Our little conductor...

 

This little man has a slight obsession with trains.....and I'm using the word "slight" very loosely.

We pull our car into parking lots near train tracks so we can watch trains go by.  We visit a local tree nursery that has a train you can ride on.  We often frequent a local toy store that has a large Thomas the Train tracks all set up for the kiddos to play.

While visiting the toy store on his birthday I asked him if he would want Mommy to buy him a conductor outfit.  The response was a VERY enthusiastic, "YES!!!!!"

Well...that was months ago....and he rarely takes it off.

He wears it around the house.

He wears it to the grocery store.

He wears it out to eat.

He even wears it to swimming lessons....and reluctantly agrees to take it off before jumping in the water.

Love my little conductor!

"The strongest nation on earth is your imagi-nation"

--Matt Furey

 

Playing in the Big Leagues!

Eva loves basketball.

Always has.

It's her passion.

We always knew our little girl had some talent, but as parents Matt and I both feel it's important to stay humble.  We've both said we never want to be one of those parents that's says, "My daughter is AMAZING!!!!" when it comes to sports.  We want to provide her with opportunities that challenge her and let God take the glory for this gift that she has.

However, we were having trouble finding things that challenged her.

At one point we had her in a program when she was 8 years old and she was playing 13 year old boys....and she was holding her own.

Still, we continued to look for opportunities and sign her up for programs that we hoped would help her grow.

We had steered clear or our local high school programs because we had heard that the high school team teaches them....and in all honesty we weren't sure it would give Eva the challenge that she needed if kids were teaching it.  However, we kept hearing that the program was good and that it opened doors for some traveling programs so this past year we signed her up.

It was a good program.  Most importantly, she had fun!  We did another high school program when it became available, and again she enjoyed it.

Then a few weeks ago we ran into the high school coach.  He said, "I've been meaning to get ahold of you.  I would like to invite Eva to start practicing with the high school team"

I replied, "Sure...you mean like open gym?"

He said, "No, we will be doing drills and running some plays.  I know that Eva is only 10 and I promise we will take good care of her....but I'd really like to get her in there playing with the older girls"

Whaaaaaaat???!!!

Wow...Matt and I were touched!!  Eva....well...she wanted to vomit because it made her so nervous! 

He gave us a schedule and we decided which practices she could attend.  The night before the first practice (this past week) I was honestly concerned she was going to throw up.  She was SO NERVOUS.  And the truth is...I didn't blame her!!  I would have been nervous too!!!

I prayed with her and I reminded her of the sign she has hanging in her room:  LET YOUR FAITH BE BIGGER THAN YOUR FEAR!!

The next morning she headed out for practice.

High school practice.

Holy smokes.

Matt walked in with her and stayed awhile just to make sure she was comfortable.  The coach rounded the girls up in a big circle for some pre-drill stretches.  He said, "I'm going to yell out your grade level and I need you each to individually yell out your name"

He said, "Incoming Seniors".....and the seniors each yelled their names.

"Incoming Juniors"...and the juniors yelled their names.

"Incoming Sophomores"....and the sophomores yelled their names.

"Incoming Freshman"....and the freshman yelled their names.

Then he paused and said, "Incoming 5th Grader".....and my little girl...the only little girl in that big huge circle of girls much bigger and older than her said, "Eva Fisher"

And those big girls?  The girls that made Eva so scared and nervous?  They started clapping and cheering for her. 

{Tears}.

"If your dreams don't scare you bit...they aren't big enough"

--Unknown

Sunburst 2015

The Sunburst is always a special race for us.  Not only do we feel honored that we get to run on the Isaac Nation Team and support a special family....it's also become a special family tradition for us!  This year Matt and "Uncle Tripe" ran the 5k with Eva and Jaden...

This little man is a RUNNER.  He owned that 5k like a BOSS....finishing in just over 28 minutes!!  He's EIGHT years old!!!!

I love this picture of Eva and Jeff together!!  A family that runs together has fun together! She did a great job too finishing in about 29 minutes!

As for me, I ran the half marathon again.  This year was completely different than last year.  My training seemed sooooo much harder.  I really struggled on some of my longer runs.  More times than once I considered dropping down to the 10k.  However, I stuck with my plan.  Thanks to these lovely ladies that did my training runs with me we CONQUERED that half marathon!!  I kept my goal of running the entire 13.1 miles and shaved about 10 minutes off my time from last year!

Before training for the race I really didn't even know these girls (Kendra and I had never even really talked and Cindy and I had just had a few brief conversations).  Long runs do magical things for friendships.  If you really want to know someone run 13 miles with them.  Together we encouraged and pushed eachother.  We ran through torrential downpours and scorching heat.  At times we literally held eachothers hand to keep moving forward.  Crossing the finish line together was such a great celebration of the power of a great running buddy.  I love these girls.

 As many people know, I often see hearts around me.  The amount I saw on this race was unbelievable.  I was really nervous going into this race - as I said, my training did not go well.  However, within the first mile I saw a heart and I could feel myself start to relax.  I started to find my stride.  As the race went on I saw more and more and more.  It was astonishing how many I saw.  Such a special sign for me!

 "That's the thing about running.  Your greatest runs are rarely measured by racing success.  They are moments in time when running allows you to see how amazing life really is"

--Anonymous