The Ratliff Roundup: "I have Finished the Race, I have kept the faith"

Tim 4:7 "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."

In January, I made 3 goals.

1. Complete and receive my PHR (Professional in Human Resources)
2. Train and complete the Triathlon Sprint
3. Loose weight (standing goal, right?)

Goals. Something that I have always tried to set, each year. It's really fun to look back and see what all God did through my life once I set a goal. After all, it is in my weakness, he has made strong. So, I looked up that verse, because it is really all I said to myself when I was trying to finish the last leg of our Tri Sprint. It is 2 Corinthians 12:19: But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. My weakness: running!!

I remember listening to Ben Crane (PGA Golfer) speak at my church, and he said that it was all about the "process." It hit home to me. The Tri Sprint was no longer this anxiety ridden date; it was about the process of getting there. My process was the training. The training for the tri sprint was pretty grueling. There were rainy days, cold days and the really hot days. Days I didn't feel like working out, days that I never felt better. I managed to train at the end of my work day, and before my mom duties kicked in for the evening. This meant, waking up, getting dressed for work, getting the girls ready for school, taking them to school, coming into work, working a full day and then going to train. When it got to July, the temp at this time of day was well pretty HOT. I just kept asking the Lord to continue to be with me and push me and I yelled at the devil a lot when he would say "oh, you should stop running now, aren't you hot, aren't you tired, you are not a good runner, so you should stop." I looked pretty silly on the jog trail when I would fight off the devil and start singing, "How Great is our God."

Well, I did it. I swam in 8 minutes or so, biked in 59 minutes and ran in 40 minutes. All and all, I beat my goal by 20 minutes! I honestly thought it would take me longer. So, I am ready to do it again next year.

I did pass my HR test -- which I was so happy about too. It was very difficult and I really never want to take any sort of test again…. oh, the days of SAT / ACT haunted me in preparing for the test.

So, let's not talk about the 3rd goal. The good news, I still have the rest of the year.. )

Another huge mile stone, was my 10 year anniversary with PepsiCo. They had a big cocktail party for me and my parents came in and so did Joe's folks. It was so fun, something I will always always remember. I just can't believe it has already been 10 years. It's a been a great company to work for!!

Emme's 4th Birthday Bash was a success. We had all of our great friends and family over for the celebration. My sister, Brian and Tommy surprised us by driving in. I saw Tommy walking and I was like, "I know him" it was strange! When you don't expect to see someone, it catches you off guard!!

Papa Joe made this. The kids went through 150 water balloons in 10 minutes!