It's a race!

I am so proud of Thomas for running in the "Rugged Maniac" race at Boone Hall this morning. The "rugged" bit refers to the obstacles the 5K course included, items such as barbed wire, trenches (but not like WWI), walls, tire throws, etc. If you look at the picture I have included, I think the "maniac" bit becomes self-explanatory.

He ran it with a few buddies from our community group-- by the way have I mentioned how much we LOVE our community group? They are definitely family to us. For instance, six of the (almost) 11 kids in our group were there to cheer on their parents and as I"m helping to corral various small ones, this guy sitting nearby says to me, "just how many children do you have?!" Yep, so we love these peeps and their kids. Also pictured with Thomas here is his longtime friend Tony, who looks a tad bit happier and jauntier than my man. They all had a blast though, and Thomas is psyched to run through freezing cold water and mud again next year! And I think that all of this has inspired me to start running again and I'm putting this in writing so that I can't chicken out.

Of travelling and home-ing

Just planned out the rest of the year on the calendar--crazy! October, November and December are going to be fun-filled and hopefully a decent balance of travel and home time. Two weddings, a couple of trips, a few holidays...and a partridge in a pear tree.


Thomas commented a few weeks ago that I was a homebody--an observation that I originally did not take kindly to. But upon further reflection, I decided that he was pretty dead on (yikes, 2 sentences in a row ending in prepositions. sorry folks). I love to travel and do interesting things, but I also love to putter around our house and hang out with the terrific friends that we have in this area. Hosting friends and family is always fun, too. We are truly blessed to have the depth and breadth of relationships that we do in Charleston. It's something that I often take for granted but the Lord has truly blessed us beyond measure with wonderful people.

Lately we have been praying for further opportunities to interact with neighbors and cultivate relationships in our own driveway, so to speak. Thanks to our handsome and spastic dog Sullivan, we find ourselves out and about much more often, thereby gaining further "exposure" with fellow dog owners and others who live in our vicinity. Also, there is a little kindergartner from my school who looooooves coming to see me (and Sullivan and Thomas, of course), which has afforded us the opportunity to interact more with his parents and their friends. Pretty cool stuff.
ps) never was a big fan of Mr. Rogers--although thanks to my good friend KPro (KHouse), I now have a deeper appreciation of cardigans

Charleston is pretty in the spring.