Sister Hugs

Every morning when three little girls are exiting the door for school there is a little voice that rings out, "Sister Hug!!!"

Journey runs out in the cold garage, usually still adorned in her morning hair and pajamas while chewing remnants of her half eaten breakfast, to pull all of her sisters together for one peaceful embrace for the day.  

You can say a lot about Journey and her seriously witty, sarcastic, loud, interrupting and explosive spirit.  But, you cannot ever deny the fact that that girl loves fiercely.  She is the one who goes around to every sister each night demanding, yes demanding, a hug and kiss.  She is strength in a tiny nearly four year old body and she will be the glue when this family predictably tries to fall apart every so often.  She can drive you mad and I am madly in love with her.

I pray my girls always share sister hugs and I know all of you out there who have grown daughters are laughing at my naive optimism right now and that is ok.  This island is comfortable and I will stay on it as long as I can and who knows... maybe I will be able to hang onto it.  I pray I can.

The Walking Man

Where do we go from here?

Isn't this a question you have asked yourself throughout the obstacle course of your years?  I know I have.  When I was a child I was lost in a store and just asked myself over and over again, "Where do I go?"

When I was a bit older and would not understand a complicated friendship, the nuance of relationships, a parents decision or a new definition of life I would ask again, "Where do I go from here?"

The "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" episode turned musical (yes...  I was a Buffy fan, ok?) had a song with the exact title that was keyed up in my head in my later years when the choices and questions came.  It still is.  I have always figured it out though... at least I think I have.  But, what happens when the "where" is so vague and thepossibility of a solution is foreign.

Last week my husband and I and our four little girls all went to a local Mexican restaurant for some food since we were running late, which is our usual setting I must say. This should really be tattooed on my forehead or just inlaid in my introductions to others so it is to be expected.  One day I will have a rocket ship car fueled by recycled water and get everywhere on time.  Until then give me 10 minutes.  I'll be there

When we walked in and cleared the necessary wide path for our crew to the line to order a young man passed me.  Just a typical young man with short dirty blonde hair, ear phones, cell phone or iPod, black jacket, jeans and over sized tennis shoes that look like marshmallows at the end of his pants.  I wasn't sure what it was, but something about him snagged my soul as we passed and I felt him.  Not literally, but some how.  I felt him.

We ordered, said our grace and began eating.  I am not even sure when this young man appeared again, but right next to me, within a couple of feet, there he was again.  Just playing on his phone, or whatever it was, like we all do far too much and the world passes by around us.

"Excuse me?" He spoke in our direction.  "I hate to ask this, but I have been walking for 12 days, TWELVE days, and I do not have the money for any food.  Would you be willing to give me a little something?"

Every worldly instinct I have conducted an anthem of red flags rising in succession of one another inside me.  He was lying.  He was just trying to get a free meal.  He was some "punk".  But, I just asked a question.  I asked him why he had been walking for so long and where he was going.

When he was nine years old he left home because his dad was abusive and his mom was into drugs.  He didn't want to be around it.  He couldn't be around it anymore.  He left and has been living around the country for a while.  He was walking to Lafayette, where he is from.  I asked him who was there for him and the answer was no one.  But, that is where he is from, so he is going back.

His way was not clear, defined or absolute, but it was his where.  At that point I had verses from the bible tugging at my heart and my biblical world view smeared and erased the red flags.  "But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?"  (1 John 3:17)

My husband gestured for him to follow him up to the menu and ordered him a meal.  Though trying he didn't have very much more to say than what he had already told us.  I could see he didn't think his story was worth telling even though we knew better.  He came back and sat down again.

We were done and were packing up by then, but I had that pull.  The one you know can only be the Holy Spirit tugging at your heart.  Before I knew what it was I might have thought it was guilt or something else, but I know better now.  I was being told to pray over this young man.

As his food was being unwrapped and prepared for his eager appetite I asked, "Do you mind if we say grace with you?"

