Father's Day 2011

Today was a wonderful day. The girls woke Ryan and I up early and gave Ryan his Father's Day gifts. We picked out a couple new gym outfits for him and a new pair of sandals. The girls also helped me make a special card, for him, on the computer. It was sweet, I love how excited they get to give gifts. :)

We went to the early service at our church. After that we went home and packed up the car with our beach stuff, then headed out to an early lunch at the new Cheddars restaurant. From lunch we drove to North Topsail Beach about a 1 hour and 45 minute drive. We spent about 3 hours at the beach and enjoyed every minute of it! I was so happy that Ryan agreed to do this on his special day. Oh how I needed a good feel of the sand between my toes!

 The girls had a blast! It was the first time both of them were really enjoying the water together. Last year Riley was still a little hesitant but this time we had to keep telling her to not go out so far. I think we might have to purchase some boogie boards for our next trip (the real kind - not the kick boards they have for the pool). I think they would enjoy riding the waves.

They loved to pretend they were surfing by standing on their kick boards.

We had a great day. We got back home around 7:30 and everyone was wiped out! 

Happy Father's Day, hubby. Hope you had as much fun as we did today!

2 Corinthians 12:9

But He said to me "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

I woke up this morning and in the process of doing laundry and cleaning up around the house, I managed to pull a muscle in my neck. I cannot recall a time that I have ever done this before. I've gotten a "crick" in it from time to time but nothing like this. I could hardly stand up all day and I had shooting pain that would radiate down my back and into the opposite side of my neck and shoulder. I took pain reliever, laid in bed for 2 hours with the heating pad (while my children laid with me watching a movie),  rubbed Bio Freeze on several times and then applied 2 Icy Hot patches that my hubby picked up at the store for me. I was miserable.

I had my "long" run scheduled tonight with my running buddies - we were supposed to be doing 5 miles - my next race is 3 weeks from today! I really didn't want to cancel but was in so much pain I couldn't think of how I would make it. Well, I decided to give it a try, the worst that could happen would be to walk or fall to the ground in excruciating pain, right?? ha

I put on my running shoes and headed out the door at 7:30 with Melissa & Karen. I started to run and immediately felt awful. My neck was so sore that I couldn't look straight ahead (which might not be too safe), I could only tilt my head to the right. I knew that wasn't going to work. I said a prayer and asked God to take the pain away during my run. This was important to me and I had gotten out of the house right??... a huge accomplishment on any given day, much less today! I must be honest here - I said the prayer knowing full well that God could do it, but half doubting that He would. (just being an honest believer here) I mean there are other things more important than me being able to finish a 5 mile run, right? But in my prayer I told God that it would have to be Him to get me through and I would give Him the glory for it!

I don't know exactly when it happened but my neck loosened up, I could look behind me and over to the side, I could run with my head up, looking straight ahead. I know that some of you might think, "Well, maybe it was the running that loosened up your muscle" - well, I will believe it was the God of the Universe, who heard my prayer, and reached his sweet hand of healing down on me so that I could take another step forward without pain. I believe tonight in my weakness His power was made perfect! God showed me tonight that He is there in everything we go through - big or small.

I will finish with this. It was still a hard run. I struggled. I wanted to quit. I had bugs flying in my face and even in my mouth (YUCK!), I had to use more energy to swat them away from my face at times. But I did it, I told the Lord during my run that I wouldn't give up, He took my pain away not for me to quit but for me to finish.

Thank You Lord! Thank you for showing how real you are, to me, tonight. Thank you for being my strength!

And if you made it this far in my blog, thanks for reading! Thanks for letting me boast on my God!

Bike Rider

Avery has recently shown an interest in riding her bike. She would ride it every now and then but she finally started to ask to ride it more often. A few weeks ago we all went on a bike ride together (Daddy bought himself a bike to ride with us - a story within itself). We thought for sure we would make it once around the block and then Avery would tire out, but she surprised us! We kept riding and riding and riding until we had literally gone up and down every street in our neighborhood. Avery ended up getting a blister on her foot halfway through our ride but took off her Crocs and wanted to continue!

So, we decided we would reward her for her great job! We tried to find the mobile snow cone place that had been at the 4 way stop a few times that week but the Shivers truck was not there! So, we thought, maybe Avery would like an ice cream cone from McD's or a frosty from Wendy's? Nope, she wanted to stop at the gas station and get ice cream from there! She knows from traveling back and forth to GA what cool things you can buy at a gas station. So, Avery and Riley both got to pick out there own kinds. You would have thought we had dropped $20 at Cold Stone or something....they were so happy!

Anyway, so proud of you Avery for getting so good at your bike! Next step is no training wheels...take your time sweet pea!