Comfortable? No Thanks

Unfortunately we were unable to get a letter out with our Christmas cards this year to update everyone on the crazy events in our life the past year.  Like I mentioned in the last blog post (this is Brian), there has been quite a bit of change over the past 12 months, and we just added another twist to it all this past week.  I figured now was a good time to let you all know what the Grigsby family has been up to over the past year.

Towards the beginning of 2012, I began praying continually for God to do whatever necessary, take from me whatever He needed, to make me and us more dependent on Him...to be solely reliant upon Christ in all things.  I felt there were things (idols and gods) that were keeping us from leaning on Him and gazing upon the cross daily.  This was single handily the scariest prayer I've ever made.  I was scared to the point of apologizing in advance to Linds because I was scared of what He might take from us.  At the time, I didn't know what was keeping me from being completely reliant on Him, but I knew it was something.  I wanted Him to reveal that to me, no matter how much it could potentially hurt.  I was scared about what He might take that I held dear...my wife?  my daughter?  my job?  my health?  These were all things I cherished dearly, but also things that I thought I was trying to use to glorify Him.  What if these were the very things that were keeping me from a deeper intimacy with my Creator?  I just didn't know.

So over the past 12 months, God has revealed at least some answers.  One of my (and our) biggest idols is being comfortable.  You would think, "being comfortable?  there is nothing wrong with trying to achieve this".  I mean this was really our family goal, the American Dream, what we desired.  To be comfortable and "settled" in our home, to be comfortable with our finances, to be comfortable in our church, and to be comfortable in our careers...these were all things that we were striving for and seemed to be the good things to achieve for our family.  But this has been altered over the past year and has really transformed our lives.  Let me explain a little more.

In the past year, there have been a few changes and transitions in our family.  First off, we loved our home, our church, and were enjoying our jobs in the Columbus area, but when an opportunity came up for us to move back "home", we decided to uproot everything and go in a leap of faith.  For the sake of this blog I won't go into all of the details of the decisions, but they were not easy ones!  Ultimately, I took a job in Chillicothe, Lindsay quit her career (which she won't tell you, but was becoming VERY successful at) to be a full time mom, and we sold our house and moved back home (Frankfort).  We first moved in with my dad and step-mom while we tried to patiently look for a new house.  After 6 months of living there, we decided that we were just going to rent for a while, so we found a rental house to move into.  After working for a couple weeks to fix up the house and clean it, we moved in.  But we ran into some more issues with the house and ended up having to move out and found a condo that we could move into.  So we moved again.  So all in all, 4 "homes" in the past year....FOUR!  (my deepest apologies and love to my brother Chris, because he was my biggest help in EVERY move).  So we are currently living in "home" #4 and still have not been able to get "comfortable".

The biggest recent news is that I have also just decided to leave the company that brought us back.  Yes, after only just 10 months.  I have decided to take a career opportunity with Accurate Heating & Cooling in Chillicothe as a sales engineer.  So chalk this up as company #3 in the past 12 months....THREE!  So again, not exactly getting "comfortable" with work quite yet. 

Now obviously through all of these transitions, our finances have been ever changing.  Linds and I have always taken A LOT of pride in our budget.  Not that we took a lot of pride in the amount of money we had, but just the ability to organize, control, and plan our budget.  With Linds leaving her career and my job changes and our living changes, our budget has been completely out of whack!  We've been unable to really get a hold of it and control our money b/c it has been changing so much.  So unable to get "comfortable" with it.  Now through all of this change, we have been extremely blessed to have an income to pay bills and all of that.  We also, as a team, became very determined to get rid of all of our debt (Dave Ramsey shout out here) and become MUCH more disciplined with our money.  As of January 2013, we are completely debt free.  No more car loans or student loans, and we sold our house, so no mortgage.  Talk about a blessing; we were convicted and just felt very strongly about eliminating our debt so that we could better utilize God's money for ways in which He wants it to be used, rather than us being slave to the lender (Proverbs 22:7).