"No. That is fine." the words stuttered out and the food regained its position on the plate.  I laid my hand in his rough young hands that were older than his earthly years. The six of us gathered together and my little, giggly, 5 year old Lana reached for his other hand with one of those illuminating smiles she has.  I said grace.  I don't even remember exactly what I said because it wasn't be speaking.  I just let the words flow through me.  The ones he needed to hear to know that our God was right there with him in his travels of life and He has not been forgotten.

That was it.  We left.  In the car I found out that my husband had that same feeling when he first saw him as we walked in the doors.  We were used in the best way possible that day.  Our family, my four little girls, were a part of a bigger story for this young man.  I pray for him and think about him often and pray he has found a "where".  I wish I could have done more, I wish I did do more, but I did exactly what I was supposed to that day.

Just listen.  Listen when you are lost and need to ask yourself, or someone else, where to go.  Listen when someone else is lost and you can help them.  You never know when you will be used in the best ways possible.

Great News!

Woo-hoo!!

ConsolidatingChaos was featured in Multiplicity Magazine this summer and I will be writing more pieces for them as well!  It is challenging and fun and a fantastic opportunity to get ideas and stories out into the world.
Thank you for all of your support!

I look forward to many, many more ConsolidatingChaos posts in my years to come.  I am constantly organizing, rearranging and trying to keep up with this unpredictable life and sharing what I learn along the way!

Blessings to you all!

Did This Day Really Come?

This summer has been anything but boring.  In fact, it has been a constant whirlpool of mental strength and weakness with some emotional highs and lows, impatience, fun, frustration, laughing and an ever present lacking of TIME!  This day though, TODAY, is THE day.  The day that my youngest of the Harden Clan joins the school bound variety.  She will be going four mornings a week this year between two different schools.  

My happy dance I have been rehearsing in my head was more of a lousy shuffle as I let go of her hand and walked out the door this morning.  For every crazy she brings to me and this world she fortifies it with "Journey-isms" that only she can.  

Though this was a difficult morning (more difficult than I anticipated) this is such a blessing.  In the whirlpool of unbalanced life that we have been leading, where I am literally tugged in five or more directions at any given time, I can just be.  I can feed all of my others callings and responsibilities during this time and then devote my time to the five precious gifts I have been given in this life.  I am looking forward to uninterrupted, unencumbered, un-denied time with these girls again.  Maybe, just maybe, I can turn a corner and be that mom I always hoped to be because the crazy mama routine is for the birds!  Time to go and start working on that massive list. 

Happy First Day my BIG girl!

Whole Kids with Whole Nutrition

Today it is harder than ever to raise our children with a "whole foods" mentality.  What is even harder is changing the game on them after it has already started.  Try switching out pop tarts one day for fresh fruit and whole grain bread and see what I mean.  The sugar, salt, fats and oils, preservatives, colors, peer pressure and billions upon billions spent on fun character advertising geared toward your child are difficult to compete with...BUT, there is good news!  YOU are the parent and the closest person to these little bodies.  It is not too late!

So, what are "whole foods" anyway?  This term gets splashed around on bill boards and coveted in talks, but what is it?  Whole foods are defined as foods that are unprocessed and unrefined, or processed and refined as little as possible before being consumed.  

Let's just start with some basics and run down the line, shall we?  The first question of course, is...

WHY WHOLE FOODS?

"Can't I keep eating my Doritos, Diet Coke and Hamburger Helper?  I get great coupons for them!"  

Have you ever looked at an ingredient label for those things?  If I put those individual things in front of you and asked you to make it, you wouldn't have a clue and you would most likely be is a hazmat suit in a lab somewhere.  Not cool.  Though we have all been fooled with the onslaught of advertising this past century it has not always been like this.  What did your grandmother eat as a child?  She probably ate things a little closer to the original, closer to the land.  

Dr.David Katz, the founding director of Yale University’s Prevention Research Center, says, "This may be the first generation of children to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents.”

And Dr.Bill Sears, America's Pediatrician and author of too many books to list here, says, "75% of all chronic disease is preventable with nutrition."

I know the changes I make today will help them make better decisions as they grow.  When they are teenagers and out with friends maybe they will think twice before downing  that 20oz. because they will know what it is in.  Maybe, just maybe, they will understand that we loved them enough to give them the richness of whole foods and not incomplete, or even harmful foods, so they could live lives with fortified bodies and minds.  This will pass down as years pass when they are young adults and my grandchildren will have better health as well.  That is enough of a why for me to change my eating habits and those of my children.  

