From the Couch to a 5K

Today is what I hope to be the beginning of a new beginning for Keith and me. We accomplished our very first 5k. If you don’t know, that is 3.2 miles. We did not run the entire thing; in fact, we did not even run half of it. But you know that is ok. We accomplished our goal either way. (1) We completed the race (2) We did not come in last!! We did a run walk combination but running a portion and then walking. We alternated the entire race. I don’t know how much we actually ran but it is more then I expected to be able to run.
In my adult years weight has never been a friend of mine. I am continuously up and down. I loose a couple of pounds to only gain double what I lost. I am the largest that I have ever been. I am not about to tell you what I weigh, haha! Though I am very tall, I can fortunately hide my weight very well. But I am still not about to give up that number. Maybe I will give it to you once I get fit.

This race is just the beginning for Keith and I. I am very excited to see what we do from here. We are determined to continue training and we look forward to more 5ks. We recently had a friend suffer from a massive heart attack at a young age and he lost his battle. His death has been an eye opener for both of us. We have realized that we have Noah to live for and we need to live like we do. We have changed our eating habits, included more veggies in our meals (which is huge for Keith!!) and we have cut drastically on our carbs, pastas and breads. Keith is a very picky eater and does not like vegetables or anything green. He is definitely a meat and bread kind of guy. I love vegetables but have often found myself giving them up to cook what he would eat. (Enter weight control issue!!)

I have recently been diagnosed with hypothyroidism. I know, sounds big, right? Well, in fact, it could be. It means that my thyroid is not producing correctly. It is under active. Basically, it means I feel tired all of the time and more or less, could have issues loosing weight. I take medicine for it every day and probably will for the rest of my life. (Oh it makes me feel so old!) But I am determined to win this battle and hopefully be able to come off of my medicine. I also have heredity high cholesterol (Thanks, Dad!!) It was in the 200’s in my 20’s. Yeah, I know!! Getting my rear in gear will hopefully help some future heart issues. I kind of like my heart beating and would like to keep it that way!

Keith has already lost a little over 10 pounds in our little weight loss journey and I have lost but not as significantly. Running this 5k this morning is definitely a good start for us.

For documentation purposes, I am posting a picture of us from this morning at Sloss Furnace after our race. (Excuse the horrible looks!!) So, thank you, Rumpshaker 5k. We look forward to more races in the future!!

~Randi

God, are you serious? Me?

Do you ever feel like God is asking something of you but you are not quite sure what to make of it? Sure, we all go through this at some point in our lives. That is part of God’s plan. Will we follow through? Will we run and ignore? How will we follow through?

I have just returned home from an amazing weekend in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee with the wonderful ladies of Mt. Calvary Baptist Church. If you don’t know, my dad is the pastor of this church. Each year their ladies attend a women’s conference. I have had the privilege of going with them for the last 3 trips, this one included. We decided that this was their 6^th year to go. Let me tell you, it is one weekend every year that I thoroughly look forward too. It is a weekend with very Godly women attending a well known conference with well known speakers. It is weekend that I cannot come home from and not feel the blessing of Christ. I love coming home feeling refreshed. This was a weekend I definitely needed after the year that we have had. (Yes, our neighborhood is still in turmoil and let’s just say that I do not come home feeling refreshed in the afternoons. But that is a whole other post for another day!!)

While sitting and listening to 3 very talented speakers this weekend, I felt a tug on my heart. Yes, it was one of those God tugs. The tug is something that I have wanted to do but not sure how to do it. The thoughts that I kept having were “yes, this is something I want to do and have wanted to do. But me?” I thought about this “thought” all the way home from Tennessee just trying to tell myself that it is nothing I would be able to do. There is no way I am equipped for that job. In a way, I was telling God no. How dare I? Shouldn’t I know better than that by now?

I came home, so excited to see my family. I came home to Noah waving at me through the window. I rush over to him and pick him up, expecting a hug and he says “NINA!!” Yes, of course, he was excited to see my mom! LOL. We went through our evening routine, put Noah to bed and I soon followed. I typically lie in bed and watch tv to fall asleep but not last night. I decided to read from a little devotion book that Mrs. Tiny gave us in a goody bag for our trip. It is something she does each year and we always look forward to. The devotion book is called “God’s Promises to a Woman’s Heart.” (How fitting, huh?) Nanny had opened her goody bag on the way to Tennessee and read the first devotion to Mom and me as we traveled. I decided to skim back over it last night as I breezed through to day 2. But the verse on day 1 caught my heart. It says:

 “My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 4:19.

