memorial day church bbq

i love this face:
wanna race?

mal was being sweet and brought me a brownie then sat in my lap to eat it

these next two pictures are two of the best ever. hannah's face is priceless! whit kept stealing the ice out of hannah's cup, sucking on it, then spitting it out and putting it back in hannah's cup/

"oh, no, you didn't!!"

this picture is completely josh (pastor's youngest son). he is 100% all boy. rough, rowdy, and out of control (but sweet when he wants to be).

the sawyers (shown here with angela) are our small group leaders. i am incredibly blessed to have them in my life. they not only open their home to college and career kids every sunday, mrs. sawyer also cooks for us every week.

the sawyers and nicole

pastor, nicole, and kim (pastor's wife). once again, i am incredibly blessed. i have a pastor who is unashamed to boldly preach the Bible. not easy to find up here in boston.

angela and nicole:

nicole and eduardo

last small group bbq

this is one of my favorite pictures ever of nicole, angela, and rachel:



yes, i'm a picture ruiner:

this may be the only picture ever taken where noone is making a face:

oh, amber, how i love her, the one person who makes more faces than i do:

Boston's Run to Remember

After weeks of training today was finally race day. It was my first half marathon and Allison's first ever race. It was a beautiful day to run in Boston (seriously could not have asked for better weather).

Allie and I before the race (after a year and a half of friendship this is our first picture together). Bright eyed, bushy tailed and ready to go. Side note: we picked our outfits totally independent of each other. that we both went with Nike tops and bottoms and wore green was just a coincidence. Another side note: 5436 was my apartment number freshman year of college.


Some (I'll spare you all the details) race stats courtesy of my amazing new watch:
Distance: 13.31 miles
Elevation gain: 915 feet
Calories burned: 1535
Time: 1:54:58
Fastest full mile: 7:48 (mile 13)
Slowest full mile: 9:13 (mile 1- explanation: there were lots of people)
Average pace: 8:37


Post-race. Still smiling is a good thing...

Then we went to the Annual Metro West Baptist Church Memorial Day Picnic. Food + Friends + Fun = good times.

Afterwards, the rest of the day was pretty much spent like this:

Please note the milk AND the chips in her hand.

whit kept the goggles on longer than mal did (all of about ten seconds).

she has such a cute little tushie.

Mine and Allison's post-race treat: Grilled Peeps!

Many thanks to Allison for introducing me to this delicacy.

Note: lesson learned - only grill one at a time

The master griller

YUM!

my new toy

in honor of the half marathon i'm doing tomorrow i bought a garmin forerunner 110 w. okay, maybe i just really wanted one. i'm incredibly super excited!!!

i don't so much care about the heart rate monitor portion but it is a nice to have. i can put in my height, weight, age, fitness level and it will calculate my calorie burn for me based off of all the combined factors.

what i do i care about is the gps and the timing capabilities. no more wondering how far i've gone or having to get in my car or on my bike to map new routes since the gps tracks my distance. and it stops running when i stop running (e.g. red lights) so the timing is more accurate. it can produce a total time (both running and stopped), time per split (you can set the distance you want your splits to be and it will automatically track), average time of splits, etc. etc. the memory will store 180 hours worth of workouts but i can download it all to my computer and track my training that way.there is pretty much nothing this watch can't do (excpet maybe run for me).

did i mention i'm sssuuupppeeerrrr excited?

Psalm 103 (New International Version)

Psalm 103

Of David.

1 Praise the LORD, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits-

3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,

4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,

5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

6 The LORD works righteousness
and justice for all the oppressed.

7 He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the people of Israel:

8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.

9 He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;

10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.

11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;

12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

13 As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;

14 for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.

15 As for man, his days are like grass,
he flourishes like a flower of the field;

16 the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.

17 But from everlasting to everlasting
the LORD's love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children's children-

18 with those who keep his covenant
and remember to obey his precepts.

19 The LORD has established his throne in heaven,
and his kingdom rules over all.

20 Praise the LORD, you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his bidding,
who obey his word.

21 Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts,
you his servants who do his will.

22 Praise the LORD, all his works
everywhere in his dominion.
Praise the LORD, O my soul.

praying for one another

sunday night and monday night were my last small group and my last bsf for the summer. both were marked by the typical end of the session looking back and sharing. interestingly enough, even though both had different themes (1 corinthians and john, respectively) both nights really ended up focusing/reflecting on prayer and praying for one another.

every sunday evening in my small group we have the opportunity to share our requests with the and someone is picked at random to pray for each request. however, we do not serve a random God. i am amazed at how many times the person praying ends up being in a very similar situation to the one they're praying for or just has the perfect words of comfort to share. what a blessing to be able to bring your requests to some of your closes friends and let them share the burden of life with you. a while back i was driving and freaking out about something and right then called my friend rachel who prayed for me over the phone. instantly, i felt better. we do not do this often enough. as christians, praying for one another, sharing burdens, comforting one another is something we are told to do, but it is also something we should count as a privilege. how blessed i am to have such an amazing group of friends to laugh with to cry with and to just share life with.


monday evenings are done a little differently. we share our requests throughout the week with our leader who then shares them with the group monday nights and we're responsible for praying for the list throughout the week. how great it is to know that people are praying for you all week. i was looking back on the 33 weeks of bsf and realized that my prayer request the first week was to be able to make it on time on monday nights. if you remember, when bsf started i was working on the mainframe project and catching the 5:25 train into work in the mornings and the 7:20 train home most nights. i was worried that i would not be able to keep my commitment to bsf. however, looking back, there was not a single monday where i had to miss class because of work. that is the power of prayer. most women had very similar stories of answered prayers throughout the year. God doesn't care how simple or how seemingly small our requests are. he wants us to bring everything before him. look back at the book of john. in addition to the miracles such as raising lazarus from the dead, jesus is also the king of the incredibly simple. mary asked for wine. the disciples got fish. jesus provided the basics. he loves giving us things. all we have to do is ask. i know i'm one of those people who often thinks my prayer requests aren't important enough to get mentioned. however, as my friend jamie pointed out, why not? why not let fifteen women pray for me throughout the week for whatever it may be, even if it is just a free schedule on monday nights?

anyways... i guess my point is: pray for one another. find out your friends' burdens and bring them before the Lord. There is power in prayer and nothing is too big or too small for our God.

i love these girls

video rocker + frosty blanket = perfect seat for a movie

(aren't they cute when they're acting sweet?)