Mother's Day 2009

What a beautiful day Mother's Day was! We had a great morning at church with two special guests. The Sounds of Liberty from Liberty University led our worship and were AWESOME! I even bought their CD after the service. Mark Mittelberg, co-author of Becoming a Contagious Christian, was our speaker. He challenged us to make an adventure out of telling others about Christ. I really enjoyed him.

Following church I got a quick run in. I am being pretty legalistic about making sure I run. There are 172 days until the New York Marathon, and even though I don't know if I am in or not, I am training like I am. Yesterday I got a little discouraged when I was on the marathon's website and found out that I should have a baseline ability for one to two months before I begin a training program. I am not there yet, therefore I am nervous in thinking how I am going to accomplish this. Mike was very helpful and keeps reminding me that slow and steady wins the race. I am definitely (slowly) improving, so I will just trust him on that one.

After my run we jumped in the car and headed to my parents for lunch. My brothers grilled out hamburgers and hotdogs and it was such a nice day that we even ate outside. In addition to my parents, siblings (& their families), and immediate family - my cousins, grandmother, aunts and uncle were also there. Here is a picture of four generations of women in our family:



Following lunch we went home and the kids wanted to give me their presents. Both of them had made me something and they were both beautiful and useful! Here is a drink coozie Claire made me with the help of my brother, Zach:



Apparently she had been out with him and had seen one she wanted to buy me. My very talented and creative brother convinced her that they could make one instead. They painted a canvas and then stretched it over a pre-existing coozie. Then they decorated it. I am so glad they made it because this one is way more special than any store bought one could ever be.

Taylor made me note cards at school. Look at the beautiful way he packaged them.



The bottom right hand corner of the cards has my initials and a heart. I LOVE both of my gifts. They also gave me a gift certificate to go get new running shoes and running clothes. It is exactly what I wanted! I am going to get "professionally" fitted to make sure I am wearing the right shoes for my feet. Anything I can do to make this training thing more fun!!!

I am so thankful for all of my family and had a great mother's day. My only regret of the day is not getting a picture of me with both of my kids together. Taylor was DYING to get out of his "restrictive" church clothes and Claire had gone straight to my parents' house, Therefore I wasn't with both of them when everyone was dressed nicely. Here is the best I could get: