"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!

Momo made Emme's froggy cakeFavorsWishing Well

Entrance Massive 2 lane blow up slideThis was the toddler bounce house, a big hit!!

Cupcakes

Through Her Eyes

Last night I had the worst dream -- well nightmare! I dreamed that I was at a friends wedding and I was looking at the program. The last item on the program listed my mom's name and it said, "Through Emme's Eyes" and it was my mom talking about Emme's life, because she had passed away! I was trying to get out of my dream as fast as I could! I finally woke up. It was awful!

Anyway, I was driving in this morning wondering why on earth I had that dream! I found these pictures on my camera. We took these last week, Emme tried on every pair of glasses -- and we took all of these pictures. Anyway, still don't know why she had to die in my dream. But, after a big hug and kiss from her this morning and looking at these pictures, I am feeling a little calmer!

Emme turns 4 on Monday! Joe and I were talking about her yesterday and just how sweet she is to other kids; it is so neat to watch as a parent. I am proud of her and proud of our relationship.

We have a Frog Party planned for her next Friday and we are getting a water slide and a bounce house. So, I will have plenty of pictures to post next week!

I will post 4th of July pictures this week. I am back at work today after a long weekend and need to get back to working.

Sadness and Joy

I am writing this blog because I have a little free time to myself. Wow, I should type that sentence again, because time is rare around here and it down right makes me mad. I hate that time keeps slipping, and am frustrated that I can't influence it to stop, or slow down!

Lately, I am glad to say that that I have spent has been with my immediate family (or former immediate). Spending time with my parents and my sister and my nephew over the past few months have been amazing and I know that it is right where God needed me to be and I can't thank God enough for giving me a husband that wants to be with my family just as much as I do. It probably has something to do with my parents loving Joe!! With my dad's ever-fragile health, Ann thought it would be a great idea to take family pictures. I agree and started to ask my mom why it was that we never did take family pictures. She replied that there was the one Christmas where we took pictures in front of the tree; it made me laugh. The photo session was amazing! The photographer had me, Ann and my parents all taking these funny pictures where we were literally cheek to cheek! It was also wonderful to see my dad with all of the grand children and I just can't wait to see the pictures. I will post as soon as we get them. Being out of town is hard, but I am so glad I have made those trips.

So -- I have actually had a pretty hard March, April and May.

For PepsiCo, I facilitate how to "manage change." I think it is so ironic that the change process has hit me personally pretty hard and has really tried my faith and the philosophies that I am so proud to own and teach.

I think I was in denial when Abby, our nanny, left to start her career. I was trying to act so cool about it all and deep down inside I was so scared and so sad to see her leave. She was great with the girls and I was completely confident when I went to work. I knew that she would take care of their needs, teach them about the Lord and help grow them. The nanny search lasted quite a while. We did end up hiring D'Ann, and I really like her. She has been with us for about three weeks and I just like her temperament and I pray that she will be able to be with us for a long time.

That was March

and April

May brought about a horrible, horrible accident. I was with my mom and Elle. We just had a great time shopping and I stopped at Which Which to get lunch for everyone. We were having a blast! The phone rang and my friend Brooke said "are you driving?" I replied that I was and then she insisted on me to pull the car over. At this time I was like she is cra-zy. So, I pulled over and my mom started driving. She continued to tell me that there had been a horrible accident -- Lakeysha and her kids were killed. I'm like, what? She told me again. I just couldn't breathe. I told her I had to go. I had to call the other 2 in our foursome. Yes, our four-some. The old gang. We had been together since 2006. No one laughed like we did. No one told the truth like we did. No one embraced and challenged diversity issues like we did. We all loved the Lord and Mark would always end our team meetings with "This is the day the Lord has made." It was an incredible two years until "they" accepted other jobs within PepsiCo. But other jobs didn't stop us. We still continued to meet once a month and it was at that point in 2008, when Lakeysha's and my relationship grew. We were still on the same team, but just doing different roles. She was the one I could email at 10 am and say, "let's go to lunch" and she would. We would talk about everything. There was nothing to hide with her. She also gave me great direction and feedback. We had amazingly open conversations. I mean, you should have heard our discussions about Obamana vs McCain. Ok, wait, back to the story. So, this was my girl. She was gone. Of course, I had other friends that were in my little "circle" -- but friends at work, that's another story. She was the first adult I would see after dropping the kids and the last face I saw before going home and starting my second job. She was there every day. It's taken me a long time to write this blog. I don't really expect anyone to read this; I usually don't write this much. But to be honest, this is therapeutic. I have been so sad over this. It has been quite hard, and what is worse is that Wyndell is still in the hospital and I can't imagine what he is going through. Here is a picture of me and Lakeysha -- "Foxy Greene." Every time we had a work function, we were arm and arm. I went to my first work function last week, and it was very hard. Did I mention I had way too much wine?

