Me vs. pollen

That's what today felt like. For whatever reason, all of Philadelphia's trees, grass, molds, spores, dust mites, animal dander, and other allergetic forms of Satan invaded my entire sinus system today. It was rough. I had taken an Allegra D in the morning, but it was no match for the devil's demoralizing attacks. Fortunately, my nose was mostly cleared up for the afternoon, which included a 4 mile run with my kids that felt like 8 miles (all in 88 degree weather...it's amazing what a harming effect heat can have on a runner!).

Despite today's pollen ambush, Philly has TONS of beautiful blooming trees all over the city. Here's a picture of a few of us pretending the petals are pink snow:




This past week was filled with runs. I ran 5 miles Mon, Tues, Wed, and Thurs. Then to top it off, my kids and I ran down to the Skuykill River from school and back--my approximate distance: 7-8 miles. For those of you who are counting, that's the longest I've ever ran in my life! The most encouraging part was seeing my students go so far and be excited about their accomplishments. We needed to go pretty far since our 10 miles race (Philly's finest Broad Street Run) is this coming Sunday morning.

My roommate Seth was asked to give his testimony in church Sunday. He did an awesome job of glorifying God and humbly sharing how God has moved in his life. God really has been at work in Seth, and I've felt tremendously blessed to have been privileged to observe so much as his roommate.

Yesterday some Liberti folk and I spent another GORGEOUS Sunday afternoon in a park. We grabbed lunch to go and headed to Liberty's Lands, a nice green playground/park a mile from Fishtown. What a blast! We played a frisbee game called hot box that one of our church's pastors taught us. I even indulged in the ice cream truck's wares for the first time. Not exactly Franklin Fountain quality, but it sure hit the spot.

God has recently brought some really neat people into my life here in Fishtown. John, Kallie, Nate, Melanie, Kristin, Jeremy, Seth, Sarah, and I have had some really fun times together. I feel so comfortable hanging out with each one of them, and I enjoy life so much with them, too!

Here are a few pictures from last week's adventures:

Surprise birthday party!

We had a surprise birthday party for our vice-principal Ms. Hawkins yesterday at St. Ignatius. The entire school was in the gym and surprised her a day early with balloons, an everyone-signed banner, cake, and cupcakes for everybody! She was so surprised that she started crying. (Something I had never seen from her before! She's an intense woman!) It was awesome to see the kids and teachers come together and surprise her like that. Here's a quick tribute I put up for my kids:

Summer of three-peats

This summer will have several trilogies to headline its box office. Here they are, complete with trailers:

Spiderman 3
May 4




Shrek the Third
May 18




Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End
May 25




Oceans Thirteen
June 8




and finally,
Rush Hour 3
August 10




I'd say I'm looking forward to Pirates, Shrek, and Spiderman the most, although all have potential to be stretching their original storyline too far. Pirates, perhaps, has the most potential since it was pretty clear they were doing three movies all along. Now if only it didn't cost $10 a person to see a movie these days!

Talk to the human

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Incredible weather

After church this morning, about 14 of us grabbed lunch at Whole Foods for a picnic. We went to Logan's Circle to a fountain in Center City, and ate on the lawn there. It was gorgeous! How often do you get to play in a fountain after church? Great friends, great food, great weather, great times. I'll have to post some pictures of the event when my friends post them (my camera was at home).

Yesterday Seth, John, and I attacked our backyard for spring cleaning. We pulled a bunch of weeds into trash bags, tilled the soil, and sewed some grass seeds. Let's hope our experiment is better than the rocky soil in Jesus' parable! We'd like to get a fire pit in there soon too...

My last day of my second masters class is today. Unfortunately, I had put off several papers, so I have some work cut out for me today. Sarah has an exam on physical diagnosis tomorrow...which means we're both finally getting to work.

The second race in my life

What a beautiful day in Philadelphia! Sarah and I ran with my students on our first race: the Clean Air 5K. It was the perfect day to race. The kids were awesome...about a third of the team wasn't able to race (mostly due to missing multiple deadlines for their forms), but they cheered each other on. When you don't hear much encouragement AT ALL for so long, then to see them yelling from the sidelines at the team going by, it means that much more. I had to fight back an urge to go as fast as I could. Instead, Sarah and I ran with LaShante and Sharonne. (LaShante ran the WHOLE way, which was a big accomplishment for her) Running in a road race is so much fun! We have a 10 mile race on May 5...but we'll tackle that monster later. For now, it's cool to celebrate.

This was my second race of my life. The first was on New Year's Day in Holland, Michigan. Brian Mulder, Scott Parrott, and I ran it on the spur of the moment. It felt really good to have trained and be prepared for a race. Unfortunately, the next one won't be quite as easy...

Our whole team.

Bunch of our team (can you find me?).

A cute girl I found at the race.
All the free stuff we got at the race. =)

A day full of grace

I've felt blessed today. There has been a number of things happening to me that I have not earned, but were given to me at no cost. Here's a list of freebies I have received just today:

-pair of new Puma running shoes for being a coach in Students Run Philly Style
-beautiful blue and green sweat-wicking running shirt for Students Run
-bright green Students Run t-shirt
-falafel lunch with Stephanie (I beat her in a NCAA March Madness bracket challenge)
-Michigan Chemistry t-shirt
-Michigan "bad call brick" made of foam to chuck at the TV when upset at the refs (kudos to Chris Avery for the previous two birthday gifts)
-SEPTA Day Pass from Sarah (all the public transportation free for the day)
-Blue Man Group ticket from Seth (he got them for doing a photo shoot a few weeks ago)

Continuing the freebies spirit, Sarah and I snagged some free Ben and Jerrys ice cream on Tuesday. We had to wait in line about a half hour as it snaked down the block, but it was certainly worth it after an afternoon run with my students.