Home Is Where The Heart Is...

Got this card in the mail today from my Mom...

reminded me of how thankful I am for all my "homes".

Whether you have walls built around all your things

or they have crumbled to the ground

Lets be thankful for the "walls" built around the most precious of our belongings...the core of us that most often leads us on every one of our journeys...our hearts!

Let's join together and thank our Lord for both our earthly and spriritual homes, lift up those in Haiti that have watched their physical homes fall apart, and pray for comfort and restoration for their homes that dwell in their hearts.

Got You Where I Want You...

Welp it is here!! (I say this with excitment) Matt has graduated from Law School, we put all of our belongings into storage, said "Fairwell" to San Antonio (where our best friends are), moved into a room at the retreat (my work), started the super intense prep for the Bar Exam, haven't the slightest clue of where we will be living in a couple months nor what our jobs will be, and have settled in to a simple yet FULL new phase of life!

I honestly think that we are (right now) dwelling in the house of our great Lord. Yes, with all of our belongings and more importantly; pieces of us scattered between, San Antonio, Killeen, Houston, Waco, and DFW (all convieniently located off I-35)...in the midst of this unorganized, frazzled-craziness we have found that we are RIGHT WHERE WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE!

I am aware that for EVERYTHING there is a season and that we will move on from this one, but my prayer is that Matt and I will never choose to leave this pure and sacred place we have found in our hearts.

I only ask one thing from the LORD. This is what I want: let me live in the LORD’s house all my life. — Psalm 27:4

Big Macs & Righteousness

Matt was sharing with me the other day on the subject of Righteousness. He has been re-reading and studying on the topic of living to be righteous...desiring righteousness and came across a great analogy that has been whirling through my head all day today. Forgive me on the credits, I am not certain of the author he is reading but here is the description:

"The desire of wanting to be righteous is best described as a craving. This guy compares this intense and specific craving to his wife's odd craving while being pregnant. At 11:30 every night she craved a Big Mac from McDonald's...and the only McDonald's in town was (of course) on the opposite side and furthest fast food restruant from their home...on top of that there was a Burger King just at the end of their block, but she cringed at the thought of a Burger King hamburger...it HAD to be a Big Mac."

We should have a craving to be righteous that is as "picky", specific, consistant as this man's pregnant wife's 11:30 Big Mac cravings!!

On another note, as most of you know, Matt just finished Law School a week ago and on top of all the studying he has done for the past two and a half years and the studying he will be doing in about two weeks for the Bar Exam...he chooses to study on how to be a more righteous man.

This is one of the many reasons why he never ceases to amaze me and in turn inspires me to be a more righteous woman of our Most Awesome God!

Be

Be blessed. through our acts.

Be loved. as our Savior.

Be lifted high. with our songs of praise.

Be treasured here. in our home.

Be glorified. til our last breath.

Integrity

Lord let the desire to be noticed be erased and stir

within me a desire to know You, God.

"Search me, O God, and know my heart;

test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting."

-Psalms 139:23-24

If no one knew of the good things you do
would you still do them???

Equipped

Have you ever felt like you were being worked on?? Not like a routine oil change...which by the way my truck wins the competition for the most frequent visits to the shop...nor even the equivalent to replacing some rotted out siding... but actually being the "project" of priority that God is special ordering parts for. It's been placed on the workbench, added to the drawing board, and meetings have been scheduled to discuss the game plan.

Well I definitely don't know the game plan, but I do know that Matt and I feel like our lives have been placed on the cuttingboard and we are being seasoned for a specific recipe. It's exciting and yet a bit frightening all the same. We feel God has been equipping us, teaching us, giving us these tools and "soon" (which is a relative term when it comes to God's watch) we will become this operational unit for Him, uprooted and moved, and serving in a way that we weren't before.

Anyways, I have chosen the word "Equipped" to describe this "thing" that IS happening to us. Here are a few definitions that I came across:

1. to furnish or provide with whatever is needed for use or for any undertaking

2. to dress; array

3. to furnish with intellectual or emotional resources; prepare

As we try to fully wrap ourselves around whatever God's plan is for us, we are taking the next 40 days to really start digging for His answers. Although we are eager to start scraping the old paint off and begin slapping on a bright fresh coat...(and I do love me some painting)...we have chosen to wait and ask God to prepare our hearts to be equipped for His Glory!

until next time...be blessed.




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"Each Day"

I have come across this reading many times

and I just love it, so I would like to share it with you.

Enjoy.

