then back to Newton

1. 10 little ducks walkin by the pond
2. duck, duck and a goose
3. Newton Cemetery honors veterans
4. First Church from a different view
5. and a sign i couldn't resist taking a picture of

more photos of Memorial Day

1. Three places within the Old North Church: The pulpit, a pew, and the back for the organ
2. a very expensive italian restaurant known around town, named Strega...i have seen the owner and I think "Godfather".
3. The home of the Boston Celtics!!



















4. Bunker Hill across the Charles River
5. One of the condos that only costs a couple million to own

4 Hour Walk with a new camera

Guess who finally broke down to get a new camera? I tried to get kodak to take care of the broken one, but they wanted me to pay $140 to have it fixed. Let me think about it!
haha - so today is memorial day and it would normally be a "holiday" for normal people, but Mondays are my "normal" days off. So, not really a holiday. BUT - it was a georgous day and i decided to take a four hour walk around boston. I went to the North End, otherwise known as Little Italy; walked the two mile freedom trail; went to the Newton Cemetery; and a few odd places here
and there.

1. So, you see the little Italian guy. he is at one of the entrances into the North End.
2. Paul Revere and the Old North Church - very nice
3. I was actually "on" Richmond!!
4. There is an infamous pastry shop in the North End, called "Mike's Pastry"
5. You won't believe it. I was attacked by a man who made me eat their famous chocolate creme cannoli. It was horrible. The guy forced me to eat one. I screamed the whole time.

Prayers Around New England Today

For a man who fights for the rights of all people no matter their age, their income, their lifestyle, for every child in education, for every soul.... he is in the fight of his life now. Keep fighting and keeping the strength that has carried a nation. Allow that strength to carry you.

Prayers for the Kennedy Family.

Back to the Minor League and with no photos :-(

No - I did not make it to the Boston Marathon. Not quite ready for that race yet.

Hey - I did something today that I have not done since before I left Richmond...I went to a minor league baseball game! About 47 miles from here, in Pawtucket Rhode Island, there lives the AAA Boston Red Sox team known as Pawtucket Red Sox, or as they call them, "Paw Sox". Oo how I missed sitting on the side and watching the AAA team playing. I still can't get over what that terrible Doug Wilder has done to lose the Richmond Braves in Richmond, but that is a story for another day.

Anyway, I LOVED the day. It was wonderful. It was an afternoon game. The Sox came from behind to win at the bottom of the 10th inning. Not very crowded. It is a vacation week for the schools, so they may be on vacation, but nonetheless, I had a blast. The stadium was interesting. Built in 1942, I noticed a few differences from the Diamond in Richmond. The dugout is not level with the stands. They are at ground level. The stands are above them. In order to get autographs from the dugout, the kids AND adults have to put their ball in a bucket/milk jug/some homemade device and hang it down with a rope for it to dangle in front of the dugout (before the game of course) and the guys are pretty good about signing. The other difference was the "sky boxes" or suites, are on the same level as the dugouts.

Unfortunately, I don't have anything to show you. The person who lives with her camera in hand, to document her New England life, is not able to do so right now. The camera is not functioning and I don't know how to fix it. Oddly enough, the camera is only a year and two months old and passed the warranty mark. I have been able to fix it before, but can't see to manage it now. Linda is sad.

Anyway, I will hopefully be able to do something before June BECAUSE I am going back to the park to see the Paw Sox play....wait for it....THE RICHMOND BRAVES. I can't WAIT. Who will I cheer for? Let's just say that nostalgia is not easy to replace .

Today was a good day. I did something fun and most importantly, I did it for me. It was good to do that. Beautiful day that brought back some grand memories and a relaxing time away from reality. It was good to be able to do that. Pray that something will happen for my camera. Pray that the camera fairy fixes it or something. I like to be able to live my life through that camera, so I can share these special moments with you.

Bittersweet Day

Today is a bitter sweet day. It is the first anniversary of the terrible shootings at Virginia Tech. I am at work today remembering them with my "Hokies United" tshirt on. So prayers for the school community and a little cheer for making it through the most difficult year of your lives. You did it!

