Snippets from Katelyn

I was hoping that we would get a real letter from Katelyn this week, but all we got were quick responses to our e-mails. Bummer.

Here is the majority of the responses we received (compilation of 4 or 5 e-mails):

There are two places to work out. There's the gym where you can play basketball, four square, volley ball and run on the upstairs track. Then the Fitness Center is where you can lift weights or use bikes and stuff like that.

 

Well Sister. B isn't as quiet as she had been. She's freaking hilarious! We all get along very well. I'm sorry Carson wasn't feeling well. That's never fun. I did see Emily, twice actually. I've also seen Katie Mullin and I saw Nathan briefly yesterday. That was luck because we aren't even on the same campus. I'm on the main and he's on the west because he's learning. Everything has been going great. They do shove a crazy amount of info on you, but it's easy to pick up. I've noticed that I don't stutter when I read here. Talk about a tender mercy. This place truly is wonderful.

 

So for the TRC thing that I mentioned in the email with my schedule we had gotten a real investigator.  Her name is Patty. Our last lesson with her was on Saturday and it was probably the greatest thing ever. I can't tell you much about her, but long story short, she committed to baptism (this was our 4th lesson with her) and she asked if she could go to church. We didn't invite her. SHE ASKED!!! It was such an incredible experience and it just made me more excited to go into the field.

 

Hopefully next week we'll receive an actual letter (and maybe some pictures).

What I've Been Meaning to Blog About...Part II

Having a missionary

First off, how cute is she (and how huge is her mission president?!)

Ok, now what I really want to talk about...

"How are you doing?" I was asked that question so many times in the month leading up to Katelyn's departure that I began to question if there was some emotion that I was missing because, honestly, I was doing great, still am. I wasn't nervous, anxious, weepy...none of that. I was happy for her, and truth be told, a little relieved.

Katelyn had spent the last month or so before she left showing how "adult" she was by staying out until 3 o'clock in the morning and not doing anything around the house. This is what her day looked like:

• Wake up at 7:25 to leave to watch 2 boys for one hour before they had to leave for school
• 8:45 get home, watch TV or fall asleep on the couch
• 1:30 maybe take a shower if she had to work that night at the Melting Pot
• 3 to 9 Work at the Melting Pot (sometimes she worked until 10 or 10:30)
• Stay up until 1 ,2 or 3 o'clock in the morning, either Skyping or out with friends

It drove me crazy to come home for lunch to see her sleeping and the things she said she would do (like the dishes or clean her room) completely undone. It was also frustrating to have her staying up so late when the neurologist had to her that she need to improve her sleep habits if she wanted to avoid her bi-monthly migraines that took her out of commission for a day or two.

So when people would ask me "How are you doing?" I really wanted to say, "I'm ready for her to go, get on a schedule, and be anxiously engaged in a good cause." Instead, I just said "Fine," because I wasn't sure what they wanted to hear and I felt guilty for feeling how I did.

I'm happy for Katelyn to have this experience. I know she will do good things. It is awesome to get her short, sort-of informative e-mails because even in the few sentences that she shares you can see that she is recognizing the blessings she receives ("I have noticed that I don't stutter when I read here. Talk about a tender mercy") and her growing love for our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. Seeing your child develop a deep, personal relationship with her Savior is amazing.

What I've Been Meaning to Blog About...Part I

Eating paleo and marathon training

So when I signed up for the Wenatchee marathon, I knew that I need to be more intentional about my eating. I am great about avoiding processed carbs, being gluten-intolerant pretty much solves that problem. However, eating fruits and vegetables just were not my strong suit. When I sat down and analyzed what I was eating I noticed that I could go a day, or maybe two, without eating any sort of fruit or vegetable. Sad, I know, but also totally true. I had tried trying to eat vegetarian, my mom even bought me some great vegetarian cookbooks, but the effort was only half-hearted and didn't stick. My family also was not enamored with the idea of vegetarian so they weren't sorry that my efforts didn't last.