WHEN SHOULD I MAKE THE SWITCH?

The answer to that is simple.  Now!  This is not an all or nothing switch.  My family has been on a journey toward clean eating for eight years now and I am not sure there is an end point.  It is more like a continuous road with check points along the way.  Start with one change and go from there.

HOW?

This is the fun part!  A great way is to introduce gardening to the family!  You can be a small gardener or a go all out, but get the family involved.  The more they are a part of it, the more they will take part in eating it too.  We have our back yard filled with edible plants, but we do fight with watering, pests and bugs in the summer grow season.  

Worth it?  YES!  But, our favorite tool we use for gardening is our Tower Garden!  

These are designed by Tim Blank who designed The Land at Disney's Epcot Center and wanted to get the technology into homes, schools and small business as well.  Year round organic fruits and vegetables, indoor and outdoor.  We LOVE our towers so much that I began helping the company spread the word.  I couldn't stop sharing about this amazing vertical garden that uses NO soil.  So, there is NO tilling, NO weeding and uses 90% less water and land than conventional gardens.  We are a little Tower happy over here.

Because it is difficult to get in enough of those raw, fresh fruits and vegetables every day (current USDA recommendation is 7-13 servings a day) we also use something called Juice Plus for our family, which are fruits and vegetables in a capsule or chewable for kids. 

Another great thing is exploring Farmer's Markets.  These fun weekend mini food fairs are a rainbow of eye candy for the kids, but they are not skittles, just fruits and vegetables.  It is a great way to expose them to variety and find the fun in whole foods.

Explore the produce department at the store.  Stick with organics when possible and necessary and try some new things like star fruit and claw fruit.  Kids get a kick out of that stuff and have them choose what they would like to bring home.  Giving them power in decision helps.

Change the mindset of "Fast Food".  It doesn't have to mean a drive through, but can mean a bag of carrots, a banana, apple or cucumber slices.  Add a fun dip if they want.  My daughters love raspberry honey mustard right now to dip anything!

WHO IS THIS FOR?

You.  Right now, reading this.  I write this for you.

Take a step at a time and allow for inaccuracies and inconsistencies, but allow whole foods to become the norm and all the other things to be the exception.  This is your life, how are you going to live it?  This is just the beginning of your child's life and what do you want for them? I think when given the choice if we want our family's health to be incomplete or whole we would choose whole.  Now, it is just time to make the choices to make that happen.  

(If you would like more information on either the Tower Garden or Juice Plus please contact me at nellie@hardenfam.com and I would be happy to share what has transformed the health of our own family with you) 

  

Monkey On My Back

This is how my days are spent this month.  When I am working, when I am cleaning when I am making meals or just trying to have a moment of quiet I have a monkey on my back!  This is sometimes figurative, but many times literal.

I have decided that this month of being home with my littlest of girls can either drive me to the nearest mental institution or it can be embraced.  To be completely transparent the result of each day lies somewhere in the grey middle ground.  Every task I try and accomplish takes at least four times longer than it would otherwise and so the many areas of work everyday seem endless.  If I could get a concentrated few hours in I would be available, and probably much less on the cranky side, to just BE with my children and husband.

So, this month when my three oldest are off to school all day and my youngest, who has always had sisters around her, relies solely on me for all entertainment, love, comfort and endless talk of the adventures of her imaginary friend Ian I find myself sometimes as high as a kite and sometimes ready to lock myself in a closet for a moment.  

I wonder what today will bring?  No doubt many Journey-isms, smiles, tears, laughter, fits, emphatic contradictions, determined 3 year old independence and fun.  My Journey, both in life and my daughter, are not for the faint of heart.  But, like with any great adventure there are challenges and great victories.

Back to Reality... For Now

The school year, thanks to a newly imposed balanced calendar, creeped in, nested and burst forth before we could blink.
Every school year reinvents a new lifestyle for us and a whole new "normal" is presented.  Skyla is now is 3rd grade!  How did that happen?  She is in a whole new wing of the school with the BIG KIDS and this year will be another adventure.

