WDW 1/2 Marathon 2012

On March 10, 2011 I was having dinner with my Sister-in-law, Marie and her husband, my Brother-in-law Reid. We were talking about walking and getting healthy, when all of a sudden Reid says to me, “You should walk the ½ marathon at Disney in January. You will be able to do it easy.”

I sat there in confusion and shock… “What are you crazy?”

“No there were a lot of people walking it this year.”

I laughed it off, but the more I thought about it, the more it niggled at my mind. So the next day as I walked, I went just a little bit faster. I wanted to see if I could get up to the 16 minute mile you have to maintain during the race. I couldn’t do it walking. But running might be an option. So I experimented with my knee and body to see if I could even run. I found that I could run, it didn’t hurt and I enjoyed the thrill of it.

So at that point I made the commitment to actually run the 1/2 marathon.  I started doing research on training. I backed off on my walking and started to run. Slowly and a short distance to begin with, it was like I was starting over. But I was committed at this point, and there was no turning back. There have been many things in my life I have failed at and just plain stopped doing. But this was a new me and new way of life. I was going to follow through even if it killed me.

I read as much material as I could get my hands on, I talked with other people, I got advice and I put it all too good use.

I was in training for a ½ marathon. Then all of a sudden, I felt a change, I was happier, I was losing weight easily, quickly, and I was sleeping better, my sleep apnea was fading as well. I was even craving good healthy food.

Everyday I got up early, I would get dressed, I would go out and run a little bit farther everyday. It was a struggle, but I had a goal, and the bigger clothes (my closet was getting cleaned everyday as I had to make a pile for Good Will), the smaller body, the better sleep was just a wonderful side effect. I tell everyone I keep leaving my ass on the asphalt. Well, the road can have it.

Slowly I built up to 4 miles a day, which was a long and hard process; I thought I would never get there. But once I hit that 4 mile mark, each mile after was easy, I started to do “long” runs weekly once I hit 4 miles a day. The first “long” run was 6.25 miles, I was so excited I couldn’t see straight. It was half of the ½ marathon, so I knew I could complete half of the race. Then over the next few weeks my distance increased weekly. I maintained a 5 to 6 mile daily run, and by the time I was a month out from the race I was running 12 miles and feeling good at the end.

Then it was time to go to Disney World…

I had everything ready and packed:

• My running shoes
  broken in but not so broken in they would support me.
• My running shorts
  dry-weave, Men’s mediums I was wearing men’s XXL when I started this journey
• My running shirt
  printed on front:   Fat Girl,
                                Smoker
                                Unhealthy Eater,
                                Coach Potato,
                                Heart Attack 2010
  printed on back: Skinny Girl,
                                Non-smoker,
                                Healthy Eater,
                                Half Marathon Runner 2012
• Once I got down to Disney I bought a Donald Duck hat with Mickey Ears to wear during the race.

I prepared myself for the race the day before by eating healthy, but carb heavy.

I had pasta for lunch and veggies and fruit for dinner.

I went to bed early because I had to get up early to prepare for the race. I was in bed by 7:00 pm and asleep by 7:30.

Here is an account of my day on January 7, 2012.

I awoke about 12:30am. Why?!? You may ask? Well to prepare myself and my body for this ½ marathon race. I have bowel movements in the morning (I know it’s not polite to talk about such stuff, but this is the way of the runner, certain things must be handled) so I had to make sure I was up in plenty of time to do that function before I had to run. Then I had to mentally prepare myself and try to keep my adrenaline in check.

I performed my morning “routine” and got ready to leave my hotel room about 2:30 am. I went to the bus station and got on the bus about 2:55 am. We were off to the staging area in no time. We (me and all my fellow early bird runners) arrived about 10 minutes later and walked around, got drinks, things to eat and chatted with each other. I went on to the baggage check; I need to stay focused and calm. I was so nervous. I checked my bag, the volunteers were so friendly and nice. I had worn a Tigger sweatshirt to throw off during the race. It was to keep me warm until I didn’t need it and then Disney would collect all the clothing left behind for charity. The volunteer said, “You aren’t throwing Tigger away are you?” I said “Yes I have another at home, this was my Ex’s”

She said “Dump it”. Which to me was fitting, because that was what this race represented, dumping the old and clinging to the new.

