done and done.

we did it! me with my running buddies... carly (my friend/roommate, who got me to do this in the first place) and rob (her dad, who is a rockstar)

yesterday was the half marathon! it's hard to believe that it's already done... but i'm glad it is! it was quite the day... let me just tell you about it.

so... friday night we stayed up at carly's house in edwards (about half an hour past copper). carly, her parents, dwen, kellie, and i all stayed up there, had a carb-crazy dinner, and played games. it was fun! i really wasn't that nervous... mostly just anxious. i still had a hard time getting to sleep though.

the next morning carly, rob, carla (carly's mom, who got up early to drive us down there), and i woke up bright and early to eat breakfast and go sign in for the race. i still wasn't feeling nervous, and everything was fine until we were almost to frisco. i started feeling really hot and like i was going to throw up. luckily carla is a mom and felt my head and knew we needed to pull over... we pulled over and i got out of the car and threw up. my purple smoothie got all over my shoes! haha it was gross, but then i was fine :) but seriously... who throws up before the race even starts? apparently i do. i'm blaming it on my cold medicine that i took before i ate.

so anyways... it was really cold and rainy, which was not fun before we started, but once we got going it was actually greatly appreciated. the first 7 miles were golden, then between about 7 and 9 i started feeling like i was ready to be done. that passed, though, and i was good until about 10 and a half, when we had to go up some steep hills. that was when i started feeling a little sick. but then i walked for just a little bit and felt okay. the same thing happened right at the end, too. carly and rob kept running, so i had to run faster to catch up with them, but it was okay :) then we finished and i couldn't even focus on anything except my desire to just lay in the grass... so i did. it wasn't fast or anything (2:36:20) and we were pretty close to the last people (i was 254/281, which is weird because they told us there were like 700 people doing it), but i'm still proud of myself. my goal was just to finish, and that's what i did!

i seriously could never have done it by myself though. i wouldn't have even done it at all, let alone done the training runs, without carly. and i would have walked a lot more if it weren't for carly and rob running with me. and seriously... seeing the cheering crowd EVERYWHERE was awesome! (by that i don't mean a ton of people cheering all along the route... i mean my parents, dwen, carla, and kelly drove along and waited at like 6 different spots for us! and kellie was at the first one before she had to head back for a job interview... that's dedication.) and all of that was in the freezing cold and rain! that was the best feeling ever... and it really did help!

thanks guys :)

so anyways... that's the half marathon story. afterwards we went out to eat and watched the us/england world cup game. it was fun, but i was tired! then later last night i went and sat in dwen's hot tub, which was wonderful until i started feeling like i was being cooked alive.

all in all it was a wonderful day :)

here are some pictures...

about mile 7... still feeling golden. i'm laughing at the crotchpunch sign.

at the very end... total tunnel vision.

haha... that's all i wanted to do.

yay! i can't leave out our other training buddy... kayuh. he went on all our training runs with us!

i love my family! thanks for being there guys :) that's bryan on the sign... gwen made those. you can't really see the one on the bottom but it's a picture of me crotchpunching the race... HA!

praise the Lord for getting me through! and for rain and cool weather, and for my family and friends, and for beautiful mountains!

tomorrow.

check.

i just shipped off my visa documents! hopefully everything is good and i won't have to do it again... it was expensive!

once they have those then they'll put in a recommendation to the education department to give me a position then they'll send me some more stuff to fill out then once that's back i'll have a job for real! haha... it's a lot of steps. i'm not even sure if i just got that right but i don't care... i'm happy to have everything sent out :)

praise the Lord!

sicky pants

i'm sick. ewwwww. it's not terrible but it's not fun either.

but it's really okay... i was supposed to work tonight and i was stressing out because i didn't want to get the girls sick but i couldn't find anyone to cover for me but then i finally talked to tonya (the mom) and she said they had a change of plans anyway because the friend they were supposed to have dinner with has strep and couldn't do it anyway! praise God! not for her friend having strep obviously but for working it out so that i don't have to worry. He's so wonderful... always coming through.

i have to keep remembering that... seriously no matter how much He proves His goodness somehow i always manage to worry that for some reason He won't this time. i'm still waiting on my korea stuff, which i really should have sent in like a month ago. but, because of some unfortunate confusion and some ccu stuff, i still don't have my diploma or letter of completion, so i haven't sent it in yet. i'm worried that all the jobs will be taken by the time i actually get it. what if that happens? pretty much that means that i have to come up with a completely new plan... which sounds like the least appealing thing ever. but really, who am i to worry? hasn't God proven time and time again that He has everything in His hands? why would i think this would be any different? what if i'm really not meant to go to korea? isn't whatever God has planned for me a thousand times better than anything i could plan for myself? i know it is... i know He'll work it all out. i know that i shouldn't worry. but it's hard not to... i think that's only human. it's actually new for me though, because i'm really not usually a worrier. if i didn't have loans to pay off it would be no big deal... i would know that i could do anything really. but since i actually have to make money, it's hard to imagine what i will do with a global studies degree besides teach english... haha seriously it's a pretty worthless degree i think. i love it, but really what the heck am i supposed to do with that? God knows i guess.

wow i did not really plan at all on writing all of that... it's like word vomit but with my fingers.

i feel like it's really complainy (just go with that word...)

it's funny though because the last few days i have been thinking of all the random things that have seriously changed my life, even though they are stupid. but i'm really thankful for all of them!

here's that list:

-the new branch of my bank that opened seriously like 2 blocks from the other one... there are never any lines and parking is so easy! i love it!

