Monumental Month

Mark and I celebrated our 11th anniversary this month and shared an intimate evening at our favorite restaurant... you know the one. There is something about small tables, dim lights and oh yeah- wine, that just gets you to open up. And since we were toasting our special day, we discussed the good and bad of the last 12 months. After thinking about it for awhile, we discovered that much of our bad stuff has brought a lot of good. For example, after our anniversary last year we had probably the biggest fight of our marriage and if I ever thought our future looked dim, it was then. For about 4 days, I was a total emotional wreck and for the first time really began to realize how much of who I am, my identity, is wrapped up around being Mark's wife. In large part, I am strong, confident, and mainly secure in who I am because I have him. So the thought of not having him really hit home and scared the crap out of me. Why is that good, your wondering... well I believe any time we learn more about ourselves, we grow as individuals.

So, we got through our relationship low, and even though in the beginning it was bad, in the end it was good. I think we both walked away from the ordeal with a greater appreciation of each other and our relationship. It'll always be in my memory though as the worst gut wrenching moment of our marriage. Which sucks!

So this leads us to the next thing. The obvious- Mark's illness. On the surface, this has negatively affected our entire year and lives like nothing ever has. Initially our relationship suffered and of course, even worse- Mark suffered (and continues to suffer). But when we look at the positive, there are a bunch of great things that have come of this. First and foremost, is our relationship with God. We've grown more faithful and closer to Him through all of this. Secondly, our marriage has strengthened. I guess they throw in that "for better or worse, in sickness and in health" line for a reason, huh? With some work, we've gotten through the lack of communication and the miscommunication problems and feel like we're now on a new level of understanding one another. We're handling this obstacle as a team and as tough as it is sometimes to be positive,we know we can count on each other.

Other relationships with our family members have improved due to this too. Our relationship with his Mom has improved ten-fold and I can see how it's enriched Mark's life so much.
So, all in all, we look back on our 11th year of marriage and see that after conquering this, we're pretty confident we can tackle anything thrown our way. We're solid!

Racing Highs

In an effort to keep my friend Martin happy, I'm going to try to keep current on my blogging so that I don't post such long ones :-)

Mark ran his first race with me 2 weeks ago in Jerome. It was called the 35th Annual Jerome Hill Climb and not only was it just a race, it was a 1000 feet climb in 4.6 miles and an ALL uphill race. A total leg and lung burner. But, my athletic Stud-of-a-Spouse of course did awesome and I'm trying hard to convince him to run another... but on a flat course.

Last weekend, we went to see our friends, Rick & Lynne, race in a sprint triathlon in Anthem. Lynne placed 1st in her age group and Rick placed 3rd. (They are both 50 and are such an inspiration to us.) This was the first tri we've been to, so it was really new and exciting for us. And of course, we left the race feeling pumped and eager to start cross training. We just need the time and the bikes, which are NOT cheap. So, we'll have to wait until probably next year to start, but it's something to look forward to.

Speaking of racing ... I officially registered for the Boston Marathon today. I'm excited and also a little nervous and am thankful I have plenty of time to get myself mentally and physically prepared. I know April will be here before I know it though. Big events like this always have a way of just sneaking up on you.

Well enough about us. Geeze, you would think this was our blog or something. Dah!

Busy Little Bees

We're on marathon pace to get my Dad's home in Pinewood complete with only a few things left to do. Fortunately, this week we made some great progress and now have MOST of our large projects done. To date we've successfully: repainted the interior, installed new blinds on all the windows, installed new light fixtures and ceiling fan, repainted all the vents and put them in, installed a new range hood in the kitchen, repaired the toilet, laid new linoleum in the kitchen and bathroom, trimmed the XL pine tree on the front porch, tore down the shower surround, had new carpet installed AND built a fence around his yard.
STILL left to do... switch out the kitchen sink, switch out the back door with an insulated one, replace sliding door screen, make and install 3 wood gates, install a new shower surround, get his place insulated for winter, and touch up paint. Not too shabby! We're hopeful we can get him moved in within the next few weeks. To see Pictures click "HERE"

Amid all this work, we took last weekend off and headed to San Diego to spend a few days with our favorite sisters - Carina and Christine. We had an awesome, relaxing few days, completely enjoying the beautiful California weather. On Sunday I ran The America's Finest City 1/2 Marathon and along the way, I had three little cheerleaders motivating me. Mark, Carina and Christine rode their bikes some of the route and I got to see them half way through the race a few times, which was so great. Our friends, Lynne, Rick and Leslie ran it too, which made it that much more enjoyable. After the race we took a drive to Coronado Island and walked on the beach. It was a perfect day spent with people I adore. To see Pictures of our weekend click "HERE"

Overall Mark's been feeling pretty good. Still not 100% but slowly improving. We still have no conclusive diagnosis from Mayo but three more tests are scheduled for this week. Please keep him in your prayers.

