St. Jude Marathon - #2 down and no more to go! :-)

Well- It is over and we did it! There were 14,000 people entered in this race to find a cure. As you all know my life has been crazy with building, packing, selling, teaching classes at Group Fit, and life in general with two WONDERFUL kiddos and an amazing husband so I did not have a lot of time to train for this marathon. My longest run was 16 miles and I would run every now and then through out the week or sometimes every other week. Well- let me tell you LESSON has been learned. Training is a neccesity and I am not made of steel!!!! God, my angels and your prayers carried me through the last 10 miles. My right calf got tight at mile 13 and then both of my calves started seizing up at mile 16 but I kept praying and thinking of all of the people on my shirt who fought so hard to battle cancer and somewhere deep down inside I was given strength. I saw my sister three times and many other friends that helped to push me along the way. I have NEVER wanted to quit something so bad in my entire life. The pain was horrendous for the last 10 miles but at least I knew at the finish line my battle was over. By mile 25 I could hardly flex my feet to run and a sweet man told me to stretch and walk it in because I had come to far to give up. So I made myself walk, stretch, run, walk, stretch, run. And for those of you who know me you know how hard it was for me to walk but by golly it helped and God gave me a special boost at the end to finish strong. At the end I was so full of emotions that I collapsed into a ladies arms as her friend took off my time chip. I cried and cried and she asked me if this were my first marathon and I told her no that I was just crying for my grandmother and the angels that carried me through to the end. I am finally able to walk a little better. Matthew has been amazing and he has massaged my legs and taken over the household chores and boys. He has won father of the year in my book. Thank you Leslie, Rodney, Liz, Becky, and Andrew for helping me in the end when my legs finally gave out at the finish line. You were God sends and I will repay you one day. Nurse Leslie kicked in and took great care of me. You rock sis, and yes this is my LAST! I love you all! My final time was 3:55:23. Like I said before- my angels carried me those final miles. Now- I am going to limp around and pack up my house!!!! :-) Attached are some pre-race pics.

VEGAS BABY

We had a GREAT Time with Grandma and Grandpa Linder. Will catch you up on the trip later when I have more time. Here are my favorite pictures of the family fun.

Marathon Countdown- 4 days

I am absolutely OVERWHELMED so please pray for my family as we transition to a new home over the holidays and I run this marathon this weekend. I know my "gin-gin", Barbara Smith will carry me through the difficult untrained miles. She is with me always and I know she will be with me on that cold December day. I miss her so bad today. I miss the way we used to sit and talk on my back patio when I lived in Dyersburg. Like my mom, she would never stay long but we always had a good time when we were together. I loved to drink coffee with her and talk about flowers. She loved to do yard work and she would always pull my weeds and water my plants when she came over because I did not inherit that green thumb. I always think of her when I plant my flowers in the spring. After she passed I would find my self picking up the phone to dial her number. This is one of those moments that I just wish I had one more moment, one more cup of coffee and one more hug. My mom sounds like her and I inherited the same raspy voice at times. Sometimes when my mom speaks or laughs it reminds me so much of sweet Barbara. Life is so precious and each moment is so important. Right after she passed Blake threw a penny into the wishing well and when was about 4 and a half and he started jumping up and down and cheering and I was curious so I wandered over to see what he was so happy about and he said, "I did it. She is coming home. I did it! I made a wish and God is bringing Gin Gin back." Oh- if it were that easy. That was a hard thing to explain but in the end he was still young enough to take the news better than an older child would. But on the bright side, my grandmother is no longer battling Cancer and she is holding the son that she lost when he was just a little boy! It is now his turn to hug her and talk about flowers AND she is pain free! She and everyone who has, is or will fight Cancer WILL help me get through this race. Now- I am going to hug my kiddos and husband when he gets home and thank GOD for my blessings. I hope you are all having a BLESSED day! On this run I will be running with quite a few names on my shirt. My Cousin Cathy has two friends battling Cancer, my grandmother, Jason Myers, Jason Tarpley, and a few others. If you would like to put a name on the shirt it is not too late. I am making my shirt Thursday and I will take a picture and post it!!!! Please let me know. I want to hear the crowd yell the names of each and every person that has fought or is fighting this disease!!!! It is an amazing feeling to hear the crowd yell for not just you but for the ones you love!

Latest House Updates

The house is coming along but not fast enough! :-( We will no longer own the home we live in tommorrow night at 6:00. Jill and Will will take over ownership and we will rent from them for the next two weeks. We will lack one short week of making it a direct transition. The Homestead Suites in Franklin will be our place of residence for about a week until our home is complete. It is what it is and we are blessed to have a roof over our heads. The holiday season is busy and we are having a great and chaotic time getting things done. At first I hated cleaning up dry wall but now I am so excited because I know it is getting us one step closer to being finished. :-) The boys are being good helpers and good sports. Blake has claimed his room and he is excited to decorate. Luke is just sad they took the big sand pile away.

I love my bathtub in the above pics. Matthew picked out the tile. The picture of the connecting bathroom is Blake and Luke's jack and jill bathroom. They love it!

