Be Encouraged - My First 10K

I want to take this opportunity to encourage anyone that doesn't think they can do something, because I genuinely and sincerely did not think that running a 10K was ever a possibility for me. I am not lazy or unmotivated, but I just never enjoyed running. I would always literally laugh at people who signed up for races because it sounded that absurd to me. I ran a 5K last year, and left it feeling accomplished and like I never needed to push harder than that because it would be out of my reach… well I was wrong.

I know how cheesy it is, but I really do think all you have to do is put your mind to something. In training for this, I learned a lot about my body, what it can handle, how diet effects exercise and why it is important to push yourself to do a task you do not believe you can do.

That morning, when I started the 6.2 mile journey to the finish line, I remember thinking that if I didn't give up mentally and kept believing my body could handle it, I could jog the entire thing. It was a beautiful morning, and sunlight softly hit my face as I took off just after the sun came up. I ran beside some beautiful lakes and through the most peaceful neighborhoods. I played a fun playlist and let me mind enjoy each song as it came on. I have never run that far before, and I was having some pretty bad knee issues leading up to the run, but dang it, I ran that whole 6.2 miles and did not give up. Crossing the finish line with the biggest cheering section at the race made me want to burst into tears. I still can't believe I did it!

That moment of sheer joy is definitely something I will hold onto for a long time.

I am so proud to say I completed this hurdle, and look forward to putting a new one in front of myself. Until then, I plan to bask in the joy that I did something that felt unattainable and I did it to the best of my ability. I did not leave an ounce of energy unused and I pushed myself around every bend in the road.

Thank you Lord for giving me the ability to complete this task.

I pray I never take your gift of life for granted.

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In the Nursery: Whole Hearted Parenting Manifesto

I recently finished a book by Brene Brown titled, DaringGreatly.
It really moved me, and I am definitely still processing it.
At the beginning of the book I wasn’t resonating deeply with the topic of vulnerability, as most people will tell you I am an “open book”. I will answer most questions without holding back and love to deep dive into good conversation. However, what I came to realize through her many examples is that we all wrestle with vulnerability, guilt and shame throughout this book even if is more momentary than constant. I gleaned SO MUCH from this book that I did not anticipate, and I thought I would share this Parenting Manifesto that she put right at the end of the book. I am printing it and framing it for our nursery, as I think it communicates some deep parts of my heart cry for parenting my kiddos well.

I hope this resonates with someone else as much as it did with me.
I needed these words to remind me that parenting is not a checklist, it is a lifestyle. …

A Penny For Your Thoughts - On Insecurity and Looking Back

I have felt compelled to write about something lately, and been shying away from it, which is not my typical style. As I look back over my life, I have recently realized that I finally feel like "enough". I know my worth is in the Lord and I know I am beautiful and worth people's time, but that has not always been my story. Far too often from the ages of 12 to 30, I defined my worth by whether someone was interested in dating me or not and after I got married, whether people "liked me" and wanted to be my friend or to hire me. Was I pretty enough? Interesting enough? Worth someone's time? Talented enough? Smart enough? etc...
Recently, as pictures pop up in my Timehop (an app that shows pictures taken the same day as far back as it can reach through social media and the camera roll on my phone), I distinctly remember feeling like I was either fat or unattractive in most pictures. I remember being embarrassed of my pants size. I remember wearing to…

At the Library - May through September 2019 Reading

We had another baby in May (SO much more on that later) and blogging has obviously taken a back seat, but I am still reading for pleasure and have managed, in my sons first four months of life, to complete these 8 books! Y'all, I remember a time when even completing 2 books a year would have sincerely sounded daunting, much less with a newborn. If you want to read more, you can find the time! Take stock of your days and see where you are wasting hours. For some of these, I listened to the audio book while I was pumping or watering the garden.
Rather than give you an individual breakdown of each of these books, I just want to report I found them all incredibly enjoyable. A total cross section of a food memoir to a psychology deep dive to nature centric novels, I would recommend them all in different capacities.

Mrs. Rogers Neighborhood

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