Run Tab Run

A goal of 100 miles...to some it would seem an attainable goal in a matter of weeks and others would deem it nearly impossible...for me, it kept me going even when I felt as if I couldn't.
After three months at camp, I was eager to get back into running and exercise. I made a goal to run 100 miles before the end of the year. As much as I regretted making the goal during the many many agonizing runs...and especially at the start of December when I had over 40 miles...I knew I had to finish. So I put on my shoes and found some new trails....and dedicated every other day to running (I gave myself a day off so I could have something to look forward to after my run.)
It helped that I had friends cheering me on and even running with me, Mom making me protein shakes after long runs, Dad actually running 100 miles too, and Audrey to take pictures and comment on all my runs...but I finally finished my goal right in time for the new year.

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A few snapshots from the days full of blood, sweat, tears, and lots and lots of stretching...

100% never felt so good	Love runs on beautiful fall days
Just some impromptu stretching	My trusty shoes that got me through
Running on the Louisville Loop	#whatwasithinking #sore

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On the Tuesday before Christmas, I knew I only had a few days left to finish, so I decided to run on a cold, wet, muggy, and miserably drizzly morning. Why I did is the question I asked myself the whole time...but I realized that I was out there with the marathon runners and tricked them all into thinking I was one of them...

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Although I finished my 100 miles, I still relate to every one of these...

Christmas 2014

"It's the most wonderful time of the year."

Christmas 2014 was a fun day spent at home opening homemade presents, small treasures, and practical things that were bought the weeks before and simply wrapped up to be put under the tree. Although it's a little different than when we were little, I still think it's magical with the Christmas tree lights sparkling like glistening water on all the wrapping and bows.

"Christmas Is" by Francesca Battistelli, one of my favorite Christmas songs this year, sums it up perfectly...."Christmas is music and family in town...Christmas is Snoopy and Charlie Brown...it's anticipating that snow's gonna fall..." "Christmas is paper and ribbons all over the floor..." "Christmas is rooftops covered in lights. It's away in a manger, it's a wonderful life." But most importantly perfect said with..."Christmas is all of these fun things for sure, but Christmas is really oh so much more...It's good news of hope for the whole world beause Christmas is JESUS." Always love spending a day celebrating our Savior and his birth, death, resurrection, and life that has given us hope, grace, mercy, and love.

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Christmas Spirit

Nothing like a little Christmas Spirit to get you in the Christmas mood...

 

 

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The days before...

Picking out the tree and getting all the Christmas decorations up is one of my favorite parts. One day I decided to "put up the tree all by myself" with my little dollar section Target find. Eventually, we got the real tree and decorated it with lights and of course the classic family ornaments and topper.

 

 

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'Twas the night before Christmas...

 

When all through the house...not a creature was stirring not even a mouse...

 

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

 

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there...

 

The children were nestled all snug in their beds...while visions of sugarplums danced in their heads...

 

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The joys of Christmas Day...

 

Some of our favorite gifts...

 

 

A few snapshots from the morning...

 

 

By far my favorite gift handmade by my sweet sister..."Home is never too far away..."

 

 

Christmas dinner to end a great day...beautiful place settings and a Christmas centerpiece.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Frame This Moment

A road trip to Atlanta and a day spent with Dad.

Dad had a layover in Atlanta the day before Thanksgiving break, and I hopped in my car after class and took a spontaneous trip to Peach Tree City. We ate some good Mexican food, did some sight-seeing, and topped the night off with some TCBY. It was a fun day and a moment to frame.

Frame This Moment

Simple joys of being home in the fall.

One of my favorite places to be is home in the fall. Kentucky has a way of making every season beautiful and that is true especially in fall. Sitting back by the fire with golden and auburn leaves surrounding you, falling from the trees, and crunching under your shoes is definitely a moment I wish I could bottle up and have forever.

Knowing Him in the Unknown

Senior Year. The year when you move back to school and know the routine. You already have every curtain rod, lamp, rug, and picture frame. You know the drill...how to pack your things, where to nail the nails, the tricks to command strips......but something feels different.

It's that this is the year that people start asking....asking everything and anything about all the unknowns of life. "What are you going to do next year?" "Where do you want to live?" "Are you going to get your masters?" "Are you going to teach?" "What grade do you want to teach?" ...the list goes on. And as I process all of these questions, I always have to ask myself one single question, "What is the purpose of my life?"

We had a whole class devoted to resumes last week, and I had a small breakdown of "It's coming whether I'm ready or not...." I told someone about this day, and they said Tabitha you didn't just have A breakdown, you had THE breakdown that everyone has. There is a feeling of uncertainty and of unknown with every season ending and a new one beginning. But I have struggled with how am I best going to use my gifts and abilities to serve Him and bring Him the most glory. Even boiled down to what are my gifts and abilities and how should I use them? I have felt a sense of weariness of not having everything figured out, but on the other hand a sense of peace of knowing it's ok to walk through a season of unknown.

On the way home from teaching one day, I stopped by LifeWay. While looking through the shelves of all the books, I saw a small book not much bigger than an iPhone. The title was "Discovering God's Purpose for Your Life" by Beth Moore. I hesitated as I picked it up, thinking that this book must have been written for me and was the key I had been looking for...well I dove in and almost had finished the book before I decided to purchase it. The whole little book focused on one verse in Philippians.

"My determined purpose is that I may know Him, that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His person." - Philippians 3:10

Our determined purpose is to know God.

Your book, your life, is titled "Knowing God" and you are the author. With every season comes a different chapter, but the theme of that chapter is Knowing God. And with knowing God comes loving God and with loving God comes serving God. Beth states, "There is not one season in your life in which you cannot know Him. It does not exist. In every single season there is a fresh opportunity to know Christ."

In Philippians 3:8, Paul states "What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." The knowledge that Paul is talking about are fragments of who Christ is. Through every season and every chapter, through every experience in life, we gain more fragments of knowing Him, and our goal is to pull as many of those fragments together so that we may have a working knowledge of who God is. Beth writes, "But then one day when we see Him face to face, we will have all these little fragments laying out in front of us that we will bring before Him like pieces before an altar, and in a millisecond it will be made one piece....complete. And that is the goal."

So in this season of so many unknowns, my purpose is still to know him. To gain all the knowledge I can in this season, so that when I enter the next I can continue to put the pieces together, knowing one day it will be complete.

Frame This Moment

One semester, many hours, 10 tabs, and 130 pages later...a completed unit.

The key assessment and huge project of second semester was to completely write a Unit from start to finish. Harper and I chose 3rd grade weather and called our unit The Winds of Change. It was fun working with Harps and we finished our unit on my birthday, which was the best gift. This feeling and moment was definitely one to frame!