Family Acitivities

Biking:

I am always trying to get a bunch of exercise and I am also concerned for my family especially my husband and 2 of my children who prefer almost anything to exercise. So I said lets bike down in Fredericksburg after we pick strawberries (by the way, do something with all the strawberries as soon as you get home-I make the mistake of not doing this every year!) on Saturday. So we stopped at Fall Hill Ave at the beginning of the Canal path and got going minus Arianna who was camping with friends. First, my tire was rubbing against the bike frame, but I just dealt. Then David's chain fell off. Finally, I was racing Elizabeth and her pedal came off. Dave had to return to the van and get wrenches and tighten the pedal. Does anyone realize how hard it is to maintain 6 bikes especially when they are not used a lot? Finally, we were able to keep on pedaling without any more stops and made it to Old Town Frederickburg and biked down Princess Anne St and back up Caroline (although not after Dave was cursed out and given an obscene gesture for being in the road and slowing some rude dude down) and then back down the Canal Path (about 5 or so miles). Then we went out to eat that night.

Eating:

This is becoming a real struggle for me. I guess I am eating too much and eating the wrong things. On Saturday we went to Maggiano's for "family style" (oh great-all you can eat of all the dishes they put on the table). I tried not to eat too much but with 10 different dishes it was so difficult. In any case, I woke up the next morning at 5am with severe stomach pain and told myself I had better get a grip with no exceptions! Of course a compassionate friend who shall remain nameless let me know he had lost 5 lbs this week by cutting down-good for you! Pray for me then!

Friends:

Sunday we went to friends house for the afternoon after church whom we had not hung with in a while. I ate tons of fresh vegies (God bless them for serving healthy) and had fish and chicken. I did have ice cream and sherbert, but felt a lot better. We had a great time with them. My friend's brother reminded me of a counselor. He was constantly paraphrasing, reflecting, and asking open-ended questions. I was impressed and really felt like he was listening and interested in what we were saying. Good model for us all, but especially for me with counseling.

Our other young friend was in the hospital-had been there 10 days so back down to Fredericksburg we went to visit him and then of course, I got the bright idea to get more exercise by doing the scavenger hunt or at least walking in Old Town. The scavenger hunt is a bit annoying to me, but I decided to let it go and not try to fill it all in. (This is a big step for me as I hate blanks and not finishing things). We saw Colby and Annie and the girls down town (biking of course-they are my inspiration). Needless to say when we returned from Fredericksbur, David went right to bed and Jonny went to a friend's to sleep over and Dave, Elizabeth and I watched National Treasure: Book of Secrets. What a great movie!

More biking:

Today we biked 9-10 miles and I got dirty looks from the kids. The other pedal fell off Elizabeth's bike and she thought we were going to leave her. Poor E. Of course we didn't and came back for her (we had been a bit ahead). The kids and Dave went swimming and I was in my bliss gardening. This blessed lady at church gave me about 30+ plants FREE (many just seedlings but still) and so I planted and watered them all. We are also keeping critters away from the garden with hair, pinwheels (or whirlygigs as some call them) and something else not worthy of blogging. Even if only a few of these plants live I will be ahead-some are perenials! I love being cheap-it is so rewarding sometimes especially if it works.

More friends:

We went to our dear friends' daughter's 2 year old birthday. I played kickball. Can't tell you the last time I did that, but I am having a lot of firsts in awhile since turning 40 (skiing, school, Carnegie Hall in NYC, etc). I had not been to Aquia Landing-what a nice park on the River and the weather was perfect. Good friends, good food, and celbrating-Wonderful.

Bugs:

Skin So Soft does not work for bugs. I was covered with them. Maybe it helped me not get bit, but it seemed to attract every nat in the area. I must come up with natural bug repellent and sunscreen. Not interested in the chemicals.

I do not think we have a free day between now and when we go away June 17th. (Friday the 13th is open, any takers? I guess we are not superstitious!) Trying to wrap up the school year and activities and finally get away!

Running:

Dave, Nancy and David II are planning to run the 5-miler in Fredericksburg on July 4th. I believe the Garmans are going to also (of course-they, as I said, are my inspiration) so I am hoping this will get us motivated to eat right or at least less, exercise more, and improve our overall health. There is a half marathon in September and of course the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving. I hope we do all three and any others we can fit in. I find these things fun and motivating. We also biked to all my children's schools today so next time I have to go to one of them, I think I will get exercise, save gas and bike. Wait until that new hospital gets going!

That's all for now.
Nancy

Mercy

Mercy is a word that has been appearing to me more and more lately. From Pastor Bill's recent messages on the need to show mercy to the words of Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.

to this quote I found on The Rabbit Room from the 1987 movie Babette's Feast

Mercy and truth have met together. Righteousness and bliss shall kiss one another. Man, in his weakness and shortsightedness believes he must make choices in this life. He trembles at the risks he takes. We do know fear. But no. Our choice is of no importance. There comes a time when our eyes are opened and we come to realize that mercy is infinite. We need only await it with confidence and receive it with gratitude. Mercy imposes no conditions. And lo! Everything we have chosen has been granted to us. And everything we rejected has also been granted. Yes, we even get back what we rejected. For mercy and truth have met together, and righteousness and bliss shall kiss one another.

I'm still processing my thoughts on mercy but I don't think it is without purpose that mercy has repeatedly shown up.

