Update!

Okay, I know I haven't written for a month. However, I can definitely say that I've been busier than normal...which really does seem impossible.

Roughly a month ago, I finally finished up my qualification training. This meant that tons of training culminated in sitting before a board and having questions fired at me for an hour in an attempt to determine whether I had what it took to do the job. (Yes, I know I'm being enormously vague...but those who know me and understand the world I work in understand why I'm being vague...) And I did the job for roughly two weeks. It was good experience, although frustrating at times, because other services operate in a completely different way than the Air Force.

I've now moved to doing a purely Air Force job. Again, I won't talk about it here, but it is significant in its responsibility and potential impact. More than that, it is a huge challenge for me to take on at this point in my career. But I trust that I am where I am for a reason, and I think this is a really good move and a great opportunity. In fact, due to the change, I am writing this from the USO in the Charlotte, NC airport after a whirlwind TDY to San Antonio to discuss the future and codification of this effort. Good times!

In other - and better - news, Nathan is here!!! He got a job that pays well, especially for the area of the county where we live. However, he's not entirely sure that he and the job are a good fit - we're praying for direction and wisdom in that. But the bottom line is, he is now in Georgia. Yay!!

Nathan's arrival was the first item on my goal list for 2009 to be completed - "Live with Nate". A second item was marked off the list on 7 March: I ran my first 5k!

I was working on Friday night when Nathan emailed me and asked if I wanted to run a 5k the next day. I replied that I wasn't sure we could afford the late registration fee at the moment. He responded that if money was all I was worried about, I was running a 5k the next day! (I said that was fine and asked him to bring me some pasta!)

I was super nervous before the race began, especially as more and more people kept showing up with t-shirts from past marathons they had completed. I figured that if they could run 26.2 miles, they could probably outrun me in 3.1. Granted, I don't run to win - that would be massively foolish on my part. I run for the joy of running. And, wow, there was definitely joy! I turned a corner and began running slightly downhill as the morning sun was lighting up an older, historic church downtown. It was beautiful. And because I didn't know the course and couldn't gauge where I was at, all I could do was run. And I was determined not to stop. My two goals when I run a race are 1) to finish and 2) to not come in last. You may laugh at my not wanting to come in last. But if you know the struggles I have had as a non-athlete in the military then you know where that fear of being last comes from.

However, I finished the race in 30:18 - that's a 9:46 mile! As for being worried about being last, the final runner came in at 48 something, so I had nothing to worry about.

One of the greatest things about the run was the ability to continue pushing forward when others were stopping and walking. Many people made the classic (and common) mistake of going out of the gate too quickly, but I learned LONG ago to start at the back (or middle) of the pack and let them go ahead of me - I'll eventually catch up!

But the best part of the race was having Nathan wait for me at the finish line. There's something about having someone to run to, and finding him at the finish line was exhilarating.

I'm still waiting on final results and photos from the race (the 2009 Heart and Sole 5K) to be posted. When they are, I'll include them here.

In other news, I've been working on bits and pieces of new songs. But nothing has come at me yet in the form of an entire song. God gives and God takes away, and I've found that if I push too hard and try to create something out of nothing, it sounds fake. So I'm waiting on God right now. But one of my other goals for 2009 is to write enough music for an album so that Bill and I can get into a recording studio. Please pray for my eyes, ears, and heart to be open to the things that God "drops" into my life, that I would not miss the cues and sparks of creativity that He so graciously offers.

Okay, that's my update for now. Hopefully I'll be able to write more later - before an entire month has gone by!