Mom, Dad, I think I have finally run out of steam!

Little guy cashed in all his chips and was out for the count Christmas Day at 8:02 pm. (we didn't even make it out of Grandma and Grandpa's subdivision before he was snoring!). He really did squeeze every bit of life out of this Christmas as he could, keeping Grandma and Grandpa M on their toes from Friday afternoon until mid-morning Christmas Day, a quick snooze and then he was off to Grandma and Grandpa W's to chase after the cousins and sing Happy Birthday Jesus! He hit the wall after his sugar buzz started wearing off around 7:30 pm.

We were so excited to give the Faces of Layla book (a book published by our agency with pictures from their home in Ethiopia - the proceeds go to the Grace fund which helps find forever families for older children and children with special needs) to both Grandparents this Christmas. Sometimes it seems like friends and relatives are watching our adoption journey from the sidelines because we are so immersed in the process ourselves, it is hard to bring the paperwork and wait to life for someone else. We hope that this book will be shared by our parents with their friends and that it will help to bring the places and people of Layla House to life for them so they can further share in this exciting journey with us.

On a slightly different topic, I continue to be amazed and impressed by the quality of the Fair Trade gifts I have selected over the past 2 years. In addition to chocolate and coffee, we started, about 2 years ago, to actively seek items we could be confident that the workers who made them were paid a fair wage. In doing so, we have found so many beautiful and unique items for our home and for gifts. This year's favorites where a handmade purse from Guatemala and earrings and the coolest lizard wall hanging from Haiti made from recycled drums (insert plug for 10,000 Villages here). Now I just need to find some baskets for our shelves in the new kitchen!

What a Wonderful Christmas Gift!

Congratulations to all the AAI families that have accepted referrals in the last few days! We love seeing the pictures of your sweet little ones! We pray that you will have a quick court date and the joy of meeting your children soon. We have heard additional referrals will happen after the first of the year after the paperwork and medical information is gathered. We hope these referrals will be for families with June dossiers. We are anxiously waiting to see the dossier dates of the referrals after the first of the year as they creep closer and closer to August.

It has been a tough week around the house, I came down with a terrible cold and the little guy has been exploring the "terrible twos" to the fullest extent. After he threw his cereal and vitamin on the floor this morning and kept screaming, no cereal, no cereal, I could only shake my head when I put on his coat, hat and mittens and he looked at me with tears in his eyes and said "I need cereal". Poor baby, what an emotional roller coaster he is on. I did feel somewhat better when we got to daycare and one of the other kids was screaming and crying because the teacher took away crayons because he would not share. The other kid was so upset he threw up all over the table, so I guess I am thankful little guy didn't throw up on me this morning, its the little things and the knowledge that you aren't in this boat alone. Good thing he is almost 3, then the terrible twos will all be a memory...right?

The Children were snuggled all in the beds..

The children were snuggled all in their beds..
while visions of new kitchens danced in their heads!

1 cabinet down. All but two of them emptied. A temporary mock kitchen (mostly) setup in the basement. Tomorrow Terry (our GC) will come with his sharpie to scroll on all the walls, floors, and ceilings that need to come down. Why bother I say, since the entire kitchen and dinning room are being completely gutted.

T-minus 10 days to demolition day (on the 26th, the walls come down)

Stay tuned

And soon it will begin...

Signed, sealed, and delivered. Our plans for our kitchen (and essentially our entire first floor) remodel are in the hands of our contractor. We have already started to empty the cabinets. In the coming days I will demo the basement drywall ceiling (to allow for easier access for electricians and plumbers as they work on the ground floor). At the same time we will demo our 2nd floor guest bathroom. And lastly, we'll being the big job. Demo work on the dinning room, Kitchen, and bathroom. By New Years Eve our house will be, well ... different.

As I think about the coming weeks of reconstruction, and about the approach of Christmas and birth of our Savior, I can't help being mindful of the stresses and challenges we will be facing. Advent is a time of preparation. Are we doing all that we can? All that we need to? Today's "Reading of the Day" I found from 1 Peter, I think is a good reminder, at least to me.

Reading of the Day...

1 Peter 1:6-7
In this you rejoice, although now for a little while you may have to suffer through various trials,

so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that is perishable even though tested by fire, may prove to be for praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Peace...

Milk it does a body good..

According to the "wait" banner at the top we are now 3 months, 2 weeks, and 6 days into the wait four our referral for our second son. So how do you pass the time? With potentially another 4+ months of waiting for our newest family member to come into our home,

House projects? Increased time at the office? Catch more flix at the theaters? Well perhaps a little of all the above. But for those of you who know me, running, exercise seems to be my escape. While getting into a winter training or maintenance program has been a challenge, its starting to take root. Additionally, for the first time since probably high school when the forced it upon us, I been getting into doing a little weight/strength training.

I'm sure it will help during the upcoming demolition projects on the house, but there are some more traditional reasons that a friend of mine was happy enough to send along. Check out the "Benefits of Strength Training".

Back to the passing the time front...
I've got a large backlog of blog posts that I'm working on. These posts are a formation of a new "series" for the blog. I've already got the "Inspiration Song of the Day" and the "Prayer of the Day". Once I learn how to better create and upload a video to mytube.com I'll start the "Inspiration Video of the Day". Its really just an enhancement on the Song of the day in which I'll add the lyrics and actually music to the song of the day. Stay tuned.