Lukes first Choir Concert

Since Luke is our attention getter I switched him from Veggie Connection to Choir on Wednesday night and he loves it. Sunday we had our first concert and he was a little unsure at first but he ended up loving it. I could not get him to perform both services but he did great in the first. He was a grumpy bug from lack of sleep and so we left because we had a busy day ahead of us. He was a champ and lasted the entire day without a nap. He was treated with Sushi at the end of the day. Yes- my children love Sushi!!!!

Updates on our house!

I want to start off by saying that Matthew is so talented and amazing. I am absolutely BLOWN away by how wonderful our house is turning out. He has changed and tweaked so many things and please take notice of the stone around the windows. He picked that out and I love it! We have hit our first bump! Matthew and I went to pick out the lights and it was a STRESSFUL experience. Our likes were on opposite ends of the Depot. I like Traditional and he likes Contemporary!!!!! Any help in this area would be wonderful! All of the choices make my head hurt.

Happy Birthday to Blake and Luke!

We have had a blast celebrating birthdays this past month or so! We celebrated Blake's in mid September and Luke's party was last weekend. Blake chose to have a party at home roasting smores and playing flag football. I thought that was a great idea until the day came and I realized how much work it was going to be but it was worth it in the end. Luke wanted to have his at the My Fun Zone and he had about 15 friends show up and he had a blast jumping on all of the castles and slides in the room they provided. Now this was my kind of a party. I just showed up with my kiddos and they did all of the work. At this party the kids were great! It was daddy that I had to reprimand. He and the older kids, my brother and uncle Michael were having a blast nailing people in the head with the balls that they provided. Some of the mothers sat their watching with an alarmed expression on their faces. WHEW! Glad that is over and no one got hurt but I was also glad to see the bigger boys have so much fun. Blake could have had this but he wanted a "bigger" present and a less expensive party. So now he has a Wii to enjoy thanks to his sacrifice. When this house gets sold I am going to practice and actually win a game on the Wii! I can't believe my babies are 9 and 4 and I what is even harder to believe is that Matthew and I are 30! Wow- it seems like just yesterday when we were living in the ghetto in Knoxville at the young age of 21 raising our first child. Time goes by so fast! It is the moments like these that we will always remember.

Gluten Free Lifestyle

It has been way too long since I have posted. I am not great at this because it takes what little time I have left over and consumes all of it! Well- Blake's headaches are getting closer together and he is having to miss half days at school here and there. For those of you who do not know, Blake and his daddy suffer from migraines. Sometimes they are severe and other times they are not as bad but for a 9 year old they are all BAD.
Today we are starting a process that leans more toward natural healing. This weekend I started researching a Gluten Free diet thanks to my friend Brooke. I have been very impressed with what I have read. Dr. Asa Andrews believes their is a connection between gluten and headaches. So today we have eliminated all wheat and flour from Matthew and Blake's diet. OH NO- you might ask- Is this the end of chips, snacks, cakes, and breads????? Well- last night I made a trip to the oh so expensive Whole Foods market and I just wanted to sit in the aisle and cry. There were so many choices and I did not want to spend a fortune on snacks that taste like dirt! My first experience with a gluten free shortbread cookie was a bad one. The birds probably left that cookie in my yard it was so bad.
Well- as I was frustrated God sent a couple of angels in my path. Some were headache sufferers that were buying gluten free products and others had digestive problems. They pointed away from the bad stuff and toward the good stuff.
So- I am proud to say that Matthew and Blake sampled tons of yummy treats that I brought home last night and only ONE was a no go!
Blake had gluten free waffles this morning and in his lunch box he had a parfait with gluten free granola and organic fruit. He also had a gluten free rice cake topped with peanut butter and honey, which he loved tasting last night. For a treat I added a gluten free chocolate wafer cookie that tasted amazingly good.
For his snack he took nut thins. They are crackers that are made out of almonds and rice and they are flavored with ranch seasoning. They are sooooooooooo GOOD!
So- as odd as all of this sounds it is very tasty. I packed Matthew the same lunch. He did not want to full blown parfait so I omitted the yogurt and sent that separate.
Tomorrow I am thinking I will pack a baked potato stuffed with cheese and butter and sour cream. Thank the good Lord he can still have potatoes and rice!!!!!!!!!!! They only meet we have to stay away from is Pork. But after reading about how disgusting pork is I am fine with my decision. Pigs are scavengers and they eat some pretty nasty things and then we turn around and eat them. And shellfish are the scavengers of the sea and their main job in life is to keep our oceans clean from waste. Just some food for thought!

Blake is looking at this as a fun adventure!!!! I am so proud of him.

Pictures of Blake just because

Every now and then Blake will show the camera a funny moment. He is more laid back and reserved than his little brother. He used to cry if I laughed at him for doing something funny because he thought I was making fun of him. Now that he is older he is starting to come out of his shell when he feels like it. My sweet sweet boy is getting so big. He is turning 9 in less than two weeks.

Who needs cable when you have Luke?

