Grocery Pickup is a Game Changer!

I've clearly been under a rock and y'all are probably fluently versed on grocery pick-up. Heck. They even have grocery delivery now....say whaaaa?!! But I take forever to hop on the band wagon. I hate change but eventually I come around. Even when it is a good change. As in, I also just got my first iPhone. I know, I know. Just welcome me to the club.

Anyway, I finally decided I would up my mom game by eliminating a monday'ly' task and optimize play time with Ellie by simply ordering what we need on Wal-Mart's grocery app. It was sooooo easy and mindless. Another reason I hate change, I am not much for learning new things. So old school. But it was literally mindless. I just typed what I needed and "Bam!" added it to my cart. I simply pushed a "check in" button to let W-M know I was on my way and they came out to me at my ETA...already knowing I had arrived. Like, how cool is technology?! They loaded my car up for me while I sat cozy in the heat listening to non mommy music----flashbacks of all the early 2000's pop. Oh yeah. I Ashlee Simpson'ed that Pandora. No shame in my game. I was alone....oh!! That is the best part...totally kid free. I chose evening pick-up on a Sunday night. This way, Eric is home and puts Ellie to bed, and I am home in time enough to walk into silence and relax....not that the car ride alone with my throwbacks wasn't relaxing enough. See a dork with a messy bun jamming out in a Camry singing at the top of her lungs and fist bumpin'? Oh, hey.

So....yeah....totally recommend grocery pick-up to those who are still living in the olden days like me! Hahaha! Maybe in a year or two I'll finally do grocery delivery while y'all are on to the next big design in grocery engineering and innovation! Ha!

Another 13.1 done

Well. My racing season was supposed to start back in September; however, thanks to Hurricane Florence, a violent 4 day stomach bug, and moving, I have missed 4 races. I don't know what God wanted me to get from that or if He was simply protecting me. In any event, I embraced it and thanked God for what He knows that I do not.

Yet, those races were supposed to be my friendly little warm up to doing another half marathon. I have not ran a half since 2013. I ran a full in 2014. Either way, I have ran nothing greater than a 10k in a few years. I don't ever train because running is a God given gift for me which is so cool as I am not even supposed to be alive; yet, it is true, it is a more comfortable sport if I am consistent. So, I was fully aware this 13.1 run was going to be attainable yet painful muscularly speaking. I only did a 10k to warm up ahead of time the race week. Normally I would do 10 miles, but I was right here at race week and you are not supposed to run at all the week before a big race.

I have no goals when I do long races other than to be happy and enjoy the clearness of mind, my music, and the scenery. I enjoy the fitness. Somebody once asked me at a gym, trying to get to know me, what I liked to do for fun? I lauhed and said, ummm....this?! I love fitness. It makes me happy. I am not a gym junkie, a meathead, or anything crazy.....I just really love to feel my body relax with exercise and my strength grow both mentally and physically. That can mean yoga, running, obstacle courses, dancing, anything active. Of course I love a good shopping trip, movies, and anything outdoors as well. But ask me to go running or to join in on a strenuous hike with lots of sweat and muscle gains and I am all in. Anyway. Side tangent.

So I signed up for this half which took place in Lexington, SC which is about 2 hours from home. Some friends from college days and my first years of working will know that Lexington was my weekend home before meeting Eric. My sister and her family used to live there and I was actually looking for surgical jobs and apartment searching there to be with them more than 4 days a week. But then Eric happened. Then Josh got a job in GA. So that was all she wrote for Lex. However, I decided it was time to put a long distance race back on my docket and found this half in Lex. I signed up and figured I would drive down morning of (laughs, snorts) *yeah right!* and would run and come back home. Ummmm....reality check little dreamer....you would die. I need 8+ hours of sleep. And I can't have coffee soooooo.....

