For the (true) love of running...

I have just begun week 5 of the 9 week running program (C25K Running Program)that I posted about about 4 weeks ago! To read my first post about it click here. I am so happy that I have kept up with it and have really (truly) enjoyed it. My dad always told me that I should take up jogging and that it would be good for me but like many things during my teenage (and other)years I fought him on it and told him that I hated running and would never like it. But like usual, my dad was right and I should have listened to him years ago. I can actually say now that I like to run. That is HUGE for me.

When I started out I could only run for about 3-4 minutes before I needed to stop and walk for a while. Today when I ran, I ran for 15 minutes straight (about 1 1/2 miles or so) and then walked (quickly) for about 10 minutes (for you runners out there this may not seem like that big of a deal but for me it is a big milestone). For the first 3 weeks it was difficult. It was hard to get into and I really had to push myself to keep going. Also, my knees and ankle (I broke it in April of 2007) hurt terribly when I was finished and even as I was running. But I pushed through it all, spent time stretching and by week 4 I had no more pain. It was amazing. My knees and ankle do not hurt now when I run and also around the same time something just clicked and I felt like I could just keep running and running (OK so maybe not forever but you get my drift...). It felt good to keep running and I looked forward to my time to run more and more each day. I feel much healthier and exercise definitely gives me more energy throughout my days. Even if I am feeling unbearably tired but I get out and run anyway, by the time I am finished I feel so refreshed and energized. It is amazing how that works.

I have about 4 more weeks left in the program and by the end of it I should be able to run 3 miles (or 5K) straight. So far I am right on track. I have never trained for anything like this before. I have never been patient enough to keep at something and build on it a little a time. I have always tried to do too much too fast (like before I would have just tried to run the whole 3 miles the first day) and then when I couldn't complete it, I would have just given up. It has been so neat and encouraging to me to see how starting slowly and pushing myself a little more everyday has really worked and I have seen the results from it.

I would encourage you to do something like this too. Maybe not having to do with exercise (but that too of course) but is there something you have been wanting to do or try or learn but have been putting it off because it seems impossible or like it is too much? I encourage you to break it down, do a little a time instead of trying to conquer it all at once and slowly but surely you will be able to do it. You will master it and it will feel good.

Things I have learned and things that have been confirmed in my life since Ryan has been gone...

I thought I would take some time while it is fresh on my mind to post about a few things that I have learned and others that have been confirmed in my life through this past week or so with being without Ryan. (You can read my earlier posts about Ryan traveling by clicking Post #1 and Post #2).

1. My love for Ryan has been CONFIRMED to me through his being gone. I love him so much and I knew it of course but it just confirms it a million times over to do life without him for a while. I never want to be without him. He is my best best friend, an amazing father and the most wonderful husband.

2. The fact that raising twins is much easier and more fun when Ryan is around has been CONFIRMED in his absence.

3. I have LEARNED a lot more about being a mom and what I (with God and other's grace and help of course) am capable of. I have learned that I can take care of both of my babies by myself for an extended period of time. I have figured out "tricks of the trade" that I may never have had to figure out had Ryan been right there to help me. Tricks that will be very useful even when he is home like singing and dancing for the babies so they will stop crying or how to feed both of them at the exact same time (I am able to do this now with both bottles and baby food).

4. I have LEARNED to rely more on other people to help with my babies and to simply help me through this. With Ryan by my side, he and I have a great system as to how we take care of the babies together and we work as a team. There have been few times that we have needed to ask for help (although many people have helped us and it has been wonderful). With grandparents and other family far away it is hard to find people who I trust enough to leave my babies with or who I want to have feed them a bottle or hold them when they are crying or watch them for an hour while I run to the store or exercise, etc and the people who I would trust have their own families to be responsible for and are very busy with them (although many of them would be more than willing to take care of G and K and have offered on many occasions). Anyway, all of that to say that this week or so I have had to rely a lot more on others to help me in many different ways. I have had to step out and ask for help and have even had the girl who works in my home and her sister come a few days this week to watch the babies for an hour so I could go across the street and just get out a bit and get some exercise. That is a first for us. But through it all, everyone has been so amazing and helpful. The two days I went out and took the babies with me, people came to help me get into the taxi and all of my neighbors (the ones who live in my same house) met me downstairs when the taxi arrived in the evening to help me carry my things and the babies up the stairs. I have learned to let go more from trying to do everything myself (or just with Ryan) and have been amazed at the ways that others have ministered to me by helping me.