But those efforts were undertaken when I was just running, with a few half-marathons or 5k's thrown in here and there. Pushing my body to handle the nutrition requirements of marathon training was going to require a more concerted effort to eat a healthy, balanced diet. I often thought if I could just have a plan to follow, outlining what I should eat, I would be happy. So one day when I was perusing Pinterest, I came across a 30-day paleo challenge. I hadn't heard much about paleo, but I clicked on the website any way to see what paleo was all about. Honestly, I was initially drawn to the website because of  the lady's body transformation, but once on the website, the eating plan was what kept my interest. It was all laid out for me...what I should eat, how much, recipes, etc. And, I discovered that paleo is mostly about vegetables, healthy fats, lean proteins and fruit--just the type of eating plan I was looking for.

I didn't make it through the whole 30-day challenge. I discovered that I am a little too undisciplined independent to follow a completely scripted plan; that and several of the foods that she used I'm allergic to. But this website did give me a starting point and for the most part, I have been able to incorporate the ideas into my eating. The best part is because paleo includes lean proteins, the boys are happy and have been very supportive of my efforts, even not complaining too loudly when I substitute spaghetti squash for spaghetti noodles or when there appears to be more vegetable than meat in a meal.

Overall, my body has felt better. I don't know if I have noticed a significant difference in many things, but I do notice that I don't need to snack as frequently as the plan suggested because I'm just not hungry. I don't think it is because I have consumed too many calories (my weight has held pretty steady, maybe going down just a tiny) but the quality of the calories are better than what I had previously been consuming.


So, the marathon training...actually, it has been going pretty good with only a few minor setbacks.  I have been fortunate that this has been a mostly mild winter and most of my runs have been done outside. Unfortunately, there was a 2-week period of super cold, icy weather that meant indoor running.

Treadmill running combined with the wrong new shoes equals some body breakdown. I began to feel a twinge in my hip after running in the shoes for just a week. I hated to have to buy yet another pair of shoes, but I called the store and ordered up my old favorite, Saucony. I said no more New Balance for me, my feet and legs just really prefer Saucony.

I had hoped that I had caught the problem early enough and that the twinge wouldn't turn into anything more. Unfortunately, I am really bad about stretching. I mean, totally not consistent even though I know the benefits and necessity of stretching. The lack of stretching and the twinge in my hip progressed to a big problem. Last week on mile 14 of the 16-mile run my IT band flared up! And I wound up with hip bursitis.

I am hopeful that what I have been doing this past week will fix the problems and I won't get off track too much. I got back to stretching and doing my hip-strengthening exercises. I also have a foam roller and soft ball that work wonders (but oh my heck, do they hurt!) in breaking down the knots. I cut back on my mileage last week and fortunately this week was a natural cut-back week. I did test the hip and knee on last Saturday's run, going 8 miles (18 was scheduled) and all was well.

So those are some things I've been meaning to blog about.

She's Been Out a Week...So How is She Doing?

Katelyn has been in the MTC for one week. We received 4 different e-mails from her on Monday...Dave and I didn't coordinate our e-mail writing so she had a few different messages to reply to. Today we received a letter she wrote on her first day at the MTC, but she didn't mail it until Friday (the mail delivery system seems a little slow, if you ask me, even taking into account the holiday on Monday).

Anyway here is Katelyn's first letter home:

Mom, Dad, and Carson

So these things that grandma gave me are pretty handy, since I didn't think to bring paper (editor's note: the "things" are stationery and stamps). Holy cow its been a long day and it's only 5:20!! The flight went well. I was sitting next to someone who had a very happy baby. She was pretty cute. When I got to SLC there were two elders that rode on the same shuttle as me. They weren't as cute...As soon as we stepped foot into the MTC we haven't stopped. That grumpy missionary was right though ( editor's note: grumpy missionary was a missionary from the Ukraine who had only been in the US for a couple of weeks and didn't really understand much English). Literally EVERYONE I pass says, "Welcome to the MTC!" It gets kinda annoying after awhile. The joke about missionaries getting fat at the MTC is totally true. They feed us a crap ton of food!! My companions are Sister C. (from Kentucky) and Sister B. (North Carolina); we're a trio. Sister C. is pretty  loud and out going and Sister B. is so quiet. Not quiet that she doesn't talk, but actually talks quietly. It's hard to hear her sometimes. I've met a lot of people and have already made some Canadian friends. Hope everything is going well...I just remembered...I totally forgot to call Sheridan yesterday. Can you tell her I'm sorry for me? Thanks!

