Cupcake Wars!

You will rarely (close to never) knock on my door and have me answer with an apron on and a dusting of flour on my face or shirt boldly proclaiming "I'm baking!" Especially not if I am smiling. Baking is awful for me.  I don't know why baking and I don't get along.  Actually I do. Baking is for all you good little girls and boys.  I guess I am too stubborn and rebellious for baking.  I don't like to follow rules. I don't like to measure.  With baking....you must follow rules, you must measure.  Problem. I like eating baked goods. Mmmmmmmmmm.....I am daydreaming about freshly baked bread and cake as we speak. Most of my life I have mainly settled for the store bought variety. Yuck. I love oreos but they do not compare to any homemade cookies in the world. When I do bake, it's a big deal, usually for a special occasion and usually extremely stressful for me.  I made these recently...

Carrot Cake Cream Cheese Muffins

I got the recipe from here. Only thing I changed was using my fresh minced ginger instead of ground.  I wasn't blown away, they were good don't get me wrong, anything filled with cream cheese is good, but to me the stress I go through needlessly worrying whether I am going to screw these up always seems to deaden the taste to me. What is it with me and baking?

So when my friend started her own cupcake business I thought it absolutely my duty to eat the occasional cupcake, I was just being a good friend after all.  Her cupcakes are PHENOMENAL! So good. If my wallet and waistline could afford it I would buy them every week.  (I hope she will bake for me in heaven because I know the calories won't count up there!)

Keri K's Cupcakes

Delicious, Colorful Cupcakes for order. Mission:To bring JOY to the world through baking

Flavors include but are not limited to:
Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry, Peanut Butter, Banana, Coconut, Pineapple, Lemon, Almond, Butter.

Filled cupcakes / Specialty Cupcakes include but are not limited to:
Peanut Butter Chocolate, Bananas Creme Pie, Strawberry Dream, Cherry Cheesecake, Blueberry Cheesecake, Strawberry Cheesecake, Strawberry Lemonade, Lemon Meringue Pie, Espresso Dream, Chocolate Covered Cherry, Cookies and Creme, Salted Carmel, Cookie Dough, Apple Pie, Key Lime Pie, Mint Chocolate Chip

 

I had her Chocolate Peanut Butter and thought I would die they were so amazing. I wish I could put that frosting on everything! 

 

 

 

 

I have had a Pineapple passion one she made when we celebrated my daughter becoming a non-diapered "Big Girl".

 

 

 

 

For Father's day we had a sampler that had those 2 flavors as well as Strawberry dream and Coconut. All seriously good!

 

But she doesn't just make cupcakes and sell them.  She has started adding specialty events:

SPRINKLE PARTIES: For ages 2-6yrs and they get to decorate 4 cupcakes each and do crafts.

 

FROSTING TECHNIQUE/MINI CUPCAKE WARS: The kids learned 3 frosting techniques and got to bring home 2 cupcakes they decorated as well as participate in the team judging portion.

 

 I think both of those events would make great birthday party ideas for various age groups!

 

She has also done weddings, graduation parties, birthday parties, showers, team parties, school parties....Cupcakes are great for any occasion really! And she even offers gluten free offerings. I have seen her make Hello Kitty cupcakes and Soccer Ball cupcakes to name a few. And if I know Keri (as one of the nicest, happiest people I know!) she will work with you to customize a flavor or decoration to get things just right for you!

So when she called me the other day and asked me to be a "celebrity" judge at her first ever Cupcake Wars competition. I laughed at the title but figured, I am definitely qualified to eat cupcakes!

All four teams did really good and were really close in score!

They had I think 25 min to think of a flavor combination and prepare 3 cupcakes

They were very harshly scored (haha, they were all so cute and yummy! It wasn't quite war!) on:

 - Technique (they had just spent an hour learning how to do the rose, swirl and squiggle frosting techniques - I guarantee these were way better than I could do!)

 - Flavor combination (they had the opportunity to flavor their filling and their frosting)

 - Creativity (based on their color choices and decoration on top). Scores were tallied and the winner was the Creamsicle (which I am demonstrating the yumminess of above)

 This flavor was created by the cupcake war team of Evelyn Schab, Brooke Bush, and Ellie Swanson at our technique party! It is a white cake with vanilla pudding filling, and frosted with an orange flavored buttercream, then sprinkled with white chocolate crumbles!