....I got a hotel. I wanted Eric and Ellie with me so badly. But those who are part of our intimate circle understand how impractical that is right now with all Eric has on his plate this current semester. Like...if Eric's current load in life was a literal plate of food.....even the fattest man/ woman (not to discriminate, lol!) would not be able to finish the plate of food. It is so much. So, I know he would support me from afar and I as his wife supported him by not making a big deal of him coming with me because I know he needs rest, Ellie time, and time to accomplish other daily living tasks that get put on the back burner during the week that only he can handle. Not to mention the drive and the time of the race would just be miserable for little Ellie and she doesn't need to sit out in that. That being said, this was my first race ever not having a cheerleader or a running partner. All alone. A few nerves ensued. I wanted my pre-race Eric good luck kiss. I wanted to see Ellie looking at me proudly. But, it was peaceful on one hand because I was back in a place that used to be home to me as well as able to do whatever I wanted for one whole night without anybody needing me. So what did I do pre-race night? Got outback cheese fries, put on cozy jammies, and laid in the middle of a fluffy king sized bed with a pillow fort and watched HGTV. Not too shabby!

The race itself was incredible. Like so so good. Very well organized, clear and apparent path markings, lots of cheerleading, hydration every mile, and an awesome finish and medal. I imagined Eric and Ellie and Pam at every big milestone. I pictured them at the finish. I broke my own 13.1 time and I broke 2 hours. I finished the race in 1 hour and 58 minutes. I never stopped running other than to drink water from miles 9-13.1. I never felt bad but naturally was ready for it to be over. I was entertained by seeing how much my little town had changed and grown. I was all alone with no runners in sight in front of or behind me for about 3 miles. It was very relaxing. I just felt calm which helped me to breathe so well, which helped me to run very well. After crossing the finish line...I jello wobbled up some stadium stairs, and got in my car to drive home to my family. I took an epsom salt bath and relaxed the rest of the day with my fam. It felt good to be back at it. I think I will run at least one half a year instead of having a 5 year gap between the big races. I have ran a full marathon but honestly after 16 miles it just sucked. I may do one again but only with Pam. Half's are where it's at for me!

Grace

We know that God is gracious as He pardoned all of our sins because He loves us more than our complete un-holy natures. As a follower of Christ, I am meant to be a gracious person. But I am human and have many flawed areas in my human nature composition. I don't give others much space for error when it affects me. I am a very loving and kind person, but not easily a gracious person. I set expectations in my mind and I find it hard to divert from those when the product is sub-par. I am not gracious with myself, either.

So, God gave each of us here on earth other Christian brothers and sisters who help *gracefully* direct each other into a better place with our Spirit. For me, without her even knowing it, mine is my dear friend, Anna Bargeron. Anna is my hiking friend, mom friend, and my family photographer for life. But she is also the brightest example of Jesus I have encountered in a long time and she is refreshing to be around. I recently heard a tale from other hiking mom friends of a hike in which Anna and her two beautiful babies and her very nice camera (remember, she is my professional family photographer) partook in to a beautiful waterfall. I believe the story details were a mush of this: Mama Anna wanted a photo with her babies. Babies had already been struggling that day as all the babies in the crew do every so often....and Anna takes a slip or perhaps back up too far into a large rock or boulder....regardless of the finessing of the details, a stressed mama's camera lens was lodged between her thigh and boulder, dislodged, and went for a daredevil dive over the waterfall.

She had had a day y'all and this was the cherry atop the whipped cream on the ice cream sundae. Yet, my soul mentor portrayed a beautiful example to all of our friends and the children present of a graceful nature and heart. Y'all know home girl had to be dying, screaming, and breaking down inside. But, she merely made a face of anguish and only repeated how everything was fine. I was not on this hike with her I will remind you so it is evident how beautiful her grace is that it traveled back to me.

It was a tale of tales in our hiking group. A tale I took home with me and that really grew my Spirit that day. Often I reflect on that story now and her nature and response and her grace with everything that was that day. I had a conversation with God in the shower as I thought about it and I asked God to help my Spirit to pause, reflect, think, and have grace before I responded to people. I have such an unforgiving and unkind fuse with those that I find incompetent, lazy, rude, or careless. I still do not have a lot of tolerance for such characteristics in behavior yet, I feel that the Holy Spirit is working on my soul and my Spiritual heart and eye sight to remind me to first breathe, smile, and watch my voice and tone. It is the most complicated thing for me. I am truly flawed at offering grace like God.