Love always,

Sister Graham

Well, that letter sounds totally like Kate, doesn't it? Still her happy, random self. I know she is very busy during the day, but they do give them 45 minutes of gym time--probably to counteract the "crap ton of food" that they are being fed.

As she remembers to post pictures, I'll pass them along. She said in one of her e-mails that she keeps forgetting to take her camera with her when she goes places.

While she may not be able to answer your correspondence immediately, I know she would love to hear from family and friends.

 

 

 

For My Valentine

Dave's love list concludes love week. I am so grateful to have such a kind, caring husband. There are so many things that he does for our family that make him a super awesome dad and husband. Here are just a few:

1. He has an incredible sense of humor. His sense of humor makes our home a pretty happy, silly place to be at times.
2. He doesn't mind some of my unconventional terms of endearment.
3. He cares deeply for his children.
4. He has this aura about him that says "Ask me for anything. I probably won't say no". Our family of four can be walking down the street and he will be the only one approached by total strangers asking for money. It cracks the rest of us up because that happens almost anywhere we go...Paris, Charleston, Tacoma, Yellowstone, doesn't matter where, Dave is the one who people approach.
5. He will do house tasks that I hate doing, like washing the hand wash dishes and unloading the silverware out of the dishwasher.
6. He thinks going to the grocery store is an OK date.
7. He buys me running socks for Valentine's Day.
8. As long as I don't make peas, he will eat almost anything I make.
9. He is strong where I am weak, like seeing 3-D in his mind's eye or working complex math problems.
10. He loves to travel and is willing to take me any where we can afford to go.

I was going to write some sappy ending, but everything I typed sounded worse than the most syrupy Hallmark card you could think up so I'll just leave it with...

I love you, Dave. Happy Valentine's Day.

Love for Carson

Carson hates when I write these posts; too much sentiment for him, I guess. I almost didn't write one for him, but he's my boy and I love him so I had to write one about him. The compromise will be that I only write 5 things I love about him, instead of the ten things I wrote about Katelyn (and the 10 I'll write about his dad).

Things I love about Carson:

1. He calls me "ma". This is some Southern vernacular he picked up when we were in South Carolina last summer. I think at first it kinda annoyed me that he would call me "ma", but now I see that he uses it as a term of endearment so I'll roll with it. After all, it is an improvement over "mama babe" which he used to call me when he was 4 or 5.
2. He is quirky, unconventional, individualistic. He is a kid who marches to the beat of his own drum at times and is confident with the time he keeps.
3. His confidence. He says things with such confidence that if you didn't know the right answer, you would believe him.
4. He is working incredibly hard in school. He pulled a combination of A's and A-'s in all his classes this past semester.
5. On occasion he will let me sit next to him on the small cuddle couch.
6. He is a grateful kid and expresses his gratitude freely and frequently.

I know I said only 5 things, but the last one came to me as I was typing this post and I felt it so important to acknowledge this quality. He is a good kid.

I Love...

An afternoon nap.

Sadly, I did not get one today. There was too much to do to make sure Katelyn was ready for tomorrow. She had to get two last-minute immunizations, the second Hep. A and a flu shot. Yes, she could have received those immunizations at any point before today, but she didn't so we had to get them done today.

Then there was some grocery shopping to do to have the ingredients to prepare Katelyn's requested last meal. She wanted steak, twice-baked potatoes, and asparagus. None of those ingredients were in our house so I had to buy them this afternoon.

I had a meeting from3:45 to 4:45 and then it was home to start dinner and laundry.

Dinner was a success.

Laundry was started and the empty laundry baskets lined up in the family room awaiting the freshly laundered clothes to fill them.

And with dinner cooking dishes still sitting on the counter and folded laundry all over, we welcomed the stake president into our home to set Katelyn apart as a missionary. Well people always say they appreciate me keeping things real. Can't get more real-life than the state our house was in tonight. Hope the stake president appreciated our keeping things real. At least I wasn't in my  pajamas yet, that would have probably been just one step too far. But those PJ's were on just as soon as he left.