Very yummy and creative. And the best part......I got to eat them and I didn't have to bake them!

 So for your next party or chocolate craving or work meeting or anti-baking protest call Keri at (616)366-7028 or like Keri K's Cupcakes on facebook.  You won't be sorry!

 

 

Bucket list kind of a day!

Remember our summer bucket list? Well my husband doesn't work on Fridays in the summer and we had nothing going today and I thought it was a perfect day to knock a bunch of those off the list in one big sweep.  So I scoured through the list and looked for some things we could do that would involve keeping cool - since it was a mere 106deg outside today! The winners were:

Wash the car

 Girls are "helping" - aka fighting over control of the hose      My daughter decided her pink car needed a car wash too!

Slip and slide

 106deg outside my oldest went down it one time and because it was in the shade she decided it was "too freezing"

 The neighbor boy and my youngest had fun though! Glad they enjoyed it because it took about 1.5hr they had to wait while the air compressor blew it up. 

Pizza night

In the winter we often will have pizza and family movie night.  I was trying to think of what to make for dinner because it is too hot to cook. Our house is luxuriously cool with the air conditioning and I didn't want to have to turn on the oven and mess with that. So I thought, what if we did pizza night but grilled the pizzas and kept the heat out where it belongs.  Then I thought what if we did a couple different flavors.  Then I thought what if I used something for the crust that wasn't as big and it came to me like an epiphany of epic proportions...Naan!

Comes in a two pack, big enough and yet small enough, garlic flavored and pizza crust consistency! So the dream was born for four different pizzas.  A little something for everyone.  For the hubs...

Pepper Meatball Pizza

Layered marinara, peppers from our garden, meatballs chopped, and topped with mozzarella - sausage and peppers is his favorite and the poor guy rarely gets it so this is a nice way to do pizza if everyone likes different toppings! 

Bruschetta Pizza

 Layer pesto and basil leaves. Then I roasted some cherry tomatoes with garlic in a pan (would have oven roasted them but we were trying to avoid the oven remember!) then I bought tomato basil mozzarella and sliced it on top. I use this:

I use this for my bruscetta burgers too. I should really share that one with you sometime too! Yummo.

Chicken Broccoli Olive White Pizza

Layer goat cheese, broccoli, grilled chicken, and olives

 Top with Mozzarella

Thai Chicken Pizza

 Start by drizzling with peanut sauce, this is the brand I usually use, it's spicy though. I do have a recipe for homemade sauce which is more kid-friendly but I was going with easy. They can eat one of the other pizzas!

 Then I layered grilled chicken, shredded carrot, green onion, cilantro and peanuts, and some more peanut sauce...

...and topped with a little cheese.

Here are the four pizzas on their way out to the grill. You will note the Bruschetta pizzas cheese was melting at room temperature! Did I mention it is 106deg outside!? My husband was able to fit all four on the grill at once. He had our gas grill on low and they only took about 7-10 min to warm and melt.  One of the pizzas got a little crispy on the bottom but otherwise this worked great.  He has a big grilling spatula that easily transferred them.  I tried a little piece of 3 out of 4 of them. They were all great I thought!  We both said it would be a super fun party idea to have a "pizza" bar because they make a really good size I probably ate the equivalent of 1/2 so at a party you could find a buddy who wanted the same type and split it.  We will definitely be doing this again! So yummy!

Family movie night

With all the activities we didn't have time for a feature length film so we went with a shorter one on Netflix.  In the end it was my oldest - the die hard TV fan watching. I was working on this next to her, and the smallest of the small ones was "helping" daddy do the dishes (isn't my husband awesome, he grills and does the dishes!)

Ice cream sundaes

 We laid it all out and invited our little buddy over to join us and they could choose from three types of ice cream (they all chose superman) chocolate, caramel, peanuts, bananas, banana chips, marshmallows, whipped cream and cherries. What do you think they chose? Everything.

Sugar!!!! My youngest hardly ate any! She is like her dad and can only handle sweets in moderation and with a glass of milk to wash them down.  Why didn't I get that problem?

Aren't they cute!?

last but not least....

Driveway fireworks

My husband wished I had let him do these....

They are legal after all, he pleaded.  He said it was totally unfair when he was in "the tent" there were a bunch of approx 18 year old unattached males with arm loads of dangerous explosives.  But my sweet little father of two proudly gave us a show of these...