No lie, that’s really the verse. Talk about a slap in the face. Day 2 (yes, it gets even better) says:

“I will bless her with abundant provisions; her poor will I satisfy with food.”

Psalms 132:15.

Not only did I try to tell God no yesterday because I did not feel equipped to handle the task that he is giving me but he turned right back to me and said “Yes, Randi, YOU can do this. I will meet your needs and bless you with abundant provisions.” So, with that being said, I am not sure what God has up his sleeves, but I am excited to see where he takes me. I will follow his guidance and just trust. Please pray for me that I will be open to listening to the word of Christ.

~Randi

Living Life in the Path of the Storm

Monday, January 23, 2012 will be a day that our family will never forget. It is the first time that we have ever been significantly impacted by a natural disaster. Weather reports on January 22nd called for strong storms overnight into Monday morning. Fortunately we were very weather aware, as you must be in Alabama. I will say that we are very fortunate and very blessed by God to be standing here today. His loving arms wrapped safety around us and we will forever be in awe.

About 3 am Monday morning, our trusty little weather radio sounded off to let us know of a tornado warning in Jefferson County. We woke up and turned on the weather to see exactly where this storm was headed. It is not unusual to have storms with threats of tornadoes. More often the storm is in the clouds waiting to drop at any moment. We watched this storm come through Oak Grove, which has been destructed for the 2nd time in about 15 years. We waited to see if James Spann would include downtown Birmingham in the main threat, once he did, it was time to activate our weather plan. We dressed and headed down stairs. I cleaned out the closet, gathered Noah's helmet, made sure we knew where Maggie's leash was and gathered our thoughts on what to do next. I called Dorinda to make sure they were awake because the storm had turned our direction. Before I hung up the phone, I mentioned that we may come over to her house. She replied with "OK" but it was the type of "OK" that was like "fine, but whatever." We do laugh about it now that we know what happened. Keith told me to go ahead and wake Noah up and get him ready. Let me just say that my baby boy must have been dreaming good because he said "not yet, momma.". I felt horrible for having to wake him. I told Keith that I had a really nervous feeling and felt that we needed to go to Dorinda's. That was all he needed -- off we went. I packed a bag of every diaper and wipe that we had. I included a couple of juice boxes, gummies (because our world revolves around gummies!!) and breakfast bars. I also included my most prized possession, BO! We quickly headed out the door and down the street.

I remember looking at neighbor's houses as we were leaving to see who was awake. Trust me, next time I leave running from a storm, I will lay on the horn and try to wake everyone up!! I never thought that would be the last time I would see our neighborhood the way it was. I called Dorinda at 3:53 to tell her we were on our way. Jennifer called to make sure we were watching. Jennifer was our listening ear, thank goodness, when the power went out. We made it to Rinda's and headed down to the basement. Jamie and Dorinda were working to get his parents downstairs when the storm hit. We were in the basement, I had Noah AND Jack, Keith had Maggie. Dorinda was opening the garage door and Jamie was walking in the hall when both the front and back doors slammed open and the most horrible noise came from outside. Every kind of dirt and dust from Dorinda's basement began to swirl in where we were. Jennifer called to tell us that the tv reported that the storm was over Walmart in Trussville when in fact it had just blown over us.

We realized that things had settled down and we decided to head back home. Dorinda and Jamie's house was thankfully undamaged, thus leaving us unaware of what really had happened. Driving through Dorinda and Jamie's neighborhood was so spooky. There were tree limbs and pieces all over the street. We watched closely to make sure we did not travel over any power lines. As we turned on Old Springville Road, the road was clear again but the closer we got to Georgebrook, tree limbs began to appear again. We came to a spot in the road where there was a road block. We were less than 2 or 3 blocks from our neighborhood when we realized we could not go any further. It was so dark outside that we could not see the destruction. I looked back at my phone to realize I called Dorinda at 4:20 to tell her that we could not get back home because of trees and/or power lines. We were not sure at the moment. We headed to Keith's parents house where we knew we would wait until the sun came up to head back home.

It wasn't long of watching the news that we discovered what would forever change our lives. Georgebrook had been hit by a tornado. I realized I had our neighbor's phone number and I just had to know. At 4:44 am, Candi told me that our house was fine but the entire corner and first street of our neighborhood were completely gone. I fell to my knees and wept. Noah came to me to comfort me. I remember telling him "our house is fine baby. We have a home. But our friends do not."

