Feed My Starving Children

"Feed My Starving Children" has been serving malnourished children and their families for about a decade. Haiti is their largest clientele and now with the earthquake, will only be in greater need of these food packs. The organization, with packing sites in the Twin Cities and Chicagoland, recently added packing shifts on two Sundays to accommodate this greater need. Below are some photos of my women's discipleship ministry's time at the Aurora, IL packing site. It was an awesome experience to donate time to this worthy cause:

Listening to the prework briefing...

Scooping up the nutritious ingredients...

One of our pastors and his family worked along side of us...This was not planned...so it was a nice surprise!

Sealing the bags, then packing them in boxes for shipment...

I'd hold the bag under the funnel while the ingredients were added. Then I'd weigh the bag and adjust accordingly with rice. 380-400 grams! :D

Some of the boxes we packed, ready to go! Our shift packed enough food for 68 children to eat for a year!

Great way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

For more information, go to FMSC.org! Happy packing!

Yet...Another Year Goes By....

2009, comes...and goes...

YIKES... Another year older, too! Hopefully, a little wiser... Hopefully still a little healthier... Lost 8 lbs this month, but I'm sure Christmas week I gained some of it back. I'm just hoping I didn't gain ALL of it back! I'll weigh in tomorrow and see what the damage is, and I do know there will be damage. Put it this way...if there isn't, then something is wrong! Maybe more wrong than putting weight back on! Ha!

These final days of 2009 is more than just another year in passing. It is the whole first decade of the new millennium coming to an end. Seems like only yesterday we were concerned about the y2K bug. The TV networks should have a hay day recalling the many stories that hit this eventful decade. From 9/11, to killer tsunamis, Hurricane Katrina, and the first elected African American president in the United States. Just a few mega news makers. 2010 sure sounds futuristic. But here we are. A few privileged folks among all of history in mankind to live out a first decade of a new millennium. I hope we are all making the best of it and if not, commit to doing so this next decade. I hope I can do it with less poundage and a healthier me. Looking forward to getting BACK ON TRACK and leaving the Christmas cookies behind!

Good-bye Santa....Hello New Year's Resolutions!

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!!

Download Trans-Siberian Orchestra-Christmas Canon mp3 - musicbag.org: Sounds like lunch

Download Trans-Siberian Orchestra-Christmas Canon mp3 - musicbag.org: Sounds like lunch

Fall Fitness

Fall is a great time to walk, run, bike.... I love my fall joggings... With all the color to see, leaves to smell, crisp & cool air to feel...who wouldn't love it! Still, it's easy to overeat with all those pumpkin treats and Halloween candy ... Thanksgiving is coming up, then Christmas, New Years... What's a person to do? I'm hoping by starting a journal, I can control some of this holiday madness.

Hopefully, this will spur me on...

Exercise...no problem... Eating right? Still an issue! And this is, of course, a dangerous part of year.

November 24th is blood work time... Hope I can eat right for few weeks to make it a good one (like...OK....then let loose and eat bad again after the test????)....

So...I'll be looking for some new things to eat and stick with my scaled down Triathlon training and just keep pluggin' along.... Here was one not so new sandwich idea I resurrected... Boy was it tasty! Forgot about these... Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato on Whole Grain bread (this bread had flax seed in it...yum)!

Yummy.... Later....

Yesterday, I ran through the neighborhood on a bright, sunny, refreshing morning. The trail would be too wet so I gave Russ the car for his "guys" meeting at church rather than drop him off and run the full circle at the prairie path only to rush afterwards and pick him up! What a beautiful morning it was! Sometimes, it's fun to be back on the road and dig some new scenery. The colors are changing and the weather is cooler (a friend to joggers/runners)!

Running down Massachusetts Dr.

Stop? No way! Keep on runnin'.... It was a GREAT run and next to no discomfort later in the day, as sometimes, this happens.

Afterwards, we went to Keller' Farm to buy my mother in law and myself a mum plant. While we were there, we bought pumpkins, gourds, eating corn, Indian corn, home made bread and McIntosh apples! Sixty some dollars later, we came home! Geesh! Anyway...Happy Autumn!

Truckload of Autumn! Time to decorate! Have a great week!