On a more positive note - a big shout out and cheer to my Uncle Tom!!! Today is HIS birthday and he is able to celebrate in more ways than he ever imagined a year ago. Let's see - I think he is 35 today. hmmmmm

So - a big Shout Out and Birthday Greeting to My Uncle Tom - A Big Inspiration who is a reminder that you never give up!!!

Randy Pausch Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

Talk about putting things into perspective...we can all learn something from Randy Pausch. For example, one of his quotes:

"The brick walls that are in our way are there for a reason. They’re not there to keep us out. They’re there to give us a way to show how much we want it."

Go to his website to see updates. www.randypausch.com

You can also do what I am doing now and read his book, "The Last Lecture". Your life is worth the time.

3.1 Miles Later and It's Not Too Late

I know it has been a while since I posted last but ..well, I won’t get into the reasons why…let’s just say I have been on a little roller coaster ride, that included a couple of illnesses, a best friend who came on a much needed visit, a pretty important Holy week to observe in the church, and a few personal challenges in-between.

Well, I accomplished something that I never thought I would...I completed my first 5K race today. For those who are trying to figure out how I was in church and running a race – I took the day off and prayed along Massachusetts Avenue.

Today – at the start of the race, it was 27 degrees, yes 27 degrees. I had my mittens, turtleneck, fleece, Coach K Duke birthday gift shirt, and stocking cap. Other people were in tank tops and shorts. There are crazy people up here, but I was not one of them. I completed the race in 41.27 minutes. 3 people finished AFTER me but that shoudl not matter. Afterwards, we celebrated at the Irish pub that sponsored the race. Could you ask for a better place to be? ;-)

At first, I was disappointed because I knew I would not be able to run the whole race. Then I finally came to realize an important fact: On January 25, before I decided to do this thing, I was walking the 3.1 miles in 55 minutes. On January 27, I made it a goal to participate in a race. I started my own training for this race and yesterday, completed the 3.1 miles in 41 minutes. That is not too bad for someone who wasn’t running two months ago. That is the reason I am celebrating. And it will only get better. As a colleague reminded me, you will not have to run your first 5k race again.

I have learned a lot in the past two months:

• 3.1 miles is a lot longer when you are running in the cold (how does that happen?)
• Don’t be ashamed when you have to re-adjust your goals. You will still accomplish something you have never done before
• Even though I thought I was the last person to finish the race, I still finished the race.
• I was only running against myself and I won.
• People do cheer you on, no matter how far behind you are - even the cops
• You can't worry about if other people will be disappointed if you don't run the whole thing. So what? They didn't run ANY part of it and YOU DID
• No matter the journey, you are never ever alone
  

And here is a humbling piece – someone who I didn’t meet until today, came to the race. She has been trying to lose weight too and saw me achieve my goal today, after losing the weight I have. Guess what? She now wants to run her first 5k race because of what she saw me do. Can you imagine that?

I did this on my own. I did all the training and prep on my own. I did all the research to get ready on my own. My church did particpate today too. They prayed today while I was running. My friends and family cheered me on from Richmond, Florida, and Needham and I am able to prove to them that it paid off. I feel good. I feel like I accomplished something pretty important. I also proved something to myself…it is never too late to feel good about yourself, to accomplish the unimaginable, and to cross the finish line smiling.

And guess what? I want to do it again.

Here are some pictures to share the experience.

Busy February

Things have been pretty busy for February. For a short month, lots sure did happen.
I started a class at Andover Newton Theological School and that's taking a lot of time but it's worth it. I am learning a lot about worship, the church liturgical year, and how to make the two of them more meaningful and worshipful for God. Pretty amazing stuff.

On one Saturday night, I had the wonderful pleasure of attending the Boston Ballet's Romeo and Juliet with a friend from church. WOW o WOW what a wonderfully breathtaking performance. The Orchestra was amazing and the dancers were marvelous. I unfortunately don't have any pictures, well because, I could not take any. I figured I better not try.

Then my good friend Laura came up to visit for a long birthday weekend. She wanted to see snow and sure enough, she got it. 9 inches later, we were traveling around Boston and west there of to see some of the world.