And we were thrilled! I like my man with all his fingers and toes!

Whew a long full family summer day. Straight up to bed for the kiddos after 10 pm! But that is what summer is all about.  We had a lot of fun. I feel blessed to spend some time with neighbor kids today and even got to talk to his mom a bit.  If we can show God's love to neighbors with ice cream, fireworks, and slip and slides isn't that a blessing!? I hope you are all having as much fun as we are, not getting too hot in this heat and taking time to enjoy the slow summer days. Feels good to have crossed a few things off the old bucket list. Wonder what tomorrow will bring....

Independence

Hope everyone had a lovely 4th of July.  It seems like everywhere there is drought, power outages, storms, flooding, wild fires.... dangerous times.  The 4th of July always instills in me the feelings of what is simple and wonderful in this world.  I want to be with family and friends, play outside, enjoy good food and even better company, celebrate the freedoms we have in this country (at least for now!), honor those who have helped establish and affirm those freedoms, and usually the fireworks are the culmination of the overflowing in my heart of goodwill and hope for America. 

This year I had just that and for a Wednesday, that makes for an awesome day.  We do patriotism pretty big in our house complete with enough outfits for 4-5days of red/white/blue, a patriotic playlist we listen to non-stop, fireworks, bbq's, parades....the works.  110deg heat index didn't stop us from our traditional pool party, we just made sure we stayed IN the pool the whole time. 

As you can see, once you can speak in our house, you must learn to sing God Bless America! I am sorry but I am somewhat smitten with these cuties!

So what to serve what dish do I bring to pass on the 4th, I hold myself to a pretty high standards at these occasions. I like to be creative because I never want to feel like, "Man, she always makes that, it's so boring", it's kind of my attempt at sharing a talent. And we have a diverse group from kids, to teens, to adults, I figure if you can get even one from each category to like a dish then you have hit a homerun. We have a number in our group who are "special needs" eaters with gluten and MSG and what not so I tend to aim for "pure" ingredients too. I think this dish was a winner, I just ate a big old bowl of leftovers and was just as happy with it today as yesterday. A few things you should know; Quinoa is a gluten free grain, it is an excellent source of protein and is super yummy and fun to say. Pronounced keen-wah my girls chant for it and consider rice a lower class citizen when compared with it's superior cousin quinoa. Jicama, pronounced hick-a-mah is often called a "mexican potato" and is part of the tuber family. It tastes like a cross between an apple and a potato. It is very dense, it was harder to chop then a regular potato almost like a sweet potato however it tastes very juicy and in the zestiness of this salad took on a sweeter flavor. This salad was a fun creation, and it was patriotic too....

Amanda's Stars and Stripes Quinoa Salad

Quinoa
2 cups Quinoa
3 cups water
Bring to boil together, reduce heat and simmer with cover on until liquid absorbed. Fluff with fork and transfer to bowl. Let cool (I cooled in fridge while we were at the parade.)

Red/White/Blue (and a dash of green) topping
1 pint blueberries
1 qt strawberries chopped and hulled
1/2 medium jicama (med was larger than a grapefruit!) - peeled and diced
2 handfuls basil leaves chopped (divided - half basil in topping, half in dressing)
3 Tbsp sugar

Dressing
Juice of 2 lemons
Juice of 2 limes
Zest of 2 lemons
Zest of 2 limes
6 Tbsp olive oil
dash of salt and pepper

Make the quinoa, set aside to cool. Prepare (chop) up the topping, set aside to let the sugar break down the fruit a little. Made the dressing, refridgerate. Prior to serving toss or layer. I tossed. As you can see that gives you a little more of a red/pink/white/beige/blue salad. If I were making it again or even just for a pic I would have put the quinoa down and layered the salad on top and drizzled dressing over it so that it looked more true red/white/blue. Yum. Also good to know I made a huge batch for a party of 20 people. I would say if you are making it just for your fam or even for a smaller gathering at least cut it in half. I also think if you wanted to make a little more of a meal out of it some grilled chicken would taste yummy in there. Mmmmmm......I may have to make some more. Enjoy.