Now I had a wait ahead of me 2 ½ hours to go. So I tried to concentrate on keeping my mind and body calm. I did not talk to any other runners, just because I was afraid I might freak out if I opened my mouth. I do regret this decision, but at the time it was the best one to make.

After about a 45 minute wait in this staging area, we filled it up fast. They moved us to the corral area. This was where we would wait for our section to run. We couldn’t all start running together. So they divided us up according how we listed our times from registration into waves. I was in the second to last corral, number 7 out of 9. I felt pretty good about that. Now just to let you know, in my time I had built in time for bathroom and picture breaks. So I estimated my time finishing at about 3:20 or 3:30. That’s 3 hours and 30 minutes. I actually beat that time, but more on that later.

Ok so we get to our assigned corrals, and I am at the front, waiting and it is starting to get cold… oh, my, I think I should have brought and worn leggings. And thermal socks… I am COLD! Then it hit me… I had to pee, very badly. Ok let me back up just a bit, for the past week or so I had been fighting a cold. I take Airborne to counter any virus or bug trying to make me sick. Now I swear by Airborne it works. It has kept me from being sick this whole year of training. But, when it kicks in it flushes the virus or bug out of your system… So I had to pee! As I made my way to the Port-a-Pottys I was not too concerned. I was just thinking oh good, pee now (I had not realized what was actually going on yet). So I get back in line, of course farther back than my first position. I start to get ready, warming up, stretching etc. Then it hits me again, I have to pee, very badly, Port-a-Potty again, back in line again, back further. I warm up again, stretch again… wait I have to pee again. Now I am a bit concerned, we are getting crowded in the corral and I have to go out and come back in. But when you have to pee you have to pee. I make it to the Port-a-Potty and back into the corral. I feel a lot better and I think I am done, I hope and pray I am done.

The race starts! Corral A, Wave #1 goes. You can feel the electricity in the air, the excitement is almost tangible.

As Donald Duck gives the count down (the ½ marathon is Donald’s race) they set off Fireworks for every wave to go. It was spectacular.

They go through Wave 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, we are up next. Our corral is moving together like one body, we are ready, willing and able to go. Then we start to move to get into position, we walk the walk to the start area. We can now see Donald on the stage, getting ready to give us the go, to start our Wave for the race. I was too far back to go with the leaders, but as he started the count I started to run and hit my GPS, so those who weren’t there could watch me run on their computers. I was earlier than the start line, He quacked “One, Two, Three, GO!” The Fireworks went off and so did we.

I froze, I was moving, but in my mind I froze. What now? I can’t do this! What is the matter with me? I am not a runner! I can’t run 13.1 miles. Who do I think I am? Then I saw it. The reason for this run, the charity we were helping The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. My Grandfather died from Leukemia, so I said to myself “You can do this, you have trained for this for 9 months, and you just ran 12 miles without stopping 2 weeks ago. You can do this!” Then I heard it, a man’s voice, my Grandpa, “We are with you every step of the way.” So I told myself, you can’t cry now girl, you have to run, get going and I did.

I was in a pack of runners, a brand new experience; I kept my head up and just ran. I got water at mile one, felt real good, at about 1½ miles I felt warmer and started to sweat a bit. I needed to get my sweat shirt off, so I moved over to the grass area, stripped, as I was getting back on to the road, my cell phone beeped. I said, “Now who is texting me while I am in the middle of this race?” It was my cousin Megan, who was here to support her friends running in the race and me. She was letting me know where she was, I texted back I am running and off I went. Hill, it was an exit ramp to get us onto the road to The Magic Kingdom. Not a biggie I was prepared for a hill, but I thought, “Didn’t Reid say it was at the end?” Oh well.

I got to mile 2 and there was no water… What?!? No water, I was told there was water at every mile… Not at two, I don’t think I missed it? Oh, this is not good. Well keep going, get water at mile 3. Miles 3, 4 and 5 were fairly easy. I was at a good pace and feeling comfortable. Now as we were getting ready to enter The Magic Kingdom we had to run into a tunnel, down hill, up hill area. It bottle necked and we were all forced to walk up this hill. So another hill not a big deal and I bet Reid didn’t think of this as a hill or he didn’t know about it, maybe they had changed the course from last year.

Then we were in The Magic Kingdom, now let me say right here, the spectators and the volunteers were awesome. A lot of us had our names on our bibs and the spectators and volunteers would cheer us on or as they say in Disney chEar us on. They would shout out encouragement and use our names, it was truly Magical. As we were coming on to Main Street to head to the Castle I heard my name being screamed several times. I looked over my shoulder and saw Megan, she was cheering me on. It was awesome and made my trip so far to see her there.