3 months, 2 weeks, 6 days down. How many to go? (If our son will end up being close to 12 months, that means he's already been born. What's he doing today? If he will end up being closer to 4 months, he's not
even born yet. I wonder how his birth mother is doing. Is she struggling with her pregnancy? Does she already feel Gods plans yet?)

Peace

Why are your socks wet?

To my list of "Curious Things Toddlers Do" today I can add a new one. Potty training is in full swing. When little guy says I need to go potty now he proceeds to remove his diaper, if you happen to miss him mentioning it, being the neat little guy he is, he makes sure he places his diaper in the garbage can, hence leaving no evidence, before he pulls his pants up again. You might find yourself wondering an hour or so later why his socks are wet? Only to realize the whole time he has been running around commando. Any easy methods to get pee out of tennis shoes?

Dad and I are both booked for chiropractic visits after a weekend at an indoor water park and crawling around in a 4 story jungle gym with openings so small a smurf couldn't have fit through (that's a confined space entry in my book). Besides the scorching 90 degree heat at the top level and the tweens pelting everyone with rubber balls, little guy really seemed to enjoy himself.

Our DCFS foster care licence arrived last week so we are official! Word on the street is that we are in the middle third of families waiting for a referral! Yah! If things continue at the current rate, we hope to see a referral around the March/April timeframe. Time to start thinking about the nursery!

Destination Addis...

Its been awhile since either of us have posted. I've got a logjam of posts I need to hammer out. Those will be coming soon. For the time being, there has been ongoing progress on Destination Addis. We are up to 3760 miles. Almost halfway there.

So the "Holiday" season is upon us. And for those of you Christians out there, you are keenly aware of how our Christmas Season and Christmas has is under attack again. Holiday or "Family" Tree rather than Christmas lights. Holiday specials over Christmas Specials. It goes on and on and on. For those of you tired about this, I think that you might enjoy this.

Peace and Merry Christmas

The Last Tomato

Yesterday, I ate the last garden tomato signifying the true end of summer. Of course it wasn't quite as good at the vine ripened tomatoes of summer, but still worlds better than the tomatoes from the store. Hubby is still munching on the last remaining jalapenos, the last remnants of this years garden. I found myself in the business of fish trading this past weekend as I tried to find a good home for the goldfish that I have carted from the inside pond to the outside pond for the past 5 years. Our renovations to our sunroom sparked a desire to downsize our inside pond to a 15 gallon aquarium meaning the big fish needed a winter home. Along with finding out that all our pets (2 cats and 1 dog) are now beyond elderly and into the geriatric category, I have found myself thinking a lot about the amount of money we, as Americans spend on pets each year. That number is estimated at 41 billion dollars!!! That is a staggering amount of money. When I found out that my cat now needs a special food for her kidney failure, a quick calculation of the yearly expense showed that I could easily sponsor another child through World Vision with the amount of money I will be spending on cat food. I suppose you could easily get carried away with these types of arguments, if I didn't buy that new coat, if I cut back on groceries, etc, etc. In the end, I took on the responsibility of pet ownership 14 years ago and that commitment comes with a cost. I will just have to find another way to find some additional sponsorship dollars!

No news on the adoption front. Please send some prayers for hubby's grandma who was just released from the hospital and will be undergoing rehabilitation, we pray in Jesus' name...Amen.

House repair and pumpkin patches

The rest after the marathon was short lived as we jumped feet first into the final repairs to our house after the tree hit it in August. The chimney is repaired, the roof is repaired and the gutters are back on. While T busied himself mastering the art of drywall taping, I experienced deja vu up on the extension ladder scraping, priming and painting the exterior second floor of our house where the damage was repaired plus the areas I couldn't resist scraping as the paint was peeling. Last time I attempted this, I was about 10 years younger, obviously in a lot better shape and a lot less scared of heights. Perhaps I am wiser in my old age, or just more aware of the consequences of a misstep. Needless to say, I clung so tight to the ladder, I have bruises up and down my legs where each rung was! After the weekend, I am half done and look forward to finishing the other half, yah right! In our spare time, we have had a chance to get to one of the local pumpkin patches and a very nice halloween party.
On the adoption front, we were excited to hear this week that at least 3 families received referrals for baby boys! Congratulations! For those keeping track, the families that received referrals submitted their dossiers to Ethiopia in mid March. Ours was submitted in mid August. If the process continues at this pace, it should be about 5 months before we might see a referral, though we have heard that a lot of dossiers went to Ethiopia over the summer, so that might slow things a bit. 5 month, that should be plenty of time to learn Amharic, right?

On the Road again..

Back in the saddle again. Getting back onto the horse. Hitting the pavement. There are plenty of other similar sayings. The bottom line. Its time to get running again. With no official training plan in place, the idea is to just keep a solid general fitness level.

Both Tim and I plan to run throughout the winter. While not terribly regimented, I plan to loosely follow Hal Higdon's Winter Training program. We hope to stay in good enough shape that we could do a 1/2 marathon without much addition training, and be prepared for a shortened marathon training program as well.

Besides, there is only 352 days until the 2008 Chicago Marathon...

Peace

The wonderful aroma of Ethiopian food.....

