Happy Easter!!!

source

Happy Easter friends!  I'm off to sunrise service with the family!

Mark 16:1-6 

¹ When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. ² Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb ³and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?” ⁴ But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. ⁵ As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.
 ⁶ “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. ⁷ But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”

source

Good Friday!

Good Friday has such a great significance in the Christian faith.  It is the day we recognize Jesus dying on the cross for the sins of the world.  He paid the price for us.  It is the greatest gift we could ever be given...to have our sins wiped away and to live with God in eternity.  The crazy part is, all we have to do is trust in Jesus to receive this gift.  Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast".  We don't have to do anything more than believe that Jesus paid the price for our sins.  We don't have to live a perfect life.  We don't have to do or say all the right things.  We just have to have faith and accept Jesus as our personal savior.  How amazing!

Matthew 27:11-54

Jesus Before Pilate

 ¹¹ Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
   “You have said so,” Jesus replied.
 ¹² When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. ¹³ Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?” ¹⁴ But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.
 ¹⁵ Now it was the governor’s custom at the festival to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. ¹⁶ At that time they had a well-known prisoner whose name was Jesus^[b] Barabbas. ¹⁷ So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” ¹⁸ For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him.
 ¹⁹ While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.”
 ²⁰ But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.
 ²¹ “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor.
   “Barabbas,” they answered.
 ²² “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate asked.
   They all answered, “Crucify him!”
 ²³ “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.
   But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”
 ²⁴ When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!”
 ²⁵ All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!”
 ²⁶ Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

The Soldiers Mock Jesus

 ²⁷ Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. ²⁸They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, ²⁹ and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. ³⁰ They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. ³¹ After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

The Crucifixion of Jesus

 ³² As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. ³³ They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). ³⁴ There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. ³⁵ When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. ³⁶ And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. ³⁷Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS. ³⁸ Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. ³⁹ Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads ⁴⁰ and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” ⁴¹ In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. ⁴² “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. ⁴³ He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” ⁴⁴ In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

The Death of Jesus

 ⁴⁵ From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. ⁴⁶ About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli,^[c] lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).^[d] 47 When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”
 ⁴⁸ Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. ⁴⁹ The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”
 ⁵⁰ And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.
 ⁵¹ At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split ⁵² and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. ⁵³ They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and^[e] went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
 ⁵⁴ When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”

source

Lunchtime Workouts

My best time of the day to work out is mid-day.  I'm unmotivated by the time I get off work more often than not, but I can push through a workout about 70% of the time.  I've never been a morning person, although I do enjoy the feeling of getting my workouts done before anything else, the bed has been winning every day lately.  Mid-day, I have the energy for it and my mind is ready.  Plus, it's a nice break from work.  Today, I got in a lunchtime workout...the first in a long time:

1500m swim:
500m freestyle 10min
500m kickboard 15 min
500m freestyle 10 min
Not too shabby for the first time back in the pool in a year.  I kicked myself a little because I could've gone another 100m and made it a mile.  But, there's always tomorrow!

3 mile run in 27:00

Quick shower, lunch at desk!

Welcome to a few days/week during my summer.  The local pool is just minutes down the street from work and there's a treadmill here so it works out well for me!

I feel so good right now, even with the work day is wrapping up.  Endorphins really are the greatest!

What is your best time of the day for workouts??

Here we go...

I know I've been pretty absent lately...I'm still working on getting settled into the new "normal" of my life I suppose.  I thought I'd share a few things going on in my life that have made me happy recently:

I'm excited to say I've signed up for my first race of the year!  I hadn't had time or desire to race earlier this year, but I've gotten the itch again so I went out searching for races.  I found a 5K close to home and will be making my 2012 racing debut this coming weekend!  I miss training for something, so I'm sure I'll be back up and running more races in no time!  I've got my eye on a few distance races in the fall and I can't wait! 

John says I'm trying to kill him because I've gotten him out running with me again...I love our running dates! 

John and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary last Monday.  To celebrate we took off on a cruise to the Bahamas.  It was beautiful.  

I think we've figured out a way to live there...we just need to get some winnings in from the lottery so we can make our little business venture work out right now!