Then we were in front of the Castle, there were volunteers standing waiting to take pictures of us with our own cameras in front of the Castle. I took that opportunity to have someone take my picture in front of the Castle. I had decided not to stop to have my picture with any Character along the way unless it was Donald. But I wanted a picture at the half way point. As we came through the Castle (which everyone was screaming and cheering) I saw an official photographer taking photos. I moved over and gave him a thumbs up for my “official” picture on this race.

Now the real work begins, half down, half to go. I was still feeling really good, I was having conversations with my fellow runners, and several of them asked about my shirt we talked about my heart attack and my comeback. I talked to a couple of doctors about it too. I was actually having a really good time, people were encouraging me and I was encouraging others. It was great. Then I hit mile 8, fatigue and light headedness hit me. Ok time for food. I stopped at the water stop; I got water and pulled out my shot blocks (which are a carb & sugar running energy bars), I ate half and downed my water. I waited a minute or two then took off knowing the shot blocks would kick in any minute. I was wrong, I felt better, but not 100 percent. What was going on? Then at mile 10 ½ I had to go to the bathroom. I got off the road, got in line for a Port-a-Potty and then went to pee. Oops not just pee. Oh well at least I shouldn't have to worry about that other function for a while. I felt better, but still drained. Now about mile 11 is where we hit hill number 3. It was the hill Reid told me about. This one I had to walk up, but no shame in that I was not the only one walking. I was getting excited again, I saw 12 I pulled my phone out and texted my Mom. I am at Mile 12. I put the phone back and pushed on. As I looked up I saw other runners that had finished coming back to chEar us on. One looked right at me and said “You can do this; you are almost there,” he held up his medal “look at what you get just less than a mile to go.” I know he was talking to me, cause I must have looked defeated, I felt defeated. But as I was about to give up I thought to myself, “Oh no you don’t, you are doing this for your heart, for your Grandmother, that died from heart disease and for your Grandpa.” Then I heard it again, as I saw another The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society sign, “We are with you every step of the way.”  Again I said, no, you can’t cry, you have to run. Go! Finish this race!

We came into Epcot and ran around the Earth Sphere oh we are almost done. Where is the last marker for mile 13. Come on where is it… There it is only .1 to go; I can see the finish line. I can see it… Oh No, there is Donald, the one Character I want a picture with and there is a line a long one. If I stop, I will not be able to make it across that finish line… Choices. I choose to finish, I will find Donald later. I did it 3:16:43 and it was better than I had anticipated. I was done, I had just completed my first ever ½ marathon a full 13.1 (I actually ran 13.43 miles, cause I started early) miles, I ran the whole thing except for a few places, the hills. I was very excited and proud of myself. I then saw the volunteers giving out our medals, again excitement and the thrill of victory.

Oh, wait what is that feeling? Head rush, spinning feeling, weakness, I need food and water. I kept moving I had to eat and get something to drink. I bypassed the photo opp with my medal. I found the food line and water line. A banana helped, but wait I need a bathroom. Port-a-Potty, thank God for no line, then it hit a bad wave of diarrhea. What was that?

When I was done I met up with my parents, we headed to the car, nope, got to go again, Port-a-Potty. What is happening?

We move on, get to the car and head out of the park and to a restaurant, it hits me again. Now I am getting scared. Needless to say I was not a happy camper. I needed to find out what was happening to me.

Once I got on the internet I found out about Runners Diarrhea. Because I had the flush of liquids from before the race and didn’t realize that I was dehydrated, I didn’t replenish then made it worse from running and not getting enough water during the race. Well, lesson learned the hard way. Never again, if I have to over water myself and pee on the side of the road to avoid dehydration I will.

But I have to say all and all a great experience, even the after disaster. I take that and will learn from it. I enjoyed this so much it is now part of who I am. I have already signed up for my next race. The NC ½ marathon at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, I am addicted to running.

“When it comes to running, the easy part is at the finish and the hard part is at the start. But once you put one foot in front of the other, it’s addictive!”

October 15, 2011, I ran my first ever 5K race (run). It has been 11 months since my heart attack. I have lost 70 lbs., I have started eating healthy (and loving it) I can not even really eat junk food anymore. I have not had a cigarette since the hospital. I also run about 4 miles a day.