It's Been a Long Time

Wow, whoever said time flies, really wasn't kidding. SO much has gone on since my last post on April 22nd. And in all honesty, that one probably doesn't even count as a real post since it's nothing personal about me.

So, as you can imagine, lots been going on. Life's been a-happening and we've been a-living. As many of you know, Mark's been dealing with some unexplainable medical issues that have continued to cause havoc in our peaceful, healthy life. The good news though, is there has been slow improvement and I think we've learned from this entire experience. Not that material things were ever all that important to us, but they matter even less to us now. Big homes, nice cars, expensive clothing and jewelry - it's all SO overrated. What truly counts is the relationships in your life and the joy you get from the little things.

Just to catch you all up, since April, in May we went on a Western Caribbean cruise, which was so fun. Click HERE to see pics
Click here to see a video of Jay on the Flow Rider
And click here to see our Speed Boat Excursion
(the quality isn't great because it was on my camera)

As always, the best things about vacation are getting away and spending quality time with each other and with our friends. Jay and Amy are always great to travel with and we had a blast. I've included a video of Jay on the Flow Rider and one on our speed boat excursion.
We plan on doing another cruise on the same ship next year, so in case any of you would like to join us, Click here to take a tour of the ship
We'll be hitting the Eastern Caribbean and everyone is welcome! The more the merrier!!!

My Mom got married in June and the ceremony was beautiful. To see some pics of her wedding click HERE

We're also in the process of moving my Dad to Munds Park/Pinewood AZ. It's about 15 mins South of Flagstaff. He'll be significantly downsizing into a much smaller mobile home on a considerably smaller lot. BUT, he'll be closer to medical, closer to amenities and best of all, closer to us! We have a bunch of work to do on his place to make it nice, but we're excited to get started and think the transformation will be impressive.

Our home still hasn't sold. Go figure! We've had the same people come to look at it three times, but still no offer. Oh well, it's all in God's timing, so we feel fine about it. On the same note- work has been super slow. We've been blessed with some good closings this year, but right now, until the market improves, the future looks dim. We're considering jobs at Starbucks...oh wait- they're not doing well either. Hmmm- maybe the Peace Corp ?? (we could never leave our dogs though)

All in all, this year has been quite challenging. I think God has opened our eyes a bit and for that we're grateful.
Now that I've updated you on the events of the last four months, I can hopefully start blogging again more regularly. But no promises.

Thought Provoking

You will enjoy the new insights that Rick Warren has, with his wife now having cancer and him having "wealth" from the book sales. This is an absolutely incredible short interview with Rick Warren,

"Purpose Driven Life " author and pastor of Saddleback Church in California

In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said:

People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven.

One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me.

I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity.

We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.

Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.

The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort.

God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy.

We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.

This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer.

I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore.

Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life.

No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on.

And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for.

You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems.

If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness,"which is my problem, my issues, my pain." But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.

We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her.

It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.

You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life.

Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy.

It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease.

So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72

First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases.

Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church.

Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation.

Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.

We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity?

Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?

When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do.
That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.

Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.
Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.
Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.
Painful moments, TRUST GOD.
Every moment, THANK GOD.

Meet My New Friend, SPOT

I love gadgets. Not over the top expensive ones, but gizmos that are relatively inexpensive, but more importantly make sense to purchase. My most recent investment is this little doodad I found advertised in an outdoor magazine... www.findmespot.com This apparatus has made a HUGE difference in my life.

I bought it for my Dad, who as you all know, hikes every day for hours on end, often off trail in the middle of no where. Now you may think I'm just an over concerned daughter, but no... let me tell you a little bit about my 68 year old Father... the man often takes unnecessary risks, carries a loaded gun, shoots it for random reasons, is blind in 1 eye, has a history of seizures, smokes like a chimney, has spent the night in a tree before because he stayed out too late and couldn't make it back to his car before night fall, has had trouble with a bear more than once, has fallen off a cliff, has almost stepped on a rattler... and these are JUST the things he's chosen to tell me about. I can only imagine what other mischief he's gotten into.
So you see... I have good reason to worry.

In December, I finally convinced him to start logging his destinations in a notebook by his back door each morning before he left his house for a hike. But then, last month, I discovered our new friend Spot and now I'm sent an email and text every time he gets to the trail head and again when he gets back to his car at the end of the day. Plus, I can see on google maps exactly where he's at. AND most importantly, if he's in an emergency situation, he can text me "HELP" and also hit an emergency button.

It gives me the reassurance I need to know the old man is all good and it's just one less thing to worry about.
SSAAWEEETT!!!!

The Day is Finally Here

It's been a crazy few weeks, but we finally " listed " the house late last night. Now it's just a matter of time... send your good vibes our way. (Check out our listing photos and virtual tour by clicking on the word "listed" above)