Holidays with the Hogs

Our Christmas trip to Arkansas was going to be the first time for most of my family to meet Joseph!  First, we planned a surprise engagement party with everyone:

We played a version of the newlywed game and then made sure Joseph got full exposure to the word games and board games that we love during the holidays:

And impromptu family jam sessions (featuring Caleb on his new guitar!):

We even made sure he got a chance to see the Hogs play Tennessee - a special treat!

It was a fun game that went into overtime, but my Tennessee fans were not too happy.  All agreed it was a great environment to watch basketball in, though. And it's OK because Tennessee went on to have a great year.

A mix of orange and red

Christmas 2018 - Changes in the Core Group

Most of my friends and family know that I really like the sitcom "The Middle."  This year is it's final season, and I really related to the show at the beginning of the season called "The Core Group."  Here's a clip from the end of that show where Frankie (the mom) makes one last "toast" with the core group:

I've been keenly aware the last few years that our core group would be changing.  It's a good thing, but it is a change.  The last several Christmases I have reminded the kids that this might be the last Christmas with "just us."  They were pretty sick of hearing it, actually.

Well, this year things changed!  With Rebecca getting engaged on Dec. 1st, we have now added Joseph to our core group.  He was there for the traditional Lego building:

And for the stocking hanging:

And evening for Christmas morning, when he got his knitted beard along with everyone else:

Yep, things they are a changing:

Holidays in Knoxville

The Seaman extended family celebrated Christmas on Friday, December 23rd.  We had lots of fun conversation - some of it centered around hearing Rebecca's engagement story and talking about wedding plans (date not set yet).

Highlights were our family gift exchange

And this cheesecake (which Papa already requested for next year as his only gift!):

Recipe here.  I feel like I have finally taken my cheesecake to the next level.  Rebecca and Joseph say they want cheesecake for their wedding, so I may be just in time!

He Put a Ring on It

On December 1st, Rebecca attended a Military Ball in Virginia with Joseph (apparently actually called a "Dining Out" - which sounds really lame to me).  I had a hunch that he would be popping the question at this event, but Terry (who had given permission already) didn't think it would happen until the New Year.

I began to think Terry was right when we hadn't heard from Rebecca and it was getting quite late in the evening.  We went to bed, and Terry fell promptly to sleep.  I was still awake when I got a text from Rebecca asking if she could FaceTime me and her Dad in a few minutes.  Turns out female intuition rules!

Joseph designed the ring himself.  Isn't it pretty?

Terry had a hard time sounding excited because he was half asleep.  I was thrilled, and we got her brothers to come upstairs and join the call.  Noah one the prize for the most enthusiasm!  He looked something like this:

Rebecca and Joseph tell the story from their point of view on their wedding website.

Thanksgiving Memories 2017

Seems like on Thanksgiving, the food takes center stage.  We are "mighty thankful" (to quote my Pa) for it:

We must be creatures of habit, because the food signs Rebecca made a few years ago can mostly be re-used.  This year's excitement was Nana's dressing catching on fire in my garage oven!  It was totally black, and I really wish I would have taken a picture.  We all mourned a little.

I like these pictures contrasting the regular homemade rolls (with one eaten out of the middle - just for testing purposes):

and the gluten free ones:

One thing I have to be thankful for all the time is that my body seems to be able to handle gluten just fine!

And last, but not least, we did have one photo with people:

Other Thanksgiving festivities involved decorating for Christmas.  I even gave Rebecca and Joseph a "couples project" to light the front porch.

Another thing I'm thankful for this year is the fresh coat of paint on the house, and my new shutters.  It makes a huge difference!

One last Thanksgiving activity was a great game of disc golf.  Joseph even made a hole-in-one!

My Half Marathon Story (Including My Response to the Race for the Cure, aka Pink Stink)

I have been running since 2001, but this year I finally decided to try a half marathon.  I've considered it several times but mainly put it off because I didn't have anybody to "do it with."  Early this year, my little sister, Carol, said she was interested, and Rebecca agreed to train with me as long as she didn't have to run in the actual race (she hates running in a crowd).  So I decided to go for it!