I was a little late on the Hunger Games trilogy, but I've really enjoyed getting lost in the little world of Panem.  LOVED the books and the movie...all while reading on my new Kindle that my hubs got me as the paper gift for our first anniversary!  Now I'm just a little sad all the books are over and need to find a new book...any suggestions??

I have been working on getting our house spruced up.  So I got a few items and rearranged and made the entry way look so much better!  

I'm happy we've been house hunting and finding some houses we like.  Now, if only the owners of the houses would let us buy them for the price we want...that's TBD, but we're going to give it a shot!  I love house hunting!

I have some pretty awesome friends and they make me happy too!  Lots of fun things planned in the near future with some of my favorites.

Plus...a trip to a great city with a few amazing girlfriends!

Starting off Mondays with Happy Thoughts is a good way to begin.  I might try this from now on!

On moving forward

I'm not exactly sure how you move on from a loss.  I'm still working through that one.  Some days, I want to just feel normal...like I did before my dad got sick.  Then, there are times in that day that the thought of feeling normal without him here makes me feel sick and guilty...because it feels like life shouldn't be moving on without my dad.  He was a huge part of my normal.  He would never want me to feel this way, but I'm human and grieving and I can't help it.  He's having a great time up in heaven...hanging with God, his sister, his grandparents, and his in-laws in no more pain thankfully...but he left such a hole here and that is something that will remain empty for the rest of my life.

I used to think it was a little weird when people would mention their parents as their best friends.  I guess I thought that parents were more and different than the term "best friend" implied...and they are.  But my dad really was my first best friend on top of being a dad.  Since I was a kid, we got along more like friends than father/daughter, I just did not really recognize this until I got older.  That is not to say that he wasn't always a father first; he was nurturing, a teacher, a spiritual leader and a disciplinarian when he needed to be, but when my behavior caused a disagreement between us, we would rationally talk it out over him scolding me if possible, even when I was young.  He was the first person I wanted to tell things to for most of my life until John came along...then he was one of the first.  We talked every day I was away at college...and his office was my first stop when I pulled into town.  

My dad and I have always been comrades.  

We view the world similarly.  

We approach life with the same attitude.  

We have the same sense of humor.  

We just think along the same lines.  

And we have the same feet.  

They called me "Little Jeff". And minus the feet thing, I guess the rest of that does classify him as a best friend.  

And as I have gotten older, I know I really became a best friend to him as well.  

One of the things I already miss most is sitting down with him and just talking about life.  If he were here right now, he would understand all that I'm feeling, but he'd want me to keep pushing through and living life.  He loved life.  And I do too.  Loving life is a little more difficult right now, but I still have a great one to live.

the end of the world as I know it

On February 18, my dad passed away.  The short fight he had with lung cancer was a tough one.  December 1, 2011-February 18, 2012... ridiculously short if you think about how fast 2-1/2 months normally goes by.  Losing my dad is the hardest thing I've ever had to go through and I'm only 12 days in.

I mean, I'm 27 and I don't have my dad anymore.

Who could ever plan for that?

I'm so thankful for the time I did have him.  He was an amazing man, father and a huge part of my world.  He was a great friend and co-worker.  We spent an incredible amount of time together and I miss him like crazy.

This is a picture my aunt gave me last week.  It captures my dad and I perfectly.

I feel cheated.  I feel that he was taken too soon.  Obviously, God had a plan, but I just don't understand it...and I desperately want to know what it is.

My first love

From day one, you were my guy.  We've always had this special bond that was only between you and I.  We were friends long before I was of the age that it was "cool" to be friends with your parents.  You taught me to be strong and independent.  You taught me how to work hard for what I want.  You even taught me how to put my foot in my mouth, more than once...after all, I do take after you!
By the way you love my mother, you showed me what to look for in a man.  You helped mold me into the woman I am today.  Most of the good things in my life, I can thank you for because I would not be the person I am without you.  No boy or man ever held a candle to you until John came along.  That's when I knew he was the guy for me...and thankfully you agreed.

Happy Valentine's Day.  Be sure to share this day with all those you love.