We attempted at trip home at 8 am but police had the road closed due to a gas leak. When we finally made it at 11 am, this is what we saw:

The front left corner of our neighborhood

Our beautiful neighborhood entrance sign

I think back and I am so thankful that we left. And I am so thankful that we were not able to get back to our neighborhood at 4 am. I can not imagine the devastation we would have felt finding the neighborhood like this.

Here are a couple of other images from Monday:

We are so very fortunate that our home only suffered some shingle damage (which has already been repaired) and some loose siding. Nothing more that we know of.

I've not been able to grasp my feelings from that day. Thankful, fortunate - absolutely. But I also have a sense of guilt - guilt that my house is fine when so many others are not. The scary thing is 6 houses down from us has major damage, 9 down is completely destroyed. Why is our house not more damaged? How is it even possible.

God gave me the title of my blog Thursday when I was getting ready for work. I was dreading leaving for work because it was our first day back home and I was not looking forward to my "new view" when I left for work. God gave me "Living Life in the Path of the Storm". Keith and I have been in the path of many storms in our marriage. They've not been physical storms, until now. God gives us storms each and every day of our lives but it is up to us how we tackle the storms. I'm not sure what all God has planned with this title, but I keep praying for his wisdom and his words through our stories.

I'm going to close my blog post with a verse God gave me. It comes from Isaiah, chapter 43:
        "But now, this is what the Lord says - he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: 'Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;' "

~Randi



God's Calling - Using Fun Source

Who knew that after many months of wondering, worrying, praying, being discouraged, life would be changed with just a simple phone call - at work! Yes, I know that many lives are changed by one single phone call, but this is not the type of situation where that should/could be. Keith and I (and our family and friends) have prayed for months on end for the perfect ministry job to open for Keith. Seriously, the last year and a half have been filled with website researching, resume sending, emailing churches, receiving emails from churches looking for the job. Never thought that prayer would be answered by me going to my job and answering my phone.

It was a typical Friday in the Fun Source office - we were busy gearing up for Halloween, our busiest time of the year. I answer the phone (which there is a 50/50 chance of me answering the phone!) and proceed to start talking about items that are available for a very popular fall festival date. After talking through the available products, we get to the part of needing the information. The gentlemen tells me that the name of the church is HighPoint Community Church. I ask what denomination the church is (it's in my nature, just curious!). He tells me that they are Baptist, a member of the North Jefferson Baptist Association but they have Community in the name so not to "stereotype" the church. I explain that I completely understand what he means because my mom works at the Birmingham Baptist Association, my dad pastors a small bio-vo church in Tarrant AND that my husband has accepted a call to the ministry, works at a local church and is looking for a children minister position at a church. His next words were .... "SHUT UP!" I instantly freeze, thinking a thousand things in that 2 seconds and then I say "Why? Are you guys looking for someone?" His answer, "Yes, we are!" 45 minutes later, I find out the brief history of HighPoint, find out that I am talking to the Senior Pastor of the church, and I have all of Joey's contact information with instruction to have Keith email him his resume. Let's just say that I was so floored that I'm not sure how I finished his order. Was this for real? Seriously?? After the phone call, I walk to the restroom, shut the door behind me, kind of fell back into the door, closed my eyes and I say "Thank you, Lord!" At THAT moment, God told me "See, I told you to be patient, my child! Here is your opportunity!" I instantly felt relief that THIS is where God would have Keith to serve.

2 months later, Keith has accepted the position as Children Minister at HighPoint Community Church and we were officially announced this past Sunday! We could not be more thrilled and honored to be a part of the HighPoint family. Everyone we have met have been extremely nice and helpful and so welcoming. We went for a visit a few weeks after the initial phone call and instantly felt like we were at home.

I will follow up by saying God has had his hands in this for a VERY long time. I'll give you a brief history ... my first wedding ever to actually be the "wedding planner" was for NBC 13's "NBC Throws a Wedding." The wedding took place December 1, 2006. Joey, the senior pastor, was the minister for that wedding. We had no idea after Keith emailed his resume to Joey. Joey forwarded it to the staff and Matt, the Youth Minister and Brother of the Bride, recognized me from Keith's picture on his resume. I have not seen the bride and groom from the wedding SINCE their wedding - literally. Ran into them in Trussville in August (almost 5 years later) and Matt recognized me from that night! How crazy is that??? Talk about 5 years in the making - long before Keith accepted his call to the ministry!!

