Galatians

Scott has been (and will continue to be) preaching through Galatians at our church on Sundays. The sermons have been so very helpful and clear... I am very fortunate to be married to one of my favorite preachers! If you would like to listen to any of his sermons, click HERE!

In chapter one, the three divisions were "God's Gospel," "A Different Gospel," and "A Convinced Apostle."

In Galatians 2:1-14, the divisions were "Liberty," "Slavery," and "Practical Legalism."

Liberty:

• Is not the right to rule over self
• Is not liberty to be lazy in our seeking after God
• Is freedom from the law FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS! He used the example of how the law WAS a burden on our backs, but NOW in Christ, it is a guide in our hands.
  
• Is freedom to know Christ as Mediator and obey him out of love

Slavery or Bondage:

• Deals with the externals... the outside of the cup. It does not deal with the heart... Slavery says change your heart from the outside in... WRONG!
• Biblical Christianity says we have hearts of stone, and God must change our hearts... change begins within and works its way outward!

Practical Legalism:

• When our focus gets off Christ, we lead self and others astray.
  
• Think of a wagon wheel with a hub and spokes. If we replace Christ as the hub and put one of the spokes in the center, the wheel will never work properly... and yet, somehow, we are so proud of that spoke that we stick in the center! So proud, in fact, that we often deny Christian fellowship to someone who has not placed as much importance on that spoke as we have!
  

Mito- What? 5K

Yesterday morning, the kids and I got up very, very early and drove to Millington, TN for the Jackson Culley Mito-What? 5K. Jackson Culley is the son of my first cousin, and he has Mitochondrial Disease. It is a disease that creates weakness in all of your cells, and there is currently no cure. The 5K was an effort to raise money for research... All in all, I think they raised almost $20,000!!!

My cousin is the son of my father's sister.... so most of the Crosier clan was there to run, walk, or support the family. It was a beautiful morning, and the Duleys showed up Ready to RUN!

My Aunt Gwen and the kids B4 the race

Josh did the one mile fun run with my dad... he came in third place! They think it was only one QUARTER of a mile, though! Oh well... Josh was offering no complaints!

Sarah and my mom after the awards- mom has her BMC shirt on!

Sarah doesn't know what her time was, but she got first in the 0-14 girls! Hannah got third in 0-14... this was great, considering she got her cast off on Thursday and hasn't been running! Will got third for the 0-14 boys, and he ran under 30 minutes! I got second over all female, and my time was 21:13.

We all wore our Spartan shirts, even though we couldn't race with them in Pontotoc. My dad even had his Spartan colors on! (It was not planned, but it made a good picture... except for my goofy face!)

Dad and I with the kids after the awards

F/D pics and Catching Up

Well, it is a little later than I had planned, but here are the Father/Daughter banquet pictures from a few weeks ago!






Things have been really busy around here!

BMC is going well- I really, really like the group of runners I am working with! I think it is going to take a little while to feel like I am situated and have a system for things. All at once I had to come up with recruits for next year, a training plan for this spring and summer, a brochure and plan for a summer running camp, and several other things!

This would be no problem, but because I am trying to do this IN ADDITION to all of my other duties, it has been a bit of a challenge! The kids have all been a tremendous help around here. Hannah has taken over laundry, Sarah helps in the kitchen, and the boys are doing a lot more as well. I am going to have to learn to be even more disciplined with my time and my organization.

Last week I spent a day working on getting my school organized. That made school go so much more smoothly... we actually did all of our work this week! (Even geography!) Although we had a great school week, I realized that my next project to work on is going to be DINNER! I did not do such a great job of having dinner ready for us all when I got home, and I need to get a menu my crock pot meal list back out!

Hannah got her cast off last week, and now she is in therapy twice per week for a few more weeks. She can almost straighten her arm! Boy, was she glad to get to play the violin again on Friday!

Friday night we got to go to the wedding of Emily Riley to Tyler Upchurch. It was a beautiful ceremony, and I hope that their marriage is a wonderful, God-honoring relationship!

Sarah/ Hannah-ism

We were driving the other day and talk radio was on. Something was mentioned about Hillary Clinton, and this was the following conversation:

Hannah: Didn't Hillary Clinton go to work for Obama or something after the election?

Sarah: Yeah, I think she is his secretary or something.

Mom: LOL, no, she is called the Secretary of State... it is different from a secretary.

Hannah: Wouldn't that be funny if she was the secretary of OUR whole state? She never would have certified ANY Personhood signatures!

Sarah: Yeah, she would've said, "Sorry, that name is spelled with only one e... he doesn't count!"

The mental image of Hillary Clinton answering the White House telephone has made me chuckle several times over the past few days!

