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I do realize that mum has been the word for a few weeks. It's been nutsy around here. In a nutshell, here has been the past 4 weeks:

• Nadia had her 5th birthday.  Andrew's mom and dad were up and we had a very nice little family party.  She got lots of princess stuff, which she loves and also some stuff for school.  Talk about that later.
• I completed my Couch to 5K program, which I had never done before.  I feel real good about that, although running at 30 mins a clip is still difficult.  I have less than a week till my 5K and barring any unforseen problems, I'll be doing it.  At this point I just want to finish.  
• Andrew had surgery Aug 25 for sleep apnea.  The procedure is called LAUP.  You can google that, because I haven't the time or patience to link it.  This, my friends, has been difficult.  My husband does not carry a lot of extra weight and since the surgery he has lost, at last count, 8 lbs.  And that was a few days ago.  He has severe pain eating, and his throat is sore most of the time.  He still has episodes of not breathing when he's sleeping.  I've retreated to the guest bed, I just can't hear it.  It frightens me too much.  We see the doc this afternoon, hopefully he can give us something that will help.  He just hurts so.  
• Nadia starts school tomorrow.  I do not feel ready for this.  I mean, I'm ready for her to go, but I just don't know if I'm ready physically.  I mean, will I be able to pack a good enough lunch?  She is supposed to have memorized this pin code for her lunch/milk money and she hasn't, my fault.  I just don't feel ready.  
• Oh and I'm preaching on sunday.  Any other time I'd be just bouncing off the walls with glee and I am, but the other things going on have overshadowed this excitement.  

Grief has been trying to settle in and take it's course over my grandma, but it's hard to let myself do that with all the other stuff going on.  I just don't feel like I've got time.  Yesterday in my run I started to cry.  What the heck?  Do you know how hard it is to cry when you are running?  I felt like my lungs were going to pop.  Like is hard right now, not as hard as some, I'm sure, but it's hard.  I'm tired.  I need a nap.  And I need a friend.  Pray for us, would you? 

Beautiful

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Forgive me for not posting an update on Sunday. Sunday's weigh in was, well, depressing. But it shouldn't have been. Here goes. According to the scale, on Sunday, I had lost 4lbs total. BUT I should say that friday I was down 6lbs, however, my cycle is coming any day, so I'm taking Sunday's reading with a grain of salt. 4lbs is still good. Considering I hadn't lost anything for well over a year. So I'm eager to see what I'm at when this whole womanly business is over.

The eating part of the diet is going well. My skin is in the best condition it's been in a long time. I have energy. And I've eaten a few pieces of bread. No fruit, yet, that's coming. I'm going back into those sorts of things real slow. I made a high fiber bread, that when I'm done tweeking it, I'll post the recipe on here. It's an original recipe! I had a name for it, but I renamed it to Russian Renewal Bread. I'm proud of my Russian heritage and the bread is so hearty it feels russian. My husband ate a little too much of it and after this morning he did say he felt renewed. Hah!

My running is going great. The last two times I've got this charge, I feel like electric all over. They tell me that's the high. Well I LOVE it! I'm going to keep running, I think. I've printed off the registration form for the race. I'm gonna do it. I can't wait! I almost want to find another race to do too, before it gets too cold. We'll see.

So why the title 'Beautiful'?  Check out the pic.

Some may think I just look sweaty and gross, and while I am sweaty, I think I look beautiful.  I just got done running before this pic.  I felt strong, confident and beautiful.  Running makes me feel good.  And that is beautiful.