On a different note....(why do I always have to go there?) I was thinking about "Independence" in light of our national holiday. I tend to usually think of it on a national level, reflect on the current political situation or think of the heros who have fallen for America or the founding fathers who worked hard to send us down the right course. This year I spent a little time praying and reflecting on it in a different mindset. We had two family dramas this week, one with each small one. Last weekend while at a big family gathering at a small lake, my three year old wandered from the water undetected and made it about 200 yds up the pavilion to her Grandma however before her whereabouts were discovered the two minutes of paralyzing fear that gripped my heart and shaved a few years off my life, set a "rescue and recovery" plan in motion with lifeguards getting people out and scanning the water, whistles blowing and megaphones calling her name. Not a good feeling near a body of water, I tell you. If you ever happen to lose one of your children for a brief moment, DO NOT do it by a body of water. My three year old wanted to go see Grandma. She knew the way. She didn't need anyone to "help" her and she couldn't fathom why she would have to ask to go see Grandma so she exercised her "independence" and found her way. Second scenario wound down our holiday in a rather dramatic fashion. After leaving the fireworks as we rolled into my parents driveway to drop them off my 6 year old began to cry hysterically that her eye hurt. She had gotten one of those glowing bracelets and many times during the night I kept telling her, "do not chew on that, you can't put that in your mouth." Sure enough she had bit one clean through and the "glow juice" had squirted in her eye. My Mom (who is excellent in a crisis and I told her this and she says I gave her early training in handling these types of situations....ooops!) began right to work as skilled and collected as an eye surgeon flushing her eye with fluid and rinsing all the while she screamed and cried. It took about 10 min of nearly waterboarding her eyes and a call to poison control to get her to stop crying. My daughter was very willfully exercising her independence to verify the truth to my words "you should not bite that bracelet." I think (I hope) this lesson hit home. She doesn't always trust my wisdom and this was what my husband and I call a "significant learning opportunity" (thank you Love and Logic) and I have had to swallow my smug "I told you so" Mom feelings and reflect on how her exercising her "independence" led to pain and suffering. So did her sisters independent march (although all the pain and suffering was mine and my husbands!). Somewhere this hits home to me.

Psalm 119:32 says "I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free."

Isn't that interesting that to be free and independent in heart we have to follow His commands. Oh how I can learn from those stubborn independent little stinkers of mine (I mean where did they get this nature from anyways!) I do the same things in my own heart and life that both of those girls did. "I hear what your saying God this may not be the best thing for me but I think it will work out ok, I really want to see what happens when I go this way, I know exactly where I am going, don't worry about me...I got this!" Oh precious child feel the sting in your eyes, in your heart. You did not heed my instructions. Your way leads to death and destruction. My way, the only way, leads to life everlasting. And I know that when we ignore his leading and squirt our metaphorical "glow juice" in our eye and our tears flow he must be up there in heaven, hands on his hips, thinking "Oh no you didn't!" But he doesn't say that. He patiently and as lovingly as my Mom did, restores us with his living water, brings healing, and hope for a new tomorrow. And I am not even going to begin to think about the fact that that verse uses the word run. Oh. Snap. Good one God. Look at you putting jokes in the bible. Tomorrow, I think I'll strap on my shoes and go exercise my independence with a run. 

Oh Good Grief

So getting my "affairs" back in order meant, 1. Cooking and blogging again 2. Resuming exercise 3. Resuming healthy eating and calculating what I ate.  So 1 was easy breezy, 2 wasn't easy at all but it is something that I can fairly easily check off my list each day, 3, well..........that takes all day discipline! What happened to my all day discipline?  I assumed I would wait until the major stressors in my life that threw me for a loop were all sorted out. Haha.  Silly lady.  They aren't getting sorted out, instead there seems to be a steady stream of obstacles one after another.  Guess I should practice jumping hurdles and I will be better conditioned to handle these things.  So if I want to take charge of my mess of a life and move forward I better do it despite the obstacles.  So here we go with #3!

I wanted to share the recipe I made for dinner, on a whim I looked up at my Favorites Bar across the top of the browser and hit the WW button!! Oh boy. Then I plugged in everything I ate today. gulp. Then I plugged in my weight. double gulp. Those admissions were brutal.  The best part was dinner.  I saw this recipe on Pinterest (of course I did!) and made it and it was delish.

Honey Soy Stir Fried Chicken

Her picture, her recipe found here.