At last it was time on Friday for me to try my hand at cooking Ethiopian food. I consider myself a huge novice in this regard as I have only eaten Ethiopian food about 3 times, making it more challenging to figure out what everything is suppose to taste like. The spices and injera came from EthiopianSpices.com , the box smelled so good when it arrived I wanted to put some of the spices in a simmering pot! So with my berbere, shiro, koereima, koseret, wot kimem, turmeric, red lintels, and ground ginger, a huge bag of onions and a vat of oil, I set to work. Hubby came home from work and open the door to the smells of an Ethiopian restaurant. I tried my best to lay out a platter of food on a piece of injera, but ended up with the eggs from the Doro Wat rolling onto the floor before I made it to the table (3 second rule, right?). Our platter had Doro Wat which is a spicy red chicken stew, sega wot which is a red beef stew, kik Wot which is red lintel stew and shiro. I also served some bread with the neter kiba (seasoned butter...jury is still out on the butter, interesting flavor none the less) all was placed on the injera. I have to say, for my first try, I am pretty happy with the results, it all tasted pretty good by my standards. Next time I'll have to talk our friends children from Ethiopia into trying it to get a true sense of how good or bad it really is. Hopefully they will be gentle!

Angels in my midst, and on the course... (part IV)

The support, prayers and well wishes extended far beyond the city and the race course. After fighting through the mass traffic exodus from the City we arrived at our home to find some other Angels had visted.


While Jodie and I did our best to pretend that we didn't see our Angels. As they were still in our driveway it was a little difficult to miss them.











(Names withheld to protect the innocent, but lets call them Dave, Bonnie, and David) You guys are so great. Roles models to us. Inspirations to the whole community. Aside from a heartfelt Thank you we just want to say. You are never far away from "family". May the Lord Bless you today and everyday!

Angels in my midst, and on the course... (part III)

The day started at the Team World Vision tent with photos and goose bump raising "rally cry" that shook the ground of Charity Village.





We reached the start Corral C at about 7:40am. It was already quite warm, and downright balmy. The excitement in the air was so thick you could cut it. Helicopters overhead, Music blaring over the loudspeakers, and runners are far as you could see.



It started off as Tim and I. Shortly however, we found 3 other Team World Vision runners all with the same 3:30 to 3:45 pace goal. Congratulations to Ginny, Kristin, and Burt. I hope you all were satisfied with your race in spite of the heat.






At 8am the race started. Full of energy, we crossed the start line at about 8:02:23. The sea of bobbing heads in front of us was indescribable. I wish I had taken a picture. Just a soon as the race started, Burt, Kristin, and Ginny were all lost in a sea of runners. It was back to just Tim and myself.


It was very exciting and uplifting to see Jodie, our son, and Jodie's sister at the 1 mile mark. My Mom and Dad were in the huge, orange World Vision cheering section at the 3.5 mile marker. Amazing!! Thank you all, your cheering made such a big difference. Even with only 3.5 miles down, it was already a difficult race.

By about mile 6 or so, Tim and I separated. I was feeling pretty good at the time, so I was trying to stay with the 3:30 pace group. As the miles ticked off, they started to tick off slower and slower. By the 13.1 mark I was on pace for a 3:41 pace. Slower than my goal, but I still feel pretty good. In the next few miles, that's went my race went downhill very very quickly. It started with some tightening in my left calf. It was intermittent so I persevered. The right calf then started in on me. That's when the weirdest experience in all my sporting occurred. Imagine your feet as you try and curl your toes under. Well my toes started doing that involuntarily. As you might think, you cant run, heck you can't even walk like that. I was only able to slowly jog a 1/2 mile or so at a time. Frequent stops were needed to try and stretch, which helped and would allow me another 1/2 to mile of progress.

After feeling a bit lightheaded I realized that my fluid intake, while quite a lot, was not enough. So I started to gulp Gatorade and water, and that all cleared up quick enough. It was at about miles 18 or so that I looked up. There he was. Head slung low, and methodically jogging along. It was Tim, my training partner. I literally hobbled out to tap him on the shoulder. Our conversation went something like this. "Hey! How are you?", Tim says. "Tim, I'm not doing good. I don't think I'm gonna make it." "Come on we can do it", Tim says. "No Tim, I don't think so. its not good. I'm having to walk very often. I'm all cramped up. I don't want to hold you back, go on, you can do it". "No we are going to finish together", says Tim.

8 miles later. Dozens of cups of Gatorade. Even more cups of water used to douse ourselves to stay cool. Multiple walking breaks for me to rest my calves, and Tim to rest his hamstring. Past the Dragons of China town. Past Forrest (a colleague of Jodie's) screaming at me slow loud, lifting me up, at just about my lowest point of the race. Past hundreds of other screaming fans cheering us on. Past Tim's wonderful family lifting us both at mile 25, and his daughters running beside him carrying an Ethiopian flag. Up the hill on Roosevelt, turning left towards the finish, Jodie, with our son, and her sister there with only 200 or so meters to go.

Together, we crossed the finish line. We trained as a team. We started as a team. We finished as a Team.

When the day started, the goal was 3 hours, 30 minutes. The day ended with a time of 4 hours, 23 minutes, and 48 seconds (47 seconds for Tim).

An amazing day. A brutal day. A memorable day. A day that I owe to Jodie my wife for putting up with all my training this year. A day I owe to our son and his smiles that fill my head when spirits drop. A day I owe to Jodie's sister, My parents, to Tim's family, to Forrest, and to hundreds, no thousands of cheering spectators that braved the heat and humidity to cheer us and everyone else on. A day I owe to our Lord and Savior for giving me the blessing of strength to carry on and persevere. A day that was without question, full of Hope, Sacrifice, and Purpose.

And I would be remiss if I didn't thank the Angel that stood by me when I needed it most. My training partner, my Brother. Thank you Tim. Without you, I do not finish that race. You are an amazing, and inspirational man. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I love you man...

