Here We Go!

All right everyone! Today was my last official run before my marathon on Sunday. (I have an unofficial 20 minute jog that I'll probably do on Friday.)

I'm feeling pretty darn good. Tapering has been great for me. I can tell that my body is rested up. I've been able to run much faster in my last couple of "race pace" runs within the last week. My goal time to beat is 3:50 (8:46 minutes/mile). (3 HOURS and 50 MINUTES) There's a chance I might get close to my initial goal of 3:40 (8:23 pace), but my hopes are not up. I will be pretty bummed if I don't break 4:00 (9:09 pace) though.

Now, I'm just drinking TONS of water, eating TONS of pasta and rice (pretty much the anti-Atkins diet), and trying to sleep through my excitement. I've trained for 9 months now. I think I'm ready!!!

On a completely different note, check out my friend, Amy's, blog on the creation museum in Kentucky. I think it's encouraging that people can go to a museum to learn about creation. Although I'm sure I wouldn't agree with every detail presented in the museum (I lean towards an "old-earth" theory), I am still VERY grateful for it being there.

Dancing on the Tables

Look what Cheri learned how to do!... At least I think this is going to work. This was taken at the Mother's Day picnic a few weeks ago. Andrew and Noah were having a blast dancing around on the tables. :) Hopefully you'll be seeing more videos soon!

Our NZ Family Vacation

Well, this will be my last NZ post. Sorry folks. I'm not quite done, but I'm really getting burnt out on so many pics... Please enjoy these last pics and brief comments.

I went Zorbing!!! Yes, I rolled down a hill in a huge rubber ball. It was both fun and dizzying. If you take a look at the site I attached and are interested, I did the "wash cycle".

I am IN that ball.

The next several shots are from the Bay of Plenty... kids, don't you remember your elementary history???

It was so amazingly gorgeous!

I love this shot of Gabe and I.

This is back in Rotorua now. (Andrew's in the carseat sleeping. We got a little date time. Same with the pic of us two above.) :)
We stayed with our friends, the Cliffords, at the camp they work at. It was a HUGE blessing to visit them and they have a fun camp to walk around.

Can you imagine seeing this sign in America? Andrew still looks at this picture and says, "Quack! Quack!"

Random Auckland from the Bay Bridge shot... I'm not sure how this fits here...
Yummiest fish and chips EVER!!! Dude!
Way cuter choo-choo signs than us too!
We went to Matamata. We didn't actually go all the way out to Hobbiton. It would have cost a zillion dollars (or there abouts) and the magic just wouldn't be there. Plus, we heard rumors that all the hobbits moved since all of the tourism started.

Last Day of the Mission Trip

This is Elder Gao. He and his wife hosted us in NZ. They are an awesome family with two great kids. They had just moved into their new house 2 days before we got there. They still had everything prepared for us and did more than we needed throughout our stay. We were VERY blessed to have such wonderful hosts. The Gao's really made the trip go smoothly for us as a family.This is Megan, their daughter. She's in college (university) and serves at her church too. She's a very sweet, caring girl.

This is Daniel, their son. He has so much personality. He's a complete crack-up and totally has a British accent. It's great listening to him tell stories. (He's "six and a quarter"... great to hear with a British accent. The best part is he was actually more like 6.5, but he insisted upon "six and a quarter".)
What a fun kid!
This is Enoch, a little boy who Andrew met at our morning church service on Sunday. He was really good at giving hugs.
Gabe got to preach that afternoon at Pastor Wu's church.
We got to stay for their youth group afterwards and go to Denny's with them as well. Yes, Denny's! This is Jenny and Phoebe, two of the coworkers at the chuuch. They are both excellent servants.
This is Wesley (he translated for Gabe at church), Pastor Wu, and Phoebe. We got to know this church better than the others and really felt at home with them by the end of the day. Praise God for them!