On Friday, we trekked through the falling snow and traveled to Overlook Farm, one of the learning centers for www.heifer.org program. We saw some cows, goats, and new little baby goats. I am holding one of them. How cute is she? Or how cute is he? Not sure which one but it sure was cute. We also saw some baby yaks, but didn't know we saw them until later on. Please take note: don't go to a farm in the mountains of Massachusetts, without a hat and scarf. You just might get another sinus infection (for doing the same stupid thing you did in December) and possible bronchitis. stop laughing!

Anyway, then on Saturday, we went to the place...where everybody knows your name. Yes - we went to Cheers, had a great time, saw the bar where Norm sits, and enjoyed a warm and dry atmosphere. haha

And lastly on Saturday, we went to see a funny funny show called Menopause the Musical. Yes, that is right. Even though we are nowhere near that time, it was hysterical! Go to www.menopausethemusical.com to see a few clips from the show. It was a great celebration of "the change" as they call it. They took several well known songs and changed a few words to make it personal to the situation. To see the women in that theater laugh so hard they cry, and then to dance on stage with the actresses at the end - they were embracing the time. It was remarkable to see. For those of you in Richmond, the show is going to be in Norfolk. You should consider going to see it.

My birthday was this past Wednesday. Another year older. I enjoyed dinner out with a couple of people from church and then lunch the next day with my good friend/colleague/boss Charley. He asked how do I celebrate my birthday nowadays. He knows what happened 11 years ago. It's hard to say really. I don't have the advantage of being able to visit my dad as the others do but I get to visit in other ways. My birthday is not like it was 12 years ago and I am not sure it would be different if nothing happened. As you get older, it does not matter so much. What's more important is spending time with people you care about and I did, whether it was on the phone, visits, or meals.

I heard on a recent show a strong piece of advice: Remember this day as 56 years of life (38 years for me) instead of one moment of death. I know that's what Dad would want and so do I.

It was a great month, busy, but good. Now, it's time to focus on March and looking foward to the following:

• Seeing Coach K get win # 800
• a visit from my dear friend Steve who will soon be "Dr. Steve",
• The Acc Tournament
• a wonderful St. Patricks' Day,
• March Madness,
• Maundy Thursday Tenebrae Service,
• Easter Sunrise and Sunday services
• and my first 5K Race.

Here we go!

Blue Devil Heaven and what a difference a year makes

What a GREAT week I have had with my Blue Devils. Wednesday night, they kicked some Tarheel butt (sorry Kenny) at Chapel Hill no less. Did I say that??? Thursday night, I got to see the Blue Devil Women beat up on the Boston College Eagles (sorry Heffs). The funny thing about that one is that I was in the middle of a bunch of teenage girls with the BC attire on. THEN on Saturday, Boston College went down to Durham and well, were sent back to Chestnut Hill by the #2 seed Duke. So overall, it has been a good week. ahah

oh - by the way, it has been a year since I started on this new lifestyle journey that I am on. You can see some of the difference in the above pictures. The one in the white shirt was taken at the Duke MENs game on Feb 14, 2007. The one on the with the blue shirt, was taken at the women's game on Feb 7, 2008. I don't like pictures of me very much, especially ones from my past life, however, I couldn't help but put these two together. It helps me to see what I have a hard time seeing. Thank you for keeping me in your prayers and walking with me on the journey. We have lost 110 pounds this year and I can't wait to see what happens in the next.

Maybe, just maybe, an NCAA tournament. ooo oo

A Small Follow Up and tribute to Bobby Knight

Here are some updates from previous posts:

1. If you have not heard, my prediction for the Patriots did not happen. Congrats to Eli Manning though. The Massachusetts people are taking it better than I thought. Wonder how the Celtics are doing? Not sure, but I get to go see Duke and BC play tomorrow!!!! The women's teams. Last year, I got to see the men. Pray for me as I will probably be the only one in blue.

2. I have not completed a bucket list yet, BUT, on Sunday, I was able to laugh hard enough that I cried. Spend some time with sugar high youth and you will laugh too! I didn't pee in my pants, but there were tears.