Day 4 and Day 5

They were a blur. Between soccer, dance, talent show, etc., the end of last week was a blur. It doesn't help that I usually stay up until midnight or so when Nancy is gone. We all survived and it was great to see her come home last Friday.

In about two weeks, we get to do this again. This time it will be Annie and Nancy off together. Most activities, except for dance, will have wound down so the pressures to get everyone where they need to be will have diminished.

Thanks to all who asked what happened after day 3. Nancy and I decided to stimulate the economy by purchasing a new mattress set. The lumps from 17+ years of the current mattress will hopefully be a memory soon.

I'm Back

I, Nancy, have returned from my first class on a University campus since 1988!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
20 years. I am in awe at how old I am and how fast time has flown even though it seemed slow in the 80's. How did that happen.

Anyway, the class was good-I finally got to apply what I have been learning this year. I was able to counsel people in my class for 4 afternoons. On the flip side, I was counseled for 4 afternoon by them so I was exhausted when I returned home having spilled my guts so much. I did actually get some good insight into myself and some good tips to apply to my life from my fellow students.

Liberty University was awesome. I could really sense how God has blessed it and it continues to grow by leaps and bounds in our stagnated economy. They have over 11,000 residential students coming in the Fall and have 27,000 distance learners of which I am one. Amazing. They are very organized and very well run. I was impressed. I even went to Jerry Falwell's museum on the 1 year anniversary of his death.

Today, I counseled my first client besides the fellow students. I was nervous especially since it had to be filmed. We talked for over 50 minutes! And I was worried about a 1/2hour! I think I did ok-we'll see. I have 2 more sessions with my client.

I am trying to get ready for my next class on June 9-13. It is a group counseling class so another perspective for me. I've never been in a counseling group or even attended one so it should be interesting.

For those of you curious about the naturopath, she ended up being a dud-just never called back, cancelled appts and now I haven't heard from her in weeks. I wish I knew another one and could find what I was looking for, but someone told me that it is silly to think that I am going to feel great everyday so I have decided to accept that. I am still trying to eat well, exercise and take some supplements (some being the key word-I must sort through which ones so I don't take over 30 pills a day!), but if I don't feel well, I am just going to accept it and hopefully, go to bed. I did get a minor cold while I was away but it had been over 6 months since being sick, so I was pleased. I still really like the chiropractor though.

Well, speaking of exercise, I am taking a big walk because one thing about getting older, fat is your friend! (a very clingy one I might add)

Day 3

Day 3 is starting off well. Economic stimulus package ($$) was deposited last night.

Day 2 - Blessings

Day 2 of Nancy away. No it isn't a blessing that she is away but I want to rejoice in some of the neat things that happened today and to glorify God through them.

• Nancy is able to take a class and learn to apply the theoretical things she has been learning. I am amazed at her capacity to learn, willingness to apply and her love for the counseling.
• Jonny saw the yard was getting tall and mowed the front yard without anyone asking. Brandon, a neighbor and older friend of Jonny, manned the weed wacker.
• The Garmans provided dinner tonight. Thank you Annie for preparing the meal, bringing it over and hanging at the Fauth house. I appreciate it so much and I know our kids had a great time playing with Haley and Darcey.
• I understand David beat Colby at Wii baseball. Colby, he is weak at tennis.

Most of the time I am so focused on the tyranny of the urgent that I lose sight of God's wonder, blessings and reminders of who He is and how He is the one in control.

Nan at School - Day 1

Nancy left yesterday for Lynchburg and arrived around 7pm. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the remaining survivors settled down to prepare for the week ahead. Following a full weekend of the Screwtape letters, serving at the New Generation ministry, Carl's ice cream and sleepovers on Saturday, the kids were wiped out. They crashed at 8 allowing me the pleasure of some Sunday Night Baseball between the Minnesota Twins and Red Sox nation. That ended around 11:20pm with a nail biting Twins victory. A little bit of Sportscenter and nighty night.

6:15 comes early but a fresh press of coffee helps out. David was up and left at 6:35 while I was ironing some clothes and preparing a crock pot meal. Around 7:00, he comes back. I'm thinking he missed the bus. Little did I know that Stafford schools were closed due to the 5 inches of rain we received over the weekend.

Ha ha, now I could get an early jump getting to work while the kids stayed home. Giving them directions not to wake Jonny and Arianna, I left only to sit in traffic for 2 hours.

One of the advantages of having older kids is that they can manage at home by themselves. One advantage of having an older girl with an interest in sewing, cooking, etc. is that things may get done that normally wouldn't.

Today while I was at work, Elizabeth cleaned the kitchen, repaired the torn cushions on our kitchen chairs, ironed the rest of the clothes and helped Arianna with her laundry. What a relief that she was able to do that. Annie, I'm sure she would do the same in Iceland.

Random Musings

Nancy is at Liberty this week for an intensive class. I know she was nervous about it but she will do great. She drove down to Lynchburg by herself in the rain and had no problems.

That means I'm at home with 4 kids being Mr. Dad. I'll be going in late and coming home normal time, however, I'm sure it won't go smoothly.

Nancy wasn't too happy when there were tornado warnings for Stafford and I just let the kids sleep. I went downstairs to sleep as I had to get up in the morning. For some reason, Nancy couldn't sleep (hmmm..... maybe her protecting husband wasn't doing the best job). Growing up in South Dakota, those were pretty normal occurrences. Only once do I remember actually seeing a tornado. We went in the basement then and maybe a few other times growing up.