I LOVE this time of year when the trees begin to change and the days are balmy and sunny. Not too hot, not too cold (though a cold or hot day can still pop up here or there). Today, Russ and I took advantage of this sunny, balmy day and rode our bikes on the prairie path. I did not wear my cycling shoes or bike shorts. Just wanted to take a nice cruise through the prairie wilderness and enjoy the ride (it is, afterall, the triathlon off season for most of us). The wind picked up as we headed out and by the time we got home, it was quite windy! Resistance makes for a good workout!

I forgot my camera! But I did find the two plants that seem to have caught my attention on this ride on google images.

Remember Milk Weed?

I remember as a kid cutting them open to see the "milk" only to find GLUE. It was sticky and a little smelly, if I recall. But it was fun to discover the unusual stuff inside. There was plenty of milk weed in the prairie this week and some caterpillars found their way to them. Hmmm...wonder if they poke through the blossom and drink the "milk".

My favorite late summer, early autumn wild plant is the Cat Tail. Usually found in swampy areas, the prairie is full of clusters where water likes to pool or where the brook babbles here and there.

So pretty, wispy and whimsical!

An hour later...our lungs were filled with fresh air, our beings filled with the beauty of God's creation and our legs filled with unsteady jiggle as we had worked hard peddling uphill with the wind in our faces. Invigorating!

I love riding my bike....

"Every time I see an adult on a bicycle I no longer despair for the future of the human race."-H.G. Wells

On the running trail with me.....

My run on Thursday, September 3, 2009 a bit after 6 PM.... I love this time of year to run...on the prairie path...at sunset. There are some beautiful sunsets in this preserve. Good thing I brought my camera with me tonight. BINGO....one of many great sunsets I see on this path.

I always start warming up by walking up a small loop where on one side, hobby plane enthusiast are radioing their aircraft through the air from an airfield just for such aircraft... See the plane at the bottom of the picture?

Leaving the parking lot behind, and taking on a 5K steady run....

It's about 6:15 PM and the sun is setting behind some clouds and starting its' awesome show!

Passing pass the plane hobbyists' air field....

Kool....

around the "walking warm-up" route to my stretching bench...

A beautiful wildflower greets me on the way...

The sunset's expression keeps changing....

The bench I do my warm-up stretches on (it overlooks a beautiful pond).

Stretch, set.....

GO!

Chasing the sunset....what a motivator!

Crossing a wooden bridge.

The big loop is about 5.8 miles around. Today I'm doing a short, slow, steady run (obviously, with a lot of stops for picture taking) since I'm still trying to recover from this glute pull!

A runner ahead of me takes a turn past another bridge and heads out to prairie land!

Horses are ridden on this trail too! Sometimes....you have to tip toe through the tulips!

Spectacular!

Here is the big turnaround! Running back to the parking lot of a 3.1 finish.

the infamous brook ... Springbrook creek. At one time, the forest preserve district was going to dam it up and a dragon shaped lake would form. The park was renamed, "Dragon Lake Forest Preserve" for a while. But the funds could never be raised. The project was too expensive and the idea was abandoned. The Springbrook Prairie name eventually returned. It has become a bird sanctuary now. Lots of deer, quail and pheasant run around here. Have seen some snake as well!

Another jogger runs up and over a hill. At one point, I started to catch up to him and thought I was becoming fast. But then he took off with high speed. He must be working on his fartklets!

Returning over the wooden bridge again...

Looking at the sunset over the prairie grasses...

I'm back on the warm-up path "cooling down" now with a walk. Looks like I'm walking up to heaven!

I can't stop looking at it! Can't stop snapping pictures!

Walking past the picnic area. Peaceful!

I'm watching this show while doing my cool down stretches...which are similar to the warm up stretches...

Work out those Achilles!

Is God a great artist or what!?!?!?!

Self portrait with the amazing background!

Trigger happy!

Swim, bike, Run..... It's what I do........

Too hard to see, but there was actually a person sky sailing into the sunset. Imagine... I was listening to my Mp3 still...and "Major Tom" came on ....how appropriate: "Earth below us, drifting, falling, floating, calling, calling, hoooooommmmeeeeee..........."

Driving home....

And what do I find? Dear hubby reading on the front porch! Even though he's facing West, the neighborhood houses were in the way for him to enjoy the sunset...
In the backyard? An amazing moonrise!!!!! A full moon too! This picture didn't do it justice. There was an orange cast to it. So....went from an amazing sunset, to and amazing moonrise...all within the span of one hour! Great run!