Ho Hum

I found the following in my drafts folder.  It is from 2006, which seems like a lifetime ago.

Well, this past weekend I encountered quite a celebration. Cailey turned 7! My mom offered me a "free" ticket she had from Southwest to fly home and surprise Cailey for her birthday. Far be it from me to pass up an opportunity to go home, so off I went. The expression on Cailey's face at the airport was absolutely priceless! Unfortunately, I was not smart enough to have my camera in my hand in order to capture that moment (one day I'll be a smart girl, I just know it!). My parents did a great job on helping to trick the girl, and it was well worth it. We partied hard at Mr Gatti's, they have quite a good set up for such things. Seeing Cailey and all her little friends was a hoot, they are so funny. Carsynn is getting big, she's got the greatest chubby cheeks I have ever seen. She's a beautiful girl, not that I'm a biased aunt or anything.

Training for the half marathon is going well. Missy is still my friend, even after our adventures at the gym. There are days she claims she can hardly move her arms, and times she looks at me like I'm a complete lunatic (ok, so she's probably right on that one) when I tell her what we are doing next, but it's just as I thought: she's one tough cookie. Our running is going well, and aside from the soreness from lifting weights, it's getting better every week. Today was a short day, only 6x400s -- much better than the day we had to do 10 of them! Hopefully by the time we get to the week where we are scheduled to do 14 or 16, it won't be as bad as I currently fear. We're also running under the "required" time, which makes us feel like big time studs. The Saturday runs are going well too, though we haven't been able to do that as a group yet. Strangely, I enjoy them more. It's easier to find my "groove" on those days, and it's a good way to work out things that are on my mind.

Lisa's mom is doing well with chemo, it's wearing her out, but her tumors are decreasing in size (praise the Lord!). Continue to pray for her, and the whole family. Her mom is feeling tired and beaten up I am sure (no surprise there), but is making progress. Pray for a 100% recovery from this cancer. On another note, Lisa claims her and her husband will be venturing up here in April to join us for the half marathon. I AM SO EXCITED! If we can get our buddy Dennis up here, it will be a mini FCA reunion.

Speaking of FCA, man do I miss that time in my life. For five summers, I was blessed to work as an FCA camp counselor. I was often teased that I was going to be the first counselor to receive a 401k. I met some of the most incredible people at that time, people who are a part of big stepping stones in my faith. In fact, I learned so much from them and fed off of them all the time. I look back now and see what a complete mess I was, and I'm so thankful my FCA buds were in my life to love me and pray for me. I miss working at camps, miss seeing teenagers fall madly in love with Christ, and I miss the fellowship of others trying to figure out this whole things called faith. I miss my FCA family. That's what it boils down to, I miss knowing I will get to see those friends in June, when the Abilene camp started. I miss knowing that no matter how long it had been since we had talked, we would gather, like family, and pick right back up where we left off.

I would not trade in life now to go back, don't get me wrong. But there is a bond when you are in the "trenches" with others that forever ties you to them. That is how I feel with them. We fought spirtual battles together, and we saw God prove himself victorious time and time again. We were ushered into his presence, in fact, we ran there together, just to drink in a little more of Him. Sometimes, maybe I just wonder why it seems I have stopped running altogether. I miss them running with me, as we were intricately interwoven into one another's life, without ever noticing how big of an imprint we were leaving. I am thankful they have been imprinted on my spiritual life, one that will never die.