Starbucks-closed

There is NOT a single Starbucks in the Waco area that stays open past 11:00 pm!!! i am SAD!!! i walked up to the one i thought would at least stay open until 1:00 am and they said they closed at 11:00 pm. i asked if there was another one that stayed open later and they said, "not in Waco. Temple has a 24 hour one." Thanks for the tip. :)

Then they suggested i go to the Baylor library. Why start now, right? :)

A day to forget...and the dreaded cell phone plunge

Wednesday: 4.1 on Elliptical, 2.5 on treadmill, 2.1 on bike. Once again, i pumped some iron for my arms.

i decided that i would go for a soak in the whirlpool after this workout b/c i thought it would be good for my shins. The hot tub was nice but i had to share it with some naked guy! Not sure what the fascination is with old guys going nude in the whirlpool. So, i didn't stay long. :)

On another note: Yesterday i dropped my phone into a whirlpool of sorts (a porcelain whirlpool)! Apparently the SLVR by Motorola isn't water-proof. If you really want to know the more details, you can ask. :)

Anyway, Dani put it in the dryer to see if that would work because we've heard of people having success with that. Now, if that works, i'll have to get over the mental block of putting the phone up to my ear that has taken the dreaded plunge into the porcelain tank of death. (It's a long story)

So, if you need to get a hold of me, the best way for now is my e-mail.

Listening to...?

i'm not sure if i've actually written about my blog title or not (and since i'm not willing to take the time to look back through my blog archive) so i will take a little space to write out what i mean by "Learning to Listen."

i feel like this describes my life right now (and for the past several months). It describes my life because i'm learning to listen to God's "voice" over the "voice" of my flesh. He has given me life, His life, for Him to live in and through me in this world. His life is easy, light, peaceful, restful, abundant and complete.

i usually don't experience this life because i choose to listen to my flesh and surrender to that instead of to Him and His life in me. i have found, and continue to find, that the more i choose to surrender to Him in the day-to-day stuff, the more i "hear" His voice and experience His life.

My job is to believe in Him and trust Him to do what He has said He will do. He says in Scripture that He makes us a "new creature" at salvation and gives us His life. If He's given us His life, it makes sense that it's Him living through us, not us trying to live for Him.

This all ties into the actual address for this blogpage (he is trustworthy). Regardless of what my circumstances and surrounding environment tells me or looks like, i know that He is trustworthy. Because He is trustworthy, i can rest in choosing Him over my flesh, knowing that He will turn everything to good and work in and through me in every situation.

On a separate note, Dani and i went to a hip-hop exercise class this morning. We arrived late (big surprise there) but were able to jump in mid-way through. The class we took in Oregon was MUCH better but this was still fun. This class was more of a jazz-type dance than hip-hop...in my opinion. Hopefully, it will turn more towards the hip-hop style in the next few weeks.

More running

Monday: The Y was closed and we were out of town until late so i did not run.
Tuesday: Ran for 4.75 miles, walked for 1.5 miles. i also did some weights for my arms again.

i ran into a good friend from Brazos Meadows (Len) at the Y tonight. i had a lot of catching up with him and chatting while he lifted more weights than me. :) He's really a nice guy. Hopefully we'll get to catch up more throughout the summer while i'm still in town.

Weekend Results

Friday and Saturday: Took day off from working out. My shins are feeling a little better.
Sunday: Ran for 4.25 miles, walked for .5 miles. Worked out my arms a little on some weights.

Friday and Saturday we were back in Temple during the day so daughter #1 could go to her dance rehearsal and recital. This was a blast. Ok, the 3 hours and 20 minutes wesn't a blast really but the 8 minutes of watching my daughter up on stage, smiling from ear to ear and do her little tap and ballet dance was an incredible feeling. She did almost every dance move and made sure that she stayed on her spot...once she found it. :)

i loved watching her do her little thing up there. i am not ready for her to do some of the dances that some of the older girls did. :)

i did enjoy watching Amber, one of the girls in the youth group in Temple. She did a great job too and she was so sweet when we saw her backstage.

Since the recital was so late, both of our girls staying with Nana and Grandy and Dani and i went home. We didn't wake up until 11:15 Sunday morning, so we missed church. We were a little bummed but also grateful for the sleep. This was the first morning in a LONG time that i wasn't up by 7:00 am trying to get breakfast ready for the girls. Needless to say, we welcomed the sleep. :)

More updates to come, as they come.

grace&peace.

Run Matt Run

Tuesday: Ran 3.5 miles, walked for 1 mile
Wednesday: Ran for 4 miles, walked for .75 miles
Thursday: Ran for 3.2 miles, biked for 2.2 miles

i've started to feel a little bit of pain in my shines. i've never really experienced shin-splints before but i think they are developing. It started Tuesday with a very minor pain immediately after running. Then, Wednesday i felt it after i ran again, but it was also VERY sensitive to the slightest touch on the front and front-outside of my shines. Tonight, i felt a little pain during my run so i decided to bike a while to hopefully alleviate some of the stress i've been putting on my shins.

