And then there's this.

Kindness. Sweetness. Amazingness.

Why I run outside

I love this street.

And I love this street.
I love all the streets. :)

I love running outdoors. I love running early on summer mornings when I'm racing the heat back to the house, trying to finish my run before the temperatures finish me.

I love to run in the fall when the leaves are such brilliant shades of love and light and color and intensity.

I love it when it's cold and foggy, and trees and other objects take on an other-worldly quality and I can run and feel invisible.

I love winter mornings when it's dark and cold and all I have are the possums, raccoons and my willpower to keep me company.

I love it when it's early spring and all the trees are just beginning to burst with flowers and I'm never sure whether or not to bring my jacket.

I've tried running on a treadmill, and there is just no comparison. Besides the fact that it gives me vertigo to run on a treadmill, there is no life in running indoors.

Despite how much hard work it is to get up early and to run, despite all the willpower it requires, I am so grateful for the praying and purging and processing and passion that running brings into my life. It is well worth the effort for scenes like these!!

Miracles

This was the preferred method for getting leaves
and yard debris to the dumpster. Team effort!!

I've been in a slump again, and my yard wasn't helping. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't keep up with everything without the help of the kids. Two were never available, one refused to help outright, and the other felt abused because he was the only one willing to help me. I couldn't afford a gardener, and projects I started only got partly done and not finished over the winter.

I never watered my yard this winter. I saved some money on water! Yay. However, apparently weeds don't need water to grow into forests, and my yard was overtaken by weeds in the thousands. I was

When I first saw this dumpster, I thought,
there's no way we will fill that up. Yet we did1!

really frustrated and already depressed, and there wasn't anything that could make it better, except a miracle. Well, the ward provided a miracle!

The youth came over on Saturday morning bright and early and worked for three hours to get my yard presentable. While most of my grass is dead from the drought, at least it's clean! Well, cleaner at least.

When I ordered the dumpster, it was either get a little 3x3x6 dumpster for free, or order the next size up. As you can see, the next size up was considerably larger than that. When they delivered it, I thought,

Notice the absence of 3 foot tall weeds and piles of grass, etc.

Wow, that's big! We'll never be able to fill that thing up. I'm wasting my money. (Did I mention they're very expensive? Even with a voucher?) However, by the end of the three hours, there were tons of branches, tree trunks from the PG&E pruning in my yard, leaves, weeds, prunings from the hedges and the like.

I glowed the whole time. My pitiful efforts were never going to be sufficient to overcome my depression induced disaster. The Lord however provided a rescue, and I'm ever so grateful!!