Well- the pictures say it all! There is never a dull moment in the Scrivener household when Lukey Tookey is awake. The third picture is my favorite. He went in the bathroom to take care of business and he came out with his underwear on his head. It may see like I favor him with the camera but Blake is more camera shy and it is torture trying to get him to get in a picture. But- I will get lots of good soccer shots of him next weekend when he is not looking. I love soccer season. Blake looks too cute in his uniform. Now that his hair is getting long he looks like a true soccer player.

Sarah and Grace visit the Port-A-John

Sarah, my best friend from high school, and her sweet daughter Grace stopped by to see our house in progress yesterday. We had a great visit and I was sad to see them head back to West Tennessee. Grace got to experience her first trip to the Port-A-Potty and well, it will probably be her last. She was all for using the on site amenities until she opened the door. Grace- i don't blame you. At least you did not look in the hole. You might have gone home and had nightmares.

My Blake likes his first girl and my heart hurts!

Blake asked me some pretty serious questions a couple of weeks ago. He wanted to know how to tell if a girl liked him. Well I told him to just ask her and he said that it would be too painful if she did not like him. OH MY- my heart dropped. I thought about all of the girls he would have a crush on over his lifetime and how many heart breaks he might experience and I was suddenly overwhelmed with sadness and an urgent need to protect my child. I wanted to tell him that he should never like girls until he was in High School or maybe college and that I would hand select a girl that was good enough for him. He deserves the best you know? Mean girls will never do and I will run them off. But then I came to my senses and realized that this is out of my control and I will just have to pray for him to make good decisions and for God to send sweet girls into his life. And if they were not very nice then maybe Blake would be a great influence on them and show them how to be sweet. So - yes i got a little a head of myself in my thoughts and after I calmed down we had a great conversation. I told him some signs that a girl might like him and he was excited and he kept wanting to know more. Well- he came home a few days later and said that she approached him and told him that she had heard that he liked her. I asked him what he said and he looked at me like I was crazy and said- I just said WELL- and walked away. After that day he would not speak to her anymore. He did not get his shyness from me. He came home a couple of days later and said she had signed another boys folder and you could tell he was disappointed. I did not hear anymore about her for a week until this past Friday. He came home and told me that she approached him and said that he was a good singer and asked him if he would tutor her. Well- I did not tell him this but Blake has my tone deafness and he can't sing a lick so that is a HUGE sign that she likes him. :-) He was walking on air. Isn't that age so innocent and sweet! He is my sweet soul.

Do you know what Super-glue tastes like? Luke does!

Yes- Luke has wowed us again. Quite a funny story now that it is over. I was taking a bath and I heard Luke crying. Well- that is nothing new because he screams when I do not answer him the first time. I think he may actually whine more than I did as a kiddo. Well he finally came up stairs and in one hand was super-glue and his mouth was open and he was crying because his tongue was stuck to his teeth. Well- I do not handle stressful situations well so I jump out of the bathtub SCREAMING - oh no - oh no- what do I do? over and over. So he is crying and I am making the situation worse my jumping and yelling. Which might put him in therapy by the way- can you imagine seeing your mother jumping up and down screaming naked? OK- enough said about that subject. I finally calmed down and pulled the super glue off of his teeth and that released his tongue and then I was able to peel it off of his tongue. It pulled the first layer of skin off but he could care less. He was just happy to have his tongue free. Who cares about the blood he was spitting into the sink. He could talk again. :-)

Stop and Smell the Marigolds

Life goes by so fast and too often I get swept up in the craziness and I forget to stop and thank God for the important people I have been blessed with along the way. I am so thankful for each and every person that I have met along life's journey. It always saddens me when I see friends that have touched my life struggle or face a horrible situation.

Tish Riley's boyfriend Jason Myers is engaged in a fight against Melanoma right now. He and Tish spend most of their days at Vanderbilt and they are tired but determined.

As you all know- we are running a race to raise money for Cancer on December 6th in honor of my grandmother, Barbara Smith.

I am now switching my focus of where the money needs to go. We thought about giving it to a Cancer Research foundation, but helping someone that we know that is fighting for his life now would definitely make my grandmother smile down from Heaven. Her sweet spirit will even be there with us as we run cheering us on. Please pray for Jason and Tish. They are so tired but they are so determined to win this fight. If you feel led to make a donation then just let me know and I will give you the information you need to make it possible.

My Birthday Surprise

Well- I cried to one too many neighbors because my husband did not get a birthday cake for me last week and now I feel oh so foolish. I hate to admit it but Matthew did a great job of scheming to make me feel like I was getting absolutely nothing but a pair of PJs for my birthday. He did such a good job that I spent about 30 minutes crying at sweet Lauren Dunns house on the night of my birthday and she sat there and consoled me but she held in the surprise that was right around the corner.

The Saturday after my birthday Matthew took me out for what he said was dinner and a movie and we took a detour to the Arrington Vineyards and we had an incredible picnic on a hill overlooking the vineyards and on top of my salad was a beautiful anniversary band. After we finished dinner I heard people breathing heavily behind me from the huge hike up the hill and when I looked back all of my friends were gathered behind us for another surprise. I cried when I saw them, especially my brother and his wife. It was a GREAT night.