Running the Race

A week from today Eddy will be running the Twin Cities Marathon... after almost 30 weeks of training, sometimes (most times?) completely grueling, he now stands just 6 days away from the starting line of 26.2 miles... WOW... now that's what I'm talking about it! My mom will be coming in on Thursday to help me cheer, and a friend who served with us over in the Land-of-Sand, Chelsie, will be coming up from Nebraska to run as well. Pray the weather is cool and calm, with no rain! Go Eddy! Go Chelsie!
And my race is winding down as well- 37 weeks... check! Only 3 more left... well, technically. Thank God I've been feeling great and at our last check-up, we found out everything looks good, he's head down and weighing in at 6+lbs (a good guess by our midwife)! The baby room is pretty much ready, thanks to craigslist.com, friends with lots of extra baby stuff and baby showers. Now it's just a matter of packing our hospital bag and watching some birthing videos... but either way, he's coming, ready or not!

The St. Louis Park Girls Soccer team continues to have some struggles, but has been showing signs of improvement... the girls showing a little bit more interest, giving a little more effort and getting a little more excited. Eddy's focus is on motivation, striving to see them not only excited about the game, but excited, disciplined and motivated about life. There are 4 more games left in the season- so they've still got time to turn their record around... Go Orioles!
Photos: Eddy heading back out on a long run... We had the pleasure of watching our good friend's son, Ethan, play for St. Olaf College (my alma mater)- we went down for homecoming and stuck around after for some photos... Coach Soboll on the sidelines... An autumn flower...

Breakdown Blues

Let me start out by saying just how blessed we have been by our sending churches-- aside from the love and support, the encouragement and "standing with us" has been key to our time here in the states. Our sending church here in MN has continued to pour out blessings, searching for a house for us to live in, trying to find a car for us to use, providing a place for us to work, giving us multiple opportunities to share... and had given us use of their handy church van... for our entire time home! We can't believe just how giving they are!

Unfortunately, this absolutely wonderful mini-van started having some transmission problems... as in it can only shift up to 2nd gear... darn! (Honestly... how fast do we really need to go?) We'd hoped for the best, that it could be easily fixed (ummm... transmission... not so much), but realized the worst and started seeking out other options. We borrowed cars for a few weeks- many thanks to all our generous friends! And then, finally, after much deliberation... bit the bullet... and decided to tap into savings to purchase a used car for our time here in the states. We hope that our selection was wise and that we might get some (most??) of our money back when we sell it in a few months... we'll see! But with a baby on the way and a MN winter looming large in our near future, we felt it wise to have a somewhat reliable mode of transport.

Eddy's soccer team has hit a bit of a plateau, witht their record 2-3-1 (w-l-t)... We're hoping for a few more wins this week, 3 games! The tricky part has been motivation. Some of the girls are just absolutely, completely unmotivated- not showing up for practice, being disrespectful, putting forth zero effort... Needless to say, Eddy has his work cut out for him- but I can't think of a person better suited for the challenge! Go Eddy! Go Orioles!

I've hit the 36 week mark- hooray! I'm feeling good and it seems that my belly has started "dropping" a bit... which is great for eating- less indigestion and heartburn... but a bit tricky on the nerves- think: sharp shooting pain down the right leg, leaving me temporarily incapacitated... who needs to walk or stand when they want all the time? BUT, honestly, I'm still feeling great and truly can't complain!

Photos: The poor ol' church van... Our "new" 1999 Honda CRV... Eddy and his JV soccer team... Some crafts I've been making during this "nesting" phase (purses and key chains... to name a few!)...

Endurance

Endurance... for Eddy AND me! As some of you may know, Eddy has been training for the Twin Cities Marathon, coming up here on October 4th, and just today completed his longest training run-- 20 miles!! Keeping focused for so many months in preparation for a marathon, with long runs getting longer and longer, can be (or IS) a grueling process. But he's stuck to it and tomorrow will start "tapering" down the mileage, in prep for the big race in October. Well done!

And for me, well, I'm heading into the home stretch of my first pregnancy, 35 weeks and counting... Endurance for sure! I actually cannot complain one bit- it has been quite the uneventful and somewhat "easy" experience. So while physically, I'm holding up great, psychologically speaking, I think Eddy and I are trudging through the "terrified-clueless-first-time-parents-to-be" phase... which has lasted pretty much the whole gestational period! How do we prepare for something that we cannot possibly prepare for? How do I cope knowing that in a few short weeks I will go through some of the worst pain I will ever experience in my life? How do we DO this?!?! And then the somewhat comforting thoughts return... People have been doing this for years, decades, centuries!! We're not the first ever, we won't be the last and we're definitely not alone. We have wonderful friends and family that have all given timely words of advice, prayer and encouragement. And, of course, we have God... and no one tops his wisdom, insight and experience with children! AND, the big and, we're in going through all this in Minnesota- which has its hot moments, but is NOTHING like the land-of-sand... thank you for this wonderful respite, Lord!



We're continuing to work at the church in the mornings and Eddy is coaching a girls high school JV Soccer team. They've had 2 games- one win, one loss. But the loss was to a team with 20 players--Eddy only had 13! So, we're rooting for the St. Louis Park Orioles and hoping he continues to coach and train them through to a great season!

Pictures: Eddy on the run- the LRT in Minneapolis makes for an easy, but boring out-and-back... Our dear friend Jen and I at the MN state fair- check out that belly and the best roasted corn ever!... Me- the monthly update--he's still growing... I've started nesting and have taken up sewing again- with great fervor; here's one of the many items I've whipped out as of late...