Career Day

Nate is working towards a liberal arts degree right now. College Algebra, English 101, Psychology, Speech, Freshman Connect and Baseball are his classes (he actually gets a credit for baseball). 14 hours. He doesn't know what he wants to study, what he wants to do with his life. This is the first time he has been unsure since he was four years old. He asked me what that Seinfeld guy did. I said he's an actor. Nate asked what he did when he stood at a microphone and everyone laughed, I told him that's a comedian. Career Day in Kindergarten Nate said he wanted to be a comedian. Everyone laughed, Nate thought he had arrived. (And he's still making me laugh today.) Elementary school he wanted to either play professional baseball, be an astronaut or a supreme court justice. I explained to him that baseball you have about .0013% of making it, but that's better than the odds of one of 12 supreme court justices or one of 6 astronauts. He said they would be hard to get into, but the hard options he has, the more likely he is to get at least one of them. A little while later he thought he'd like to be a nuclear physicist, on the bomb squad or in the military because he wanted to blow things up. One day he told me that if none of his life plans worked out he would be okay. He could live on Ramen noodles and eat at my house as much as possible. High school brought a whole new idea to him, he was invited to his baseball coach's house to watch KU play in the NCAA tournament. He discovered that while a special ed History teacher/assistant football coach/head baseball coach may not make much money, his HR director at a major aerospace company wife did serious bank, so he decided he could teach pottery like his favorite teacher Mr. Self and just marry well. At Homecoming last year his career goal was to be CEO of his own company and develop stories for video games.
And now, reality. He has to decide. I'm spending a lot of time praying for him, because he has some decisions to make. No matter what he decides I couldn't be prouder. And my life has had a lot of laughter because of this "comedian".

Training Update

I ran 60 miles in a week. Seven days. This is a new record for me. I'm at the point in (ultra)marathon training where it takes a big part of your life. I'm working hard to keep it where it belongs, I'm making it a point to get to Whitney's volleyball games and to take care of my house and my family. But this is a lot of hours to dedicate to running. And yet somehow, I still love it. This week I had my first totally nighttime run. I have ended some runs in the dark, and 5:00 a.m. is dark, but this was different. Overnight. Steve will have to run overnight in his 100 mile, and that's the time he wants company. So Whitney got "called up" to play on the JV team in a tournament on Saturday, and in the interest of supporting her (really, I wouldn't miss watching her play every chance I get) Steve and I went to bed early Friday night. Like toddler early, and got up at midnight to run 22 miles and 30 miles respectively. This takes some extra planning. Flashlights. More 24 hour convenience stores on the route, however it's cool enough to not need as many stops. Extra 5 hour energy shots. And another toddler early bedtime on Saturday night.

Conversations with Whitney

Denae: EWWWWW, my parents were talking about going to a tropical island and "getting it on". Grossest thing EVER!!!
Whitney: Do you want to come live at my house?
Denae: I'm on my way!

Cast your Cares

Went to church last Wednesday night. Mark asked the question “how many of you are going through a tough time right now?” I looked around at the hands that went up, and then looked at Steve. I had to ask, since neither of us raised our hands, have we accepted this as normal? Pretty much we have. Life is hard. We (as followers of Christ) were not promised an easy road. I struggle with my faults and failings that make my life harder and tougher than it needs to be, because I have enough trials with the self inflicted ones. But that’s for another day. Or not. We all have struggles. No one is exempt. But we all have something else too. 1 Peter 5:7-8 tell us “7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. 8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” After we give all of our worries and cares to God, (and the amplified version says give them to him once and for all), we are to be alert and watch out, so our enemy, the devil, doesn’t devour us. This is where my self inflicted trials come from. Not be alert. Not be watching out. I’m going to try and practice both of these more. Cast all my cares, and be alert.