It's Marathon Week

Consider if pure JOY my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, for you know the testing of your faith develops perseverance, and perseverance must complete it’s work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything . . . blessed is the one who perseveres under trial, because he has stood the test and will receive the crown of life. * James 1: 2-4, 12 *

Spring 2013 reminded me that life requires perseverance in the midst of trials. It has brought deep sadness, but in the midst of the pain, there has been Joy. There has been growth. There has been the opportunity to grow through the pain, tears, laughter, and host of other emotions that accompany this crazy blessed life. There has been purpose.

Thirteen weeks ago running a half marathon seemed like a crazy idea that would help us honor Annie Bowe and create a sweet t-shirt. Now, that these weeks have come and gone it’s hard to believe that in less than four days we will run the race set before us; we will finish the Columbus Nationwide Children’s Hospital half marathon. We will run to honor Annie. We will run because we have been blessed with the ability to do great things. We will run to save more lives.

In just under three months, iAMBliss has raised nearly $20,000 and saved at least three families and friends from suffering the loss of a loved one battling an eating disorder - and thanks goes out to many of you. We have saved others from the pain, questions, and trials that come when we lose someone we love. Just this past weekend I got to visit Project Bliss – the benefactor of our fundraising efforts. I got to see the place that Annie loved so much and walk the halls with Chelsea and meet the people who had a dream to change lives and who are doing just that in the Project Bliss House (more to come next week once I get pics edited and organized).

Running this half marathon is not something that was never on my bucket list, but then again, there are always things that happen to us or around us, that cause us to do things we might never have planned. But I have trained these past weeks, I have persevered when I wanted to quit. We have run in the heat, the rain, and early hours of the morning, and I have asked myself “what the heck am I doing?” more times than I can count, but I didn’t quit. None of us quit. Annie would have run for us, so we kept going. She ran her race. So we will run ours. We have made it through the training for one of the “stupidest, yet coolest things” we’ve ever done in our lives. We have not done it alone.

Dreams come in all different forms. This training journey has been a reminder of what is possible when dreams inspire us to live out our purpose. It has reminded me that perseverance will complete it's work, but I must do my part. It has allowed us to be game changers and give hope and support to those who might not have afforded it otherwise.

 Dream it. Do it. Be a gameChanger. 

The New Normal

Tonight it was hard not to notice the countless posts about feelings of sadness, and in some cases distress, over a summer that seems to have come and gone all too quickly. For many, the fun and freedom associated with summer, seems to be slipping away once again. While I share in the sentiments of longing for summer to last just a few more days, my post is not one of apprehension or anxiety like it has been on so many Sunday night's in years past. Tonight there is excitement, joy, freedom, and belief in the power of gameChangers.

Last August the tearful posts were my normal. I have felt the overwhelming ache of having to wrap up a summer full of memories with tears and trepidation about the school year ahead. Although I loved working with "my kids" and their families, and even some of you reading this right now, my girls and Chad got what was left of me, because I was so busy giving others the best of me. Thankfully I had a few gameChangers who saw an opportunity for a better way for our family and others like us who needed to break with tradition and boldly step in faith towards a life of freedom.

One year ago I didn't believe that I could ever really be a work-from-home mommy, yet here I am. A year ago I never really saw the opportunity that was before us because I was afraid to believe. I was afraid to fail. I was afraid of what other people might think. Fear kept me from believing in the dreams we had buried in our hearts and the life we truly desired. We've been blessed by the love and support of gameChangers throughout our lives. Many of you have always been gameChangers who believed in us, who supported us, who loved on us as we embarked upon this journey of life and this past year and half with AdvoCare. There were a some of you whose faith was, and still is, bigger than my fear. Thank you to all of you who are still there, believing in us, supporting us, and loving on us as we continue to live out our story, as we seek to be gameChangers for others.

So tonight I don't mourn summer's end, I celebrate the new normal. I celebrate the freedom to invest in this family and in others, to spend time pouring into others on different terms. I celebrate the opportunity of a new normal for our girls. I celebrate life and the gift it is to be on this earth one more day.