"At the beginning of each day,

 after we open our eyes

to receive the light

of that day,

As we listen to the voices

and sounds

that surround us,

We must resolve to treat each hour

as the rarest of gifts,

 and be grateful

 for the consciousness

 that allows us to experience it,

recalling in thanks

that our awareness is a present

 from we know not where,

 or how, or why.

When we rise from sleep let us rise for the joy

of the true Work that we will be about

this day,

and considerately cheer one another on.

Life will always provide matters for concern.

Each day, however, brings with it reasons for

 joy.

Every day carries the potential

to bring the experience of heaven;

have the courage to expect good from it.

Be gentle with this life,

and us the light of life

to live fully in your time."

-McQuiston II, John;  Always We Begin Again

Long Time No...Blog

Since it has been ages since I last posted I included a picture...incase you forgot what we looked like. :) My purpose for this blog is to simply share and hopefully you can enjoy and take something with you.

 I guess that's all for today...until next time!

Learning to Walk Again...

Ok, what we experienced today was priceless! Matt and I had the best time running in the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon, seriously. It was like a running party in the streets with 33,000 other crazy people. And we truly saw some interesting sights. To hit on some of those sights...Elvis Presley several times, People dressed in trashbags, A mom carrying her toddler in a stroller rigged on her back (she was not moving fast), miles of street littered with runner clothes (gloves, sweatshirts, hats, pants), 13 random bands, blocks of sardined port-a-potties with lines of bouncing runners, and too many people in stretchy pants (so Matt says).

It was an incredible accomplishment. We ran 13.1 miles in 2:40 approx. 12min pace, which is faster than we thought we were going to do it. It went by oddly fast and we don't regret it...although our post race bodies are screaming something different and at 6:00 this morning our pre-race bodies were pleading against wearing shorts in 30-40 degree weather.

It was a blast! We are glad we did it!

On another note, I am hurting from the hips down and my knees feel as if they were beaten with a sledge hammer. I groan anytime I have to walk...and I look like a granny in serious need of a walker. Matt on the other hand only complained that his LITTLE toe hurt. Poor guy. I feel so sorry for him. :) I guess it proves that everyone recovers differently.

Let's Rock 'n' Roll

Well, Sunday is the day and 25062 and 25063, is what they will call us. I do think we were assigned the best race numbers ever! I think the hardest part will be finding a place to park and actually getting to the starting line, seriously. Maybe we will map out our attack ahead of time. We are a little nervous and excited too. Might be more excited about getting it over with, so we can do something different besides RUN. I think we are both more of the weightlifting....change up the workouts so you don't get bored...type of people.

This has been a great experience. We have learned a lot and had a blast doing this together.

Wish us a Rock 'n' Roll Run on Sunday!

Tick-Tock...

Time has become a shortage around the Peacock home lately and by the way things are going it doesn't look like we will be gaining any extra minutes to our busy days either. Due to the challenge of finding actual time blocks to go and run for literally hours, we have decided to settle for the San Antonio Half Marathon. We are definitley disappointed that we aren't doing the full, but we truly just don't have the time to train nor do we prefer running after 9:00 at night...it's way to dark!

On the other hand, this has relieved us of some stress. With marathon day approaching and us struggling to get our mileage in we were beginning to feel discouraged at ourselves for not running enough. Now that our race is cut in half our normal runs are cut in half, which leaves us with good, day-lit times to get our runs in. So yeah for cutting the work load in half!

Runner's Slump

The past couple of weeks Matt and I have been battling The Slump. It was awful! We were tired, bored with running, not feeling well, busy, and just unmotivated. I must say we are not big fans of "slumps" of any shape or size. But the good news is I think we are out of it! Yeah! We ran 9 yesterday (which is considered a long run due to our lack of mileage) and felt really great! All I can say is battle battle hard through the "slumps".

A Glimpse of Greatness

Featured above is the lovely PKRC Team that made Summer 2008 probably the greatest ever! I chose the goofy picture to show you all, because that is more consistant with the energy, spirit, and attitude that is required of those visiting Peaceable Kingdom. Seriously all the people in this picture are just absolutely amazing and deserve extra jewels in their crowns!

Training on Hold...

The past couple of our runs I have had some "innard" issues....don't ask please. I promise you don't want the details. Anyways, I went to see my doctor and was referred to a GI Specialist and was told to put my training on hold while things were "looked into".

So, I am totally fine! I just wanted to update those of you dedicated readers on our status (both sets of parents...hehe)

On a more accomplished note: We did knock out our 11 miler this past Sunday. That has been our longest run so far and we learned that those who are WALKING on trails do not care whatsoever that you are approaching them at a faster speed and will not move over to get out of your way...Apparently since we are running we should go around. So the Peacocks had a throwdown in the woods on Sunday...don't worry we did not use our feet, only our hands have the battle wounds. :) Seriously though we almost had a trail pile-up because these ladies did not scoot over and we were running towards them. (If only we had horns to honk).