My twins....  My Trinity and Lana who came out of the womb holding hands now go into this new chapter the same.  They will share a classroom this year and help each other round the sharp corners of social adjustment.  I put them to bed last night and tucked them in extra tight in hopes that the covers would keep them securely in this morning.  It didn't work.  They bounced out of bed with thoughts of buses, lunch boxes and new teachers dancing in their heads.  Big Sister Skyla even made their beds for them so "they could concentrate on what they needed to do."

Journey and I are the only two voices that fill the house right now and for the next month we will have adventures of our own.  She too will be starting a four day a week program after Labor Day and yet another new normal will be given to us.  One thing about parenting is that you are constantly changing and adjusting.  Maybe that is just life, but parenting seems to have its own exaggerated hue of spontaneity.

To all parents who had a big piece of their heart leave on a big yellow bus this morning and for all of us in the seemingly eternal dance of adjustment, I praise you today and we will raise our glasses and embrace it... albeit with a few tears along the way.

Caught Between a Chemical and Ripening War!

 What the heck does that mean, right?

This is what we are faced with today, unfortunately.  We have a local farm in the area and we have been going to for years and love it!  We pick all sorts of berries drenched in the summer sun and enjoy filling our bellies with them for weeks.
 

This year, being another year wiser than last, I thought I should look and see what the growing practices are at our beloved farm.  

Journey is pretty much acting out my reaction.  Oh NO!!!!!!!!  Our favorite farm, that I so innocently and gullibley thought was organic is far from it.  I was so disappointed, or as my 3 year old repeatedly says, "Diss-a-rupted".  

Are they a "bad" farm?  No.  Reading through their reasoning and practices I see why they feel they have to use the chemicals they do and it was eye opening to see the comparisons to organics you can buy in the stores.

We are truly stuck.  Do we buy local, support our local farms, get that amazing "farm fresh" experience, but have it laced with chemicals, herbicides and pesticides that are linked to too many things to mention on this blog OR do we go to the store and buy organics that, admittedly, still have an allowance of spray on them and are treated in different ways AND are not vine ripened in order to give you those thousands of nutrients AND have been shipped in a truck, depositing a footprint of fossil fuel emissions along the way AND have lost much of the nutrient value by the time it gets from vine to your plate.  (Yes, I know that sentence/paragraph broke every literary rule there is, but you get the point.  There is a reason I am a writer and not an editor!)

So, what did we do?  

We went to the fields, BUT we did not gets our pounds upon pounds this year.  We collected a small pint  I washed them well when I got home.  I do realize the chemicals are within and throughout the strawberry, but it made me feel a little better.

What is the REAL ANSWER though.  What do we do?  The only answer, I could think of, is grow it yourself!  That way it is close, vine ripened and organic (or at least you have the control of whether it is or not).

You do NOT have to be a master gardener to garden!  We have soil gardens at our house for root vegetables, some tomatoes, broccoli, cucumber, zucchini, watermelon, pumpkins, peas and beans because we wanted to use our yard as an area for edible landscaping.  These do require upkeep, weeding and tilling etc.  Not my favorite, but at least we get fruit out of them if we beat the bunnies and caterpillars to them. My Favorite way to garden is with the Tower Garden!  We can grow vertically, no soil, no tilling, NO WEEDING!  It waters itself, using 90% less water than conventional gardening and, because the inorganic (not non-organic) mineral solution is pH balanced and covers such a wide needs base, it helps all plants grow organically to their full potential.  Plus it is year round and indoor or outdoor and saves us lots of $$$ all year round! 

This is how we feel about our Tower garden too Buddy.  I understand.  

The Towers are an answer for so many and growing your own produce is an answer to so many concerns of today.  We love our Tower so much that I help Tim Blank, of Future Growing, get them out to homes and businesses around the United States today through NSA.  I love helping others get started with their own local farmers market in their backyard!

We did have fun, had the Farm experience and the pictures to prove it.  But, we will be getting our produce from home where we know it is safe and full of everything they were intended to be.  

