Easter Reflections and Worship

A week ago I was thinking about how I wanted to worship on Easter. I believe in a Resurrected Lord and Savior of the World, even Jesus Christ. However generally haven't made Easter much a sacred day, although I celebrate it with good food and fun. Two days later my family received the heartbreaking news that my paternal grandmother has been stricken with liver cancer and it is terminal. Instantly so many emotions were felt, and soon I realized that this Easter has more meaning and purpose than ever before. 

I had to say to myself, yes, I really do believe that Jesus Christ Atoned for all mankind, was crucified, and rose again on the third day and that He Lives. HE LIVES! And because He lives, there is a plan of Redemption and Happiness for all of God's Children. That means that even though there will be sadness and grief ahead, I believe life does not end when ones soul leaves their mortal body. I'm already mourning the event that medicine vaguely labels at 6-12 months, like what does that really mean? But my mourning has also turned to celebration and a recognition of that core beliefs that I know are sustaining me. 

My favorite part of the Easter Account is Mary finding the empty tomb. You can just feel the grief in her heart when she says, "Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away". And then the Risen Lord calls her by name, because He knew her personally, as He knows all of our names, because He has borne all of our pains and sorrows and grief. As my own heart prepares for the inevitable loss of loved ones throughout this life, I have found such peace this week reflecting on the Resurrection of the the Savior of mankind.

Here are a few ways I have enjoyed blooming where I'm planted, and worshiped God  for the gift of the 

promise of the Resurrection this Easter Season. 

Celebrated Texas Bluebonnets with my favorite people in the whole wide world

Found joy in the wildflowers that came back  for the second year in a row. This one survived my neighbor mowing the space where our yards meet and destroying a few others!  

Fulfilled my duties as an Aunt and took the kids on the Zilker Zypher Train. 

Celebrated 3 years of being a homeowner.  I love my house! 

Discovered that a Dove made a nest in a hanging plan on my front porch. 

Made my grandma's German Torte for Easter Dessert. 

These beauties blossomed for the first time this season, today, Easter Morning!  How Glorious is that! 

Can't get enough of my knock out roses! 

And found joy in making my Sabbath mornings a delight with uplifting music...

Olive

On February 10, 1909, Olive Cox was born in England. She became my Great-Grandma Vaile. I was blessed to have her in my life until I was 26 years old. She passed away in 2006. Since my cousin reminded me today of her birthday, I have been reflecting on this woman. I found a few photos from scrap books. This one is from 1990. I got to go to a Vaile Family Reunion in Canada. I wasn't quite 10 years old but went with my Grandma Aline Kelm and my uncle Warren. My memory mostly consists of idolizing my dad's cousin Robin, and hearing aides screeching during some gathering.  And I still have my own pink hat!  Olive Cox came out West from across the pond to find a cowboy.  She married Ralph Vaile. I also think of her has a strong brave woman to cross the ocean in the early 1900's, leaving her home behind her.

This one is from my uncle Warren's wedding.  I'm on the right. If you look at the photo below you get a better shot of the necklace Grandma Vaile gave me to wear with my dress for the wedding. She declined my returning of it and I have cherished it as a gift ever since.

I'm not sure when this was taken, but it is a photo of my grandma Aline with great-grandma Olive. Just as I did growing up with Aline, I wrote corresponded with Olive. Today I pulled out the letters. I love the one where she talks about Wolf and Aline coming to Texas to hear the Three Tenors soon. She said she was always partial to Tom Jones and country music. She said she babysat my dad and his siblings while Aline and Wolf travelled to Europe. She said Orlando changed a record from country music to opera and she could have strangled him!

Today on Olive's birthday, I will don her pearls once again, and put on her mother's gold wedding band. (Elizabeth Davies Cox was married in 1899 to Peter Cox.)  I can't wait to see Olive again one day when my adventure on this earth is over.

#treatyoself

treatyoself!

Sometimes you just gotta get away and go treat yourself.  Now I debated, why does a woman who lives in a house by herself, with a community pool need to stay in a fancy hotel 30 miles away for a mini vacation? Because this woman doesn't know how to relax and has way too many temptations at home to keep her jumping from one project to the next. 

Last Sunday through Tuesday I packed my bags and checked in to the 

Lost Pines Hyatt Hotel and Spa. 

Here is the view from my room. 

After unpacking my things (because living out of a suitcase drives me nuts, and because hotels have dressers!), I headed to the Lazy River at the water park and floated around for a few laps. 

I then enjoyed a nice buffet dinner in the Firewheel Cafe. It's kind of odd eating by yourself in a dining room with nearly nobody else eating alone. I left my cell phone in my room and just enjoyed some me time with yummy food. My goal was to dramatically decrease my plugged in time. 

After leisurely reading for much of the evening, it was time for bed. 

 I untucked the silly tight bed linens, and drifted off to sleep... 

Good morning Monday! 

I have no other pictures from Monday day because I left my phone in my room all day long!  I started my day with a run at the fitness center (even on vacation, my body just doesn't seem to know how to sleep in). I ordered room service breakfast  knowing it would be pricey but  didn't imagine that my $15 breakfast plate would turn in to $26 with deliver feed and 21% gratuity added to it. Yikes!  Oh well, lesson learned. I then headed to the pool where I planted myself in the Adults only pool area on a lounger, partially shaded, with brownies, and a good book. For nearly 3 hours I alternated between reading, sipping my virgin pina colada, and floating in the river. I discovered the lazy river without a tube is nice too.   By 1:30pm I was headed to the Spa Django for my body scrub, body mask, and massage. That was a glorious 90 minutes. I liked it so much, I decided to book another massage (minus scrub) for the next day.  