So -- I have been grieving the loss of my friend. I have also been trying to study for my HR Certification exam. I have been studying the material for a few months. I attended a 3 day session in Atlanta and I was 1 week away from taking the test when Lakeysha died. I thought I would postpone the test; but decided she would wave that index finger in my face if I didn't. I went to take my test on Thursday. It was a long 3 hours and 45 minutes. I reviewed every question. Talked to myself. Prayed to Jesus! Then I was done. I clicked submit and waited…. and PASS showed up. I was elated.

These past few months, so many wonderful things have happened and I must make sure I keep count of those too!
1. Elle finished CCDC and is on her way to Kindergarten. I am so proud of her. She and I have a very special connection and I thank the Lord for her in my life.
2. Emme continues to crack us up. For those wondering, our relationship is awesome. She truly makes me smile and I envy her willingness and courage to meet new people and help her older sister meet new people too.
3. The girls did a great job in their spring recitals. They were too cute!!
4. I celebrate 10 years with PepsiCo this week!!! Can you believe it??? I sure can't! We are having a big happy hour (what else?) to celebrate!

If you are still reading this, bless you. Please be in prayer for Lakeysha's husband. Be in prayer for our staff and the grieving we are going through. Be in prayer for me and Joe as we continue to make this dual working marriage/parenting thing work. We are doing great; but it is hard. We are both so eager to succeed and be a good corporate citizen. We also strive to be great parents and too often fall short. Above all we strive to be in great relationship with Christ. Here are some great pics, hope you enjoy!

Me and Keysha at Corp Party

nu=5238>;39>255>WSNRCG=32957;;243346nu0mrj.jpg"> Elle and Emme - Spring Pictures
Bible Study at Work, miss you girl!

Fun Austin trip with my High School Friends and their kids

I call them my high school friend, but really, with these gals, I have known them since 5th grade!

Rock Star Day at School

50's Day at School. Lindsay said "I better get in the middle because they will fight about who will be next to me."

Madison and Elle - Fun in the boat

Emme before her recital. She is wearing Wesleigh Greene's tap shoes

Elle and Lindsay at Dress Rehearal

Emme - Spring Pictures

Elle - Spring Picture

White Rock and Roll

Wow. Honestly, I can't believe that I am writing a post about running. Something I have always hated, even when I was younger and in shape. I could never do the 8 minute mile for volleyball and my dad would try to get me to run and try, I just hated it and wasn't very good at it.

The first thing my dad said after I called him and told him I finished the 5 Mile race, he said, "what does your face look like?" Meaning, is my face red, and of course, we all laughed. Sorta an inside joke with my family. I get so red in the face after running -- always have.

Anyway, when I woke up Saturday morning to get ready for the race, I was just not mentally ready. I have been training since January for a triathlon sprint in July and so Meredith had said that we should enter as many races as we could to prepare. Well, these past two weeks have been rough, with no working out at all and being sick, I was scared to run this 5 mile race.

God couldn't have provided a better morning for the race. The weather was perfect and the scene was beautiful at White Rock Lake. As the gun went off to start the race, I just did what I always have done, kept at my own pace and just talked to God. Everyone was going by so fast! I just kept saying to myself, slow and steady wins the race! Sure enough, I was keeping at the same pace around mile 3 and I was so proud! I did walk after that for about another mile or so, but tried to walk as fast as I could.

As I came upon the finish line, Meredith and Steve were there to cheer me on and run along side with me and then Elle and Emme came and ran with me for the last 100 yards.

No, I am talking about a marathon; but this 5 miles was a goal that was great to complete.

I finished in 1 hour and 4 minutes. I was 314th out of 355 -- so i wasn't last!! Yeah!