Angels in my midst, and on the course... (part II)

Saturday night was the Team World Vision "team Pasta dinner". It was an evening of amazing witness, inspirational videos, and motivational testimony. Richard Stearns, the President of World Vision US was there and spoke of all the amazing works that World Vision is involved in. 500+ runners raised over 1/2 million dollars. Runners, Radio personalities, and a number of Pastors, and an army of friends and family all helped to pack a large banquet hall.

Tim and I were even asked to up and tell our story about how we met, our ties to Ethiopia, and how they all tie into our motivations for running the marathon. Pasta, pesto chicken, and some not so pre-race friendly but downright yummy, chocolate fudgy cheesecake like stuff.

It was a perfect, uplifting, and very motivating pre-race evening. "Where two or more are gathered" our Lord will be there. I suspect that we had a room filled with the Spirit...

Angels in my midst, and on the course...

So many thoughts. So many stories. Enough marathon experiences to fill up multiple pages on this blog. I'm going to break them down into multiple posts.

First off, I hope you'll all join in me prayer for the man, with a wife and 3 children, that died today during the running of the 30th Chicago Marathon. News reports indicate he was only 35 years old (two years younger than me). May we be lifted up to our Lord on Angels wings..

I hope you will all join me in another prayer for the greater than 300 race participants that were taken to area hospitals. May their Guardian Angels continue to watch over and protect them.

I think the following says it all in terms of the days (downright brutal) conditions.

CHICAGO (AP) -- Organizers closed the second half of the course just before noon, four hours after the annual race started and with temperatures already at 73 degrees with 86 percent humidity. By 10 a.m., temperatures had already reached a race-record 88 degrees. The previous marathon record of 84 degrees was set in 1979.

On a day that was about World Vision, and our team goal to aid those in great need in Zambia and Ethiopia, its a wonderful feeling to see that the women's race was won by Ethiopia's Berhane Adere.

Its here... Race Weekend

It just kinda happened. Without really thinking about it. Its Here. Chicago Marathon Race weekend. After hoofing it downtown to the race expo, my adrenaline is already pumping. The excitement was tangible at the expo. That alone was a cool experience.
But this blog, and this years journey is not about the average runner, or about this being my first marathon

Its about Hope, Sacrifice, and Purpose. Its about vision, on a global scale. Its about Team World Vision, and approximately 500 athletes that have come together to make a statement. A statement that it is not OK that children and family are starving in Ethiopia, while here in the United States we have an abundance of.. well everything.

At least for me, its a blessing to be able to run this race for something bigger, and something greater than personal satisfaction. I will be running for our Sponsored Child in Ethiopia. I will be running, inspired by the belief that all my joys and pains will be lifted up to the Lord, and through his Grace well come to the aid and benefit of others. The fact that my leg hurts heading in to the race, well that will just serve as further motivation to persevere.

Why am I doing this? Who am I? Well ..

We.. are Team World Vision

Peace

Friends, Politics, and Right to Life..

With headphones on, buried neck deep in work, I received an interesting message. A personal message that applies to my wife and I that goes back to the very beginning. A message that I feel applies to some dear friends that are facing numerous challenges in their lives. A message that ..needs.. to be heard by those that Drive by area Churches, see all the Cross in the lawns in support of National Right to Life month, and don't feel ill or choke back the tears.

"Have it your way" and other such Advertisement slogans tend to yield an attitude that we are entitled to many things. To what extent does "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness" go? While many are likely to disagree with me on this, the fact remains, that it is not always the case that we are entitled to the things we feel we should be. If our own "pursuits" trample the very lives, the very happiness, and the very pursuit of Happiness of others... Especially the defenseless. Well when that happens, I can't help but think something may have gone wrong.

On so many fronts. personally, amongst family and friends, and politically within the US, I can't help but wonder if we need parts of our "World" to be torn apart. Perhaps then our society will value life and compassion over possessions, power, and a culture of death.

Todays Inspirational Song of the Day is:
Worlds Apart from Jars of Clay:

Blessings on your Adoption Day Sweet Boy!

Yesterday, we celebrated the second anniversary of our son E becoming a part of our family. It was hard to believe it has been 2 years since we landed in Chicago and brought him home. This day is always bittersweet to me and mixed with emotion, so much happiness that we are a family and feelings of so much loss remembering boarding the plane to leave Guatemala, leaving his culture and all that we had experienced during our time there behind. God has truly bless us and everyday with E, the Lord's glory shines brighter and brighter.
We were privileged to see Marimba Ixchel perform again this year in Chicago and enjoyed some platillos of homemade Guatemalan cooking. Marimba Ixchel is a Guatemalan Cultural Organization which teaches Guatemalan youth traditional music and dancing. E was pretty young last year and a bit under the weather. This year, with the exception of being very frightened of the Pollo Campero inflatable chicken, he had a ball with the other kids that were around his age running around and being his silly self. We finally talked him into leaving at 10:00 pm and enjoyed his "I had fun mom" and "oh look, luna, luna" all the way home. Sweet boy, I am glad you enjoyed your Adoption Day!