Reading her entry made me laugh! And she was right it was super easy perfect for those days when being the CEO of your home is not so easy.  The only thing I didn't use was the sake because frankly I bought a bottle of oyster sauce just for this, I wasn't going to buy sake too! I just skipped it and it was super yummy without.  So when I plugged it in to WW guess what I discovered....5 pts a serving (I used 6 chicken thighs and measured it like that, my girls split one so it made enough for two meals!) This tasted way better than any Chinese takeout restaurant.  I made rice and bought frozen store bought egg rolls. I was going for easy! Total of 12 pts for a meal which was really pretty good.  Had I been more careful the rest of the day that would have worked out very nicely I would imagine! I may make this often considering I have a huge bottle of oyster sauce now!

So I have found that when you completely fall of the horse, you gotta get back up there one step at a time.  It isn't going to be easy to climb this mountain that I feel like I already climbed last year but slid all the way back to the bottom this winter.  Only way to get started is by taking the first step! So now I have those three hurdles tackled just need to keep pressing repeat. Cook, blog, exercise, measure, repeat.  Cook, blog, exercise, measure, repeat.  This could work.

Another thing that I take very seriously in the summer is having fun family time! Last 5-6 summers my husband taught summer school and we balanced his extra time/laid back schedule with tons of fun family activities and excursions. Just like bears store up for the winter months that they hibernate, we store up with tons of quality time for the months that teaching seems like a 100+hr/week job. Last few years we did an ever popular bucket list.  This summer I made a big one!

Isn't it pretty!? I already crossed off about a dozen!

I also got this book last year but things didn't go as planned for me to start it in January and I was thinking July 1 would be a nice time to start.  This is sort of like a half year resolution for my whole family.  Especially my kids to keep them more active.

I went ahead and made a calendar for July, also the majority of summer bucket list activities are outside so they count too!

I hope you are having a great time enjoying all the wonderful parts of summer with your families too. The title of this entry is in honor of Charlie Brown who I was sort of feeling like this week, discouraged, rejected, and well pretty much like a loser.  Oh Good Grief.  But you know what I like about dear old Chuck? Every time Lucy whips that football away right before he tries to kick it with all his might, and he lands flat on his back humiliated, every time he gets up and tries again.  Some may call that a sucker, but I rather admire his perseverance.  So I will try to dust off my bum and try this again! Easy as 1, 2, 3 right?

Chasing Birds

Return to blogging - check.  Return to exercise - - - - - - - - (anyone hear crickets?)
So in the last week I got back out to try running, twice even. It had been almost 6 months, yikes! The first time was brutal. I mean Bru-tal. And I thought it would get better, I was still collecting my thoughts and planning this blog entry and I went out running again tonight and tonight's jog made the last one look like a walk in the park.  Now I am getting over a respiratory bug and so I will cut myself a tiny little slack for that and try to convince myself that in the next 10 days if I can force myself out there at least 6 more times I will get a little better for the race on the 16th but man tonight was scary.  I got through 2 miles, I walked 1/4 of that disappointingly and cried for at least 1/3 of it.  Yup cried.  Good thing I had the track all to myself, haha, that must of looked pretty hysterical, the worlds slowest jogger going round and round and bawling like a big old baby the whole time! Ironically though this is what I love about "running" (I use that word very loosely with myself!) it is to me the epitome of an oxymoron. Love and hate all wrapped up together in a soul-confusing jumble of emotions.  Today's run was a little too heart wrenching though, it was much more on the hate side and as I sat stretching on my living room floor afterwards softly sobbing and my daughter looked at me a bit bewildered and said "Momma, why do you have tears?" I honestly couldn't explain it to her.  But I think I know how to explain it to you....
The previous run. The one I thought was horrible....until tonight, left me a little clarification. As I was huffing and puffing around that black tar oval my family walked down to the track to run and roll around on the plush football field turf and cheer me on. And the writer in my soul, ever in search of life's perfectly wrapped metaphor gifts, was struck by a perfect one.  My daughter was chasing birds.

Here is a recent pic of my girls chasing some poor duck on vacation.  The duck was feeling too lazy to fly so they almost caught him a few times! Almost.