Now I am exhausted and I still have a bajillion loads of laundry to do because Carson creates more laundry than his dad and I put together.

Days like today make me appreciate the days when I have time for an afternoon nap.

It's Love Week

I used to designate February as "love month" and write "love" posts all month long. Since it is already February 10th and I have yet to post any "love" posts, I have decided that for this year I will do a "love" week. Hopefully I can successfully complete this compressed focus on love.

First up, love about Katelyn. She is leaving on Wednesday for her mission and I wanted to make sure to get at least her post done so she could read it before she leaves. So, without further delay, here are 10 things I love and/or appreciate and/or will miss about Katelyn:

1. Her confidence, particularly in social settings or with public speaking. This confidence will serve her well on her mission. (love)
2. Her ability to light up a room. (love)
3. Her cheery, smiley countenance. (love)
4. Her silly little minute-long videos she posts to Facebook--they crack me up (miss)
5. Her help in getting me set up with 21st century technology. When I recently upgraded my cell phone to a smartphone she helped me get set up with Instagram and some other things. (appreciate and will miss).
6. Her photo editing skills. She makes my pictures look awesome. (appreciate and will miss)
7. Her baking. Even though I don't get to eat the delicious treats she makes, when she is baking she sings and is happy, happy, happy. (love, appreciate and will miss)
8. Her pig-pen habits. OK, so these actually make me crazy irritated and left me counting down the days until she leaves. But upon further reflection, the wake of disaster she leaves in the kitchen, bathroom and her room lets us know that Katie is home. So, I think I'll miss that mess...eventually.
9. Her singing. She has a beautiful voice and we share a love of Broadway show tunes. (appreciate and will miss)
10. Shopping trips. We actually both hate shopping (it seems like such a pointless endeavor when nothing ever fits rightand we both get equally frustrated), but those are some of the times when she opens up most about what's going on with her or about random things that have happened throughout the day/week/month, etc. (will miss)

Tempe is going to get one heckuv a missionary. Katelyn has a ton to offer.

Love you, Katelyn!

Oh, another "love" about Katelyn. She is super photogenic. Check out some of her missionary pictures (I'm not really sure what missionary pictures are but Katelyn said that lots of kids do a photo session before they leave and call them "missionary pictures")

No Growth in the Comfort Zone

"There is no growth in the comfort zone and no comfort in the growth zone"

My mind fixated on that phrase. I kept repeating it over and over as I finished up my second one-mile repeat. Repeating it in hopes that my body would respond and keep the pace up. Recognizing that those repeats were going to hurt. But the hurt would not last forever and I would be stronger for my efforts.

Of course when I heard that phrase the week before in stake conference, I wasn't thinking about it in the same way that I was thinking about it when I was running my mile-repeats. The mile-repeats were a strain on my physical body. In stake conference I was thinking about the phrase in terms of spiritual growth.

Some people make living the gospel (a Christ-centered life) look so easy. Their actions of charity and acceptance of gospel principles flow from them seamlessly. They appear to never have any doubts and almost perfect faith.

I am not one of those people. I often have many wrestles with the Spirit as I try to sort out what is doctrine and what is cultural practice. I wrestle with the Spirit when I seek for understanding and answers to long-held questions. I wrestle with the Spirit when I see faithful, heartfelt prayers go unanswered. I get impatient because I want the answers now. I want to know that all will be well and will work out.

But an amazing thing happens with each wrestle. There is growth. There is understanding. The pain, discomfort, and discouragement decrease in intensity. The Lord teaches me line upon line, precept upon precept. I learn to reframe my thinking and see His hand and mercy in all things.

Those mile repeats are never going to be fun. They may never become easy. I may not even see fabulous results from week to week. However, I have faith that with each mile repeat my body becomes stronger. That strength and the lessons I learned through running mile repeats will carry me through to successful completion of my first marathon.

I am pretty sure that I will always wrestle with the Spirit about something. I tend to let my natural (sinful) woman bump up hard against my spirit as I seek to sort out where I stand with God. But I know that with each experience comes growth and understanding. My spirit becomes stronger as I yield to the Lord and see how He blesses me every day. I also have faith that all experiences will be for my good and will lead me through to my ultimate goal of returning to live with my Heavenly Father.