Oh Mother.

Happy Mother's Day!  We had a fun weekend celebrating, well, ME:)  Kidding.  That wasn't the whole weekend.  Saturday, we went to the RAYS game.  Rodney came along for some Family Fun, and this is pretty much how he enjoyed the game: playing tetris on his phone.  "A" for effort.  But the rest of the fam enjoyed the game... complete with a walk off Evan Home Run.

Next day... Mother's Day!  I had to get up super early for Worship Team at church.  My little kiddies left a few gifts out for me.  Well, actually, they get up at the crack of dawn (still) and were dancing around me as I checked out the stuff.  I love that they got me stuff they know I love!  Ben's contribution was the laundry paraphernalia.  We all know I love laundry:)  For real.  And Almond Joy candy.  And he made me a star.  Out of post its.  And Carly made me a Slip Proof hanger (lets ignore the fact that she cut up one of her tshirts to make it...) and cleverly attached 2 bags of Lindt Truffles to it.  My kids pay attention to my favorites:)

Then, there was Worship stuff for church.  Rochel was sick.  As was the other singer, Kyle.  So, I was kind of on my own.  Oh boy.  Anyways, ROCHEL, since there were 2 extra stands, I made the Coffee Stand we've been needing for months.  Also, note the EXTRA LARGE coffee... that was a late game the night before!  Anyways, this rehearsal was pretty much a disaster, which just reminds me that we get no where on our own volition, only with God.  I know that I need reminders that worshipping God isn't about perfection, but about the perfection of our heart.  Perfected by Him.  

And He so often asks more of us than we are willing to give on our own.  Much more than we think we are capable of.  

We had a QUIET lunch at home... basil, tomato, and mozarella panini's.  Me and Ben's favorites!  This is the basil plant I have successfully not killed for the past 18 days.  Purchased at Publix for $3.99.  I'm about to repot it, so I'm certain it's days are numbered.  Also, on the left, the Super Chili plant Ryan bought for me... Ben and I are hoping it gets Super Hot.  It's already sprouted 2 new peppers in addition to the 2 that were already there when purchased.  Also, soon to be repotted.  What we really want are some of the pepper bushes my grandparents used to have around their house in Louisiana.  So, my Dad needs to get home so he can get on that for me.

The remainder of my Mother's Day involved a delightful NAP, and Chinese Take Out from a new place, which was pretty good... and we watched the Cathedral DVD Ben got for Christmas  from Grandma.  We all loved it.  He explained it all to us, you know, along with the Nova guy.  Oh, and they cleaned the house while I was napping.  So, pretty excellent day.

One last picture, because it's so super cute:  Ryan sent this to me this morning... It's the tree outside his school with 2 of my Mother's Boys.  Probably looking for some cat food.

Qualified.

Probably our BEST excitement around here, lately, has been Ben's Big Swim Moment.  He's had a great "long course" swim season and seems to get faster and faster every time he gets in the pool.  Of course, "faster" normally means by 100th of seconds.  That's how swimming goes.  When you are in the realm of seconds, you are thankful for shaved 100ths.

A few weekends ago, Ben and Carly had a swim meet in Winter Haven, FL.  We were all pretty excited about this meet, it's one of our favorite venues (not just because there's a Panera Bread right next to the pool.  Ok, maybe just because of Panera.  Mama needs coffee.)  Actually, we were excited because of our plans to go to Disney afterwards and meet up with friends, stay overnight in a hotel, and go to Hollywood Studios the next day with Uncle Rodney.  Good times.  Who would have thought it would have ended in such exciting fashion?

Here's Carly.  Photo included because this is generally how she rolls at a swim meet.  She checks out new suits with the vendors, smiles and waves during every race, dances on the starting blocks, and forgets it's a race.  But, you know, she's having a blast and getting it done.  

At this meet, it was announced they'd be using a new app you could get on your iphone for free.  "Meet mobile."  We really loved it!  Plus, we got Ryan's mom to sign up for it too, so she could follow along during the day how the kids were doing.  It was updated nearly immediately and we had all the official times posted so conveniently.  I love technology!  Anyways, here's their results from the app.

Then Ben's Big Race.  His best race has always been the 50freestyle.  I'm not sure why we never really thought about pushing him to get a great time during Long Course.  It makes more sense, due to the timing with his birthday.  But to be honest, my kids don't really love long course.  Anyhow... 