After the heart attack, I was bound and determined never to go back to the hospital for my heart again, so I started walking (to get my body into shape) increasing to 3.25 miles a day. Then in March my Brother-in-law suggested that I run a 1/2 marathon... Yeah right?!?
But after a lot of noodling the idea, I tried to run a bit on my walks, I decided maybe I could. So I made the commitment to run in January 2012 (10 months away) a 1/2 marathon in Disney World.

So on March 21, 2011 I started my "training" for the 1/2 marathon in January 2012. I slowly started to run during my morning walks, until I got to where I was mostly running instead of walking. I have increased time, pace and distance to 4 miles a day at 14 minutes a mile.

So yesterday on October 15, 2011 I ran my first ever 5K race (run) for the Heart Association. It was for fun, and to raise money of course (which I did raise a little bit). But the most important thing was my participation. As I walked around the event before the race, I was in awe of what I was witnessing. Just 11 short months prior I was lying in a hospital bed (dying of a blocked artery). Now here I was standing amidst people who had suffered the same disease as me and those that were there to support us for defeating/surviving that disease; as we got ready to walk/run for surviving/defeating it. It was an awesome sight and feeling.

Praise be to God that he allowed my Doctor the time to get to me and fix it. I thank God for the kick in the butt He gave me that day to get up off my butt, to quit smoking, to start to eat healthy and to enjoy my life from that moment on.

My friends Jennifer & Michael came with me to support and walk with me. I can not express how much that meant to me.

As we were getting ready to start this run, I was getting nervous and excited, the adrenaline was pumping and I was feeling it. It was not a race to win, but it was a run to get me prepared for the 1/2 marathon to come. We were at the front of the pack at the start. They called for us to go and I took off. Jennifer was pushing me to get me ahead of the pack. Michael was beside me jogging with me (what awesome support and friends). I was flustered and not sure what was going on at the time. I was going to fast and couldn't breathe properly. Then I stopped in my mind. I said to myself "Robin, you can do this, you run 4 miles a day, and you have been running a 3k for over a month now daily. Calm down and do your thing".
So I took a deep breath, I slowed down my pace to even it out, I caught my breath and I started to jog/run correctly.

Then I hit the first hill, now the hills I run everyday are easy, slight angles I have to "push" myself to run up, but not bad. The hills on this run felt like going up a mountain, I was not prepared. But I DID NOT give up, I just pushed through. I did have to walk some, but I was good enough on my pace that my time did not drop dramatically when I walked. I also kept a fast pace on my walking. Now I have a smart phone, which I have a running app that keeps up with my pace, distance and time. I call her "Buffy" as I run; Buffy tells me at certain intervals how far I have gone and the time. So all through the race I knew where I was and how far I had gone and what my time was. I like this app because I know when I am about done. Buffy had given me my cue that I had .25 miles to go to the end. I was almost done, the race was about to be won, by me, I had accomplished something that in my wildest dreams I never thought I would WANT to do. As I rounded the corner to the finish I was so happy I had accomplished a running race for the first time in my life. It was a great day.

Heart Attack at 40 years old

Thursday November 18, 2010 started as any normal Thursday, I got up... wait it really didn't. I was feeling rushed because I had waited to the last minute to get the new computer ready for our Santa Portrait shoot of the year (we help local animal rescues raise money for their animals). Things were not really going well, I couldn't get the computer or the monitor to cooperate with each other, and then Windows wanted to be difficult. Jim, my Santa and partner in the shoot, came by to help. He stayed for a bit then left. I was making enough progress that the computer would do what I needed it to do for the shoot.

At about 5:30pm I had my last cigarette. I felt horrible, like I was getting sick. I decided I didn't need to smoke anymore that evening so I was pretty much done with everything for the day. Then about 7:30pm my chest and back started to feel compressed with pressure. I had pressure across the front of my chest along the top of my breast area. The pressure in my back was at the bottom of my rib cage and it felt like it was under my ribs. I also had a pressure in my left shoulder. I thought, well, here I have talked myself into feeling like I am having a heart attack due to the stress of the computer malfunction and photo shoot. Also a friend from high school had passed away not a week before from a heart attack, so I just thought I was over reacting. At about 8:00pm I decided to go to bed, I lay there for an hour. About 9:00pm I could feel the pressure decrease so I drifted off to sleep.

