Tuesday, April 7, 2015

5 Years Down

5 years, Lord help me...

I guess it deserves a few words to mark the occasion, it only seems fitting, indulge me one more time for just a moment.

5 years ago yesterday we said our final dasvidaniyas in Astrakhan, Russia and pulled away from baby home #2 for the last time.

That place still calls to me like a siren's song, and part of me is still there. Don't think that will ever change...

Today there are barely traces of the somber little girl that became our daughter that day. We've spent a lot of time unpacking the bad and filling the suitcase of her heart with good. It's a full time job, and the much of the credit is owed to her patient loving forever mommy. 

I could tell you a lot of sad things from years ago and make you cry, but as time goes on it isn't my story to tell anymore, it's hers.

Thankfully it's a story didn't end in tragedy, and it is to this very minute being rewritten. And now her story is peace, hope, love and family. It is Halloween candy, Christmas presents, and Birthday cake. It is Sweet Home Alabama, Country Roads, "War Eagle!", and vacations by the sea. She has a big strong Daddy, a mother with the patience and skillset of Mary Poppins and a little sister to multiply the joy... And, most importantly, she has unrestricted access to The Good News of a God who loves, LOVES  Adoption.

If you would, I ask you to join me in praying that the lost and forgotten little ones would be found, that political and bureaucratic walls would be torn down, and that stories here and all over the world would be rewritten.



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Saturday, February 14, 2015

The Old and The New

I cooked Rebekah a steak tonight. That's what she wanted for her Valentine's Day meal. I  look at pictures like this and can't help but remember our first meal as a family in our hotel room in Russia...  She would have eaten a mud pie if we had set it before her. Seems like a lifetime ago, but it was only about five years.

But tonight she wanted steak because the girl knows what's good and she got one, a big juicy one. And I was most impressed when she manage to find room in her stomach for nearly all of it. To this very day I still love watching her eat a big meal. The table of plenty, amen and amen...

It's fitting and routine to celebrate in our home with relative frequency, because with the naturally passing time and fair amount of effort none of us are where we were almost five years ago now, and I continue to be thankful for that.
This morning I took the girls down to Toomer's corner to see new oak trees that were being planted. The two that used to stand there unfortunately were destroyed  and had to be removed...  You heard the story... Don't worry, we all went and said goodbye.
 
Every community has it's own special landmarks and traditions, Auburn, Alabama, my home, is rich in both. I still point out the spot where I proposed to mommy, and where I worked up the nerve to kiss her right square on the lips for the first time.  We have history here, and our history is now their's. 
 
Our calendar is always full of special events no matter the season. Today is just another penny in our memory bank of special moments.  I wanted my little girls to be able to say years from now they were there when things were made new and right and traditions were planted in fresh soil.
 
It's hard for me not to turn the  simple events of steaks for supper and the planting of trees as symbolic reminders of the two little lives I've been blessed to watch grow. Surely we are all rich in such uncommon Graces if we stop to count our blessings.
 
The last five years have brought many changes and the next five will bring many more. And there will be times that the old must be painfully and carefully pruned away and the new must be nourished and given every possible chance to take root in good soil. It's the nature of this life.
 
Thankfully, Spring is coming and even in this mild winter I welcome it's arrival. Things grow easier in the warm weather. Some seasons I enjoy, some I don't. Sometimes we eat steak,  sometimes we starve for hope. Sometimes we grow, sometimes we have to cut it all down and start over, like it or not. It's life isn't it? It's not easy, but it is desperately precious. 
 
If you are being pruned, Bless you. If you have just been replanted, run your roots deep like a storm is coming. And if you are hungry, buy some ribeyes next time they go on sale. As Rebekah, my oldest little girl, will tell you, they are worth the wait.
 
 
 
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. - 2 Corinthians 5:17

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Sunday, January 4, 2015

The Big Year Ender: Training, Tweets and Links Oct,Nov,Dec 2014

Well this is it, another year down. Here is a recap of the last few months.  Happy 2015.

TRAINING
I was going to take picture of my training log and do a lot of the usual run down complete with pictures, ect. but the time and effort to document the last 3 months of training would be repetitive and not worth it. But here is a brief synopsis for the both of you that may be inerested in what I'm doing in the gym.

October - lot of squats, bench, deadlifts and whatever I wanted to do with no plan or direction.
November - Volume, Volume, Volume, lots of 5 x 5's, multiple low rep sets in squats, lots of accessory work, especially upper back, and bodybuilding movements.
December - speed, low reps sets, lighter weight, chains bands, modest accessory movements

as and aside, I'll be focusing on strength in January, so the bar weight will be going up, sets/reps will decrease and accesory movements will be limited. The last week will be off completely. Which will set up the plan for the rest of the year. 

Month 1 - volume
Month 2 - speed
Month 3 - strength/load the bar then a week off ... generally speaking... 

What can I say, an imperfect plan is better than no plan at all. At least this way I'm not training multiple qualities at once which, for me, in this season of life is just fine. 

TWEETS


LINKS

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Thursday, October 9, 2014

Training, Tweets, and Links Aug/Sept 2014




























Links


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