HOPEful girl

   I've read somewhere that less than 1% of the U.S. population has run a marathon.   I'm proud to say I am part of that 1% and yet will be running my a marathon again in a couple of weeks.  I'm  winding down to the last days of training for the Honolulu Marathon. Although I love to run, the training is no easy task.  It takes a lot of time and preparation.  There are many early mornings I just want to fall back into the comfort of my bed but I get up sleepily and head out for a run anyway because I know my day will just not be complete if I don't.  During my long runs, it's tempting to fall back into a slower more comfortable pace or cut my miles short, but I press on because I know it builds endurance.  Training can be lonely and hard, but the reward of the accomplishment, the pure enjoyment, and knowing I'm doing something healthy for my body makes it all worth it.  Not a lot of people enter this gate.  The path...

It seems like the older I get, the more I love the Halloween season.  What is it? New pumpkin everything recipes? My birthday month?  The candy? Pumpkin patches? Enjoying watching my kids dress up in costumes? Or is it that it marks of the start of the whole holiday season and the promise of even better things to come? Our 5 year old son, Micah is deathly afraid of Halloween stores.  He gets freaked out by the scary masks and faces.  As a matter of fact,he can't even go down the costume aisle at Wal-Mart without clinging to my or my husband's side.  I feel for him but at the same time love it when he finds comfort in the protection of our arms. I cherish that closeness. Those times I can't help but think of ourselves clinging to our abba Father during our own times of fear and uncertainty and how those dark times bring us to a new closeness with our God that we never knew before.  We may have our own ghosts and monsters in our own life. There are tim...