The next morning at 3:00am I woke up and was surprised and a bit upset that the pressure was still there. Now I was starting to worry. I got out of bed and went to the kitchen to get ready for the day. As I was making coffee and unloading the dishwasher, the pressure intensified. I needed to talk to someone who had experienced a panic-attack; I needed to talk to my brother, so I waited until 4:00am to call him. I called his house phone, but no one answered so I left a message, not knowing if they had a “real” answering machine or voicemail. I waited and called back, still no answer. I called his cell phone, because he kept it beside his bed as an alarm clock, but I knew he was having issues with it so I wasn’t surprised when he didn’t answer. So I called his wife’s cell phone, knowing again that she kept it beside her as an alarm clock. I thought to myself if she doesn’t answer I am calling my Mom. Now some of you might ask, why not call my Mom first, because I didn’t want to upset or scare her if this pressure turned out to be nothing.

So Melanie answered her phone, I asked to speak to Andy, she handed the phone to him. I asked him about his panic-attacks and what did they feel like? He told me the symptoms he had experienced were not what was going on with me. I then started to cry and said I think I am having a heart attack. Well actually I said “Oh, Crap!” Andy said “What is wrong?” I said “I think I am having a heart attack.”

At that point he told me to call 911, then he told Melanie to call 911, then I was so hysterical I couldn’t talk to him, I had to hang up. EMS tried to call me but they have an unpublished number, so my phone had an app on it that would pick up the call then hang up on the unknown number. This happened twice, by the time I got the app turned off, the police showed up to my house.

I had the dogs blocked off in the living room, and I had the side door open waiting on the EMS. The police officer came into the house, I sat down.

He asked “Are you OK?”

“NO!"

“Are you being held against your will?”

“No?”

“Are you alone in the house?”

“Yes”

The whole time he is checking out the house. Then he asks why I didn’t answer my phone when EMS called me. I told him about the app on my phone. As I was explaining that, Fire Rescue/EMS pulled up to my house. The officer then yelled out to them “She wasn’t hanging up on you on purpose, it was her phone.” Someone yelled back “Yeah, there is an app for that”.

Then all 5 (which seemed like 25) EMS/Fire Rescue people came in my house, asking questions, writing down my meds, taking vitals; it was a mad house, the whole time the dogs are barking. Then the EMS lady hooked me up to an EKG machine to measure my heart and as she was doing that, she was trying to calm the dogs. “It’s OK puppies we are here to help, shhhsssshhh”, but they kept on barking. I said in a loud voice “OK, that’s enough!” They stopped and all the people turned and looked at me, I said “That’s right, they know.”

Then the EMS lady said “I am showing that you are not having a heart attack, but because of the pressure you need to go to the hospital to have it checked out.”

I said “So you show I am not having a heart attack, but you want me to go to the hospital to have my chest pressure checked?”

“Yes”

“OK, I will go, but I will have my brother take me, he is on his way now.”

“Uh, I don’t think that is a good idea, we should take you”

“According to your instrument, am I having a Heart Attack?”

“No”

“Then I will have my brother take me.”

Andy and Melanie arrived moments later, the EMS lady told them I needed to go to the hospital and all the EMS people left.

Andy put me in my car and off we went. As he pulled in front of the Emergency Room I got out and went inside I told them I might be having a heart attack, but I thought is was a panic-attack. They rushed me into the back and got me on another EKG; it was normal again. Now they were waiting to get blood and have the doctor talk to me, so they put me in a cubicle.

The on-call doctor said they were going to run some tests and then have the cardiologist come talk to me. They gave me 3 nitro pills (oh the pain of the headache) and took blood.

The on-call doctor said that my blood work showed some abnormalities but they didn’t think it was a heart attack. But they wanted to be safe so the cardiologist was coming to talk to me.

By this time we called Mom and let her know what was going on. She immediately came to the hospital. Mom had arrived by the time the cardiologist came to talk to us. He said that he thought it was indigestion and muscle fatigue (because I had worked out the day before). He gave me an indigestion cocktail and the pressure went away.

I thought, oh yeah, I am going home today.

Then he came in and said they wanted to keep me for observation and run some more blood work, so they moved me upstairs and drew blood.

So after the blood was drawn and I was moved, the cardiologist came in and shut the door and dropped his head, I knew I was in trouble then.

I thought, Oh Crap.