We drug ourselves out of bed after the late night in time for 9:00 mass (T was signed on to be a cup server) and were greeted at the door with a kind request to bring up the gift, yikes, T and I quickly assessed out options....4 ciborium, one pitcher full of wine, an opinionated 2 year old, light colored carpet....hmmmm, we better start praying. So the plan was I would carry 2 ciborium and the pitcher and Ted would carry the other 2 and keep a free hand to wrangle E if he decided to A. take off, B. refuse to walk or C. well, there were quite a few other scenarios we played out in our heads. For a second we thought, hmm, could he carry a ciboria? No, that's ridiculous, we can't even keep him in control walking a few feet for communion, then there is the tipping plate thing. You can almost calculate it, the distance X times the diameter of the plate D = the angle at which the food will fall off the plate. Well we got to the table and E had another plan, he let us know immediately that he wasn't going anywhere unless he was carrying a ciboria. As we stood behind the alter sever waiting to start the long walk towards the front of the church, E held the ciboria with both hands and a look in his eyes like a race horse at the starting gate. Oh boy, I repeated out loud,"Jesus help us, please Lord help us". I have never had a heart attack, but I think I know what one feels like after today. When the alter server moved, E charged down the aisle, ciboria in hand right to the waiting priest who had knelt down to greet him. When T and I arrived, we both sighed in relief and I realized I had held my breath the entire way. E was of course beaming with as smile ear to ear. We are so proud of you big boy!

Approaching the home stretch..

There are just 8 short days before the big event. Its more than just a marathon, its an opportunity for almost 500 Team World Vision runners to display an unparalleld sort of unity and care for others. With approximately 45,000 runners in the marathon, Team World Vision runners make up almost 1% of all the runners. Thats pretty cool.

Blog updates have been slow. House repairs and demolition. Work at the office. And fighting off a cold have taken up all my free time. One thing I'd love to point out is the awesome recent surge in sponsors. The $5k might not be attainable, but thats ok. Together we've all done a wonderful wonderful thing, for children and families. Thank you all.

Peace

30 Days of Less - Campaign Number Two

This past month, our family participated in the 30 days of nothing campaign. I originally heard about this campaign a year ago. Many people have asked us what "30 days of nothing" is. It really comes down to your own interpretation and what works for your family. The following is taken from the 30 days blogspot "Today, across the world, 1.3 billion people live on less than one dollar a day, 3 billion live on under two dollars a day, 1.3 billion have no access to clean water, 3 billion have no access to sanitation, 2 billion have no access to electricity, Americans spend $110 billion a year on fast food, 39 billion on their pets and carry 2 trillion dollars in credit card and auto debt, the disparity haunts me. How does a Christ-follower reconcile the needs of the world with the realities of every day life in an affluent nation. " 30 days of nothing is a fast from consumerism. Your sacrifice can be a little, or a lot, depending upon the willingness to participate and other family member. The originator of the campaign included no new clothes, books, movies, no trips to the ice cream parlor, no news paper, pictures, magazines, fancy hair gel or take and bake pizza. Basically nothing except what it takes to live. You can read more at 30daysofnothing.blogspot.com. We had a slightly different approach. Some of our sacrifices were just sacrifices such as no tv or movies, while others, such as limiting grocery spending to $20 per week and minimal use of vehicles were specifically selected to raise funds for Team World Vision. In our campaign, money that wasn't spent towards consumerism was added to an IOU jar. For example, we usually eat out on Fridays. If we chose to eat in, we would add an IOU to the jar for a typical meal cost. The same is true for the gas that was saved by biking instead of driving, and the cut in grocery bills. At the end of the month, we will total up the IOU's and add that to the contributions. Surprisingly, it was all going quite well until this past weekend with the no tv, biking to work, etc, but we were zapped by a cold/flu bug that really took the wind out of my sails. Little guy was so unhappy, we had to call on Bob (Veggietales) as he spent a lot of the weekend on the couch miserable, so the tv was back on after telling him it was broken for the past three weeks. We will have to total up our savings and see where we are at. Maybe next year we will actually make it the full 30 days!

When Lifes Rollar coast runs a bit to fast...

Come and Listen..
When work and employment gets under your skin.
Come and Listen...
When Everything just seems to go rough, rather than smoothly.
Come and Listen..
When you just finally just trust and let go of the reigns.
Come and Listen...

The Inspirational Song for the Day is:
"Come and Listen" (Album: Collision) by David Crowder Band

Inspiration Abounds

I just felt it this morning. In today's Gospel reading, and in a comment from one of my sponsors. Couple these with the verse from my marathon training partner from a few weeks ago, we have a trifecta of readings of the day. Motivation for the big race, and to ease our minds during our house repairs from the storm, and while waiting for our 2nd adoption to complete.

1st Reading of the Day...

Luke 6:37-38
“Stop judging and you will not be judged.
Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.
Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give and gifts will be given to you;
a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.
For the measure with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you.”

2nd Reading of the Day...

Acts 20:24
Yet I consider life of no importance to me, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to bear witness to the gospel of God's grace.

3rd Reading of the Day...

Isiah 40:31
They that hope in the LORD will renew their strength, they will soar as with eagles' wings; They will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint.

Peace

News Click of the Day? or 15 seconds of fame?

My family and I were blessed with being the topic of a recent World Vision newsletter article. This newsletter is sent out to spread the word of recent World Vision events, ongoing projects and programs, to encourage involvement, and it seeks to provide motivation to others.

You can find the article here: "Tri for Hope, Sacrifice with Purpose"

Enjoy and Peace to you today and everyday...

The results are in..

The Banco Popular Chicago 1/2 Marathon is now in the books. The weatherman was only partially correct. It didn't rain, but it was not nearly as cool as they said. It was quite warm and humid on the run today. Everyone was sweating bullets by the time the finish line was in site.