So all of this said, there have been so many great blessings over the past year to say the least.  But is has also been extremely tough and testing.  God has changed our plans so much and so quickly that we have not been able to get a feeling of being comfortable.  We didn't realize it before, but we were taking so much pride and putting so much energy into being comfortable and striving for that, that it was really becoming an idol.  With all of the change, we have had countless situations where we have had to cling to the cross and have been constantly reminded that the true comfort and constant we have is God's grace and love.  It is never changing, never ending, and the single thing that our family can count on each and every day, and through each and every circumstance.  So for our family, being comfortable...no thanks!  Because when we become comfortable, we begin feeling self righteous and stop relying on God's love and grace in every aspect of our lives.  So keep bringing on the change and we will find joy in the lack of "comfort", because we will  find ourselves clinging to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Praise God for answering our prayer.  Praise God for his never failing constant love.  Praise God for bringing us to our knees because every idol and god we hold on to fails us.  And praise God for when we look up from our knees, we are at the foot of the cross!

ps.  for the many of you that have been loving on us and serving us through all of these transitions, we love you all and pray that we are able to reflect Christ's image to you as well.

The LOT - Desk Project

This is my first time writing (Brian), so be patient with me :)

We know it has been an extremely long time since you have been given an update on what has been happening in the exciting lives of the Grigsby family.  You must have thought that since the "big run" was over, there was nothing else to talk about.  Well, that could not be further from the truth!  We have actually had SO much going on that we haven't had a chance to update you all, which we greatly apologize for.  We even meant to send out letters along with our Christmas cards, but unfortunately fell short there as well.  So watch for an upcoming blog post to give you an update on our lives and how God has been working and moving in our family.  But that will be a lengthy post and is not the intent of this one.

One of the things I (Brian) have been messing around with is furniture projects.  I LOVE attaining old pieces of furniture and restoring them or re-purposing them.  I have a desire to take old "throw away" pieces and give them new life, new purpose, and a new home.  This is simply a hobby I have started working towards.  

I am calling this venture "The LOT".  This stems from the idea of "the least of these", typically taken from Matthew 25:34-40.

³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

So I often feel that these rejected, worn out, broken down pieces of furniture can resemble God's people in so many different ways.  As a Christ follower, as a child of God, and as a brother in Christ, we are called to love and serve each other in our brokenness.  We are called to pick each other up, help restore the broken pieces and maybe even help guide each other to new life in Christ.  

My hope is that over some time, this hobby can turn into a small opportunity to take furniture, restore it, and then sell it.  With any money that can be made, we can then utilize it to create even more opportunities to literally go out and give, serve, and love on people in our community.  That is our vision, and this was just the first project that has a home in our own home.

This project was done for Lindsay so that she would have a work space to do what God is calling her to do.  She has been sewing and selling all kinds of custom baby items on her Etsy shop, 

Simple Little Lindsay, and needs more space and organization.  She also needed a work space for her Tax and Bookkeeping services, Lindsay A Grigsby Small Business Bookkeeping and Tax Services.

The desk was made out of 2 wooden pallets, 4x4 legs, trimmed with 1x6 boards, and topped with 1/4" glass.  The towers were ones we had built several years ago but were no longer using.  We simply painted and distressed them.  Other features on the desk include 2 old white windows as dry erase surfaces, old wooden shutters purchased at an auction as picture holders, piece of old barn wood as a shelf, fabric and cork board to pin notes, and mason jars as organizers.  Inspired by the pieces themselves and many pinterest posts!

I did it!! 13.1 miles complete!

Yep, I did it; I completed my first half marathon.  I say first because it was such an awesome experience that I'm already thinking about another, maybe even a full marathon?!?

According to Brian, he forgot that I even had a blog.  The thing is, I got to a comfortable point in my training and it almost seemed too boring to blog about.  Well, the race has come and gone, and before it becomes a blur in my mind, I thought I should document it all.

A huge thank you to everyone who supported me in my training.  I never could have done it without friends and family who volunteered to watch Adelyn on pace run and long run days , or those experienced runners who helped me through pacing issues,  minor injuries, and mental fatigue.