Now we had to choose a race!  Carol and I had originally planned to meet halfway in Memphis, but we didn't think we'd be ready for a spring race.  Then she hurt her foot and it was looking like it was just gonna be me, so I chose a race close to home - The Secret City Half Marathon in Oak Ridge in November - just a day before my birthday.

Rebecca was sweet to train with me - though we rarely ran together.  Instead we just kept each other motivated to take longer and longer runs.  Occasionally we ran together on the greenway near our house.  I love this trail!  Here we are on the trail by one of my favorite signs reminding us of what kind of exercise is really important:

I found that I actually enjoyed my long runs -  I listened to books on tape, podcasts (True North Community Church and How Stuff Works were my favorites at the time), and kept a pretty slow pace.  Along came October, and when I hit about 10 miles and felt like I was hitting a wall!  Turns out most people drink water and take some nourishment at longer distances.  I didn't want to carry water, but I planned a drink from the fountain on the greenway halfway through and bought some Gatorade energy chews to take along (once I figured out these were just high-priced candy, I switched to gummy worms).  That did the trick.  

The week before the race, Rebecca and I did a trial run.  We ran the entire 13.1 miles together.  I actually got a runner's high for the first time in my life!  When I mentioned it to Rebecca, she wasn't feeling it and told me to shut up!  

The day of the actual race, Rebecca just came along as my cheerleader and photographer.  She even ran the first mile with me with her camera in hand!  I was so glad that it didn't turn out to be cold, windy, or rainy (originally all three were in the forecast).

The rest of my family and a few friends followed me from a distance using an app called RaceJoy, which let me hear their cheers along the way.  Terry was even able to time his cheer perfectly and played the theme from Rocky just as I was crossing the finish line!  

All in all, it was a great experience!  I didn't lose any weight and actually gained a few pounds right after the race (which turns out is typical as your body retains LOTS of water as it thinks you are literally running for your life). Oh well.  Another bummer was the race T-shirt.  It was obnoxiously ugly.  If you don't believe me, look here:

I run mostly for heart health and cool T-shirts, but I also like running for causes.  One cause I'd like to be able to support is the Race for the Cure - since my dear Mom died of breast cancer in 2012.  However, I can't support an organization that gives huge donations to Planned Parenthood.  There are other problems, which you can easily find out about by reading articles from a simple Google search.  Here is just one - "Think Before You Pink."

So I have found a breast cancer organization that I support instead (there are plenty of others).  If you'd like to join me, check out Lump to Laughter, a Christian organization that ministers to women with breast cancer.  

When Did Everybody Else Get So Old?

I was asked to review this title by Jennifer Grant and thought it would be a fun read.  It's full title is "When Did Everybody Else Get So Old?  Indignities, Compromises, and the Unexpected Grace of Midlife." Interestingly, right after I started the book, I had an opportunity to get together with a few of the ladies from the Fayetteville High School class of 1980.  It was fun to see these gals and think about how far we've come and the good things that are still in store (like grandkids!). 

Back to my book review, though.  Being a very introspective person, I really enjoyed how Jennifer didn't just share stories from this season of life. She thought about their deeper meanings.  I think my favorite part was when she analyzed the phrase "midlife crisis."  She said it comes from the German word Torschlusspanik, which literally translated means "gate-shut-panic."  Apparently the term dates back to the Middle Ages in reference to the panic medieval peasants might have experienced as they rushed to make it back inside the city gates before they closed for nightfall. In the case of middle age (instead of the Middle Ages), it's the alarm and anxiety you feel when you realize that the door is closing on many opportunities.  For me I feel this most keenly in regard to motherhood and homeschooling.  The door is closing!  I want to stick my foot in it or maybe even take it off the hinges altogether, but that's not the way it works.

This fall I have spent quite a bit of time thinking about the things I have left undone.  It became a real burden for a while.  I've heard that debts can be defined as sins of omission - and I was feeling a lifetime of debt that I was actually starting to lose sleep and shed tears over. Then I realized that Jesus didn't just die for the bad things I've done, but for the good things that I didn't do.  What good news!  I don't have to worry about that door closing.

"having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross." ~ Col. 2:14 (NASB)