Tim (my marathon training buddy) and I felt pretty good. We decided to join the 8 min/mile pace group, which should put at the finish line at 1hour 45 minutes, for the 13.1 miles. For the first 11 miles or so, we never even saw the pace runner. That is to say I think we were ahead of the pace. Some mild cramps for both of us, perhaps to much Ethiopia food on Saturday for Tim, and probably not enough sleep for both of us. Despite that, I felt strong today and that helped to keep us both on pace.

Like true Team World Vision teammates, we crossed the finish line together at 1:44:40. Just under the 1:45 pace we set out for. The race had 10118 Total Finishers - 4157 Males / 5961 Females. We finished 832 and 833 overall. Certainly satisfying as a pre-marathon tune up run.

I can't speak for Tim, but I'm thrilled with the results. On a warm, humid day, in a race I only agreed to mid week last week. It was great. The volunteers are the race were great. The spectators were AWESOME! There were a least a half dozen Team World Vision runners. I can't wait for the marathon. 45,000 runners. 500+ alone will be Team World Vision runners. Its going to be a wonderful spectacle to see and participate in. I hope any nearby folks will consider coming do to cheer from the World Vision cheering section, and partake of the Team World special post-race tent area.

This weeks is the bit "20 miler". The Whole Team World Vision team is meeting downtown and we are going to run en mass for 20 miles for the last long marathon training run. After this weekend the mileage tapers off in preparation for the big day on October 7th.

I'll post the 1/2 marathon pictures as they become available in a day or two.
Peace...

Why not.. its a cut back week..

What's good about training for a marathon? Aside from my jeans falling off my hips. Its the nutty idea that one can simply, run a 1/2 marathon without any preparation.

That's right, in the marathon training program this was a "cut back" week. Tim (my marathon training partner) and I were scheduled for 13 miles this week. The calm before the storm, as next weekend is the dreaded 20 miler!

Tim and his wife were planning on running in the Banco Popular Chicago 1/2 marathon this weekend. When his wife was unable to participate, Tim asked if I wanted in. Sure. Why not. its Training. Its fun with other Team World Vision athletes. And what the heck, I was going to run 13 miles this weekend anyway. It might as well be downtown in a race!

So tomorrow morning, while everyone is asleep, I'll join close to 12,000 runners for a 13.1 run along south Lake Shore drive. It was a spur of the moment kinda thing, but the odd thing about all these triathlons and marathon training. A spur of the moment 1/2 marathon is not big deal.

Kinda Crazy Huh!

Peace

And we laughed at how crazy it seem....

when our homestudy agency told us that they had to visit our home every 6 months until our adoption is final to "make sure our house is still standing". Well I guess there is some validity to such an inspection as our house got in the way of a falling tree just over a week ago (score: Tree 1, House 0). Luckily our wonderful neighbors came to the rescue in a pinch and helped hubby cover the gaping hole in our roof with a tarp before the downpour started again. Hubby then managed to stand under a waterfall from the broken downspout and cut away enough of the tree from the house to get a tarp down and get the water away from our foundation and keep it out of our basement (yah hubby!). We had the last laugh when out of frustration and anger, a neighbor and I hacked away most of the branches, leaving a naked trunk. The tree company cheered when what remained fell to the ground. By my account, the house is ahead as it is still standing and the tree is now a stump.



On a lighter note, we received our I-171H over the weekend. This is our preapproval from USCIS to bring an adopted child into the US. All that stands between us and E's brother is a 7-8 month wait. Luckily our Amharic language program arrived last week and I will have plenty of time to study.

19 and counting...

Heading out for a mid afternoon summer run... nuts..

Running for 19 miles .. crazy..

Out with wife and son (pacing on the bike) .. priceless..

2007 Accenture Triathlon

The last Triathlon on my 2007 race schedule is now in the books. Today, I completed my second Chicago Accenture Triathlon (this year was the 25th annual). The PA announcer called out that this triathlon was officially the largest in the world according to Guinness Book.

Before I get into my own results. Lets talk about Luis. A fella I work with that I passed along the triathlon bug to. This is a fella that only learned how to swim in late spring, on only finished his coaching lessons a short time ago. He has one sprint tri under his belt, and today competed in the Accenture Sprint tri (.47 mile swim, 13.64 mile bike, 3.1 mile run) Luis finished the sprint in 1:54:10. His 37:33 in the swim was awesome. He probably didn't hear them but he had tons of fans cheering him on as I followed along on shore. Congratulations on an awesome race Luis! Only 365 days until next year when you step into the Olympic distance.

As for me, I competed in the International (aka Olympic) distance. (.93 mile swim, 24.8 mile bike, 6.2 mile run) The goal of the race this year was to have fun, and to try to break the 22 MPH barrier on the bike. I was ok with a race time that was not a personal best. Last year I finished the race in 2:42:10. That broke down as 33:42 swim, 3:52 T1, 1:12:18 bike (21.0 MPH), 4:02 T2, and 48:15 (7:46 min/mile) run. 684/3719 overall and 144/538 in my age group.

This year, the break down was 31:35 swim, 2:46 T1, 1:08:06 bike (22.3 MPH), 2:19 T2, 45:53 (7:24 min/mile) run. The total time was 2:30:42. A striking 11 1/2 minutes faster than last year. I finished 297/3928 overall, and 71/521 in my age group.

Needless to I am very pleased with the results. I'm sure that the training for the Racine half ironman and the Chicago marathon training all helped to contribute to this years results. But in the end, its the Lord that deserves all the credit. And I lift up all the joy to him for being able to represent Chicago Team World Vision.

