promised me if I hated it they would let me choose a different flavor. But I liked it. I especially loved the artful squiggle in the shape of a lavendar sprig on top of the drink, which made it almost too pretty to drink.


The first 5k I did was the Walk for the Cause in Albany in September with my dear friend Candace Trower, and it was so much fun to walk, talk, and see other friends along the way. Someone posted a picture of us on Facebook at the time, but I can't find it or I would share it!

In March, two co-workers Trudi and Cindy joined me in walking the iRun for Kids 5k in Albany. We really enjoyed the walk and talk as well as again seeing lots of other friends.

 Last month I joined some friends and coworkers in the Color Me Rad in Eugene, which we ran together. It's not a timed race, it's all about having fun and getting color bombed along the way. We were the "Blister Sisters" and once again, it was very fun. The course was a lovely paved trail along both sides of the river behind Valley River mall, which I am pleased to learn the existence of. What a convenient place to plan a future day combining two favorite activities:  a shopping trip followed by a nice run or walk along the river!

Now I'm looking forward to walking next month's Iris 5k in Keizer with two different friends. I am so thankful to live in this beautiful place and to be blessed with friends and good health to get out and enjoy it!

Lovin' the Fam

Family. Such a beautiful word. How many people are blessed with six brothers and three sisters? It's an especially wonderful blessing when one of them lives far, far away in the cold frozen wastelands of norther British Columbia and you hardly ever have, I mean get, to see him. When he shows up every five years or so, there's a whirlwind of family get-togethers, you laugh a lot, and you find yourself acting like a kid again cause your big brother is picking on you.

My brother Mark left the snowy North for the mild flowering vistas of Oregon for a brief visit this past week. Mark was 3 1/2 years old when I was born, and the story has been told that he stood over my crib, fist raised, repeating, "I'm gonna hit you." He's never stopped picking on me since. But we are very close anyway, as you can see from the picture below.

There was a beautiful sunset visible from the windows of my brother Galen's home after a family dinner, and I got my brothers to come out and enjoy it with me.

 All of my local siblings made it for dinner that night. We missed you, John, Dave and Tom. (And your wives too!)

None of my boys made it to dinner. (They had excuses like work and school and stuff.) But my awesome nephew Duane was there, and I like him better anyway. Especially when he brings the wonderful girl Rachel. Even though Serena seems to like her better than me.

I hadn't noticed what a great hair day Serena was having! She's so cute anyway.

Looks like little brother Doug was having kind of a rough night.

 I did my best to soothe him. It isn't always an easy job to be the big sister.

 Speaking of sisters, I was quite impressed with the way we color coordinated with absolutely no preplanning whatsoever. We are so in tune with each other!

 Linda was very pleased and surprised when Mark showed up to give her a ride to dinner after she'd been told her brother would be picking her up.

I've certainly always loved my siblings, as well as their spouses and children, and enjoyed spending time with them. Hope's fall and the realization that we could have lost her has made me treasure her and my other siblings and family members more than ever before. (Even if some of them are kind of weird. You know who you are. The ones who make me laugh the most. Yes, you.)

Jamison was definitely feeling the love for this trike, which was way too big for him but didn't deter him devoting a great deal of time to it!

 Family is love, and you can never have too much love in your life!

"And now these three remain: Faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."  (I Cor. 13:13)

Hope: In Her Own Words

I know, it's been ages since I updated you on the progress of my dear sister Hope. She made it easy for me by joining Facebook and doing a few updates of her own that I can just copy and paste for those of you who haven't seen the Facebook posts! (Thanks, Hope!)

Friday, April 12:" For my friends who are surprised to see me here (what? you're on facebook?!!) I'll give you two reasons...
#1. I have Time. Lots of it. (Hopefully this is not a permanent problem)!!
And #2. I thought it would be a great place to give God glory. After all, I believe that's why God gave me life, so that He would be glorified.
"Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wonderous things. And blessed be his glorious name forever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and Amen." Psalm 72:18,19"

Thursday, April 11: "The Maranatha Bible School Choir was at Brownsville last Sunday so we went to hear them. It was the first church service since the accident, so it was wonderful to worship like that again. One of the congregational songs touched me right away. "Because He lives I can face tomorrow, Because He lives all fear is gone" ... what?really? no fear? what if these fingers are always stiff and clumsy? these hands always numb and tingly? what if these triceps never return from their extended vacation and I can never comb my own hair, vacuum the rug, change the laundry, or pull out the mixer and flour to make bread? what if I never drive a car again?!!
"Because I know Who holds the future,
And life is worth the living, just because He lives!"
I am so thankful that I don't need to fear tomorrow, God IS already there. He has already answered so many prayers, and I know He will continue to hear and answer!"

See, her own words are way better than anything I could write!

It has become a routine for me to go down and visit on Tuesday evenings and take dinner. I confess, I have to give Mrs. Costco and Papa Murphy the credit for a few dinners, but last week Craig made lasagna, his famous garlic bread, and peanut butter pie for them. It was all a hit! That pie was an event in itself!

Hope has been able to take her neck brace off at night for about a month now, and she has started going short bits of time without it during the day. It's a difficult transition, resulting in increased pain. She fervently wants to get rid of it and the discomfort and inconvenience that goes along with it, so it's pretty frustrating to experience so much pain during the process. Keep on praying! She is also slowly regaining a little tricep motion on her right arm, which had been lacking until a few weeks ago.

The family has enjoyed the pleasure of Micah's company this past week, after an unfortunate rabbit hunting incident resulted in him being tossed from the back of a pickup into a field. Diagnosis: a concussion and something complicated about his shoulder and ligaments and tendons or something.  (It's all Greek to me!) So pray for him also, as he has an appointment with a specialist Monday to find out what treatment will involve. In the meantime, he's pretty excited to have the opportunity to sit around and recover. (NOT!) But how nice for his mother to have a companion to sit with her as she recovers! By now he's up and about a good deal more than he was those first few days, but the body does hurt after a jolt like that.

Thank you for continuing to remember Hope and her family in your prayers. I am so amazed and appreciative of my friends who don't know Hope, who ask about her and let me know they are still praying for her, as well as those who do know her and faithfully pray. We believe that God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or imagine, according to his power at work within us!