Race day experience:

4:45, my alarm goes off.  5:45, leave house.  6:30, finally get parked after traffic issues and nearly getting demolished by a huge SUV that failed to obey traffic laws (I'll spare you the details, it was ridiculous). 6:45, reach the crowded streets of Columbus and decide that we should use the Port O Johns.  7:15, after waiting close to 30 minutes in line, finally its my turn to use the dreaded and oh so smelly Port O John.  7:20, find a spot in the corral and wait anxiously and excitely for the next 10 minutes to pass.

Lesson learned, if I ever run in a marathon event again, allow at least 30 minutes to clear my bladder.

As many of you know, my goal was the complete the half marathon (13.1 miles) in under 2 hours, which works to be about a 9:10 pace.  Samie and I spent at least 30 minutes talking through a grand plan for pacing the distance.  Lets just say that you can train at a certain pace, but once you get to the event, your adrenaline kicks into gear, you're surrounded by thousands of runners, specators are cheering for you, bag pipes are playing, and kids are high fiving you, and all of that goes out the window.  We had intended to keep a pace of 9:05 throughout the majority of the race (a little slower in the beginning and a little faster in the end), but we found that we consistently ran at an 8:50 pace. Here is the breakdown:

Mile 1: 8:52
Mile 2: 8:52
Mile 3: 9:13
Mile 4: 8:50
Mile 5: 8:53
Mile 6: 8:40
Mile 7: 9:02
Mile 8: 8:51
Mile 9: 8:48
Mile 10: 8:54
Mile 11: 8:37
Mile 12: 8:36
Mile 13: 8:06
The most important .1 (insert chuckles for those of you who know that a half marathon is not 13 miles, it is 13.1, emphasis on the .1) 6:28

Overall, thats an 8:51 pace, and a finishing time of 1 hour, 55 minutes, and 48 seconds.

Best signs: an oval shaped 0.0 and "w.t.f. is the beer?"

Worst miles: 3 and 7.  Between 2 and 3 the road went from 3 lanes to 2 causing a lot of congestion for the first time in the race.  We got stuck going a slower pace for most of the mile.  Mile 7 was the only uphill part of the race besides the little bit at the end.  Brian tried to warn us of this but we thought he was being sarcastic.

Best mile:  Gradual downhill at mile 9, really gave us the energy to push hard the last 3 miles.

I over analyze everything, I've tried to quit, I think it's just who I am.  To be completely honest about the race, it wasn't hard; I really wanted to keep going once we got to 13.1.  Maybe not to mile 26, but I know I could have made it to mile 18 for sure.  So I've been asking myself, did I over train?  Or did I just train exceptionally well?  I mean this in the most humble way possible.  Brian says if I trained really well, competition should not be hard.  My mind works different, I don't want it to be ridicously hard, but I do want an element of struggle, whether it mental or physical.  Maybe I just didn't run hard enough?  But if I ran faster the first 10 miles I may not have made it to the finish?!?  See what I mean? I over analyze.

I am so happy that I signed up for this half marathon, it was just what I needed after a year and a half of being pregnant and nursing.  I needed to feel like I had control of my body and I needed to do something for me! I did it!!

So what's next? I'm still contemplating training for a full marathon.  In the meantime, my next running goal is to run the Turkey Trot 5k with a 7:45 pace.  If I can run 13 miles at a pace of 8:50, I can certainly run 3 miles at a 7:45 pace right?

Exciting news on the baby and business front ...

Gotcha! You all thought I was going to announce baby #2 didn't you?  Seriously, we don't even have a house right now.  Well, that was fun, but on to the real news.

Our sweet baby girl decided about a week ago that she could get around faster by foot.  I wouldn't say that she is walking yet, but she is definitely on her way there.  It's a pretty cool thing to see her excitement as she discovers that she can do new things.  Actually, she claps for herself when she successfully gets to her destination, pretty cute stuff.

