30

 He did it. He ran 30 miles, in 6 hours, nonstop. For me, for my trip. I am in awe of my brother. 

Getting ready for the big day!

We started at the beginning of the Monon Trail and went north, through Broadripple and then Carmel and then turned around after 15 miles. It was a painful, long 30 miles. God was so very gracious and gave us cooler weather, with a decent amount of cloud coverage! The extreme heat came the day after his run! Thank you God for that gift! 


I undertook riding a bike the 30 miles with Stephen. Bitty (his wife) rode the first few miles, then ran about 13 miles, and our dad drove a supply truck a good portion of the day, and rode with us the rest of the time. You may be wondering why we would need a truck with supplies...well, do you know how much water, Gatorade, power gel packs you go through when moving nonstop for 6 hours!

One of Stephen's best friends started the day with us....

......and lasted for a solid mile! Love you Dan!

It was such a gorgeous day for the ride! There were areas that were packed with people,
and then areas where we were the only ones around! 

Half-way there! 15 miles down....only 15 to go!

The last 15 were tough!

Taken while riding the bike, for proof I was actually there!

Almost done.....

End of the day! To say we were exhausted would be an understatement, and yet we still managed a smile! 

I am just amazed by Stephen. I found myself in tears several times during the day overwhelmed by the magnitude of his gift to help me go to Cambodia. As I rode, I prayed, over Stephen, his health during the run, and over Cambodia. What must God have planned for this trip that he would lay such an undertaking on Stephen's heart, and then lead people to give....people I've never even met?!  I have a little over half the trip funded in large part due to this run! I realized that one of the greatest ways God has shown His love to me is in giving me such an amazing brother and friend! I'm incredibly blessed!

It was a wonderfully, exhausting day! It was a personal record for Stephen, and a personal record for me! I decided that I would NOT ride in the truck, while he ran until he couldn't feel his legs! If you gave to support his run...THANK YOU! I truly cannot express the depth of gratitude I feel!

Randomness....

This blog posting may be chocked full of randomness, but that seems to be the theme of my days lately!

PASSPORT!

So, I applied for one of these a few weeks ago:

I may have been one of the most eager applicants my local post office had ever seen! I can't remember clearly, but I'm pretty sure I skipped through the line! I can't imagine what it will be like when I actually have it in my hands....I'll definitely post a picture of the HUGE smile that I'm sure will accompany it's arrival!

30 Miles!

My lovely, sweet, caring, devoted, crazy brother. 30 miles! He is going to run 30 miles to raise support for me!?!?! How on earth did I get so lucky with him? Last weekend we had the Mini-marathon here in Indy. It's kinda a big deal. But that's only 13 miles....and I realize when I say only, that doesn't take away from how much 13 miles is. Oh wait, I think the accurate distance of the mini is 13.1, right? But my crazy, sweet brother has a 30 mile distance for his fundraising efforts stuck in his head! He's just amazing! I got to go to his school last week to talk to his class about what we are doing....well, the 4th grade version of what we are doing. It's a lot for a 4th grader to understand, and for that matter, it's a lot for my 29 year old brain to understand! But more about that in a second. His class is very excited to be helping! I told their eager ears that I would take lots of pictures! But seriously Stephen 30 miles? I was counting and that's a lot....   1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30.

Heart preparations

As I'm mentally preparing for this trip, I've been thinking a lot about how this trip will affect my heart. I have tried to imagine how I will handle it, but to be honest, I just don't know how I will manage. I know that God will not allow my heart to be broken beyond a point that He can fix it. I am so amazed at how He is preparing a way for me to be able to go on this trip! I seriously have to pinch myself regularly, because I just can't believe it's really happening! How utterly amazing is God! I cannot wait to see what lessons He has in store for me on this trip, even if some of those lessons break my heart!

That concludes this random posting! I tried to keep the randomness to a somewhat minimum! I pray God blesses you all and that He showers you with His love!