Why is it important? Well, folks, I'll tell ya. First of all God could have chosen not to have grace on all of mankind and our sinful natures. He could have easily chosen as the King of all creation to condemn us to Hell without a chance at eternal life with Him. And the reason we have a choice to love God and live eternally with Him is because of His grace to forgive us of all of our wrong doings and sinful attitudes, mindsets, and behaviors. We have wronged God over and over and over every single day. We have cursed Him, lied to Him, disobeyed Him, ran from Him, turned Him down, ridiculed Him, spat on His great name. And every time we do this, we forget how God deeply loves us so much that He sacrificed His own son to bear our sins so that we may be considered clean and washed white that we may enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The Holy Spirit must fill our hearts. It is not enough to simply believe. Satan believes God is really after all. We must ask for our souls to be filled with the Holy Spirit and thus our actions will look much more like that of God. The fruits of the Spirit after all are Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self control. All of these work together and daily I know I need to tune myself to the heart of the Holy Spirit.

Just wanted to share how God decided to grow my Spirit, which I hope is a continuous growth all of my earthly life. Thankful for hiking trails with mamas who love Jesus and friends who love each other well!

Hike It Baby 30 September '18

Another Hike It Baby Challenge on record!! Last challenge I was so focused on the mileage that I more than doubled the challenge goal. This time, being that I have Ellie involved in three other groups alongside Hike It Baby to get her toes wet in all sorts of adventures, it was harder for me to make the big hikes I love and enjoy because of the days of the week they fell on. However, I am thankful that stroller walks outside with our friends still count towards our mileage. This time, knowing our schedules would be different than back in January when the last challenge commenced, I wanted to focus on just being as present as possible for the sake of keeping community with this special family of mama friends and babies. The big hikes are so good for my physical state, but the strolls are so good for my mental state. Every hike, no matter the shape and form, the time and the distance, the location or the weather, makes a beautiful impact on both myself as an individual, as Emily, as a wife, and as a mother, and to Ellie as a growing, strong, fierce, and mighty little girl. These mamas all come from different places in many ways. Each of their perspectives, and more importantly their smiles and hugs for both me and my baby girl, are what make the "hard to get out the door" mornings into amazing days.

So my personal challenge was to make the 30 miles, and to offer grace to myself in the time I had available to get out there currently, and to just focus on soaking up my good friends' good vibes.

Stats for September:

47.95 miles
2450 minutes outside
Infinite amount of laughs and smiles
:)
Love you my little Hiking family! So so much!

Beechwood Farms, A Pumpkin Tradition

For the past two fall seasons, The Three E's have made Beechwood Farms their Pick of the Pumpkin Patches. (As well as for all farm needs and fun).

I love it there because of the beauty, the Christ centered customer service, care, and farming. Each and every person on the farm, no matter the role they play, has treated my family like cherished treasure, no matter if it is the busiest day yet, or a day when everybody else is at school and work and Ellie and I want to enjoy the crops and the the market they have.

It was wild to think this was already our second trip taking Ellie to pick out her pumpkin. Last year, she was barely big enough for her baby carrier, and she couldn't do much. This year, Ellie had an opinion about which pumpkins she chose. She loved the hay ride, train ride, horse rides, and the picnic we had on the grounds. She spent 15 minutes saying hello to goats and begging me to put her in the cage with them. "No Ellie, you are not a goat." Inserts foot to high rung on chain linked fence...."Ok Ellie, stop being a smartie and stop climbing. Rude." Lol!! She is so stinking determined with all that she does! Flicker was going to find a way to run away with the goats. Her goal of the day.

Ellie picked pumpkins and walked with them cradled in her arms against her chest and tummy, proud as could be, and accomplished. What a joy to watch the baby grow up in the same special place year after year.

Now the pumpkins adorn our new front porch and Ellie and Eric both helped me decorate with them.

Ellie will visit Beechwood Farms again this month with her Hike it Baby crew for a pumpkin picking fun day!

Ellie will be involved in a bajillion fall and Halloween activities, but this is one of my very most favorite things we do!

OUR Home

Well. If you have known me, or Eric and I as a unit over the last five years, then you know well by now that even when Eric and I first started dating, knowing we wanted to be married almost immediately, that we wanted to eventually sell Eric's home, and create something of our own. We looked for homes then, we dreamed, and we had ideas. Then we put those dreams into motion, sold our home, God provided land, God gave us OUR home. It took 4.5 years of earnest prayers, heartbreak, pining for something we couldn't even see, much patience, and loving teamwork. But we did it by the grace of God.

