Happy Birthday Mama!

We made you a cake! Yup, it's a yummy sour cream coffee cake that we made in honor of YOU, sweet Mom...but darn these five hours that separate us and prevent you from enjoying it! We promise to make you another birthday cake in a couple of weeks when you and Dad (and Max and Maggie!) come down to see our new place. And I just found out about a fun pumpkin patch and apple orchard on Signal Mountain that we can check out when you're here! I can't wait to see you and celebrate you in person!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!! YOU ARE SPECIAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


We, especially Camden, are also super grateful to you for the AWESOME care package that you sent our new little buddy. Of course Mom would send someone else a gift on the week of HER birthday...Mom has always been so thoughtful and generous. Check out his immediate excitement over his new, fun gifts! He loves them (and YOU!!)







We have had a great weekend here in Chattaboogie. Friday night was full of high school football as McC's 9th grade and Varsity teams beat Father Ryan at home. Everyone was out for the first Friday night game, so we had a lot of fun catching up with friends and students. It was also parent's weekend here for both of us, so we got a chance to meet a lot of our students' parents, which albeit sometimes tiring, always provides yet another lens through which to understand a child. Anything we can do to better know where a student is coming from and what we can do to help him/her, the better.

Saturday we were up early, Clay to meet with 20 parents (crazy!) for parent-teacher conferences and Sara to Greenway Farms for a CC meet. Once again, I was really proud of our girls--they showed a lot of heart AND muscle as all but one managed to set a season PR at the meet. Unfortunately, the competition was the best we have seen by far, so we didn't win any awards, but the girls were pleased with their runs and feel focused on what they need to do over the course of the next six weeks to get ready for State on Nov. 1 in Nashville.

As soon as I got home, I met Ashley (my favorite running buddy) for a 70 minute run on East Ridge. I was tired and had already run a little with the girls that morning, so I had to gear myself up for this run, but as soon as we started, I remembered why I love running--and why I love running with Ashley. Believe it or not, our run along the beautiful ridge overlooking Chattanooga enabled me to relax and talk about things with a dear, dear friend. 70 minutes went by in a heartbeat as we both talked about how triathlon training (her) and cross country running (me) have reinvigorated our fitness lives and given us a renewed sense of focus and purpose during our workouts. We are both setting our sights on the Chickamaunga Half Marathon on Nov. 8--and beat the 2 hour time we set when we ran the Chattanooga Half during our marathon training. Since I am training with the team, I may not be ready for the race distance-wise, but I am hoping that all of the speed workouts will serve me well if I decide to be there on the starting line with Ashley that day.

Clay and I both crashed for an afternoon nap after that--glorious. We then headed to Erin's house for a fun cookout with Ashley and her husband, Nick. We played bocce, ate yummy salads and burgers, and watching as Camden played with two dogs MUCH bigger than him--and held his own!

This morning brought our second Sunday School Class--we discussed Flannery O'Connor's "Revelation" with 11 young adults. We had some new faces in the class this morning, so we hope the group only continues to grow, both in terms of numbers and relationship with each other. Clay and I are trying hard to lead the group in a thoughtful, productive fashion, but it's harder than we thought--people coming to church, especially young adults, are coming from all backgrounds and with different expectations and needs. We don't fool ourselves into thinking we can meet those needs, but we do want this class to be a space they feel is worthwhile and thought-provoking. We continue to think about how to approach it--we just hope they keep coming!

This week proves to be another busy one--Clay has a game tomorrow, I have a meet on Tuesday, Clay's on duty Wednesday, Advisee time at our house on Thursday, and then I'm off to Nashville on Friday afternoon-Saturday for a big CC meet. It will certainly keep us busy--but we've had a great weekend to relax with each other, so we're feeling good.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!!