Here's the video of said race... Just before it started, while I was waiting on the deck of the pool with my phone, I just started praying and thanking God for Ben.  For the cool kid he is... for how far God has brought him with asperger's, for a healthy kid, for the moment he was born and we first met face to face... crazy stuff was going through my mind.  I just prayed that God would strengthen him and give him success.  I was really just thinking a 100th of a second faster, not what actually happened... Ben's in the 2nd lane from the top... blue hat.  And I don't know.  Watch to the end.  It's a beautiful finish.  That's Ben slamming into the wall first.

He got 6th place overall, which is so awesome! (there were 8 heats... 52 swimmers ages 13-14 boys) and most importantly, he got a Junior Olympics qualifying time!!  And he won't "age up", which means he will still be 14 when the championship meet occurs this summer.  And he will be able to compete.    July 18-21 to be exact!  In Gainesville.  The time cut is 28.89 and he finished with a 28.08.  That's not even a "little" bit of making it, that's really really making it.  He was so happy and so proud of himself.  He has worked so hard, and it was so great to see that hard work pay off like this, in a tangible way he can actually see and appreciate.  And it's made SUCH a difference in his swimming already!  He suddenly really really takes practice seriously.  He asked to reschedule his solo trip to Michigan to fall after the championship meet so he wouldn't miss time with his coach.  We got to spend a lot of time thanking God for choosing this for Ben.  It's fun:)

And Carly's results... I love this kid.  She just has a great personality and attitude about everything.  She was beyond excited for her brother!  Not anything she wants for herself, mind you, but super fun for her brother!  HA! I love that our kids are proud of each other and cheer each other on.  And it's really fun to see where they excel.  

Proud Mama:)

And lest we forget...

The Revelation of 2013

It's May.  By the middle of February, we were already saying 2013 stinks.  We were begging to be able to catch our breaths and keep our heads above water.  It all sounds very dramatic now...

It started with The Marathon.  Which ended up being a heart breaking disaster for me.  5 miles in, I knew I was in trouble.  By the 10th mile, I was severely dizzy.  By 13, I knew I wasn't going to finish.  By 16, I started walking.  And asking God to just let me be ok with not finishing.  I was still dizzy.  But I wasn't going to stop.  By 19 miles, the Lady warned me they might make me Get on The Bus.  I was still dizzy.  This sounded wonderful to me.  By 21 miles (ummmm, 22 according to my GPS), I got on the bus.  Happily.  It was yards from the absolute worst part of the marathon.  And 5 miles from the finish.

All those months of near perfect training.

Not finishing was just insane to me.  But, oddly enough, I was ok with it.  It just felt like One of Those Things.  They still gave me a medal.  I mean, really Disney.  I did pay for it.  And again, oddly enough, I'm actually proud of it.  For what it reveals to me.  I should have stopped at 10 miles.  I kept going.  All our careful planning and training... doesn't always end at the Finish Line.

Then there was 6 days after the Marathon.  I was still dizzy.  And convinced at this point I must just be really dehydrated.  But the severity of it dragged me into the doctor's office.  Where he ran lots of blood tests.  All of which I passed.  He suggested an MRI, which I decided could wait.  You know, until me and Google found a better diagnosis.  Turns out, if you don't do what your doctor tells you, he calls and tells you that you really should do what he says.  And honestly, by the following week, I was falling over.  And scared.  Also included: a trip to the neurologist.  And of course, the MRI.  Here's what was going through my head while I was in the MRI tube... this song:

Your fullness is mine

revelation divine

But, oh! To taste!

To know much more than a page

to feel your embrace!

For dark is light to you

depths are height to you

far is near

But Lord I need to hear from you

Be near, O God!

Be near, O God of us,

Your nearness is to us

our good...

I'm really thankful for a physician who is kind enough to call me with MRI results an hour after he gets them, late on a Friday afternoon.  I mean, really.  He could have just gone home for a nice weekend with his family.  But he took the time to call to say the MRI revealed no tumors.  Or any "real problems".

Oh.  Right.  I forgot to mention that in the midst of all of this, I was contacted by a different medical facility about the prospect of a new job.  Which I had been praying about.  I mean, praying for months that God would either make me REALLY happy where I was, or give me something so much better that I couldn't refuse.  I'm often confused by God's timing.  Well, not in hindsight.  But in the midst of it.  4 days after my MRI, I agreed to a job interview.  15 minutes after an appointment with the neurologist.  I literally left the doctor's office, quite dizzy, and went for an interview.  The whole time I was thinking, What is going on?!?! God, You have kind of a sick sense of humor. The good news, (other than the fact that God forgives me for calling him sick) is that the whole dizziness thing was caused by a SINUS INFECTION.  No symptoms other than dizziness.  And severely clogged sinus' only seen on MRI.  Crazy.  But so easy to fix. I'm really thankful for the simplicity of that.