HighPoint is located in Corner, Alabama which is about 30 minutes north of downtown Birmingham. Right now the position is a part time position with hopes/plans of being a full time position soon. The church is a church plant and is very rapidly growing. We could not be any happier!!

It was such an honor to have our families be with us this past Sunday when we were announced!

We look forward to many years of service at HighPoint and look forward to relocating our family (at the right time) to the Corner area!!! :-)

In HIS Service, In HIS Time,

Randi, Keith, Noah and Maggie

A New Adventure

That's right -- I am now a Tastefully Simple Independant Sales Consultant. I am having so much fun giving girls night taste testing parties, meeting new friends and making some extra moolah in the process! No, this doesn't change anything else except adding one more thing to the plate. But I'm ok with that because I am having fun doing it!!

Have you ever heard of Tastefully Simple? It is awesome food products! A few of my favorites include the key lime cheeseball, beer bread, onion onion seasoning, garlic garlic seasoning and now the potato soup! I just ordered me some tender pot roast sauce and I can not wait to try it out on a roast! The food products are great - awesome to cook with, entertain with and just about anything. There are some awesome drinks, hot chocolate, chi tea, slush fruit drinks, etc.

So - if you or someone you know would like to help a friend out, let me know and we will get you a tastefully simple taste testing party in the works. Check out our website to see some of our great products!!

~Randi

{Semi} Wordless Wednesday - Mommy Needs Help!

I'm linking up today with Daphne from Flip Flops & Pearls for her weekly {Semi} Wordless Wednesday. Most of the other links are "pins" from Pintrest. While I do love Pintrest (and will partake in the pintrest pins next Wednesday) but I caught my son out of his bed last night and thought this was adorable!!

Noah is trying to transition to his toddler bed but he won't go to sleep in it. And if he does, he doesn't stay all night. We tried to "cry it out" last night but this is where I found him when I went to bed ... yes, that is tucked in my bed (I thought he had quit crying a little too easy!) Sweet baby! At least he knew where he would get a good nights rest!!

Any advice on transitioning to a toddler bed is GREATLY appreciated!!!

~Randi

A Whole New Wardrobe

"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity."

~Colossians 3:12-14

I learned something last night -- I need a new wardrobe. A complete new set. I must be walking around naked!

Our ladies group at church has just started a new bible study -- Kelly Minter's "The Fitting Room". From one session I can already say this one will be eye opening. If you have not figured out yet but my new wardrobe will not consist of physical clothing (though I do wish!) Our character clothes us - and by character, I mean what people see on the inside of us. Sometimes what people see is also not the real clothing. I know that I am guilty (100%) of putting on a front that looks like I am this or that when honestly I may be completely broken inside.

One of the key phrases last night that was discussed was "Most of us know WHAT we should do but not HOW to do it! We need more heart TRANSFORMATION." (thanks to Mrs. Nancy for being an awesome bible study leader!) This hit me like a ton of bricks. How many of us also know what we should do but don't know how to do it and do not want to do what we have to do to have the transformation? 

God quickly threw a verse in front of my eyes last night and again, quickly showed me what I needed to change. Verse 5 of chapter 3 says:

"Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming."

OH, WOW!! Boy, have I been guilty of that or what?? During this "time of transition" (time of Keith without a full time job) I often look at people and wonder what it would be like to be financially sound. I know Satan has worked his magic and let my mind wonder why have things happened to people for them to get certain things? I know that made no sense whatsoever, but let me elaborate (and let me stress that I am not judging in what I am about to say!) It's no lie, Keith is looking for a full time ministry position. We know of people who this time 3 years ago were not living their lives according to Christ. Through a certain life situation, the man in that family is now serving in a church with a full time position. His wife is able to stay home with their children and all is well. My mind has to ask HOW? How in the world is it possible that this person is serving in a church before my husband. (This is where God threw this verse in my face!) It is so easy to be discouraged during this "time of transition" - a time of wondering IF when will Keith will get a full time job, where will it be, what will he be doing, etc, etc. My greed could not be any more. God is truly teaching us me a lesson. I can't tell you exactly what that lesson is right now, but I know that we will come out so much stronger on the other side.  

I am so excited to see what God will teach me through this new bible study. I am ready to wear a new wardrobe, one that is filled with "forgiveness, peace, kindness, humility, compassion, and patience, with a sassy feather of joy in our hearts." (Kelly Minter).

I'm gonna close with one last quote from Max Lucado that Mrs. Nancy gave us last night. He says "God loves you just the way you are but He doesn't want you to stay that way."

Waiting ~ Willing ~ Able

~Randi