Daughter #1 has her first dance recital this weekend so we'll be back in Temple. That means we'll have a lot of fun watching her do her thang and i'll get a little break from the treadmill...plus we'll get to hang out with family.

Starbucks

So, my branch office has moved from the Temple Starbucks to the Waco Starbucks. i love the smell and the atmosphere that Starbucks tries so hard to create. i am working on my SECOND grande cup of coffee. i have a mug so i can get refills for 50 cents. i think i'm officially a junkie. :)

i wonder if Starbucks will ever come out with a cologne line so you can have that brewed coffee smell on you all day, every day. :)

i'm also contemplating a quote to submit for the "The Way I See It" quotes they put on the side of their cups.

i now have the after coffee shakes. Yeah for large quantities of coffee in a short period of time!!!

Also, to honor their new line of summer drinks, i've changed my lay-out to orange colors because they are pushing new orange flavored drinks. The Orange Creme Latte Frap tastes a lot like an Orange Julius drink. It's good, and they often have free samples!!!

The Third Peanut

Yesterday i went with Dani to the doctor because it was "THE DAY". This was the appointment where you get to hear the heartbeat and see the little peanut growing in her tummy. It is so amazing to watch the baby moving and stretching...and to see just one. :)

It is also comforting to see a normal, healthy picture and to hear a fast-beating, healthy heartbeat. The doctor said everything is going smooth and looks normal. YEAH!!!

The ultrasound said that Dani is 10 weeks, 4 days pregnant. So, that puts the due date right around December 12, which was what they told us previously. Good news for us because we'll be moving again at the end of October/beginning of November.

i've also started running again. i took about three years off of exercising this way because my back was in bad shape but is finally to the point where i'm not in pain much at all now. So, the past two months i've been running. i have set a goal to try to run a half-marathon in a year. So, i'm working up to 13.1 miles. Currently, i run between 3 and 4 miles at a time. i'm going to start a regular blog here to keep me accountable and anyone who's interested up-to-date on my progress.

Last night, i only ran 2.5 miles and walked just over 2 miles. i took the weekend off due to travel and tiredness from last week. Hopefully, i'll get back up to 3.5 miles tonight. i'm so thankful for the ability to run again. i thank Jesus everytime i get on the treadmill because i don't have the pain that i've felt the past 3 years.

Quote for the day

On my google page, there is a spot where i receive quotes for the day. Today, there was one that grabbed my attention and made me laugh a little so i thought i'd share it here. So, here it is:

"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."
- Unknown

It's Official

We're going to have a baby! Baby #3 is actively draining my wife of all of her energy and health. She is in the first trimester so she is tired, sick, weak, and sick. Our first two girls are running all over the place with me trying to stay afloat. It's actually rather humurous for me to think about trying to do all the stuff that my wife usually does on her own.

i'm not NEARLY as good at it as she is. Much props to me wife! i've also realized how much i revert back to how i was raised in dealing with my children when i get so exhuasted and frazzled.

The other day when we were in the car by ourselves, i just started driving without really knowing how i was going to get to our destination. After a while, my wife said that she thought i took the long way (which i did). To that i replied, "i feel like my brain is frozen. i can't picture where i'm going or how to get there (which i usually do as soon as we decide where we need to go)."

i'm definitely thankful for my family and my wife. She does an incredible job with our girls! i'm not at that level yet. :)

life is fun!

No More Special K

YEAH!!!! Thanks to the help of Amy Jo, i no longer have a problem with k. i found a can of "Enviro-Duster" in our garage and blew it into the keyboard. It turns out, i just needed to clean out the keyboard a little.

KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

My keyboard for my laptop works great, especially the letter "k". It's actually driving me crazy because there is something wrong with this one letter. You don't have to press it down and it will type! So, i'll be typing something really important (or not so important) and look up to see kkkkkkkkkkk all over the page.

On a good note, i found a spot in our duplex that kkkkkk clearwire picks up! It's at the top of my desk which is about k6 feet in the air. So, as long as i don't move it or my computer or myself (i guess), i have internet. This will have to do for the next 6 months! :)

We just signed a contract yesterday to build in a new division in the Temple/Belton area...i know, it's the area we just moved from! It's crazy how God shows us what we need to do sometimes. i don't think we would have k listened or realized that He wanted us back in this area if we hadn't moved away. i'm thankful for His grace that we only got into a 6 month lease up here.

There is a lot going on, i will post more after we've called some of you guys!

much love, grace, and peace...and kkkkk's :)!