There probably isn't a kid on the planet, who, given a stretch of sand and a couple of fat seagulls hasn't chased birds, this is a "game" that delights children the world over.   As I watched her though and was momentarily distracted from the cursed monotony of my slogging (my friend's word for slow jogging, SO what I do!) I couldn't help but think chasing birds is the perfect metaphor for what I am doing.  No kid, at least not that I can imagine and it has probably been rare or fraught with extenuating circumstances, has come away triumphant in this chase.  In this case, there were a half a dozen robins on a football field, my toddler darted toward one and it flew 20 feet a way, she darted toward another, same ending, and on and on, repeat.  They always always always have the upper hand, the speed, the quick escape, they are the victor in every way. And for a moment I felt as though I was watching myself. I too feel as though chasing improved health, quite literally while running, that it is always always always just a few steps ahead of me and out of my grasp and every step I make towards it, it seems to move further away. Exhausting, defeating, a hopelessly frustrating feeling it would seem.   But there is another very strange element that links these examples together.  Imagine in your mind's eye every similar situation you have ever witnessed of Child Chasing Birds, what is the common denominator.  JOY!!!! There is pure childlike joy in the chase.  They run with giggles and glee and when they finally give up and succumb to the bird as victor there is usually a common look of happiness and delight spreading across their face in a smile as they lay on their back and watch their opponent take easily to flight.  The joy of the chase.  Joy? Joy. Oh I feel that too.  When I run, I hate to run, I'm talking loathe.   But when I run my spirit bubbles with joy and laughter, and I love to run.  My whole body is twisted in a beautiful awful paradox.   I hate the pain in my feet.  I love the pounding of my heart.  I hate tightness of my lungs.  I love the speed of my feet. I hate doubts in my head.  I love the images of soaring on eagles wings.  I hate my failings.  I love God's enabling success.  I hate that I feeling like I have spent a decade with one foot in the grave.  I love how running makes me feel so alive.  I am chasing birds, and I have joy. 

There are times I drag myself down to the lowest gutter feeling sorry for myself.  I feel like maybe if I could walk around in a shirt that said, "I'm sorry. Please excuse me, I don't mean to be fat but I had thyroid cancer." that I would feel better. But really I would just be trading in my shame to put on pity.  I don't want to be pitiful anymore than I want to be ashamed.  I want to be free.  I want to have joy.  I want to chase birds. 

After that run I laid down and drank some water.  My husband snapped my picture with my phone.  I wanted to delete it but something very special caught my eye.  It wasn't me.  I was hot, sweaty, red faced and I partially cropped me out of the picture because of it.  Do you see it?

Do you see the look on that little girls face? I am welling with tears even now as I look at it again.  It's pride.  She is proud of her Momma.  And she is the reason I am chasing birds.  She is the Chaser of Birds.  She is my inspiration.  When she doubts, and cries, and questions, and has shame and feels pitiful some day.  I am going to pick her up and say "Honey, lets go chase some birds....you are the one who taught me how."  I love my girls so much that sometimes it physically hurts.  I don't want to pass on a legacy of pain, shame, disease and decay but of hope, faith, joy and the pursuit of righteousness.  That is why I chase birds. 

There is a passage in Romans 7 that I have been meditating on and working on memorizing, it is this:

" I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.  And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.  As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.  For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.   For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.  Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.  For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;   but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?   Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Romans 7:15-25)

If you can read through all those do's you will see that we are at war in ourselves.  We don't do things we want to do but are bent on doing the things we don't want to do and know we shouldn't do, sin.  I want to run and eat healthy.  But the easy path pulls me along on it's lazy tide I eat garbage and am inactive, sin.  Tonight's brutal run told me that I am miles away from the progress I made last year.  Literally.  Because I could run miles then.  But I am determined to chase birds.  That passage culminates so clearly at the end how can it not resound with me WHO WILL RESCUE ME FROM THIS BODY THAT IS SUBJECT TO DEATH??!!! THANKS BE TO GOD, WHO DELIVERS ME THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD!!!!! (emphasis mine) I want to lay in the grass and watch those birds fly away and yell to the heavens this scripture with my steadily beating heart thumping out internal praise.  And then I want to get up again, and chase birds.....

I'm sorry if I have ran this metaphor (ha! pun totally awesome!) into the ground. But I love me a good metaphor.  And this one made my heart soar.  Even after tonight's brutality.  Part of my tears were shed in joy because the old me would not have been out there at all.  I am not held back by my can'ts and what-ifs anymore.  I can. And who cares? I am chasing birds.....and I have Joy!!!!

Will you join the chase?