I tried to take pictures for her 1st birthday invitations from an idea I got off Pinterest.  Either I have the squirmiest, most curious little girl, or those aren't real babies in those pictures I saw.  

Now on to the business news.  After much discussion and prayer, we have decided that it would be a good thing for me to start my own business.  I really enjoyed the work I used to do, but I also strongly desired (and felt God calling me) to stay home with Adelyn.  After 3 months of not working, I find myself missing my job.  What?!?  So for the past month, I have been helping Brian's dad with bookkeeping and business organization; and I have loved every second of it.  I never realized how valuable my knowledge in accounting is as most of it just comes second nature to me.  But the realization is that most of the small business owners I know don't want to do their own bookkeeping, they would rather focus their energy on the talents that they were blessed with.

So today, I finally registered for my PTIN (Preparer Tax Identification Number).  This is the first step in the process to being able to offer tax services to small businesses and individuals.  The next step is to pass the Registered Tax Return Preparer Test.  Please pray for this process, as I hate taking tests.

In the meantime, I am looking for clients with a need for bookkeeping and business organization services.  I'm also looking for a good business name, any suggestions?

That's all of the news for today!

to bring you up to speed

So, according to my husband, I have been slacking with my blogging.  You see, little Adel (as she was named by her cousin) and I went on a little vacation last week, so I'll admit, I didn't exactly stick to my training plan, but I'm okay with it really.

Here are a few pictures from our vacation:

First time in a lake with Uncle Matt helping to keep her afloat.

First Oreo.  She wasn't so sure about it, so she decided to share with her cousin.  I'd rather eat a chocolate chip cookie, I think she would too.

 With her sweet cousins, well one is sweet, the other is very ornery, just like Adel.

 First boat ride, this was the happiest she was on the boat the entire week. I think we're more alike that I'd like to admit sometimes; I too prefer the land to sea.

So here is my confession, I only ran twice, that's 2 times people, while on vacation.  My first full day, I ventured out with my bother in law Matt to brave the hills of TN.  I couldn't even make it 2 miles without stopping for air.  Crazy, how can I run 8 miles in Ohio without a problem?  Running hills is no joke, that is all I have to say about that.  The next day I set out on a hill run, part of the training program.  I ran 1 hilly mile to the biggest hill I could find, then I ran 1/2 of that hill 4 times and ran another hilly mile back home.  It was an awesome workout.  I fully expected my thighs to burn the next day, nope, my ankles.  What, ankles?  Yeah, after researching I guess those downhill runs will get you too.

I'm happy to be back to the flat terrain of Ohio.  But after a 6 hour drive and lots of coffee, my run Sunday was anything but pleasant.  I was dehydrated and hadn't eaten enough to run 8 miles, but I pushed on anyways.  And boy did I pay the price that night.  Lesson learned, I need to keep track of my caloric intake and increase my calories with all of this running I've been doing.  I also need to make sure I drink plenty of water before, during, and after a run (which I'm normally really good at).  Disclaimer: I didn't drink much water in the car ride home, here's why:  have you ever done a 6 hour car ride with a infant/toddler by yourself and had to stop every 2 hours to use the bathroom?  It's a process.

Okay, so last thing, since I haven't really given much of a shout out to my amazing husband, here it is.  Brian hates, I mean HATES, to run long distances.  He thinks its the craziest thing.  Actually he said, "you can't even really win.  I mean you're always going to win because you're only really running against yourself."  God love his crazy competitive nature.  Anyways, he does like to sprint and he's actually pretty good at it.  I say that like I'm surprised, I'm not!  Have you ever heard of Brian not being good at something athletic? It's sickening really! So last night he helped me with my sprint workout.  He was such a good motivator, even when I tempted him to let us stop at 5 sprints instead of 7.  I'm surprised he didn't make me run an extra sprint just for the thought of quitting early.  That's the coach in him, I'm pretty sure that thought went through his head.

Anyways, that brings you up to speed with where I am in my training and what I've learned.  If you can't tell, this has really been an adventure.  I've learned to much already, it's crazy!

