Tag Archives: long

Long Day

Tom is on the church board and he had a meeting all day today.  Last night I told him that I did not feel like single parenting all day Saturday.  When you go to bed dreading the next day, the next day does not typically start off well.  It didn’t.  Miller woke up at 4:45am, cried for a minute and then fell back to sleep until 5:45.  I finally got up and got him back to sleep while rocking him in the chair in his room.  I was afraid to put him back in his bed so I laid there and tried to get some sleep myself.  We finally both woke up, but I was very tired.  So now I am tired AND not looking forward to the day.  A very bad combination.  The kids were fine, for now.  I was just cranky.

I made breakfast while the kids played. Eventually Wilson did something wrong, as usual.  He does so many things without thinking.  Well, today he will remember the consequence.  He threw puzzle pieces around the downstairs.  I told him numerous times to pick them up but he didn’t.  It was time for the kids to go across the street to have pancakes with a friend as planned.  I didn’t let Wilson go over there until he found all of the pieces.  Needless to say, this took a while.  I told him to “just keep looking”. He missed out on pancakes across the street.  I stuck to my guns which was necessary and I think it he learned something from this long trial.

Today was definitely a rollercoaster ride: up, down, up down, up….I took the boys to Walmart (up), yelled at them when they didn’t get ready for the pool (down), the indoor pool was fun (up), they all cried when we left due to various reasons (down), when we got home Miller fell asleep and the others went to their rooms while I slept (up).

Finally, Tom got home to help with the kids and my mental stability.  We took the kids to Super Salad which is a buffet place that the kids love.  They eat more desserts than they do real food.  I didn’t care.  I just didn’t want to cook or clean up.  Dinner was great.  The kids were well behaved and we got to spend a little bit of family time together.  A good ending to a crazy day.  Attitude is everything and mine was as unpredictable as the kids’ behavior.  Alas, this is life with three young kids….

 

Sara’s Half Marathon

Sara Clark-Long has been a friend of mine for over six years.  She goes to Little Church with us and was a part of our Life Group for many years.  She is also who I am working with, and eventually taking the place of, at the preschool.  Sara has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Last month I promised you that I would tell her story and now that she has run her race, I will tell it.  This is what she has told me and my perceptions as well….

Sara quit smoking two years ago and began working out right after that.  At some point, she decided that she would run half marathon.  She was going to run a particular race until she received a flyer in the mail about the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society team in training and race in Kiawah Island, SC.  She said that she felt like God was telling her to “run” every time she looked at the brochure.  She set the paper aside, but she still felt like God was telling her to run with this group and in this race.  She followed God’s prompting and joined LLS’ team in training.  She began to run and get to know these people.  One night she was listening to a speaker talk about her own diagnosis and symptoms.  As she sat there listening to the symptoms she thought to herself, “I have that symptom, and I have that symptom, and I have that symptom…”.  Again she felt God telling her something.  He told her that she had Leukemia and that this was what she would be facing.  She went to her ENT and told him that she needed a CT scan.  Then she told him that she needed a biopsy. After her doctor finally did these two things they determined that she did have Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.  Her doctor was stunned, but she was not.  She already knew what she had.  God had told her.

Now for those of you that think this story is crazy, I tell you that it is not.  God is very real and he speaks very clearly to those that are willing to listen.  You just have to believe and be willing to listen.  Sara listened and it saved her life.  She also has an amazing story to tell others about God’s greatness.  Sara successfully ran her half marathon last weekend.  She was the Key Note speaker at the dinner the night before the race.  She has also raised over $12,000 for LLS in only a few short months.  And finally, her story was in the December issue of Endurance Magazine. (although she was bummed that they left out the entire “God” part of the story.  That is why I am making sure that I write it in mine!  Her testimony is amazing.)

As of right now, her blood work is clean and she is waiting to feel worse before they start chemo.  Who wants to have chemo when you feel fine?  I wouldn’t!  So, for now, I get to work with Sara three days a week and hear all of her amazing stories.  She has a story of her own to share and she continues to meet others with their own amazing stories of healing and faith.   It just amazes me to hear others’ experiences about how God speaks to believers and steers them in the way that they should go.  God tells us where to go each day, what jobs to take, where to move, who to marry, what school our kids should attend, and what diseases we may have.  We just have to be listening.  Thankfully, Sara listened.

Here is the sign that the school made for her on the Friday before her race.  They gave her a prayer shawl that she will need for chemo and everyday life.  Then her class and the other kids sat around her and we all said a prayer for her before she left to go down to the beach for the race.  Sara is right in the middle of the kids with the blue shirt.  Run, Sara, Run!!

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