Then Ryan's Grandpa Tuinstra passed away.  I'm really thankful we had just spent time with him up in Michigan. And of course, it was really great for him to FINALLY get to be in Heaven... but still sad for all of us.  Only Ryan got to go up for his services, but I'm really thankful for that time he got to be with his family.  I know it meant a lot to him.  When we start the worship service in our church, quite often they make a point of saying that we are joining in with the saints who have gone on before us who are already worshipping God in Heaven.  I just love that and for real, it has brought tears to my eyes for these past several months to think of it...

Overlapping this chaos was the insanity of Ryan's best friend going into drug rehab.  And everything that it entails... because we love him so much, we stayed beside him every step of the way.  And hopefully taught our kids the love of Christ.  And unconditional love, along the way.  Sometimes I feel bad that they don't know all the Bible Stories yet, you know, that I think Ryan and I had drilled into our heads by their ages... but then I think they have learned other stuff about Christ that I know I hadn't grasped until I was... well, last year, probably.

Then I started a new job.  Which I love.  But it was no kind of easy for me to go from being an EXPERT in my field, to not having a clue where the syringes are.  For the record, I now have a handle on that, at least!

Huh.  It all sounds pretty trivial.  Now.

Except for what I learned through every step of it...  all of this.

Reveals my need for Christ.  Sometimes I think that when things are going smoothly, I forget.  It seems like I'm getting by just fine on my own.  Or even if I realize God's getting me through, I don't always feel the gravity of my need for Him.  And I kind of love that there have been so many, many avenues of this Revelation this year already.  I need that to keep my heart tender and raw.

So, through my failures, through my health issues, through losing a loved one, through the gift of a job and financial provision, through our friends addiction, through anxiety over my children's exposure... I see how much I need a Savior.

And I'm loving this Natalie Grant song right now.

Who told us we'd be rescued?

What has changed and why should we be saved from nightmares?

We're asking why this happens to us who have died to live

it's unfair....

This is what it means to be held

how it feels when the sacred is torn from life

and you survive

This is what it is to be loved

and to know that the promise was 

when everything fell, we'd be held.

This is what we were promised: God's love.  He's got us, when it seems like 2013 is living up to it's Unlucky Number Name.


Sigh*  Well, now that we've gotten that out of the way, perhaps I can update the Blog with fun stuff...

oh.  And for the record: Signed up for the Marathon AGAIN.  Rats.  I told Ryan I plan on finishing another one.  If it takes me 10 tries.  But I'm really hoping if I'm not sick, it won't be a problem.  Because I don't want to have to try 10 times.  That would REALLY stink.

A day at the park...

It seems we have a Disney Pin Trader in our ranks now.  She seems quite adept at suckering people into purchasing pins for her off Amazon.com (really, the best price going) so she has some to trade.  And further more, she's figured out every place in each of the Disney parks that has Extra Pin Boards, and who might have "rare" pins.  ANYWAYS, Ryan promised her a day at the park Just For Pin Trading, so we all headed over to the Magic Kingdom this morning for Trading.  You know, since there were no patients at the hospital and I got cancelled.  Really took one for the team there.

Here's her lanyard Pre-Trading.  Don't get excited.  We didn't take a picture afterwards.  Because we are clever like that.

When you go to Only Pin Trade, you end up in lots of shops.  And find things you didn't know Disney made.... HOW we didn't know is beyond me, they make just about everything.  Anyways, a Cheshire Cat candy apple, and also, a Goofy candy apple, which I think Ryan needs next week, after he completes the Goofy Challenge for the 5th year running.  Ha!  no pun intended.

This picture is for Jessica.  My BFF's Small Child.  She visited Disney in November and was entertained by the Dancing Warning People.

Oh, Cars Apple for Eli, Julean, and Matthias. 

And a fun pin trader we found outside Mickey's Circus (in case you need to know such things...)

Yup, made him pose for a picture.

We also wanted to check out the new addition to Fantasyland, which opened less than a month ago.  It's pretty cool, centered mostly on Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid, for now... but they are putting in a Snow White ride for next year.  This is Beast's castle, and it kind of looks like a painting in this picture, but it's not.  It was kind of overcast here today!