3. I am sorry that John Edwards is gone. Gotta love the North Carolina acccnt! However, the other two seemed to be getting along with one another based on the last debate. Good to know that this can happen. Is this the "Dream Ticket"?
NOW it feels good to see that we are going to make history and better yet, we have two wonderful options to consider. When was the last time we had that?? But I never thought I would hear Ann Coulter "cheering for Hillary" in the terribly sarcastic, arrogant, deprecating way that she does. I bet Elizabeth Edwards is laughing today. Not sure if Ann in the Hillary corner is a good thing for Democrats but it's not saying much for the republicans.

4. I can't leave this day if I did not mention a small tribute to Coach Bobby Knight who resigned from coaching this past Monday. A winner of 902 games and leading man in the NCAA, he is a great and loyal coach to his team and colleagues. The only person ahead of him in wins is the great Pat Summit, women's coach from Tennessee. How bout that???
Yes, he had his moments, but who hasn't? He never broke any league rules, never cut corners in recruiting - he did it by the book. He demanded the best from his teams and got it. He can also take credit for the work that he did to develop Coach K into the coach that he has become. Coach Krzyzewski played under Knight at Army and later assisted him at Indiana.
Should I be as demanding in my leadership as he? Probably not and probably never will be. Maybe I should though. Is it wrong to ask for the best from people when they made a commitment to do just that? No.

Congratulations Coach Knight! Now, let's go fishing!!!!

Kickboxing and a 5K Race

I have some good news...well, depending on what happens in two months, it could be bad news. If there is one or two things that you would never think I would do, it would be to take a kick boxing class and signing up for a 5K Race.

Well guess what? I am DOING BOTH!!! Can you believe it? I can't. I have been a little unmotivated lately. Don't ask why, just some things bring you down that's all. Anyway, I did A LOT of praying and writing about what I needed to "kick" me into gear again. Then it happened. Since I was in the Jaycees, I got to help put together a 5k race on July 4th. Serectly, I always wanted to be a part of it but because of my weight, I couldn't. Well....I now believe, and I DO believe that if I work hard, I can actually take part in one and complete it. Then the idea came to mind.

So, I signed up to run in a 5k race at Harvard University on Sunday, March 30th. It will benefit fallen firefighters and police officers Do I know anyone who is a firefighter???? hmm. The main sponsor is an Irish pub in town. That just puts the exclamation point on the process. ;-)

Someone at the church, who is a Boston Marathoner, offered to train me and work with me so that I can actually run the event, instead of just walk. I can't believe this. I am actually going to do this! So keep me in your prayers because I have a lot of work ahead and I am looking forward to completing this goal!

I also started attending a kick boxing class at the gym. Man o man, what a workout that is. You would think that my legs would be the parts of my body that are soar, but it's the ARMS that are kickin my butt right now. The force and push that I put behind them is the "kicker". But it feels good at the end. And it's fun.

Disclaimer - that picture is not really me, in case you were wondering. Just thought I would put a little humor into the post.

Thanks for checking in.

Laugh Until You Pee In Your Pants

I have not posted lately. Not much to really tell you about. January is pretty quiet up here for the most part. Well..wait a second...there is the whole New England Patriots in the Superbowl thing happening. Can you imagine? Red Sox won the world series. New England is about to win the SB. Can the Celtics be far behind?? Can't say too much about the bruins. touchy subject for the passionate hockey goers.

I am looking at my Christmas tree. Yep, it's still up. Not sure why. Just laziness I guess. I have been in a thinking mood for a while. Do you ever over analyze your thoughts and actions? One of my biggest problems is that I do that. Well, I am on overkill with the over thinking and it can be a little stressful.

I saw two movies recently, 1 - The Bucket List and 2- Great Debaters. The Bucket List has two great actors in it, Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. It was actually a fun movie with some pretty serious undertones in it. They make a list of things to do before they "kick the bucket". I am not giving anything away when I share that one item is "laugh until I cry". I would even go a step further and say, "laugh until you pee in your pants".

Do you remember the last time you laughed that hard? I think for me, it was in college. Unfortunately, I even had kaki pants on too. But it was a great feeling - on the inside at least. Laughing is such a good release too. Maybe one day, I will get to laugh that hard again.