As it turned out, indeed there was a problem with my heart and they wanted to go in and see that problem. They would start with a Cardiac Catheterization to go in and view the heart, if the problem was small then they would put in a stent, if it was bigger than a stent then they would put in a balloon. If the problem was bigger than a balloon, then they would do bypass surgery. But they had to first get in and see what was going on.

So as I lay there contemplating my future and whether I actually had one, I started to pray.

Was I scared? Of course I was. Did I trust my Lord and Savior? Why yes I did! How did I feel about whatever the outcome would be of this procedure? I was accepting of the two outcomes it was going to be. One, I would go on to be with my Savior and my loved ones (My Grandma and Grandpa). Two, I would live to see another day. If it was the latter, things were going to change. One, I would change, two, eating habits would change and, three, exercise would be done everyday.

As I lay on the table and the cardiologist put the catheter into my leg then my heart. They discovered 35% blockage, but it was blockage in my main artery on the front of my heart, the best place for a blockage to be, so they inserted a stent. Done and done… wait not done, as the stent was being put in place, they knocked some plaque lose and it went down a side artery causing me to have a second more painful (fire feeling) heart attack. It was not good, at that point anything bad that was causing me to go through this pain was on a list to be removed from my life. I never want to go back to the hospital to deal with that kind of pain or trauma again.

I've done it again.

Ok, I bided my time, the Eris worked for an intermediate solution but could not continue on. It was too slow and was not picking up phone calls or allowing me to make calls.

So I have gone to the Motorola Droid X.

Now I am fast on the fly and everything works the way it should, and I don't feel like I am stuck a years behind everyone else.

I made the switch again to a new phone, platform, and apps

So after not even a year with my Blackberry Storm, I have switched to a new phone, OS platform and brand new apps. The Storm was fun, exciting and worked 100% better than the Motorola Q9c. Windows mobile OS is a terrible platform, causing the Q to crash multiply times a day. So after an agonizing year of restarts and searching the web for help and answers to get the phone to operate, and keeping the battery alive longer than 30 minutes, I purchased my BB Storm.

It took me only 5 hours to transfer and set up the phone the way I wanted it. I spent countless hours a few months prior, searching and researching that phone. Thank you Crackberry.com, for all your wonderful information and members that posted such great tips and tricks.

Once I got the phone the way I wanted it with my information in place, I started to play with the apps. I about fell in the floor when I discovered, that the apps were expensive, rarely free, and did not work well with a touch screen, even though they were said to work perfectly.

That opened the door to disappointment then the phone problems started, crashing, locking up, a lot of crashing; you have to do a battery pull at least once a day. What?!? Can't you just turn off the phone, nope, that is actually not turning it off, (who came up with that idea). So now I have to take off my case, no easy feat, then take off the back, then pull out the battery, DAILY! No of course not, just download a "free app" to do a simulated battery pull. Ok, doesn't work... Are you kidding me? So now you must buy an app to do that for you, but since you started with the free app, you will have to buy an app that will work around the OS problem, cause the free app screwed up the OS, so that it will not work with the same paid app, which is slightly higher in cost. Anyone confused yet?

So after countless hours of doing more research to fix problems, buying, downloading, installing, uninstalling, getting refunds for apps... I am finally getting this phone to work for me not against me.

Then guess what happened... the new platform of Google android phones are now on the open market and you can get them at Verizon, not just on T-Mobile network. What?!?
I love my Google: Gmail, Calendar, Task, Voice, Blogger... and all that does not work well with my BB Storm. But do I want a new phone, let's think a moment... will it be hard to transfer over, since I enjoy the touch screen (that is about it (not really the problems that mount on a daily basis)), I sold my parents and brother on this phone... Should I abandon ship to a new phone and platform?

So again I start my research and study of the Google platform Android. Great reviews and lots of apps that are free or really inexpensive like the iPhone. I could spend 10 dollars for an app for my Storm that would be 3 dollars for the iPhone, then I found out a lot of the apps for Android were free or about a dollar.

I set my sights on a HTC Droid Incredible and headed for the Verizon store. As I am talking to my sales guy Aaron, he informs me that the Incredible is not available, they are on backorder cause HTC didn't realize how popular they were going to be, and did not produce enough. Can we say Tickle Me Elmo? So he shows me the Motorola Droid, I don't like, I have a couple of friends that have it and I didn't like it when I played with theirs.

Then Aaron said to me “Do you have to have the Incredible, how about the Eris or even the LG Ally?”