 Inside Gaston's Tavern.  I'm pretty sure we will be eating here before too long.  Ryan could hardly resist a Pork Shank (yes, you read that correctly) or a glass of LeFrou's Brew, which is essentially frozen apple juice.  

Little shops... we were kind of disappointed there wasn't a Book Shop!  I'd think Belle's Provincial Town would feature a Book Shop!

And Ariel's ride... Lots of pictures here.  Because it was cool.  And because I only know one other person who's seen it.  And because Jessica didn't get to see it, and perhaps she would like to!

We were waiting for our Fast Pass Time.  Because the wait was 120 minutes, we opted for Fast Passes.  

Construction on the Snow White Ride.  It's going to be a roller coaster.

We are always impressed with the work the Disney Imagineers do making even the wait queue interesting.

You ride in Clamshells, that are similar to the Haunted Mansion Doom Buggies.

No Dancing on the ride, Jessica!

 I only mention this part because it was kind of cool and somewhat ingenious, if you want to know the truth of it... at the beginning of the ride your shell turns around and there are all these graphics of waves and freezing cold air blowing on you and it feels like you are running into the ocean and diving under the water... and then you are Under the Sea.  

Some good fun on that ride.  Pretty cute, particularly if you are a Little Mermaid fan.  Or a 7 year old girl.

Also, in the New Fantasyland there's the Be Our Guest restaurant which looks very very cool... we only saw the outside.  But you can eat in Beast's castle.  For a small fee.  Or the Legal Rights to your first born.  You can google that for fun pics.  It does look cool, and perhaps SOMEDAY, when we are tired of Ben, we will consider it.

OH!  And Carlita made many Pin Trades, including 2 Jack Skellington pins, and a Figureoa cat pin she's been looking for.  So, it was a successful day:)

Randomness in September. 2012.

I felt the need to put the year, seeing how I'm so behind in blogging.  Oh well... eventually I will be caught up, but probably not.  I'm ok with that.  Here are some random pictures from our month of September that might give some inkling of what we've been up to...

This is our cat.  Elfy.  She loves the brown blanket.  A lot.

This month, my sister forced me to join "Instagram".  Apparently, it's so I will be cool.  She then threatened me that if I didn't post pictures, she wasn't going to talk to me anymore, or something super sweet along those lines.  So, Elfy got her picture taken, AGAIN.  For the record, we were trying to sleep.  It was 9:15, and me and Elfy go to bed at 9:14.  She wasn't impressed.  Oh.  Follow me on Instagram.  

More Instagram fun... and our usual McGregor tradition for Labor Day.  Lunch at Dairy Queen.  This mess has been going on for about 17 years.  These 2 were only to happy to follow in Dad's Traditional Footsteps.  

Next up on our month... Ben's Big Fever Week.  His Stellar Nurse-for-a-Mother allowed the craziness to drag out for over a week before getting him to the dr.  Anyways, he did miss a day of school and I had to go in to work at 1pm, so he stayed home a couple of hours by himself until Ryan got home.  I'd like to remind everyone he's 13.5 years old.  ANYWAYS, that being said, I felt the need to jot down the phone numbers on the old dry erase board... and YES.  It was necessary to write "ask for 'Jennifer'"... he has Asperger's.  I'm certain he would have just asked for "mom".  Probably they would have figured out who it was, though... probably.

More Instagram fun.  Our new niece, Sydney.  Isn't she cute?  Her mom's a photographer.  Obviously.

Oh, right.  So, FINALLY got Ben to the dr.  Turns out his Week of Fever was pneumonia.  Probably should not have sent him to Swim Team all week.  Ha, kidding.  He only went on Tuesday.  So, breathing treatments for Ben.  Which he didn't seem to mind, thankfully, since he got extra tablet time.

Ok, this REALLY meant alot to Ben... His friends Aaron and Jacob stopped over while we were out picking up more medicine (after the dr called to say his chest xray really looked much worse than he expected... lovely) to leave him a Get Well balloon, card and candy.  It REALLY made his day and he's still talking about it.  

The Running Season has begun.  Well, it's ALWAYS Running Season around here, but Marathon Training is in full swing.  This is a picture from one early morning 9 mile run.  I will say this, you get up and out this early, you get to see really beautiful sun rises.

Um,  a week later, and STILL getting treatments.  Couldn't seem to get those lungs clear!

Introducing our very Scary and Strict Patrol.  Her father is the Safety Officer at her school, but that in no way swayed him to give her the job.  She had to apply.  I don't think she lets anyone get away.  With anything.