The other movie, Great Debaters, took me into a place that you don't hear about much...well, unless you are a friend of Tiger Woods. In this movie, you are reminded of what happened to African Americans and lynching. You see and feel the pain that they went through. You are reminded of the fight and determination that is needed in order to make your way to a place that you deserve to be because you are a human being. Why do people have to fight so hard to be treated fairly? You have the ones who don't have to fight because they have all the resources at their disposal, all the backing that a spoiled rich kid needs, all the support that a rich favored government caters to....they don't have to fight at all and can't understand this other world called the real world.

It is so strange to see how this is still happening today.
"The land of the free". Well, nothing seems free right now. We can't even travel where we want to - embargo on Cuba keeps us from being free. The Bush "economy" keeps anything from being free. The homeless don't have it free, yet we spend trillions of dollars to fight a war started on lies.
"The home of the brave". Well, the only ones that are brave are the ones fighting to survive. It is easy to be brave when you have everything handed to you on a silver platter; when you have the six figure income; when you have a gov't who gives you all the breaks that you want; and when you live in the most comfortable mansion on the block, sheltered from the "real world" yet again.

Obviously, I have never been lynched. But I can understand the feeling of constantly fighting to make your way to a place that you deserve to be. Whether I want to be a woman minister from the South or someone who can actually be called "beautiful" despite her body size, I had to fight through my own discrimination.

I can't preach in the south and I am not pretty enough to be a successful trainer or someone's "other half". (In the past, I have been told, 1 - that I do not "look" like I love God; 2 - you don't look like a "successful enough" trainer for our company; 3- you don't have the "richmond" experience to be a teacher here; 4 - you are a woman and you can preach in our pulpit; 5 - you don't have that little extra something that Steven had (the male teacher they hired over me) 6-you were a mistake) It all adds up.

Thankfully now, I am in the right place - I am in a place now that accepts me for who I am, for what I do and for what I am capable of being. I get to finally be me. I get to finally fight with the good people instead of against the bad.

It cracks me up that we have the potential to have make history in the United States by voting for the first woman president or voting for the first African American president. 20 years ago, that wasn't even a forethought. But instead of celebrating those possibilities, they are arguing and fighting over he said/she said stuff. How nice it would be to be able to finally tell a little girl or an African American boy that they can be whatever they want to be...only they have to see this.

So close and yet so far. Man, I can't wait to be able to pee in my pants some day.

Good preaching from the South

Ok - I got to hear one of the great preachers yesterday - Dr. Will Willimon. He currently serves as a Bishop with the United Methodist Church in Alabama. However before that calling....he served as Dean of the most beautiful chapel in North Carolina...Duke University Chapel. He was up here yesterday to be a part of a preaching series at Andover Newton Theological School and I got to hear him!

The series is called "Is Preaching Relevant?" The school has several "known" and two well known "great preachers" coming to speak on the topic. What happens in the world today, when technology and life gets in the way of church and the message that Christ is trying to convey?
How do you compete with extracurricular activities, text messaging, emails, overworked, and pre-occupied lives? Does it matter any more that we spend time and energy to get a message to the people, that you aren't sure they are listening to anyway?

You have an hour (and within that hour, about 20 minutes of preaching) to share God with the people and remind them what life should be like in a Christian Community. We heard a wonderful definition of preaching yesterday, "preaching allows the Risen Christ to walk among the people" (kudos to Dietrich Bonhoeffer). What a wonderful image. The challenge for today is, are the people looking for the Risen Christ or is something obstructing their view? Who removes the obstruction? Who is the one that shares the message?

Allows the Risen Christ to walk among the people - now that puts pressure on the preacher too. But is it our responsibility to be sure the people hear the message? When does the person in the pew accept responsibility to listen to what is being said? Do we need to be loud and overt? Are we confined to standing behind this piece of wood in order to get the message across? Can we move beyond the furniture?

Willimon reminded us that Jesus is a pretty hard person to work for. There are standards and expectations that we are asked to live up to. There are messages that he wants us to get across to people of the "Me" generation. He is waiting for us and we need to answer.

