Snapshot of a Mini Tri

Jim- and six others from our church- finished a mini triathlon today. Six out of seven received ribbons for placing in their age group. One finished second overall... he was the only one who had done this before. Three were teens. One was the oldest competitor (at 69).
Two were middle aged women. Between 10 weeks ago and this morning,
three admitted they weren't sure if they'd finish.




Every single one was inspiring.


Afterwards, over lunch, their coach asked what each of them learned from the experience in terms of spirituality. Their answers?




Humility.
All things are possible-- even those that you believe are impossible.
The energy in helping others, like Simon who helped Jesus with the cross.
The "feel" of the Spirit drawing them together as a team.
Being inspired and encouraged by each other.
Getting out of their physical body and drawing on God as fuel.



If you were only there for the race, you might not have seen this. Well, except that our support team (also 7 folks) cheered louder than anyone, even the home club. But other than that, the day was filled with SAND and SWEAT and CONFUSION and PAIN and EXHAUSTION.

Sometimes, inspiration is hard to see.

Even when it's swimming/biking/running right past you.

Garden update

Howdy! Farmer Kris here with an update on our experimental patch. (No! Not that kind of experimental!)

Eggplants are coming along... Nice sized globes, we're hoping they'll elongate some. In the shot above you'll also see an onion green and part of the broccoli. I'm not sure we'll be enjoying that last one... as something has eaten so many holes in the leaves it looks like swiss cheese. But it's still there.

See that nice sized cuke right there?

We picked it.

And sliced it.

And ate it. YUM!

Can't wait for the peppers and eggplants to finish up... and am already planning seminole pumpkin for the summer and EVERYTHING for the fall !

ps- Jim races in the mini-triathlon tomorrow, so please keep him in your prayers :)

Happy Dancing

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!!

(totally unrelated to the video. except talking to grandma makes him happy too)

and he's not yet TWO!

So today when I come home, I'm led to the bathroom. No, this isn't about that.

Kade shuts the door and says DARK. I'm impressed because I didn't realize he knew that word. Then Nana says, "Good, and what do we do when it's dark?" Kade finds his step stool, picks it up and places it near the sink counter. I'm still not adjusted to the dark. He climbs up, says LIGHT, and turns on the light.


WOW, I say, and high five him. Then he points at a candle. I say to Nana, if he knows *that* word, I'm falling down. Kaden smiles and says CANDLE. I fake falling down. Nana asks him what color it is. He looks over and says GREEN. So then I ask him if he's going to Notre Dame for college. He laughs and says YES. Gosh I hope they have full tuition scholarships...