Again, I am not a runner at heart and only was able to finish because of the strength God gave me. I am actually excited to run in another race; I think the more times you do it, the more confidence you get.

They had a 1K for the kids, the girls had a lot of fun!

Florida Pictures

This was a on the patio at the Ritz during one of the parties on the trip Yes, we sang all night. We got everyone else going too. Here I am singing "What's UP" by Four Non Blondes. It was a success!
From our room at the Ritz. Just a beautiful place!
Here is our Salsa dancing insructor in Miami. She was awesome!
We look so cheesy! We are in Miami on Ocean Drive eating at a great breakfast place!

Here is the beach in Miami - -it is pretty!!
Here is Elle and Ritz, the girls love him!

Six From April

How many times have I started a blog "it's been a long time since I have posted an update?" Honestly, as much as you hear this -- I am amazed that we are heading into the last weeks of April.

I thought it would be easy/fun to post the 6 big things about April!

1. Elle's Party -- We have been talking about this party for a while and it was so great to see it play out -- except for the fact when we got to the theatre, I had purchased tickets for the wrong day!! Thankfully, the ticket manager was able to find us another 25 seats -- and didn't make me pay. All of their friends were so cute and had a great time. I am so proud of Elle, she really makes me happy and is growing up so fast. I just found this email that I wrote to myself one night in bed (I wrote it in the past tense, not sure why, maybe I thought that I would post it in her scrapbook later on) -- Here it is " Elle at age five always wanted to know when she would become a mommy. She asked me about each birthday and what each year would bring. She asked when she would go to college. I told her 18 and then she asked would she still have a mom when she goes to college and who would she would live with. She then asked would she be a mommy at that point and I told her when she was older and was married and she said, so all I have to do is choose which one to marry and then she can be a mommy." Just that easy, right? Anyway, enjoy these pictures.


2. Easter - Success! -- Easter, my favorite holiday, was just magniciant. We spent the day with the family and reflected on the Love and the Sacrifice Jesus made and gave. Here are the kiddos, they love them some Easter too.










3. Another one bites the dust? Emme's Guinea Pig died too!! This time, Cody, our dog, got in and sorta wrestled with it until it no longer lived. She said she didn't want another one, so we still have our new one "Scratchy" and he seems to be doing good -- but this Guinea pig thing is a day to day thing, and each morning I pray he is still alive.





4. Hair CUT! Wow, both girls got their hair cut so short. But, we love it and it will be great for the summer.
















5. Best Vacation! Joe and I went to Miami and Naples on his company Top Performers Club trip. What an honor! I am really proud of Joe, really am. It was funny though. On the last night of the Awards Ceremony, everyman was getting up there after given their award and they would always say, "I love my wife. I owe this to my wife.My wife is so special" blah blah. Aren't I bad???? Anyway, I turned to him and said don't go up there and gush all over me. You did this, you persevered those long nights and crazy days. You placed your family first, and still had time to make work successful. I wasn't any help -- if anything, when you called, I probably complained that your plane was running late. Anyway, we were laughing and sure enough he got up there and gushed over his boss, Pete. And took a jab at me, and everyone laughed. Seriously, he did deserve this trip and it was great to see him around all of the Leaders at his work, they truly respect him and like him. Some of the highlights from the trip -- Salsa Dancing, Para sailing, Massage, Golf for Joe, Drinks by the Pool, Great Shopping, etc.

6. Another pet. We sure did have a lot of pets come and go in April. This time, it's another dog. While we were in Naples, a neighbor found this dog and kept it for 5 days looking for the owner. They were about to take it to the pound -- when I emailed them to wait until we got back. They brought the dog over and we named him "Ritz." So far, the dog is great. He is potty trained and very calm. Joe doesn't want to keep him -- I am not sure what we are going to do… we will keep you posted!

R.I.P.

I found Zoomer hard as a rock this morning with his eyes open. It was pretty strange. I called Elle up to her room and told her that he had died and she cried and cried.

Little does she know that her sister flung poor Zoomer last night across the room and he hit the wall. Emme is a little rough with them. Anyway, she went with Abby this morning to get another one. Hopefully this one will make it more than 5 days at the Ratliff house.

Also, today is Elle's 5th Birthday, what a way to start the day!