Dinner was at another restaurant. Here are the obligatory food pictures. 

lime and garlic shrimp tacos

fried avocado on queso

  

That evening I walked around the property and roasted s'mores by the fire pit. 

I ended my day reading once again and enjoying a coconut face mask. 

no really, I did like it, although the pic would imply otherwise

Tuesday was my last day. Check out from the hotel was at 11:00am. I devised the perfect plan. 

I started with a hike to McKinney Falls State Park.  After going almost a mile in the wrong direction from the Lost Pines Resort, I find the actual trail head. It ran along the Colorado River. I never made it to the falls, never intended to, just wanted to spend an hour in nature. 

I think this picture shows just how stinkin hot and humid it is here in Texas already! 

After my hike I enjoyed a buffet breakfast and then packed up my stuff and dropped all my luggage in my car and checked out. THEN.... checked in to Spa Django.  I now understand what a spa day is. They had their own pool. I planted myself on a lounger under an umbrella and continued my ritual of reading and dipping in the pool.  Then I went inside to the eucalyptus steam room, and relaxed in the women's relaxation room reading until it was time for my massage. I opted for a therapeutic massage this time in an attempt to get rid of the trigger points that plague my shoulders and upper back. She did a good job, but some still linger. After I went back to the steam room, then had a luxurious shower with 6 jets and an overhead rain shower head. Yep, more spa days shall be in my future! 

Moral of the story, sometimes you have to treat yourself. I am so glad I am comfortable in my own skin, and not afraid to go off on adventures by myself. Myself is great company! 

Zooma Half Marathon

ZOOMA Half marathon Lost Pines Bastrop,Texas 

March 10, 2018

The night before my race stayed at the Lost Pines Hyatt Hotel, where the race was held. I had a nice room with a balcony overlooking a butterfly garden. My friend Michelle (who was running the 10k) came and stayed with me. We dined on a nice Buffet with scrumptious dessert, then both crashed early so we could be well rested for the race. 

(I know, 2 weeks of no sweets and I blew it the night before the race, oops! Notsosorry)

It was 65°,cloudy,and humid when the race started. About an hour into it the sun started to come out but it didn’t get too hot. It probably was 75° by the time I was done running. We started at 7:40 am. Another friend of mine also was running the half, Jeana. 

(Michelle's first 10k!) 

They had us line up roughly by our pace. 

The day before the race I told some friends that I wasn't nervous about the race, just excited. While waiting at the start line some nerves started creeping in. Thanks to experienced racer Jeana, I learned what the numbers on sticks were, pacer times.  My goal was to beat my previous race of 2:26:51, so I had to stay between the 2:15 and 2:30 pacers. 

I had a good playlist to listen to, not as regimented in songs attached to people as last year, but still fun associations in my brain. For example, "Thunder" by Imagine Dragons I associate with the football game I went to last Thanksgiving with my brother Devin and sister-in-law Marnie. It's also a great song to run to.  I downloaded another app specifically for this race called Motigo. Friends could record messages to be played at certain mile markers. Some race sponsors also left messages during the course that were motivational. At mile One Virginia left me a message, she said she picked mile one because I’m number one! I almost started crying listening to her message, I hadn't expected to hear from somebody so soon and certainly didn't expect to get all emotional about it. At mile number Four I got a message from Virginia's daughter Evelyn, she said she picked number four because she is four. She said, “ go Tia Tamera, run fast Tia Tamara, you can do it to Tia Tamara, in the name of Jesus Christ amen, and remember Jesus loves you”. I LOVED this! 

Miles 2-4, then 7-10 were the toughest for me, it included a lot of hills. The first time around my legs were fresh though and at the 10K mark I had done it in an hour and that made me really excited for my time. However repeating the loop a second time was very challenging for me. At mile seven I got a message from 2 year old Nicholas telling me go go go, and said he loved me. That helped. Also by mile 8 the water stop had Gu- a gel with carbs, electrolytes and a bit of caffeine to help fuel depleted system. This is also around when the sun came out and it got hotter. 

At some point the Motigo app had a message from a sponsor that gave me the mantra, "Forward is a pace".  Who knew something so simple would help me. Around mile 9 I wanted to stop. It was hard, hilly, and I was slow. Much of the hills I walked for 20-30 second periods, but at mile 9 I started to stop on the side of the road, but then I said to myself, "No! Forward is a pace", and I kept moving. 
I knew at the end of mile 10 I was going to get a long stretch of downhill, then it would be 3 miles of golf course and I'd be done! 

And at mile 10 Nick left me a message telling me to keep pushing it and to treat myself to pizza afterwards.
I also got messages from Michelle sister Laura and her mother, and Michelle. Having encouraging messages was very awesome.

Jeana found me with less then 1/4 of a mile till finish line

Second half marathon, official time 2:26:41. My first was 2:26:51. This one was significantly harder so I’m very proud of my time. It was also great knowing that Michelle was going to be at the finish line as well as Jeana Baldwin. Jeana finished in an hour and 47 minutes taking second place in her age group. She’s awesome. Michelle did the 10K, her first 10K in an hour and 17 minutes I think. I felt so accomplished and so very sore the same time. 

Jeana got 2nd place in her age group!  She pretty much rocks. 

And Michelle said she would consider doing it again. 

My right hip held out pretty good, and the tiny cut on my left second toe did bother me at all!

I celebrated my personal victory by going to Alamo Drafthouse to watch "Wrinkle in Time" with Bridgid and in addition to her company, enjoyed my favorite Chocolate Peanut Butter shake and a pizza (see Nick, I ate pizza!)

This morning I am hobbling around owning my stiffness like a badge of honor.  I can do hard things. I CAN DO HARD THINGS!  Now if I was to subject myself to that again I would train for hills better, and strengthen my hip abductors better as well...but I can do hard things.