Will Run for Food

So, I've been thinking. I really love food. And I really hate diets. And I'm getting fat. And the only thing I've ever been any good at in the exercise realm is running. One foot in front of the other, go as slow as you want, just keep going and enjoy the scenery. I used to run around Lake Fayetteville a lot. Once I did it three times in a row and several times I did it twice in a row. I don't know, I guess I had a lot on my mind then. I probably didn't have kids, come to think of it. But I am sick of using that as an excuse. I have a double jogging stroller and I'm not afraid to sue it. So...

I really want to do a marathon. I hear talk of it among my friends and wonder, just wonder, who out there is the socially-motivated type and would do it, if they had, say a pack of girls to do it with? I've decided being an individual is totally overrated. Being with people that THINK you're an individual, now that's where its at ... No, really, I am just a highly-social animal and I'm just sayin', wouldn't it be easier to do something this hard with some other people you could complain about how hard it was, to? But still go out and practice together and stuff.

Also, I really want to memorize something from the Bible because...I hear it makes Scripture come alive to you, when its such a part of you like that, and it makes sense. So, I was thinking. Marathon...Philippians...lots of allusions to 'running the race,' etc...

So, as I pictured our climactic ending which is what you're supposed to do with your 'better stories' you've imagined for yourself, I pictured a lot of girls wearing the same t-shirt, running for the same cause, memorizing Philippians along the way. Wouldn't that be FUN?!!!

Now I just need to pick a "Cause."

Zee Bebes

Time for an update on the babies.

Berea is giving kisses. Leaning in and opening her mouth wide and just touching her lips to whatever part of your face is near. With me, she likes to incorporate the occasional nibble, but that's cool. A second ago she kissed Anderson for the first time.

Their interactions have been pretty sweet, lately. She also grabbed his hand and held on, and he held on and said, "She touch my hand!" He seems to be realizing, along with the rest of us, that she is a little person with initiatives all her own.

Last night she may or may not have said, "Da-dee." We were saying it over and over to her and then it sounded like she said it. Of course she knows who everyone is and looks at them when we say their names to her. She actually says Momma but that's usually precluding a fit for nursing. She just now said "nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh" to the cat after the cat tried to bite her. A little wordsmith, she is.

Anderson has begun calling us "Jesse" and "Tee-Teen" on occasion. We're not sure how we feel about that. Also, he has begun requesting his jacket before going to sleep at night. "I want my jacket!" He calls, after being tucked in. Wakes up with it still all zipped up. He begins most sentences with "I want" or "I need" these days. Who doesn't?

New Year. New Name. So There.

I want to be a better blogger. Donald Miller says you have to want something to make a better story. So I want something that will tell my better story, better, and hopefully that will make a better story in the end...

My friend Sara Neufeld is the best blogger. It's because all her blogs contain at least one simple story from her actual life. And she always includes a picture.

My mom and I went to Jay, OK last Tuesday. I usually hate that drive, but the gray, expanse of poverty that is Eastern Oklahoma, was finally bearable with her there, telling me stories of her life and the people in her life that are somehow in my life now. She is a really great story teller. One of her stories was about my biological half sister Sara and half brother Shane. (I hadn't seen my mom in 28 years and had no memory of her at all...she found my aunt on Facebook the day after my 31st birthday...the rest is too much for parenthesis).

So, back to the story within the story within the blog.

Shane was around 9, she said, and was at the store to spend some birthday money. He, being a very intentional 9-year old was deliberating over which toy to buy: something big or several somethings small...and, after about 5 minutes of waiting for her brother to walk in a direction, Sara plops down in the aisle, takes out 5 of her brother's Hot Wheels from her little girl purse and plays. Wish I had a picture for that.

But, I do have a picture of my Mother playing with my daughter in the Jay McDonald's.

We both ordered regular coffees, since the Espresso machine was being cleaned (happens between 2-3pm, if you're ever in Jay!). I like 4 creamers, 4 Splendas. She opted for 3 creamers, and only 1 Splenda, just to give it a try. And cookies! McDonald's has cookies now!