My girls and their Honey Stix!!!

Trying to Raise Givers in a "Getting" World

We live every day is a getting, grasping, "I want", "Give me" world.  It is increasingly harder and harder to raise children with a giving mindset.  Where along the road was entitlement born in replacement of work ethic and serving?  We just finished reading the entire series of Little House on the Prairie with our oldest daughter.  Those four girls, aside from intermittent spats with Nellie Olson, were kind and giving and understood that everyone contributed and worked hard for the family and others when they could.  

I would love to hear people's ideas about the evolution of entitlement and "It's Mine!"  

When did ME become more important than WE? 

Is it technology and evolution of machines to do our work, preoccupation with entertainment, our lifestyles being 1000 times faster paced than a hundred years ago or a combination of all of these?

 I am not perfect by any stretch and find myself thinking those "I deserve" thoughts too sometimes.  But, I try to make the next generation better than my own and the best way I can do that is through my children.  In our home we follow Christ and try to abide by loving our neighbor as we love ourselves, but isn't that the foundation of the Golden Rule?  It is Golden for a reason!!!  

If you are in need, pride aside, wouldn't you feel amazing if someone stepped in and gave you a hand in whatever capacity needed?  You would because you would be reminded that you matter.  

We all need that reminder sometimes.

  

Trinity getting ready to donate her hair to those in need

chop, chop!

Beautiful and so happy!

"My Hair gets to be with someone else now!"

The Pressure Cooker Called Motherhood

How is it that the most rewarding job possible is also the most stressful!  I guess with great responsibility comes great reward, but this mamma could use a break!  

What do I need a break from though?

ME!!

(Me after a day of stamping our concrete patio we put in this spring)

Yep!  Me.  I am the worst boss possible.  I expect nothing but perfection and when not delivered I seem to dwell in the shallow pool of discontentment instead of doing laps in the empty Olympic size pool of accomplishment right next to me. I know I am not an isolated case either.  On those rare occasions I get to sit and chat with other moms it is clear this is an epidemic!  

The summer projects, the finances, teaching the children, keeping the house presentable for our many guests a week, exercising, husbands work schedule, keeping up with my work schedule (which I am completely in control of, but LOVE what I get to do), three meals a day (Seriously!  Who decided we needed THREE meals a day?!), the shopping, volunteering, deadlines (both self inflicted and third party), QUALITY time with husband and children, Lions and Tigers and Bears!  Oh My!

But, everything all rolled into one kamikaze ball...  I love my life!  There isn't anything I would trade in for an upgrade.  I just need to be able to poke my head out and take a good look around more often.  

So, today fellow crusader moms with insane self management expectations, lets grasp onto some reality, give ourselves a pat on the back and go splash in that great pool of accomplishment with those we love. 

The Choice to Look at a Life That is Beautifully Full

I really can't complain.  Seriously.  I was reading this morning and found Ephesians 4:29 jump out at me.

"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen"

I could get on here and talk about how the end of the year school crazy has left me struggling for a breathe of life.  How I desperately miss writing this blog every few days and is life is complicated and all so encompassing these days that I do not have time to write about it.  I can write about the overwhelming abundance of life, it's stresses and obstacles.  But, complaints do not grow you and especially not me.  I really needed a mental flip-flop.  We all face adversity in some form everyday and we all have to find ways to overcome it.  Focusing on the overcoming, instead of the seeming downward spiral of chaos, can, and will, do wonders for our mental playground.

My chaos has been abundant as of late, but every fragile, almost break me, chaotic string really has been producing a pretty remarkably strong rope of experience, independence  self confidence and awareness.  I read somewhere else that "Character develops itself in the full stream of life."

So true!


    

Three Day Emotional Melting Pot

Some animals on this great blue earth we live on only live about three days.  How do they fit it all in?  It really is all relative though, isn't it.  Last weekend we got a taste of nearly everything life has to offer in just three days.