4. It has been CONFIRMED that I can not go anywhere completely by myself with two babies. In America I think I could (although I know it would still be very difficult) with a car, strollers and good (not dirt) roads to push the stroller around on but right now I am definitely not in America! Like I said, I did get out twice this week with the babies (once to go to a ladies lunch and another time to go to a new families flat) and both times I needed a lot of help but as you can see from #3 help was there!

5. I have LEARNED that I love having unlimited access to the computer and have enjoyed not having to share it. Maybe I need my own computer...haha!

6. It has been CONFIRMED to me that taking care of two babies by myself makes me TIRED.

7. I have LEARNED that cooking for one is so hard and I would rather not even plan a meal since it is just me eating it so I have been just eating cereal or sandwiches for dinner each night.

8. I have LEARNED that I can stay by myself at night and be OK. I know this may sound silly but I wasn't sure how I would do and was really apprehensive about it but God has been so gracious to me and so far so good.

9. It has been CONFIRMED to me how much I like blogging and enjoy reading others blogs since I have had more time to spend on blogs since Ryan has been gone and I have the computer to myself.

10. It has been CONFIRMED to me that I love being married (and that I am not an "alone" person) and wouldn't trade it for the world. I am so thankful God has blessed me with a husband who I can do life with. I can't wait for him to return home in a few days.

I promise the following story is true in its entirety....

I have been meaning to sit down and blog about this since the moment it
happened yesterday but I am just now finding the time to do it and even now probably only have time to write half of this post and will finish the second half later but I just HAVE to tell you about how my morning started yesterday...

OK, so it's about 7:30 am. Gracie and Keane had gotten up at 6 am and they were playing together for a few minutes in their pack and play (that happened to be in my bedroom) while I got a few things done. All of a sudden Gracie starts crying very loudly and I went in to see what was wrong. Well, she had a VERY dirty diaper. So, I took her from the pack and play to their bedroom across our apartment. Just as I removed her diaper and began cleaning her up I heard a bird fly into our home (yes, a bird!) it was SO loud and it was flapping its wings like crazy. I went into panic mode (or survival mode if I want to make it sound a bit more positive) and immediately thought of Keane in the other room by himself. I thought, "oh no! the bird is going to find Keane and peck him but what do I do with Gracie...she has poop everywhere?" So my quick thinking mom brain (notice the sarcasm here, remember I am still in "survival mode") decided the best thing to do is to put her down on the carpet on a towel that was nearby and just pray she did not move much and get poop all over the room (at this point, that was the least of my concerns) and I ran with my hands on my head to Keane and closed the door to the room he was in so the bird (which I found out was definitely a pigeon after I got a good look at him) wouldn't bother him. I then went back to check on Gracie (she was fine although she was moving all over the room...ahhh I am laughing as I write this) and then opened up as many windows as I could and I ran out onto my balcony and began calling for my guard who lives downstairs to come up and help me.

Meanwhile, I step back inside my house and notice that there is not one pigeon but TWO nasty pigeons in my house who are both scared to death (and are probably husband and wife pigeons since they both reside together in the ventilation hole above my stove...more on that later) and are flying back and forth around my living room and kitchen....gross...and pigeons are NOT small birds! Well, my guard never came up but thankfully one of my neighbors happened to be walking downstairs and I said, "help me please! there are two birds in my house!" she came into the house (laughing mind you) and tried to get them to fly out the window. Every time she tired to shoe them away they just flew to the other side of the room and I would duck and cover my head (all I could picture in my head is the scenes from movies when birds are attacking people and pecking away at their heads). My neighbor was laughing so hard at me and while I was crouched down on the ground I was laughing to myself thinking about what a good blog post and fun story to tell Ryan this was going to be (I lost my focus for a minute or two...haha). Then my neighbor called her mom and she came down (all the while they are laughing at my reactions and seem utterly calm about the entire ordeal...apparently this happens quite often in Nepal). I remained crouched on the floor while they dealt with getting the birds outside where they belonged...They were able to finally get them out by opening the front door and the mother shoeing the birds towards the door and yelling to the daughter to open it. It was quite an ordeal and I am definitely glad that there are no more birds in my house. Except for a little pigeon poop (that I thoroughly cleaned up...gross) they didn't mess anything else up.