“No, Let's see those phones.”

He got the two phones out for demo, and I didn't like the LG, but awww the Eris, was perfect, it was smooth and easy to hold, it fit perfectly in my hands, and it was easy to type on. I didn't make almost any mistakes on the Eris composing a message as I would have done on the Storm. So we start talking about apps and moving over my information. As I am asking questions, Aaron was training a new employee, he says to me, I went from the Storm (which he had to exchange out 9 times) to the Droid and it was so easy to transfer over. SOLD! After a few more questions, and setting up the new phone from my old, I walked out a happy customer, and excited about getting to know the new phone.

Here it is not even a week later, and I can't put the phone down. I have only had to buy 3 apps (a total of 8 dollars, my total for the Storm was about $75) the rest of the apps were already on the phone or I downloaded them for free. My Google accounts sync up and I can do everything on the phone with them as I can online. The internet download is fast, even when I am in a terrible area of reception; it is 500% percent faster than the Storm. I can get my Facebook and Twitter updates without having to wait 5 to 10 minutes then being told the connection has time out.

The Eris has everything the Incredible does, except for moving wallpapers (who cares) and a tad bit less memory. But it works so well and I have drained the battery so often, I have to buy an extra capacity one just to keep it charged, which is good thing. The battery is not dying just cause the phone is on, it is dying cause I am using and enjoying the phone.

Hillary's Shower

August 1, 2009 - Flint Hill Vineyards, East Bend NC. Hillary Lee Brickey, Bride To Be.

We came to celebrate the coming nuptials of Hillary and Tim, as they will marry on September 19, 2009.

I reflect back on my own marriage, and think 'Did I enjoy that time I had with my family?'; Oh so much so! But 'Did I enjoy that time with my future husband?'; Not so much.

I am so happy for this couple and the love they have found and share. I want so much for them to have that fairy tale of love never ending.

I did not get my "Happily Ever After" with the man I thought I would, but I know that Hillary and Tim will.

The Left Behind Series by Tim LaHaye & Jerry B. Jenkins

I started this journey almost 10 years ago, during my own tribulation of crisis I discovered the Left Behind Series.

I was out of work, down on myself for a failed business, and wondering if the Lord even cared about me.

One weekend I was out with my husband and brother at a small bookstore in town. As I walked the aisles of this store, I was not really looking for anything in particular, I came to the Christian section, there was the first book in the series, and it jump out at me. Revelations and the rapture have always been a fascination of mine, I picked up the book and started to read the back cover, as I did, I was drawn into this story. The book was on sale, and I bought it. Before I even got home, I had read 4 chapters. I was done with the book by the next day, and went back to buy the next two in the series. By the end of the week I was ready for more, I went hunting for the rest. Soul Harvest was the last one (the 4th one in the series) and I had to wait for the rest to be released. I hungered for more, and waited in anticipation for the authors to finish writing them and put them on the shelves.

As they were fiction books (a story for entertainment) they still had the truth buried in the pages, God is our Lord and Savior and no matter our circumstances, He will always be there to support and love us. I craved the fullness of the story, the drama and the intrigue, but I also craved the truth within the story, the revelation of what God is going to do for his children. Protect those that already know Him, and save those that will come to know Him after the rapture of His Church. Even though we don't know what will actually happen until it does, this series gives insight to what the Bible has already laid out in Revelations, and the prophecy of the End Times of our Planet.

It also did more for me than just entertain it gave me hope when I was in very low part of my life, God revealed these books to me and I drank them. They lead me back to my life instructions, my Bible, which saved my mind, spirit and soul. Giving me hope and encouragement then showing me that my problems were not as bad as I thought, saving me from myself.

I have read the books over and over since the first time I picked up the first book, and have downloaded the audio books as well, this story never gets old. Even though the characters are not real, the events may not happen exactly like in the books, but we do know as Christians there will be a time line of how things will unfold when Revelations happens just like in the books. I thank God I will be one of the ones caught up to Him in a Twinkling of an Eye during the Rapture, and will never have to meet or be in the presences of The AntiChrist.

1 Thessalonians 4:14-18

14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so through Jesus God will bring those who have died with him. 15For we declare to you what the Lord has told us to say: We who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who have died. 16With a shout of command, with the archangel's call, and with the sound of God's trumpet, the Lord himself will come down from heaven, and the dead who belong to the Messiah will rise first. 17Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18So then, encourage one another with these words.