Neither of us had an emotional connection to the house we first lived in together. It was never "ours"....Ellie only lived there for three months, herself. Heck, as much as we hated the living conditions of the rental home we spent 10 months in, it was more like home than the beautiful and nice home we left. Ellie hit all her big milestones in the rental. It was our first big endeavor together as a couple. It was a waiting place for our home.

And now I can finally sit here in the living room I dreamed of always, and type to you dear ones, that God is ever present. It is not in the least bit "turmoil" to live in a gorgeous home that just happens to not be a house you love. It is not "turmoil" to endure negative living situations and surroundings while you build a home God allowed and provided. It is not "turmoil" to walk one day in the shoes I wear that again, God Himself provided. I have seen true and raw turmoil. In this country and outside of this country. People who are thankful to find even a covering over their head, clothes for their backs, and water safe to drink. I have seen turmoil. My story is NOT one of turmoil. I was blessed with too much grace from God the moment I was born and allowed to live a full meaningful life.

But, living in a situation that is not what you desire (figuratively or realistically) can be a bit like being in the doldrums and being in that period of waiting. Waiting on something you know all the details of is hard enough. Waiting on something you can only dream of is near agony. Especially when it is your surrounding daily environment and you want your family to be in a place that belongs to ....well....your family. God made me wait. God has always made me wait. I believe it is His favorite personal lesson for me. I always always always am made to wait just beyond the point of heartbreaking aggravation faithfully on God's perfect will. He swoops in to set me free just as my strength is failing...I fall on Him. But, even when I am to a point I feel crumbled, I still thank God. No matter what it is about...not just waiting on a home for my family....anything, children, a job, an important answer, truth, or understanding beyond human understanding.

In this case, I saw God take plots of land away from me. Homes away from me. Give others land I thought I wanted. I saw God provide me with His words. I felt God write them on my heart. I felt God acting out His promises. I saw God's promises come to fruition. Through tears, heartbreaks, and doubt. God always had planned where the Three E's should live. He has much to do here through us. Many to bless in these walls. He gave to us so that we may give to others, so that we may glorify Him. HE GAVE. He took away--- so that He could give the perfect home. God gives His children free will to make their own choices, however; if we are truly His children, seeking His will, we will find His will, even when it doesn't look or feel like we think it should. And this will of God's is always incomparably better than we had planned for ourselves. The light of the truth of His will is always bright. God made us wait, suffer in the waiting, and then He delivered. We will not forget. And what He delivered was what we pined for, only so much better than we imagined for our own selves!

What a blessing to be in my first HOME with my best friend husband, and best friend daughter. To see a clean slate washed clean and given to us by Jesus, just like our hearts are done to by Jesus. This home is filled with the Holy Spirit, Praise God. Never shall I forget His words on our frames, under our foundation. Blessed be His Name. This is a perfect temporary Home until we enter our true Forever Home, with Him.

Ellie Lately

Now that we have passed the one year mark, I don't write out monthly updates, but this does not mean she does not grow and change every single day, in fact, I think more now than ever! So for my Ellie record keeping sake, Here I am to blog about what Baby girl has discovered, learned, done, etc. in the past couple of months.

Ellie has added a lot to her vocabulary lately. "Uh-oh", "No" (and even the shaking of the head), "Don't", "Gimme dat", "Please" (but she prefers gimme dat...working on it y'all.) "Thank you"...(still working on the consistency of this one). "Whoa" "Mimi" "G-dad" "Ellie" "Baby" "Block" "Ball" "Bow" "Bracelet" "Boo" (for peek-a boo) "Eye".

She is learning her animals. She knows what dogs are (easy one around here). She barks and pants like a little dog, too. She has learned what an elephant is and the sound it makes....though she does it terribly, lol, her elephant sound is always consistent and I know to what she is referring.

She has learned where her tummy, eyes, nose, mouth, lady parts (by proper name as I believe in learning proper anatomy), hair, and belly button are located and what they are called. Especially "eye".

We are working on colors. She is very interested in her color/ French cards I made her (not stressing french yet...she needs English first, but we mix it in occasionally. No I am not fluent, but I am preschool level LOL!) She loves to look at the colors and point and call them something of which I am not sure, so we are working on that everyday and she finds it so fun and interesting.