Many places, Funny Faces and some new treasures

Well, here is my post Christmas post. What a trip I had. I knew it was going to be a trip because nobody in Richmond had seen me since Christmas of 2006. A lot of things have changed for me since then and people got to see that while I was visiting. I would like to say that things changed for the better. Despite the fact that some people wanted to bring up the past and share what I used to be like (and forget to share what they were like) I would rather focus on the wonderful time I had and the feelings that were generated when people saw the happiness.
Of course, my brothers were at the airport bar when I arrived. I should not have expected anything else. So I went back and met them there. My nephew got up and met me and hugged me. That was a good feeling. He has grown another foot.
It was good to see the entire family at my aunt's house. We did the big Christmas gift exchange there - Yankee swap, Chinese gift swap, Dirty Santa, whatever you want to call it.
We the immediate family on Wednesday night. It normally would have been done Christmas morning, but - well, I could not get into Richmond until 1:30. You can see the picture of my brothers and me. I don't remember the last time that shot was done. Thank you to my sisters-in-law who helped to get that picture done. Then my wonderful Braxton, Brandon, and Lindsay picture.
The rest of my visit was used to see some dear friends of mine. The first was Laura and her family. You can see Lizzie and me. Apparently, this was the trip to make silly faces too. Lizzie and I posed for several photo ops. This one is our "silly" picture. I got to play the wii game with them and did a great job with the bowling and an ok job with the tennis. That is usually reversed in the real world but it was FUN.
I had lunch with friends from the Jaycees - Karen, Candy, Mike and their little boy Alex. We missed Kim but I got to see her and her family on my last day. She was quite ill and glad that she got well enough that we could visit. Anthony is Kim's son and that would be the other silly picture. This is our "what dinosaurs look like" picture at Einstein bagels. haha It was also Roddy's birthday. He was feeling a little better too. I hope the whole Hinton Court family is ok now!!
I got to see my boss from the bookstore. He is Bob. Unfortunately, I did not get a picture with him. That was some visit. I worked with him all through my time at seminary. He has seen me through some pretty rough stuff and supported me through all of it. He could not stop saying how proud he was of me and how wonderful it was to here how happy I am. That was the most wonderful feeling to hear those words from him.
Of course, there was my time with Steve. Poor guy - he was on vacation too and completely lost track of time. haha. It was good to see him. He had the same thoughts as Bob and it was good to make him proud too.
I got a surprise on Saturday. My sister-in-law took me on a surprise shopping spree to Talbot's. Here I am happy to be going to Target to get some clothing and she took me to a place where people took care of you: bringing you clothing to try on, setting up your room, etc...that was a surprise and I am grateful for what she did. Then we met my mom at Macy's and did a little more shopping. Do you know how cool it was to get clothing that fits now? and clothing that is quality?
My last night, we had a family dinner at O'Charley's. Everyone was able to get together before I had to leave the next day. It was good when we talked about the things that were going on now and the joy that a new life brings.
On Sunday, I got to spend time with Kim and her family like I said. No matter where we sat, it was good to talk with them, laugh, and enjoy the Anthony entertainment. Then I went to my home church, New Highland. What an exclamation point to the week. They had not seen me since before I left - not even pictures. So, to see them do double takes and wonder if it was me was so great. They were so proud of me. They were happy for me too.
You know, this posting sounds so selfish, but it's not meant to be. I have worked hard to be able to go home and show my family and friends that I can be who God knows I can be. To share in that happiness and accomplishment with them was so important to me. Just about everyone shared in that joy, shared how proud they were of me, and how wonderful it was to see me happy. Instead of living in the present, a couple of people had to bring up the past and remind me what my life was like before - from their perspective only. That did hurt but thankfully I have changed and most people embraced that and shared that with me. I look at these pictures and see the fun, silliness, and excitement that I did have. For those who know me, you would never have seen ME in the pictures. I tried hard to stay BEHIND the camera. Now, I want to be in front of the camera and with friends and family. I will treasure that instead of focusing on the other stuff. I will treasure what I see and feel in these memories and to experience them again before next Christmas.