The same week of my dad's one year anniversary of his passing, the same Monday, I get another phone call that my sister in law had passed.  She was young, not seemingly sick and gone far too soon.  It was a shock and gave way to a week not clear in focus or productivity.  The funeral arrangements were set and happen to lie over the exact time we were headed to Michigan to be with my family for the year anniversary and for a family wedding celebration for my cousin I grew up with side by side.  With prayer and guidance we found the only thing we could do was to divide and conquer and be with everyone that needed us.  That is just what you need to do sometimes, isn't it?

Thursday afternoon I picked up my oldest from school and the five of us girls head up to Michigan only to get there in time for bed.  Grandma read them a story and they felt so special.  It was nice to see my mom so invested into the girls and they into her.

The next day we spent time together, played, talked and Grandma treated the girls to Easter manicures in preparation for the wedding celebration that evening.

It was nice spending time unscripted and to see all these little girls with their grandma.  My sister joined us for part of the day and we talked and the girls gravitated toward her as well.  

~FAMILY~

During trials and triumphs, no matter the strains or comforts it can be beautiful to see family together.  

The wedding celebration was beautiful and fun!

The Castle in Michigan was the perfect setting for every little girl's imagination and the fact that they had an entire wing of this grandeos place to run around in and explore with other little girl cousins and friends made it a perfect place for them.  Thrones, knights, spiral staircases and tapestries.  What more could four Cinderella loving girls ask for?

~FUN~

Nothing is better than casting everything else to the side and just having good fun.  

The wedding was beautiful.  The dancing was fun and Lana ruled the floor with her patented twirl AND learned the Chicken Dance (which hasn't stopped)!  Fun pictures, family I hadn't seen in a year, my little ladies, yummy treats! 

Happy couple!

By the way, this picture epitomizes my daily life!  

My beautiful cousin with Trinity.  The girls thought she was a real princess all night!  

Every bride is a princess!

It was beautiful, fun, and joyous.  I cried because I always cry at the happy and the triumph and her story is of triumph.  The girls could have stayed all night, but at 10:30pm I put everyone in pajamas and headed 5 hours home.  My husband was surprised to see me at 3am and realized I was came home to be with him and the family for his step sisters funeral and burial the next morning.  It was the only thing I could do that felt right.  After a literal few hours of sleep we went to be with our family.  

Elizabeth went home to be with the Father so early.  It was hard to see her mom, whom she talked with everyday, say goodbye and to see the pain in so many.  The songs that were written for her, her niece that adored her, her big brother that grew up with her and her so, so many friends.  I am sorry we will not be able to see Elizabeth at the family gatherings and see her smile while we are still on this earth.  I am sorry her parents will not have her in their physical lives any longer and I pray she fit everything she wanted to into her short life. 

~SORROW~

Accepting those things we do not understand is the truest test of our faith.

In Three Days we lived out a spectrum of emotions and it reminded me how relative and mishandled TIME really is.

Lessons From My First Mini!

Well, I have my first HALF MARATHON under my belt now!!!!!

I have been an on again, off again runner since after my first child was born nearly eight years ago.  But, you know what?  I kept having children!  That put some breaks in training.  So, NOW, at 34 years old I had time, ambition, energy and will power to train.

Ten weeks ago I started this training and what started as an exhausting 3 miles started to get easy until 3 miles felt like a jog in the park.  Then 5 miles and then 7.  Because of our crazy schedule lately I had only been able to do one 10 mile weekend run and not nearly as many as I should have been doing.  But, I am a strict person when it comes to commitment and I made a commitment to this and Darn It I was going to DO IT!!

(This was taken right before I ran into the poor man in front of me!  Leave it to me!)

So here are the top ten things I got out of my first half marathon!

10. I CAN do it!  No matter what doubts I had in my head, or my body, I CAN do it and there were many others out there from 12-75 years old of all body types that were doing it too!

9. I now understand, after all this, what those funny chaffing creams are for.  I have chaffing burns in the most unlikely of places!

8. Good shoes really DO make all the difference!

7. The "Little Engine"knew what he was talking about, "I think I can" is a great mantra to repeat while running and keeps a good breathing rhythm as well!

