Happy Birthday and a Challenge!!

Good morning, my friends! It's finally sunny here! Whoohoo! I took this picture a little after 7 this morning. Child #1 celebrated his 17th birthday yesterday. Wow, that must mean that I'm getting old!! Not! We searched for a "new" car for him to get back and forth to school and to cross country and track practice and to meetings, etc. People, I am just about to drown in carpool! It consumes hours of my day--HOURS! I love my precious children, but this extra car is going to be such a blessing! We prayed about it and searched Craigslist. This one appeared after church yesterday. It's a '98 Acura. Very reliable and all the belts and "stuff" had been replaced. The owner's family owned an auto shop, so they've kept it up. There was low mileage--amazing on an 11 year old car! And the best part of all--it was the exact amount of money that we wanted to spend--which was not a lot! God is good!

We went to our Youth Super Bowl party at church last night...talk about food and fun! There were over 80 kids and adults there. The sad part was that our youth minister is leaving for San Diego on Tuesday, so last night was his going away party as well. We are really going to miss Mookie!

Mookie and Austin, aka Child #1--no telling what Mookie is saying here!Hubby with the cake. Of course, being the thoughtful mama that I am, I made sure that some of the candles were the ones that would not go out--the obnoxious ones that keep relighting over and over again! Gotta have my fun too!

After all of that food, today is definitely a running day! I cannot wait! I have a challenge for you all as well! Child #2 and I are doing this and have been successful so far! It's called the:

PUSH UP CHALLENGE!

Here's what you do! On Day 1--which is today for you, simply do one push up. Just one! Tomorrow is Day 2--2 push ups. The next day is Day 3, so 3 push ups! You get the picture!

I am on Day 7. I wish that I had started this on January 1, but I didn't read about it until 7 days ago!! A group of people here in Greenville--30 of them--decided to take on this challenge. They did push ups each day. By December 31,2009, which should have been 365 push ups, only 8 people remained!! And, only 2 of those were women. Y'all, everyone who succeeded was over the age of 50! One man was in his 70's! We can do this!! You pick the type of push up! It can be military or the girl push up where you are on your knees. There is ANOTHER one which has more assistance. After dislocating my shoulder--yes, on a trail run several years ago!!!--I HAD to strengthen it. But, YIKES! It hurt so badly! Using a wall, gently lean into it with a push up stance. Feet should be at least a foot and a half from the wall. You should feel your muscles working. If not, you are not using your body's resistance. Do these assisted push ups until you can get to the floor and try the others. Whatever works for you!

The ladies who completed the challenge were amazed at the difference of how their arms looked! I am all over this strong arms thing!! Join me!! It'll be FUN! You can break your push ups into sets as the numbers climb higher. Encourage your Hubby or kids to join you as well! I want to know how y'all do!! Just be honest!!

Y'all have a wonderful day!! Oh, and I loved the comments from my question last week!! Great ideas! I appreciate your sharing.

Sweet Blessings,