Thanks to all that the prayed and supported me in my Tri's this year. Thanks Mom and Dad for coming downtown today to cheer me on. Its always a boost to see people you know cheering your on. Thanks!

Peace
(p.s. I'll post pictures as they become available)

Dossier is off to Ethiopia!

We got some exciting news today from our agency that our dossier was shipped to Ethiopia yesterday! YAH!!! There was a bit of confusion about the age of child (we said infant boy, but our notice indicated a boy 0-2yrs), but I am sure that will be resolved easy enough. We are officially on the wait list and were notified that referrals have been received by people whose dossiers went to Ethiopia in Jan. of 2007. We can check back each month for progress. Our wait will depend on how many people are requesting infant boys ahead of us. I know we have a long wait ahead of us, but I am so excited to be at this next step in our journey.

A little package also arrived in the mail Monday. The package contained an Ethiopian doll we ordered for soon to be big brother E. E seemed a bit timid when dad and I held the doll and rocked him then asked E if he would like to hold him and feed him a bottle. E settled into the rocker with dad and did a professional job of holding the bottle. I know he is going to be a great big brother!

Team World Vision 2007

Just Press Play...


To Join or find out more information go to
http://www.worldvision.org/chicagoteam

To help out and make a contribution go to
http://www.firstgiving.com/twollnik2007

Quick Adoption Update

Well, it has been a couple of weeks since our dossier went to our agency and unfortunately, the documents that went to Washington DC to be certified have still not caught up with the rest of our paperwork. These documents are needed before the dossier can be sent to Ethiopia. AAI hopes we will have the documents back in another couple of weeks. USCIS has all our paperwork for the I-171H which is the other piece of paper we are lacking at this time so we will be waiting by the mailbox patiently for that as well. Looks like we will be waiting a couple of weeks to start the real waiting! I have been trying to track the referral times based on when people with AAI have sent their dossiers to Ethiopia. At this point, it does not appear that anyone requesting an infant who's dossier went to Ethiopia after the first of the year has received a referral yet. By my count, that makes the wait for referrals for infants at least 8 months (which is subject to change based on how many people are requesting infant boys ahead of us). Looks like it might be a good time to start learning some Amahric and working on those long awaited home renovations. Anyone up for some demo work?

Legend of Coffee

A few months ago, our family stated a new Sunday morning tradition of having coffee after church at a local Fair Trade Coffee House establishment. I found this Legend that is included on their brochures very interesting and wanted to share.

The legend of the coffee plant is curious and fascinating. It is said that a Shepard named Kadi, while grazing his flock in the mountains of Ethiopia, noticed that the sheep were quite lively after having eaten some of the berries.

Monks at the nearby monastery, studied the plants, their medicinal properties and other usages. Steeping the berries, they noticed that the more one drank the more one could stay awake and dedicate time to prayer.

The infustion became so loved for its taste that it became part of the Arab world. It is believed that the word coffee comes from Kafka, a region located in the mountain valley of Ethiopia.

From there it spread and so did the stories.

ASAP and World Vision Experience

I was reading an article in our diocesan newspaper, and came across a concept that I personally thought was motivating. To Quote Father John Slampak, STL:

The acronym ASAP usually means as soon as possible. You know the drill: there's work to do, deadlines to meet and you've got no time to spare, but as you hurry and scurry, ASAP: always say a prayer. In the midst of family chaos, quality time is rare. Do your best and let God do the rest, ASAP, always say a prayer.

He continues with

God knows how stressful life is and wants to ease your cares and will respond to to all your prayers, ASAP, always say a prayer

It is so simple. We are not talking about starting a novena, or praying the full rosary, but maybe just a quick "thank you" or a "I could use your help" said within your own head and heart. At least for me, I've started to put this into practice. For the good times, and the challenging times. After all, we're taught the more we relinquish control to the Lord the better off we'll be.

Being involved with Team World Vision, we get information about other happenings within the overall World Vision organization. I received this about the World Vision Experience: AIDS. It looks like a remarkable experience. When we go, we'll post on it.
http://www.worldvisionexperience.org/

Peace

Copperman Results and Photos

Better late than never. The Copperman Triathlon 2007 is now in the books. Early in my event planning for the year, I was worried about how I would respond to doing a sprint triathlon only 13 days after a 1/2 ironman. Much to my surprise I felt pretty good.

That said, I still approached this race as a fun or training opportunity. I was not out to have a PB (personal best) swim time or run time. And given the hill in furthest reaches of the Upper Peninsula Michigan, a PB on the bike was not expected. So onto the results.

The swim was in Lake Fanny Hooe. Water temps was probably high 60's low 70's. This race had about 300 total participants, with just under half competing as teams. I finished the 1/2 mile swim in 16:01, which placed me 28th out of the 112 total male competitors.

As anyone who knows the Keweenaw Peninsula of the UP, it is anything but flat. To a flatlander from Illinois, these were hills. That made for an interesting experience on the bike. It was very nice change of pace from the mostly flat courses around here. One striking observation was the shocking amount of "drafting" that was occurring on the bike. This was not a USA triathlon sanctioned event, but it was startling how much occurred. I myself ended up drafting a little bit if for no other reason that I got boxed in about 4 to 5 times, and didnt have room to clear out for over a mile. I finish the 19 mile bike ride in 53:29, which placed me 29th out of 112. The good news is that averaged close to 21.5 MPH, a personal best, despite the hills.

