About a month ago Chrsty and I took a Saturday and went out and helped repaint a womens shelter down in Richmond. This was part of an effort of our local church, Crossbridge, to show the city.. the community… the people… that the church is part of more things than just looking at themselves. Every year, they shut down services and spend the weekend being the church to whoever needs help. This year it was a Saturday only, but included repainting a womens shelter, fixing several other buildings and structures for various non-profits and spending some time with the elderly at a local nursing home.

We had a great time getting out with others and really making a difference around where we live. Hopefully this targeted weekend reminds everyone that “Showing The Love” isn’t just a one weekend per year thing, but rather a constant day-to-day part of our lives. Here’s a video of some of the stuff that went on.

Every year we get together with a bunch of friends and throw a big front yard party for Halloween at the Nilsson’s. We go all out with a bounce house, free hotdogs, free cokes, games for the kids, music, candy, candy and more candy! It’s a great time to meet neighbors and show kids and families that we care about our city and them.

A lot of people know that I like to run.  I’m not very fast and I don’t call myself an athlete, I just like it.  When discussing this topic with many folks, I get a plethora of responses.  Here are my favorites:

“You mean you run all those miles at one time?”

“I don’t run unless someone is chasing me” followed by their own laughter.

“You running from the law?”

“How many miles is this marathon?”

“I hate to run”

The thing about running is that it is never really easy.  Every Saturday morning I have to talk myself into it.  It’s not the getting up early that’s a problem, it’s knowing what I am about to face.  The heat…and not just any heat…Texas humid wet oven heat.  The chaffing, oh my, if you don’t know what that is, trust me you don’t want to know.  The aches allllll over. I usually get some knee pains, followed by ankle pain, then the burning in my thighs and hamstrings, followed by the crazy tightening of the back…but I keep going.

I do, however get to watch the sun rise on some mornings, and experience running through patches of fog, seeing the deer, rabbits, and turtles all come to life as I run by them.  I love being the only one on the streets and hearing absolutely nothing except for the sound of my breathing.  Sometimes I even ask myself why, why in the world am I doing this?  Why am I going to bed early on a Friday night, leaving my family for hours on Saturday morning for this torture.  The only answer I can come up with is, the feeling I get when it’s over.  It is the best feeling of accomplishment ever.  Putting my mind to something and losing myself to get there.  It truly is the epitome of hope.  I love it.

Running is a big question mark that’s there each and every day. It asks you, ‘Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?’
Peter Maher, Irish-Canadian Olympian and Sub-2:12 marathoner

Hey everybody! Well we are alive, I promise. It’s been a long few weeks of getting things back in order for us as we were without power for 12 days after the Hurricane! Big thanks to Diego and Julie and also Meg and Scott for being so inviting and letting us all stay with them during the power outage.

You definitely learn a lot about yourself when you have to rely on others.. and that is not something we do very well. But coming out of it we’re a better family and closer to our friends, and that is irreplaceable. So overall, things are going well… We have no pictures to post or report over the last few weeks as our battery charger was stolen a few weeks ago and we just got the new in the mail 2 days ago. Blah.

We have been fairly busy though. We made a trip down to Austin to see Mom, Terry and Debra for Mom’s birthday and the fact that we celebrated at a Ryan Bingham show was even cooler. It was nice to get away from the stress of no power and take in some family, friends and music. And we even met Uncle Rico at the festival (Damn you camera charger thief).

We spent the next week, after getting power restored, cleaning up the yard, doing housework and replacing groceries. Nothing too exciting. I took Luke with me on a trip to Mom’s house in Mexia and spent the weekend with her, doing some hunting and hanging with friends. Meanwhile Christy enjoyed the peace and quiet and a little Spa action I surprised her with.

Hope that catches everyone up on things with us. This weekend we’re staying at home and going out with our church to help paint houses, repair properties and just generally love on the community. Should be fun!

oops I lied… here’s video of all of us out last year showing the love. Luke is in there and I’m painting a house somewhere in there. Enjoy.