Spartan Blog

I just started a blog for the Spartans. Sign up to follow it, or check it regularly for workouts, etc.

www.spartan-xc.blogspot.com

This Week

We have had a busy week of recovering, school, cross country, and chicken killing.

Ok, I will start with the most unusual of the group: chicken killing! Several months ago, the kids got to pick out a baby chick at the Feed N Seed in New Albany. We brought them home and planned to raise them, hoping they were hens... Well, we ended up with 3 roosters and a hen!

The roosters have gotten large enough to make Chanticleer feel threatened, and they have been wearing him out! He spends most of his day chasing them away from his girls and trying to fight them. Stressed out hens do not lay as many eggs, and this was becoming evident.

Last Saturday, in the midst of sermon preparation, Scott decided to de-stress our hens! We had been talking about it for a while, but he kept noticing how much Chanticleer was fending off our hens from impending Rooster Rendezvous. He went outside, herded the roosters into the chicken coop, grabbed them one at a time, and cut their heads off!

(One rooster managed to escape, and it is funny to see how humbled he has been these past few days! No shenanigans at all!)

Scott brought them on inside, plucked them, gutted them, seasoned them up, and cooked them for dinner! When the kids and I got home from a birthday party, there was fresh chicken in the oven... VERY FRESH!!! It was just a little bit chewy, but our friend told us later that "yard birds" are "dumpling birds," and not really good for roasting. We will know better when Rooster #3's time is up.

I can't find my camera, and so I don't have any pictures to go with this post! Drat! It is somewhere... I just need to take the time to find it...

Anyway, we are all finally healthy and back to life as usual at the Duley house... whatever that means!

BMC cross country is going well... first weeks are always awkward, but I think I know where the copy machine is, where to take postage stuff, etc. I ordered some BMC t-shirts, and I am excited to get some school spirit going on!

Last night we had the runners over for supper and "Cross Country Class#1." We talked about the stages of training and our overall plan for the summer and fall season. Scott did a devotion with us all, and the evening was very enjoyable. I am blessed to have a great group of athletes (actually two of them... Spartans AND Toppers!) to work with!

This morning we had Yoga at 6:00 AM, and this evening is the Father/Daughter banquet for the girls and Scott. I MUST find my camera, and I will post pictures of the girls and their daddy! Thursday is the first spring practice for the Spartans, so we have a busy week! I have a lot to do tomorrow, but I am excited to see all of my runners!

Sickness and Hannah-ism

The Duleys are generally pretty healthy... good solid stock, if you know what I mean. We have made it through church-wide bouts of stomach bugs and colds with nary a sneeze. But when we fall, we fall hard.

Last Tuesday, Josh started running fever. He had been exposed to strep throat, so I took him in to be tested... postitive. Wednesday Scott was down. Thursday saw Sarah and Will spike temperatures. Friday morning came, and Hannah was down and out. On Saturday, alas, I did not escape; I awoke with a funny feeling in my throat that progressed into a fever and all out sickness as the day went on.

Ironically, just in time for mom to get sick, the 6 year old was getting better... and stir crazy!

I don't know if it was the fever or the RRCA visualization techniques on my mind, but last night, as I lay still, a monumental, microscopic battle was taking place within my blood stream. The white blood cells were regrouping (literally), calling in the cavalry, and brandishing their swords. They were a little beat up, worn down, and fatigued... but this was no time for quitting. It was all out war, and this was the battle that would make history. The foe could not be allowed to keep a foothold, and the white blood cells were about to escort the evil enemy to doom. At first, it wasn't looking promising, but Team White decided to rally and give one all out last push. Their efforts were rewarded! The ugly little vermin were exiled to the icy arctic toe regions... where they would await execution by drowning in the shower drain at dawn.

My kids got a kick out of that story tonight... I actually woke up with a much lower temperature today, and I am very thankful! I am not sure what we had, but I don't think strep throat was the only bug we were fighting. It is Tuesday night, and Hannah still has a 101 temperature, and mine is still hovering just a tad above normal.

My plan is to get some rest and let Team White totally finish the job... BECAUSE... I had to call in sick my first two days at BMC!!! Coach Smith was very understanding, but still... AAARRGGH. We should embrace every opportunity to be humbled.

Hannah-ism: Tonight at dinner, we were discussing a movie, and why it was rated PG-13. I said that is was because of "scenes of massive destruction."

Hannah said, "Oh, then our house is PG-13!"

Scott, not understanding, said, "We have a PG house!"

I explained what she meant, and then Hannah added, "Well, it really is PG-13... we also have brief displays of nudity! (Josh!)"