Mountain running.

We've had a little snow.

Like 7-8" of snow.

That's enough down here in the south to

shut everything down for the week!

Lord help me!

Its been a beautiful week and though I've begun to get
a bit jumpy from all the nerf gun wars inside my small house,
my nerves are holding up fairly well!

Being the crazy fool that I am,
I've been planning runs in my head as they were
forecasting the numerous inches of snow!

When it rains, I wanna run in the rain.
When it's hot, I wanna run in the heat.
When there's a beautiful sunset, I wanna run as I take it all in.
And when it snows, I wanna run in it too!

As I have traveled to different places,
one of the first things I
look forward to doing is running.
For me, running is the most meaningful way to experience most everything!

Back in college I was in a vocal group that went on tour
and one of our trips was to California.
We sang in several places, one of which was
at the Crystal Cathedral with Robert Shuller on national television
(it was incredibly cool!!)
As our plane landed in LA and we were bussed to our host homes for the evening,
I began to get fidgety.
After a full day of close quarters on buses, planes and airports;
I was bustin at the seams to get my shoes on and go running!!
As quickly as possible,
I was dressed and was out the door!
It was an awesome run that evening in LA
and one I will never forget!

That was almost 16 years ago, as much as it burdens me to say that!!

Anyhoooo, back to this week....and the snow,
I have secretly hoped that I could instill in my children a love for running,
a love for the great outdoors and
the ability to enjoy the two as one!

Two days ago I told the boys that I was going to be running the trails up here
and asked if any of them were interested in joining me....
as I had expected Dakota and Ramiro were all over that idea!!

So the first day, I took Dakota.
We had an awesome time!
We ran the trails but we also climbed up the mountain
until we felt it was too dangerous.
It was incredibly fun and for a few minutes I felt
as if I was running with a friend, not my child!

And then he called me "Mom"

and I snapped out of that moment!
Dakota is growing up so quickly

and becoming such a fun
kid to be with that I completely

enjoy hanging with him!

And for the record:

he challenged me to be the first back to the house...

we both kicked it in gear and sprinted like nobody's business!!

I blew past him

and then if he hadn't cheated and

cut through the hay field....I would have won!

Just saying!

We're not competitive or anything.

Yesterday it was Ramiro's turn.
He was so excited and had been asking all morning what he should wear,
if he would need _____,
and wanting to pinpoint the exact time we would be leaving for our
first ever "mountain running", as he calls it!

He wore 2 hats,
a head warmer around his face,
2 shirts and a jacket, 2 pairs of pants, 2 pairs of gloves,
2 pairs of socks and his football cleats
(it was very icy by this point, and actually I wished I had some too!!)

Here we are as we were leaving....
the orange hats were to inform hunters that we were not in fact deer!
Ramiro thought this was so funny b/c after all (as he says),
"we don't look like deer Momma"!!
Right.
We don't, but wear the hat anyways child!!

Ramiro and I had so much fun!
He ran, and ran and ran!
I kept asking him if he wanted to walk.
He never did.

And to tell you the truth, I couldn't have run much faster!
He kept up with me and did incredible!

About half way through,
we took a break on a hill and sat in the snow and just
listened to the wind.
It was priceless.

We ended up finishing 2.08 miles!
At the end I jumped over our finish line and dove into the snow!
Ramiro cracked up and laid down next to me, resting his head on my chest
and laughed himself silly.

As we hung out there in the snow, he says
"so this is what you do when you go running?"
I laughed and said, "ya babe, something like it!!"
Another moment, etched in my memory....
another run I'll never forget!

A week ago I was cleaning out Ramiro's backpack and found this paper
he had written at school.
It wasn't an assignment, I don't think,
it was just something he had written and
in an instant I knew it was a precious gift!

I love how he couldn't decide on how to spell "math"
and so he "x" out what wasn't right.
(Cool math is a web site he likes to go on to play computer games)

As I have looked at his paper over and over again,
I can't let go of his first sentence.

Ramiro, may you one day understand
the full extent of just how good God has been to you!
You are unbelievable!!
And may you know just how good God has been to me,
by giving me YOU!!
-Love, your Mommy