-sunflower market. mmmmm.

-the redbox that just opened up at 7-11 half a block away

-gomusic

-sloan's lake

-my running shoes

honestly all of those things have changed my life for the better (even my running shoes! i know right?!)

i know that i have so much to be thankful for... i just need to keep remembering that. because God is good.

praise the Lord for that!

time management

so... i started writing this in the library when i went to work on my tefl, because i had to download a video for it. except i forgot to read the thing before, so i didn't realize the downloading part would take an HOUR. and the video is an hour. so then i didn't have time to watch it because i only had 10 minutes left of my study room reservation.

so i decided write on here because i haven't in so very long.

here's what i wrote:

the last few weeks have been crazy... i feel like the easiest way is to do a list (let's be real... i would probably do a list anyway because i love them).

so... in the past few weeks i have:

-graduated from college. this is kinda a big deal, but i still don't really feel like it's done. maybe because i still have my tefl, which is basically homework.

-run 10 miles on the course that i will actually be running for the half marathon... that's in the mountains people. copper to frisco. i'm not one to brag, but i'm pretty proud of myself. i also know now that i am totally going to crotchpunch the actual event, so that's exciting.

-skyped with bryan. it was wonderful, even though his internet is terrible and we kept getting cut off.

then i came back and realized that's a really short list but i feel like i've done more than that.

i've also been working a lot, working on my stuff for korea, running, and watching lots of shows online. haha... that last one shouldn't count but i'm just being honest.

it's weird... i have a bunch of different emotions going on right now, and i can't pinpoint just one. i can't even really describe any of them... i guess i really don't know what i'm feeling. it's funny because now is a time when i really should be at the top of my planning game, but i've never lived so day to day in my life. seriously... i just take each day and hardly even think about the next one. it's strange... but also kinda wonderful.

praise God for the days.

i spy...

today on my run around the lake i saw:
1 boy who could only be described as a *thug* happily feeding the geese by himself
2 couples snogging
3 jewish boys in yarmulkes up to no good by the water
4 people whose dogs were clearly running them
and bonus a man following his toddler daughter around plucking (not strumming) a guitar. she was not interested in him at all...

it was awesome.

praise the Lord for entertainment to distract me from running!

today.

so... this weekend i got to hang out with my mom... i love her :) since bryan is gone and my dad is out of town it was just the 2 of us. we watched lots of movies and were lazy and we went shopping and i got a macbook! i'm so excited... now i can skype and edit pictures and not get viruses! also she got me an awesome graduation dress. i feel spoiled... thank you mom! it was a wonderful break from life...

i feel like my life is all jumbled up right now. except really it's not... i guess. i don't know.
i'm trying to organize my thoughts and i can't. i have lots of different stuff to be excited about, but it's hard to get excited about one or the other because there's just so much else going on... make sense?

i'm graduating from college in 5 days. that is weird. i can't even believe it... i have 1 more paper and some ministry hours to submit, then i'm done. crazy!

it doesn't feel like the end.

it could be because i'm staying in my house this summer, so i don't have that moving out aspect that i've had the last 3 years to remind me that it's summer time. or it could be because i still have 6 tefl units to go, so i basically will still have homework until those are done. or it could be because i still have to get all my visa stuff together. i actually have most of it together, but i'm waiting on my degree and final transcript to send it all out. also, like an idiot, i opened my transcript from australia and broke the seal, so now i have to request a new one. oops!
i don't know... maybe i'm in denial. or maybe i'm just over it. i was watching an old episode of laguna beach the other day (HA!) and it was the graduation episode. i had about 5 minutes of a sentimental reality check, but then it went away. i don't know why... i'm just not that upset about the idea of leaving college behind. i've never really been one to look back. i'm not a joiner... i don't go back and visit high school teachers, and i won't come back and visit college. it's just not the way i am.

i think the reason why i'm so not upset is because i'm more just excited about the future. i love my friends that i've made in college to death, and, yes, i am going to miss them like crazy. it does make me sad to think that i will not be here for some things. but more than that, i am so excited to see what happens. i'm excited because i know that God has a plan for all of our lives... this was just a short season, and it's only the beginning of the amazing things that He is going to do. and i can't wait to see it! i can't wait to see where everyone ends up, what they end up doing, who they end up doing it with, and how everyone will grow. i can't even imagine living not knowing that God has a plan... it not only brings so much peace, but it makes everything more exciting because i know that His plans go beyond anything i can imagine! it's such a cool feeling...

speaking of God's plans... bryan is in uganda! i got to talk to him on saturday and hear more about it... he loves the people and the country is beautiful, and he's already attached to some of the kids. it's so exciting for me to see him being exactly where i know God wants him right now. i just know in my heart that God has amazing plans for him there, and i've already seen how the Lord has worked things out for him. if you think about it, please pray for bryan that he will really find his niche and that God will show him what he needs to be doing there specifically (each volunteer is supposed to pick a project to do for musana... bryan doesn't know what he wants to do yet). and pray for the other volunteers and the organization as a whole, and for emma and nico, two of the kids that bryan has already become attached to.

also while you're praying... maybe shoot one up there for me and the half marathon (i registered today!). my foot has been acting up, so now i'm behind on my training. lame... but i've rested it longer this time, so i'm hoping that will make a difference and i will be able to train harder now.

anyways... this post ended up longer than expected.

praise the Lord for His goodness and for working everything out according to His purposes!