Let me start by saying how once again I am amazed! Check out that chip-in meter! We're so close! Thank you all again so very much for your support both financially and in prayer. I even need to give a big giant "Woo-hoo" for what this means for Kingdom Kids Orphanage! For the kids whose home it is right now and for the woman that God already knows about who will soon have the "job" of loving and taking tireless care of 74 precious orphans.
Well, 20 miles! It sure kicked my butt! Because my husband is currently in Haiti Sage was unable to accompany me on today's run. It was a very lonely 20 miles. A nice quiet 5 mile run to process your thoughts is one thing. 20 miles without talking to a soul and being only in your own head can get pretty ugly. Sage being unable to accompany me meant that Sage was babysitting. I didn't want to leave the four kids unattended for too long so my plan was to run 13 miles outside( two hours) and then finish the last 7 on the treadmill. No problem, right! Not quite.
I set out at 7:00. Stopping at mile 7 for a 4 minute walk so I could choke down half a cliff bar and some water. At 12 I knew there was no way I'd get through 7 more on the treadmill. Just too boring.
So I called home( LOVE my iphone :-) ) and begged one of my sweet children to meet me on the driveway with water and asked if everyone was still getting along. Yes and yes. Great. I was able to add on a four mile loop before jumping on the treadmill. I pretty much dragged my butt those four miles and couldn't believe that reaching home wouldn't be an end to my misery as it usually does, but rather three more miles of PAIN!!!!
I won't go into all the intricacies of my torment today( I've done enough of that in the past), but I will share two things. One, I finally figured out the gosh-awful muscle knot I get between my shoulder blades. I think its because I run with my head down a lot. Somehow that causes to much stress on that muscle( whatever it is). I can ease the pain by running with my chin up. Really up. I feel like a show dog prancing itself around the ring. " Oh, everyone look at me. Don't I look so pretty!"
Secondly, my stomach has developed a type of Pavlov's dog response to returning home. As soon I turn the corner at the top of my street I, shall I say, get a sudden urge! Not normally a problem because I'm usually done when I return home. Today however I was just passing by. Didn't help that four mile loop at all. I'll remember to avoid looping by my house in the future:-).
Finished my three remaining miles on the treadmill. The longest three miles I've ever run on it. And now..... oh, the pain and stiffness! The thing about running my long run on both a weekday and also a day without my husband around meant that I still had to function. Actually function. Driving. Errands. Cooking. All with my legs! But right now I am sitting and it feels goooooooood. I think I may sleep right where I am tonight:-)
The lucky penny part......
During my run I noticed a penny on the street. My family calls all stray pennies "lucky pennies" . Of course you need to pick it up to receive the " luck". Completely silly, I realize, but something that helps us pick up the pennies as opposed to just leaving them on the ground.
See the thing about going to Haiti is how it changes everything for you. It changes your thoughts and mindset so that you can't see a penny laying on the street and not pick it up. A penny is still money after all. Now some people may pick up all those pennies they see, but I've been with many people who don't . Why? Are we so wealthy that seeing free money on the street isn't worth the effort to bend over. No matter the worth.
Do you think a Haitian would leave a penny on the ground? Or maybe the better question would be, would a Haitian even drop a penny on the ground and not know it? What are we doing?
I write this because I have to admit to you all that today I didn't pick up the penny. It was on a hill around mile 8 and I was hot and tired. And I thought... " oh, its just a penny". And it has bothered me ever since. I've been to Haiti. I know. I've seen. And yet...
In Haiti it would never be " just a penny".
Forgive me Haiti for being so American.
Isaiah 40:31
Thank you all for giving, praying and loving.
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