I am thankful that I can understand the sadness of summer's end, but live in the joy of a better way for our family and any other family whose faith is bigger than their fear. I am thankful for the change I didn't even know I was looking for. I am thankful for my buddy, my gameChanger, and the future that awaits us. #dreamitdoit #beagameChanger

Undoing the Undone

Sometimes it's the little things that inspire us to make changes in our lives. Other times, it's the big things in life that hit close to home and cause us to realize that this life is short and we only get one shot to live the life of our dreams. 

I've taken a little friendly slack from a few of you about how long it's been since I posted and while my good intentions are ALWAYS there, like many things in my life this past year or so, I've allowed other things to steal my time, my vision, my purpose, and my dreams. "I'll get to it" I find myself saying so many times, then another day passes and there's a laundry list of things still left undone. I tend to beat myself up for those undones, to get more frustrated by what I didn't do, than to realize the power I have to just do something on that list the next day.

The end of this past school year (forget it, the whole school year) was a great challenge for me, both personally and professionally. And in the last weeks of school I found myself experiencing the excruciating pain and confusion that accompanies the loss of someone you love. I sat on the sidelines, sometimes lost in my own sadness, watching a family with unimaginable strength, unexpectedly say goodbye to their little girl, to their sweet Anne Marie. 

The same Anne whose namesake lives on in our Anne Elizabeth and whose "Annietude" is alive and well in our beautiful girl as well. And in those moments of grief, sadness, and loss, I realized that there will always be undones in life. There will always be things we cannot control, things we do not understand, things we might wish we could change because surely God didn't mean for it to go this way . . . 


It was in the midst of those final weeks in May I found the book Draw the Circle, or should I say, it found me. 

Struggling with the reality of AnnIe facing her final moments on the earth in the coming days, my sister shared a book with me that has rocked my world in unimaginable ways. NewPointe Church , where my parents and other friends back home are reaching the community of Coshocton, was starting this 40 day prayer challenge called Draw the Circle by Mark Batterson. I'll forgo the details at the moment, but over the course of the next 40 days the book put many things into perspective for me. I was forced to face my tough questions about what had happened to Annie and what the immediate and distant future held for me. I was challenged to think about what I believed and how much faith I had, or didn't, about the dreams in my heart. 

In the coming days and weeks I will share more of my journey, and hopefully drag a few of you along with me, in regards to my first 40 days of Draw the Circle, but I mention it now because there were days I fell behind. There were times that my quiet time became another undone in my day, but that 40 days also taught me that sometimes we can make up for things we've let slide past us. Sometimes we can set a new goal or recommit to complete one that we've put in front of us. I learned that I have the power to influence and change the outcome of at least some of my undones. That 40 days taught me that this life is truly a precious gift and that dreams weren't meant for dark places in our hearts, but they were meant to be lived. If God puts a dream in your heart, He will make it real for you! 

One of our dreams came true in June when I was able to walk away from my full-time teaching job and be a work-from-home-mom. I'm able to pour into our girls and experience life with them every day (even the tough ones!). It was a dream I didn't even realize I had just a few years ago. AdvoCare has been the vehicle that has allowed that to happen for our family. The opportunity to leave a job that was getting the best of me while my family got what was left of me was only a possibility at this time, in this moment, because of the difference we've been able to make in our lives and in the lives of others through AdvoCare.  But it was something I wanted four years ago when Gracie was born. I had to wait. I had to learn some things. I had to experience some hardships, but I got to experience some of the joys along the way too. I had to leave a lot of things undone, feeling at times like life was unraveling, but all the while, God was weaving together a perfect plan in HIS time.

There is so much more on my heart and mind, but there will be other days for sharing. Although our dream it, do it blog was left undone for quite some time, it is one of those things that I look forward to pouring into as I begin to discover how to spend my time in different ways. It's Saturday morning and it's time for a "run" - more to come on that adventure soon - so I will leave you with this: There will always be a laundry list of things to do or finish, but the BIG things, they are NEVER left undone. 

~ dream it. do it. ~ Jeremiah 29:11 ~