Run the Race

So I'm sure you've been wondering if we've fallen off the face of the planet. No, no, I assure you we did not disappear. There's simply been a lot of excitement going on at the Yates house this week. (Unfortunately for you food enthusiasts, the excitement has led to a great cooking deficit, but I'm hoping to remedy this in the week to come... maybe. :-)

Isn't it great how sometimes, out of the blue, you just have a really great week? A week where things just seem to go your way? Where you find yourself handling struggles with grace, and opportunities are popping up left and right? It doesn't happen very often. But after a few months of job-hunting constantly and hearing nothing, of having my husband locked away in his study room that we now refer to as "the cave," of spending days not leaving the apartment complex, this week has been nothing but a breath of fresh air. :-)

The most obvious piece of exciting news is that I finally got a job! I know, I know, it hasn't actually been *that* long since unemployment took over my life, but it turns out that I am really bad at sitting at home doing nothing. Needless to say I am super thankful that I will be working as the head secretary & finance person at Konnoak Elementary here in Winston-Salem starting Tuesday! Yay!

I talk about unemployment, but I guess that's not completely true. I spent the greater part of the last two weeks substitute teaching at a private school here in town. Lucky for me, none of my classes had more than 5 kids, and this past week I spent the entire time tutoring one-on-one. It was super-easy and those kids were hilarious! I think my favorite moment was when a [very hyper] 5th grader told me he was part Cherokee (and Irish and English, too!), and so he started singing a Cherokee war song to me and doing a "Cherokee Dance." I'm pretty sure he was making it up as he went along, but he was sooo into it, I couldn't help but laugh!

As for Eric, he has only one more week of school until CPE week, which we are both SUPER pumped about! "What is a CPE week?" you may ask. That is a very good question! In long terms, it means he will take a week off of school to go do a "Community Practice Experience" in which he works with a doctor here in town and practice seeing patients, taking histories, etc. In short terms, however, it means I get my husband back for a week! It has amazed me how much studying has gone into second year of medical school so far. After 6-8 hours a day of lecture, he's back at home going over PowerPoints and re-listening to things he's missed until long after I've gone to sleep. I guess we both knew what we were signing up for, but it will be sooo great to get this break!

In other fun news, as of October 1st, I have run 500 miles this year! (This, of course, does not include whatever insane amount of miles that we walked while in Europe). I know, I know, 500's not really very much in the big picture. But, though I've run for a couple of weeks here and there in the past, I've never really followed any exercise regimen for more than a month. Just accomplishing the consistency needed to reach this goal has been a victory in itself! I'm hoping to reach at least 650 (maybe 700?) miles by the end of the year. We'll see how that goes!

Another fun accomplishment: I ran my first 5K this morning, and did it in 29:40! (My goal was 30:00). After running all year just for fun, it was nice to actually accomplish something! All the proceeds went to a food bank here in town, so in addition, I got to run for a cause. And Eric was absolutely wonderful and got up at the crack of dawn to come cheer me on, even though he's been feeling a little sick. Isn't he the sweetest?

We've been okay with how nutty our lives have been the last couple of months. Eric has dealt so well with his increased work load; and staying at home some made me sit and think a lot about life and what God wants me do with it. I've been humbled more every day by how small my faith can be and the fact that God accepts me anyway. And that's been tough, but it's been good. It's been a growing period.

But even though I've come to be okay with the way things have been, I have to say... I sure am glad to have week of wins! :-)

1 Corinthians 9:24 - "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. "