Ok, funny story.  So, I joined up with our church's Worship Team.  My big plan was to talk Rochel into joining, too, on "My Week" so we could do it together, and ride over to Tuesday practice together, and get coffee on the way... bonding with the sister-in-law.  ANYWAYS,  I started in September, and she's starting in October.  Blah Blah Blah.  The week that Ben started getting sick, and then missed one day of school and I went into work late, well, that was Tuesday.  However, all day long I thought it was Monday.  I don't usually work Tuesday's, so seriously?  It's an honest assumption.  All day it's Monday.  I come home, we eat dinner, worry over Ben blah blah blah.  9:35pm I say something to Ryan about Monday's stink, I'm tired of Monday... he's like, "ok, it's Tuesday".  Well, I was supposed to be at practice on Tuesday at 7pm.  Whoops.  Well, I thought it was hilarious.  Anyways, Rodney was pretty forgiving and I made all kinds of alarms to go off on my phone now so I don't forget.  The next week, I was there.  I'm sure I won't forget when Rochel goes.  There will be coffee involved.

Another Long Run.  At Flatwoods.  This one was 11 miles. I signed up for the full marathon at Disney in January.  Full.  I really wanted to do one when I turned 40.  This is close enough.  I have to say, I really enjoy the training... I'm all about the long runs for some reason.  Anyways, there's plenty of flooding at Flatwoods still, and the road was washed out, so thankfully there's a cute little foot bridge...

I'm so Earthy Crunchy (ha), I'm going to make my own laundry soap.  I found this recipe on Pinterest and it seemed acceptable to me, so I'm going to give it a whirl.  I took a picture of the ingredients so I can refer to it when I shop for the items.  My sister-in-law Kristi made it and said it's a good one.  I will get back to you on it, I still have a big bottle of Whisk to use up...

Sent this picture to Ryan one day... this is Lunch at work.  On a busy day.  Probably at 4:15pm.  Nice.

That's right folks... 2.5 weeks later and we are still getting breathing treatments.  He went back to Swim Team practice after about a week and did amazingly well.  He even had a swim meet where he cut a full 2 seconds off his 50 Free race!  He's rockin' it at 26.12 now.  Seconds.

Yup, another long run.  This was my best time yet.  I mostly walk/run intervals, so this might seem slow to all you Real Runners out there, but it's pretty good for an Old Girl.

Awww, Elfy.  She's hugging the couch.

And last weekend... Ryan and I went to Orlando without the kiddos (thanks Uncle Steve!) to run in Disney's Tower of Terror 10 Miler.  Inaugural Race.  We had a really fun weekend... got to see (and touch!!) the marathon medal, which was on display...

... and Ryan got to meet his Running Idol, Jeff Galloway.  He wrote the book on running intervals that Ryan followed and talked me into following as well.  Ryan's been wanting to talk to him for years to tell him how much he appreciated his information.  I wish I had a picture of Jeff's face (and CHEER) when Ryan told him he cut 39 minutes off his marathon time using his methods.  It was pretty hilarious.  He was thrilled.  Anyways, it was cool to meet this guy.  I will also add that it took Ryan a full 3 minutes to realize who he was actually talking to!  Pretty funny.

Pretty sunset out side the Wide World of Sports

Waiting for the race to start... We kept seeing all these women (um, men?) named Jennifer... seriously Mom?  Think of another name for your girl!  Apparently you had to be named Jennifer to run this race.

Delightful text from my brother... thanks for the encouragement, Bro.

Start line... we didn't really love this race.  Started at 10pm and it turns out, we are old and tired at 10pm.  My bed time is 9:14pm.  It was insanely HOT and HUMID, so that didn't help.  The course stunk a little bit, with a dirt/gravel narrow path we had to run on for 1/2 a mile... the course was super crowded and I couldn't run nearly as much as I wanted to since I couldn't get around people all the time.  But in the end, I'm pretty thankful I was able to run it.  My friend stopped over today to pick up my crutches for her son to borrow and while I was waiting for her, I hopped around on them and suddenly remembered being so dependent on them last year.  It put everything into perspective for me, and I don't care how slow I am, at least I can run/walk and keep going.  I'm really thankful for that.  So turns out, it was a great race after all!!

After our weekend away, we came home for Leah's birthday party.  I didn't take any pictures of her, so you will have to take my word on it how crazy cute she is.  Her mother will blog about it, I'm sure.  

So there you have it... September.  At this rate, I can just do 12 posts a year and call it a blog.