Ellie attends Mommy and Me ballet at Sterling Dance studio in Easley and is loving the class. She loves the music, props, friends, dancing, and interaction with mommy. She alos loves her tutus.

Ellie is loving continuing with Kindermusik with MRs. Rosalind Cross at Kindermusik of Greenville. This class has truly been a blessing in our lives and I only wish I had started Ellie at this at 6 weeks old. Every day, we have fun at home, carrying what we learn there home with us and putting it into use and practice. Ellie remembers the songs, tries to sing them, she remembers the motions to each song, the routines, she anticipates the bouncing, up and down movements, and the rolling and rocking on our backs. She hears me humming the songs as I cook or clean and starts dancing and humming to them, then grabs my hands for me to do the interactions with her. We practice rhythm on her instruments at home, listen to sounds and make sound with the books they give, and we cuddle, massage, and change the tones and levels of our voices for a lot of fun, interactive, imaginitive, and wondrous play time. Her eyes go wild with fascination and she just squeals and shrills with utter overwhelming joy!! It makes my heart so happy and blows my mind with fascination as in only a few short classes, I can see how much her brain and skills have developed. We are in love with this class. Worth every single penny.

Ellie has been a climber since before she walked. Such strong shoulders and arms. Today, as a matter of fact, Ellie grabbed the top of the entertainment piece of furniture, and pulled herself up off the ground, hanging on with her hands. She did a dang pull up!! What the world?!

Our only and biggest struggle with Ellie (praise the dear Lord in Heaven above) has been getting Ellie to want to sit at the table with proper table manners and eat. We started baby led weaning at 6 mos old...and while she has always done well at the mechanics of feeding herself, even using utensils, the problem has been the stubbornness of a child who does not want to sit for more than 2 minutes, yet wants to go and play. We have been battling for months teaching her patiently the table manners of sitting and eating, and when finished sitting and playing with her table toy while we talk and let us finish. We interact with her at every meal, we do not allow any screens ever, we believe in true family meals at the table talking. She loves that, but she also loves to not sit for very long. However, all that to say, it would finally seem, knock on wood and praise Jesus, that Ellie mostly is good at dinner tables now. She sits right down in her chair, feeds herself, and is good mostly up until Eric and I finish eating, too. It actually feels like we can enjoy our own food now without deep breaths, anxiety, and stress. That has truly been the only issue I have really had with parenting that has felt crippling/ will this pass?! She is a very very good baby, but this has been her struggle and therefore, mine. So praise God we finally seem to be turning a new leaf in this area.

Ellie loves teeth brushing time.

Ellie loves to comb her own hair.

Ellie loves to wear mommy's jewelry and purses.

Ellie loves playing with friends at MOPS, Kindermusik, Ballet, and on the Hiking trail, as well as the nurseries at church and the Y. She loves playdates with her friends, and loves to watch them, then join them.

Ellie loves to test boundaries. As in, she knows she is not to touch like anything at all electric, (TV remotes, DVD players, phones, wires, etc...) so she loves to place one little hand on the item and holler to me, "Hey!" and when I say, "Ellie! Get your hand off that!" She runs away laughing. Stinker. Same with dog food. She wants to eat it constantly. Luckily it some fancy schmancy organic, gluten free, hoopity snoopity stuff since Blondie has a special tummy. Because Ellie has definitely had some. Oh well. But her favorite thing to do is pick up a piece, stick it in her mouth, (VERY well knowing she is not supposed to) and look at me and go, "Mmmm!" to which she knows I am just gonna come dig it out of her mouth and pop her behind. She thinks that is hilarious and runs off laughing. Oh boy. I've got a strong willed one on my hands. But I love that for her future. She will be a strong, determined, goal achieving, limitless little woman. I encourage this strength in her....but guide it in the right direction. Test your limits, Ellie, but do NOT disobey your Mommy! Lol!

She loves sorting items an objects into different boxes, buckets, or bags. When she has a project on her mind, she will not be distracted from it. She is set to achieve it. If you try to distract her, she will grunt and push you out of the way. Again, love it, but let's keep it respectful little lady. I don't want to be kept from achieving my goals either.