Ya'll have a great week!

"Drive Gently"

So Matt and I found a great place to run on our long days. It is this park that has miles of hidden trails that wind through the woods and then takes you on this very quiet road...making you feel as if you clicked your ruby red slippers together and ended up in some beautiful county side. Today was our 8 mile run which went by surprisingly fast due to the weather and scenery. One of my favorite things to do is run in the rain and today was the perfect rain to run in. It wasn't too hard and it came in spurts so we got nice cool breaks before the next shower. We also had multiple deer sightings, which is something that will never get old for me.

The funny part of our run comes from the title of this post. On the downhill part of our country road there was this yellow sign that said " Drive Gently". For some reason Matt and I found the randomness and idea of gently driving somewhere very humerous.

Anyways, our route today reminded us of how spectacular our God truly is and how there will always be more sightings of him around every corner whether it's through the cool rain for the gracefullness of a family of deer. He is everywhere!

Run to Cover(s)

Megan and I have ran to a lot of different music over the past months gearing up towards this marathon-exclusive training. After experimenting with lots of songs and playlists, this playlist is our (current) favorite to run to. It is mostly punk versions of pop songs from the 80's and 90's. Because of their up-tempo beat and the sheer fun of the songs, this has been in our ears every mile of the last 5 runs. You can check out the playlist on iTunes and sample some of the songs. Here is the link: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewIMix?id=288524172&s=143441. We are always looking for more music to run to. So, if you have a favorite cover song, a song you like to workout to, or a whole playlist you want to pass a long, we would love to hear it. Thanks for all the encouragement. Oh, and in case you were wondering how fast we are, I would put us somewhere between a mongoose and a snake....and a cheetah.
Runnin' like we stole something,
Matt & Megan

Change of Pace

We have decided to move up our marathon date! Instead of Feb 2009 we will be running in the Rock 'N' Roll San Antonio Marathon on November 16, 2008! Now we are pushing harder into gear...which is a little scary because that puts us starting our hard 16 week training schedule starting July 27th! The 16 week schedule is 16 weeks out from the marathon...we will be running 4 days a week and increasing our mileage not only daily but also our total mileage for the week.

Week 1= 15miles Week5 = 21miles Week9 = 31miles Week13 = 38miles
Week2 = 16miles Week6 = 24miles Week10 = 34miles Week14 = 27miles
Week3 = 17miles Week7 = 26miles Week11 = 35miles Week15 = 19miles
Week4 = 19miles Week8 = 28miles Week12 = 36miles Week16 = 34.2miles

Thanks for your support so far! Keep Peaceable Kingdom in your thoughts as they are on their down hill stretch for the summer!

What's Your Favorite Muscle to Workout?

Right now Matt and I are working on getting our bodies leaner, toner, and building up that cardio stamina. Working out together is something we both look forward to everyday and have been enjoying the experience together. Matt's favorite area to target are the arms, mine are the abs. We can definitley tell that our metablolisms have sped up, because of the sizes of the lunches we pack for work and school. :) All in all our energy levels are up, we feel great and we are pushing each other more and more each day. Do you have a favorite area to focus on?

Smoothies!!!

So our favorite smoothie to drink right now comes out of "The Abs Diet";

Juicy Fruit Juice

1 banana

1/2 c strawberries

1/2 c milk

2 Tbsp low-fat vanilla yogurt

1/3 c orange juice

2 tsp vanilla whey protein powder

3 ice cubes

Give it a try!

The Goal

We have decided to run a marathon together with the obvious goal of crossing the finish line, but more importantly we want to do this to raise awareness! You may already be aware of what we post on this blog, but we want to challenge you to find something that has made a difference in your life and choose to make a difference for it. We have chosen Peaceable Kingdom Retreat for Children to be our focus on raising awareness.Our goal is to share our passion and knowledge of Peaceable Kingdom Retreat for Children along with every step of our experience while we train for the Austin Marathon February 2009. We created this blog to post facts on our focus; PKRC, document our workouts, diet, gear, sources, and anything else we feel we want to share with you.

Check the workout calendar to keep up with our daily training "stats." This is a day by day schedule which you can check everyday to see the progress in our running, ab work, and weight training. Please resist all jokes about our puny muscles! We look forward to sharing this experience with you.

Our hope is to experience making a difference as we try to be exactly like our Savior.

Matt and Megan