6. Wicking clothes are no joke.  Get some!  Even for landscaping and things around the house I think I will use them!

5. There is this weird transition that happens after a while of running that all you want to do is stop and walk, but it actually hurts to walk and your body feels so much better when it is running.  That is never a truth I thought this girl would ever say!

4. One of the most unflattering places to find women are in the bathrooms before and after a race.  That is all I will say about that.

3. I can't imagine running without my Juice Plus!  I took a double dose last night and this morning, used the chewables for some extra fuel during the race and had a double shake when I was done!  Love that I have all of that God given fuel to work with as I stretch the potentials of this body.

2. My family and friends.  Brian has worked around my schedules for running, encouraged me, asked about my runs when I got home everyday and they were right there at the finish line.  Balloons, cheering, wanting some mama love. My dear friend Lori was there too and it was candy to my heart to see her after she had been away so long.  Friends that ran too and friends that couldn't and just cheered me on via facebook and messages.  It was heart warming.

1. I couldn't have gotten here without my FAITH!  The words echoing in my ears throughout my run, the prayers before my run, the prayers of my friends and family during my run.  I seriously couldn't have done it without feeling like every person I have had to say goodbye to over the years wasn't right there with me, pulling me along at times.  Some of them with the sincerest sarcasm about what I was doing, some encouraging and some just present because that is where I needed them.

I am happy with my time.  The goal was under 2:30 for my first half marathon and I achieved it!

Now, I am going to go upstairs and take a nap!  Wait!  First I have to see if I can move out of this chair.

Get out there and try my friends!  Even if it is just a quarter mile today, get out there and try!  It does a body, and soul, Good!

Remember Me?

Hi there!  Remember Me?  It is ok, sometimes I don't either these days.  I wanted to get a post out there because I have missed you all and I didn't want you calling missing persons or anything.

This winter has been the furthest from a good hibernation that you can get!  Life has been on overdrive lately, but we are good, happy, relatively healthy except for our bodies continually fighting off all of these terrible illnesses going around this winter.  I think we can all agree this has been a BAD winter for sicknesses.  We have been fortunate that with four of these little monkeys that are constantly surrounded by a herd of children coughing and sneezing that we have only had what we have.  We have been eating and drinking a LOT of fruits and vegetables this winter and keeping things relatively at bay.

Here is a photo journal of sorts of the Harden's journey over the last month.

Regular dentist appointments for all!

A small vacation in the midst of an on and off family sick week.  It was still fun to go!

Dates continue with the girls.  Though hard to fit in some weeks it is nice to spend some time with each of these awesome ladies.

Concerts and other church activities have kept us very busy, but spiritually rich, meeting new and incredible people and having so much fun.

Valentine's Day was a great success due to a sneaky daddy creating a beautiful morning for all of this ladies.

Bella had a tumor grow very rapidly, vet visits, worry and concern followed by a "watch and see" prognosis. It was a histiocytoma and is nearly completely disappeared now.  Only Bella!  She will be 13 this year and she still surprises us.

Trinity and Lana are officially signed up for Kindergarten.  What a bitter sweet transition this will be. 4.5 months until K Day.

Sledding in March!

Journey getting Daddy in the face with snow was priceless!

Skyla made it to the Regional Science and Engineering Fair this year with her project on density and buoyancy.  It was fun to see her succeed and we are proud of her bravery in speaking with three judges about her project.  There were army-like guards keeping parents from coming onto the floor at all.  This was all them!

Cookie time!  This was a new adventure for us.  

More Dates!

Visiting new places and having some fun!

A nine week Alpha course was concluded and we met some amazing people!  Love how God adjusts our paths to intersect with others and create great relationships and grow.

I have been working hard to help others learn and discover the health of whole food living and how they can go about it.  I have also had the pleasure of helping people find great opportunities for themselves and their families.  So blessed!

Playdates and fun with little friends and big friends all around.

I hope your winter has been filled with joy, new relationships, growth and prosperity, love and kindnesses.  Now that March is here, life is getting a bit more on schedule and spring is hopefully coming soon, I will find more time to not only live my life, but record it every once in a while and help others live theirs as well.  That is what it is about after all, right?  During our lives we either need a hand to hold or someone else needs ours.  Living without this realization is not living at all.