How did the birds get into the house in the first place you ask? Good question...in Nepal most of the homes have a hole (larger than necessary and not sealed) in the side of the kitchen wall where the vent from the stove runs out and in my home, there is a tube that runs from the stove to the hole...unfortunately these pigeons have been spending WAY too much time in the tube and we have tried to get them to stay out many different times and ways but yesterday the tube split in half allowing pigeons free entrance into our home! My guard fixed the tube and put it back together, so for that I am thankful BUT the love birds are STILL hanging out in there and it is driving me crazy. They make the pigeon coo all day long and flap around in there...it is loud and annoying. As soon as Ryan gets back I am going to ask him to put screen over the hole so we can be done with this problem once and for all!

What would you have done in a situation like that??? I would like to say, "only in Nepal" but I know that is not true, I am sure stuff like this happens around the globe. Anyone else have any crazy bird or rodent in the house stories to share??

I wish, wish, wish I had pictures to share but alas Ryan has our camera in the mountains. So, for visual stimulation, you will have to settle for a photo of pigeons from the Internet!

I miss my husband...but God is GOOD!

I thought I would take a minute and update you on life without Ryan being here. First of all, I have heard from him twice and he and all of the guys are doing really well except for the fact that it has been raining A LOT! But they said aside from that and being sore they are really enjoying their time and are right on schedule so far!
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God has been so gracious to me. As I mentioned in an earlier post this is very new territory for our family to be apart for so long but by God's amazing grace I am doing really well. Of course I miss my husband and I wish he were here BUT I am so excited for him and all that he is being able to experience and so thankful for the opportunities God has given me so far being here in Kathmandu in my home. To be honest, I haven't left my home (except for one hour to take a walk with a friend) in 4 whole days (which is a big deal for me. Usually at minimum I go to the market or to the gym each day) but God has given me amazing opportunities to serve Him and fellowship with friends from my home while taking care of the babies. I actually have been alone very little since Ryan has been gone. I have had American friends come to visit, Tibetan friends come to visit, my house helper is here almost everyday (What a BLESSING...I plan to post more about this topic later), had the sleep-over with the girls (previous post) and spent some time with a few neighbors. I am blessed to have friends who are coming to spend time with me and people I am able to serve straight from my home. I am very grateful. I was especially worried about being alone at night and God has also answered my prayers regarding that. It is certainly not my favorite thing to be alone with the babies at night but it has not been bad at all. I know God has been with me.
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The main challenge and learning has been from taking care of two babies without Ryan. Things have gone very smoothly and each day I am learning tricks from the previous day which help the next day go even smoother. The hardest part was the first evening getting them ready for bed. They are so used to eating at the same time and getting their bottle right after their bath not to mention the fact that about an hour before bedtime they start to get SOOOOOO ready for bed and I failed to prepare for all of this the first night so I unfortunately had two screaming babies all through baths and up until bottle time because they both were hungry and had to wait while the other was taking a bath and by the time I was ready to give them their bottles they were both screaming their heads off (poor things!) I usually just tend to the one who is crying harder first but in this instance I think they were both crying as hard as they could so I did what any mother of twins would probably do in that situation...I left...NO of course not! I picked up both of them one in each arm and fed them both at the exact same time. They were so hungry that it worked well but definitely is not the way I would choose to do it for each feeding. The next night I learned from my mistakes and started baths early and was able to bathe and give Gracie a bottle before Keane even realized that it was his turn for bath and bottle. Learning from mistakes (ignorant or otherwise) is so wonderful. Not my favorite way to learn but sometimes it is the only way!
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Just 6 more days until Ryan comes home. Tomorrow I don't have much planned except trying to get on a lot of stuff done on the computer. I need to do it so I am looking forward to having the time. I am so thankful that God is always with us so that we are truly never alone.