7 miles, yep, thats over half of the half.

Half of the half, that sounds like a fourth, and a fourth sounds like nothing.  But I'm pretty sure that 7 miles isn't nothing

My husband thinks there is something wrong with me, "Why in the world would you want to run 7 miles, especially when no one is chasing you?".  I'm asking myself why it took me almost 27 years to realize that I actually might be a distance runner.  I feel so in my element when I'm running longer distances, it's craziness I tell you!

So here are my lifesavers for the week.  Sweet new kicks, an inhaler so I can finally breathe in this crazy humidity, and Ice, Elevate and Compress for my foot.  See details on each of these below!

So after last weeks 6 miler I had some right foot pain.  After consulting some running friends, I've found that rolling a golf/tennis ball under my foot works wonders.  "Writing" the alphabet with my foot also feels pretty fantastic.  I've also been doing Ice, Elevate and Compress after every run and sometimes twice a day.  Please note the Similac ice pack; good for more than just keeping bottles cold. I guess a perk to being a running mom?!?

But even with those stretches, I still felt some pain.  So on my trek to Columbus on Friday to see sweet baby Sam and her awesome mama Megan (from my previous post), I went to Front Runner to get new shoes.  After trying on many pairs, I left with a pair of trusty Mizunos.  I've heard that once you start wearing Mizunos you'll never want to leave.  It's the truth people.  Although I found that with some foot pain, I like the cushion of the Inspire better than the lightweight Elixir.

Still having a little foot pain late in the week, I took it easy yesterday and did some p90x.  I remember when I first starting running about a month ago, I read a blog of a running mama, she had a list of tips:  Number 1: Training with a baby means that things don't always go the way you planned, it's fine, just adapt.

Yep, she was right!!  Try kick boxing with a 20 pound teething "weight" on your side.  Anyways, it wasn't the workout that I hoped to get in, but that's okay, I still kicked 7 miles of running in the butt today!

So I have also been having some breathing issues, thanks to some sports induced asthma that I blame on my father and a very humid summer.  I got an inhaler this week, omg, awesomeness!

Here are the stats for todays long run:
Miles: 7
Time: 1:06
Pace: 9:29

Even with some minor foot pain, I felt this run was my best since we started running a month ago.  Sami also informed me that we ran 7 miles with a better pace than we did 6.  I hate to admit it because I fear that Sami will make me do more sprints (I HATE sprinting!!), but maybe they did actually help our pace.

Booyah!!

Booyah: an exclamatory statement, often said when someone is extremely overjoyed.


Overjoyed to say the least; I think I finally figured out how to run with a stroller.  Thanks to my dear friend Megan and all of her awesomeness, I was able to successfully run with a jogging stroller today. Sami still helped out, but I can honestly say that it felt awesome.  

This here is Megan, she is basically a godsend; seriously, she is an amazing woman, wife, mother, friend, runner, crafter, coffee lover ..I think God put her here just to keep my sane really.


So after a few frustrating stroller runs earlier this week, Megan suggested that I let the front wheel swivel and try running off to the side of the stroller a bit.  Magic!  It worked and it felt totally natural and comfortable.  I will be forever grateful for her advice.  Today's advice from Megan was not to get discouraged about a slower pace while running with the stroller, it's actually good that on non pace run days I keep my heart rate down to recover faster.  Seriously, don't you wish you had a friend like Megan?


On another note, you won't see me post much about weight on here, but I do want to note that 10 months after having a baby I was about 5 pounds under my prepregnancy weight.  Most women would be saying "booyah!" to this, but not me.  You see, I'd rather feel incredibly fit and weight 10 pounds more than my prepregnancy weight than weigh less and not be fit.  So, in the last 2.5 weeks, I have put on about 2 pounds, even with all of this running and working out.  Am I upset? Noway! I know that those pounds are muscle and that makes me one happy girl!  For the first time in a long time, I am so incredibly aware of my body and its strength.  Now that right there is motivation for the next 11.5 weeks.