Sunday Fun Day

My little guy, Gibbs, woke me up early this morning. No earlier than I anticipated him to wake me up, but it was nice to snuggle with him in bed.
Oh wait, I have neglected to tell you that Gibbs is my 4-legged baby. He is a Schnoodle and I love him to bits. We love to snuggle on Sunday mornings.

 

Take a look at my picture and take a guess as to what I did this morning. It’s my favorite part of the week!

Run! Ballantyne

Today was a BIG day for our Y community. We had our 9th annual Run! Ballantyne 1 mile fun run, 5K, and 10K races. Last year we had 1,700 runners. Up from about 900 runners from the year before.

Our goal for this year was to reach 2,000 runners.

We were down to the wire, but we made it! We broke 2,000 runners! The actual number is still being tallied, but we made it! We reached our goal!

Take a look…

The JROTC from Ardrey Kell High School presented the colors.

We were able to even do a little line dancing! Watch out…it’s the Cupid Shuffle!

It was a long day of constant movement, but we had a great time providing an excellent experience for all involved. We were there for approximately 6 hours from set up to break down and every minute was worth it.

God blessed us with beautiful weather and no injuries. With over 2,000 participants and countless volunteers, we were truly blessed.

Early Mornings

Today was an early day. I had to be at work at 5am today, so I had the privilege of seeing the sun rise. It was a beautiful morning and it turned out to be a nice day. I always love seeing the pink, blue, and purple in the sunrise, however I don’t like seeing power lines in the sunrise…sorry for that.

As I was on my way to work this morning I began feeling grumpy for having to be up so early. When I say early, I mean that my alarm clock went off at 3:45am.

Yes, that early.

When I began griping about having to be at work so early, I began thanking God for my job as well as having a short commute to work. I also began thanking God for the fact that I can drive to work, rather than walk, and for the woman I work with at 5am because she is always so chipper in the mornings. She is a pleasure to work with and I appreciate her.

When the sun came up, I decided I wanted to take a picture of the sunrise to remind myself to be thankful for the sunrise and all that it brings. The fact that it mean the start of a new day and new opportunities is amazing.

What are you thankful for today?

Photo of the Day

Guess what I did today? I took a yoga class.

Okay, okay…I know that doesn’t sound like too much fun to everyone, but I run a fitness facility and I rarely get to participate in the classes and exercise opportunities that I would like to.

So, again, I would like to say again…I took a yoga class! I’m very excited about it and I’m still sore.
A good sore, but sore never-the-less!

Gratitude

Not to long ago, a friend of mine said she is taking a picture a day. I got to thinking about this daily photo and I realized that there are so many things that pass me by on a daily basis. What am I doing to celebrate all of the little things? Because you know, the little things make a difference in the big things. 

Don’t you think that we need to focus a little less on the big things, and a little bit more on the small things? I mean, think about it, do big things happen every day? Nope. So, when you think about it, it is the small things that make a difference. 

So, I have decided I’m going to join her in taking a daily photograph, no matter how simple, normal, or seemingly little that moment is. It is all about the moment. The here and now.

These photos are going to show the things that I’m grateful for that are in my daily life.

Today, I’m grateful for my dog, Gibbs who is on the left, and his “cousin,” Murphy as they cuddle with me on the couch.

Now, what are you grateful for?

Sadness

Today, children of elementary school age experienced a tragedy. Some lived, some died. I’m not going to say much because there isn’t much to say beyond, pray.

Pray for the children whose school no longer feels safe to them.

Pray for the children who have lost fellow students.

Pray for the teachers who have lost colleagues.

Pray for teachers who lost a principal, leader, encouraged, and who was a positive light for the school.

Pray for a community which has been devastated by death, horror, confusion, anger, and sadness.

Pray for a country who needs to support each other.

Pray for our President who has the power to make decisions which can change the future of this nation. May he not use the sorrow, pain, and furry of this outrage to pass laws.

Pray for peace.

Most of all, pray for the families who have lost children, and may all of those souls be gather around their eternal Father. The One who has given us life and The One who can take it away.

Finally, pray for the family of Adam Lanza. While I know that he is not a popular person and one that I absolutely despise. One who I do not respect, do not care for, and do not understand. Pray for his family, as I’m sure that they are just as confused, stunned, and heartbroken as the rest of the families who have lost a loved one.

Unacceptable

I’m not a particularly political person. I have a college degree, but I don’t feel highly educated in the world of politics. I don’t believe in throwing my opinions about the government in the faces of others. I don’t get into political discussions with mere acquaintances and very rarely do I get into discussions about politics with close friends or family. Right now, I’m just writing. You can continue reading as you choose. If you choose to reply to my opinions, please keep it clean and don’t be disrespectful to the beliefs of others.

With that being said, check out this video clip from an Atlanta broadcast: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl89q4SHjEs

As a hardworking taxpayer of this wonderful country of ours, I do have something to say about this spending. Honestly, I don’t feel that the US is in the position to be charging our credit cards for this type of cause.

I wonder if anyone in Washington has thought about the people who pay with blood, sweat, tears, and money to the country. The country that we love. I don’t hate paying taxes or think that I shouldn’t pay taxes. That is how the country runs. I get it.

BUT, what I do have a problem with is that the tax dollars that we pay on a daily basis is not going to our country. We are greater than $16 trillion dollars in debt. This is what that looks like in numbers:

$16,000,000,000

That’s a HUGE number. The sad thing is, is that the national debt is much, much greater that the number listed above.

So yes, I do have a problem with us sending money overseas when our country is in extreme debt. We need to take care of ourselves before we can take care of others.

It’s like when we, as a single person help others. We want to make a difference in another person’s life simply because we can, but sometimes, when you help one person, it snowballs into more people than one person can handle. The job gets too big for the one person, but he/she wants to continue helping. There is less sleep taking place, good eating habits diminish, the workouts disappear from the schedule, and the bank account is drained and credit cards are maxed out because his/her generosity was too great. Once that one person stops taking care of themselves, they aren’t able to take care of others anymore. The focus is so much on others, that

Well, the US is that one person. One who means well, but is no longer taking care of itself, or its own people. One who is forgetting that debt does not solve problems, debt creates problems and before we can be the “hero,” we have to get back on our feet and out of debt before we, the US, tries to rescue other countries.

Getting back on our feet is the only way to continue to help others and to make a difference.