The 5 mile run course was an excellent combination of gravel trail running with some pavement. Like the bike, it also had its share of hills. I felt relatively strong, so I though I would try to see if I could hold an 8 minute per mile pace. There were not many mile markers, so measuring pace was a challenge. I finished the 5 mile run in 38:10 (~7:51 min/mile), which placed me 31 out of 112.

As you can see in the photo at right, I had a little extra motivation at the end of the race. E came along for the last 25 yards! At the end of the day, I finished the race in 1:47:39, which placed my 21st overall, and 8th within my age group (out of 35). It was a fun race. The people we nice. The camping added an interesting twist to pre and post race activities, but for a sprint tri, it worked out wonderfully.

Peace

full race photos and results can be found here

Dossiers the Copperman, and more

Its been awhile, lets recap whats been going on..

Racing and training: Since the Spirit of Racine 1/2 Ironman on the 22nd of July, I have been primarily resting, except for the Marathon training. My plan called for 15, which was my first run greater than 13.5 miles. 17, 18, 19, 20 miles are in the upcoming weeks. This weekend, Saturday is the Copperman Sprint Triathlon. This will be more of a "fun" and training race for me. Not going to go nuts on it. The Copperman 1/2mile swim, 19mile bike, and 5 mile run should help keep me tuned up for the Accenture Chicago Triathlon on the 26th.

Adoption: As Jodie posted already, our Dossier was submitted. I cannot speak for her, but I think I was surprised by how quickly we turned that around. Our "Dossier Blitzkrieg" took just under two weeks. So we are now officially into the "waiting for a referral" stage. We will get some minor milestone updates, such as the re-opening of our Illinois Foster care license, and the notice of our Dossier has completed being translated and was sent to Ethiopia for processing. Jodie and I are ready and energized for the long referral wait that has now begun.

Lastly.. I've overheard someone wonder why people would put themselves through this (a 1/2 ironman). I can't answer for anyone but myself. And throughout the posts of this blog I've answered this question. To put it plainly... I Tri (as in triathlon) because I care. Its simple enough to just write a check, or drop change into the collection basket. I do that all the time. I Tri.. because I want to do more than just write checks. I Tri..because I have Faith that when I offer up the joys I receive, or the accomplishment I feel, or the suffering and pain I endure to the Lord, with the hopes and intentions that all those "offerings" will be accepted by the Lord and used to help others. Namely the children and families Team World Vision is working to help. I Tri.. because I can.. and its just another way I feel I can help others. Not everyone may believe in these sorts of offerings, nor may everyone have such faith. I Tri.. for Hope.. hope that my "works" serve as inspiration and motivation to others, and will be accepted by the Lord for the benefit of others...

Reading of the Day...

Hebrews 11:1
Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen

Spirit of Racine Race Photos

Included below are some of the shots of my from the Spirit of Racine 1/2 Ironman. The day ended up being quite nice, and the water was a refreshing 63 degrees. Enjoy...




The Bike was a good ride. While more hills than I am used to. The sun was not to bad, nor was the heat.


The Run was much more difficult that I had thought. Especially since the run is/was to be my strongest event. I finished the 1/2 marathon run in just under two hours. In all it was a good day. A tad bit of dizziness at the end. But nothing that some ice, fluids, and sitting down a bit couldn't fix.

So Who are Nwankwo Kanu & Dikembe Mutombo?

In my last post, I talked about a newspaper article that mentioned the humanitarian works of two gentlemen for which little recognition has been give. In this post, I hope to shed some light on these two men.

Nwankwo Kanu was born in Nigeria and is a professional footballer. After discovering in 1996 that he had a heart defect, he founded the Kanu Heart Foundation which helps young African children suffering from heart conditions. Kanu was appointed as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. This position has given him the ability to encourage girls in Nigeria to enroll in school, tackle AIDS/HIV by youth empowerment and boost routine immunizations.

Dikembe Mutombo is probably best know as an NBA player for the Houston Rockets and the incident that occurred last year when a fan yelled racial slurs at him. The man latter apologized. Mutombo is an adoptive parent and speaks English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and 5 African languages. Mutombo founded the Dikembe Mutombo foundation to improve living conditions in his native Democratic Republic of Congo in 1997. He earned the NBA's Humanitarian award in 2001. He is also involved in Basketball without Borders which tours African countries and helps to improve infrastructure. Mutombo is a spokes person for CARE. In 1997, his foundation began plans for a 300 bed hospital outside of Kinshasa, the Congolese capital. The hospital opened in 2006. The facility was the first modern medical facility to be built in nearly 30 years.

I tend to agree with the article in that these two gentlemen should be recognized for their good works more in the media, but at the same time, I take solace in knowing that the Lord's face has shown upon them and in the end, they will be recognized by the only One that truely matters.

A short update on our adoption journey, the dossier is now in the mail and we had a good visit with a travel clinic this past week (more details to come). We have passed the adoption timeline torch onto our agency and need to settle in for a long wait.

Thanks for the contributions

I received the notifications of some contributions to my Team World Vision efforts. Thank you to the family members, and colleagues from work that have helped to support me in this way. The "Amount Raised Offline " on the FirstGiving page (http://www.firstgiving.com/twollnik2007) has been updated. (Unfortunately, only online contributions show up in the Sponsors table at the bottom of the page)

3000 and counting

For those of you following our Destination Addis Ababa, we have reached a milestone this week. All the biking to work, jogging, swimming, you name is slowly adding up. With Ted's marathon training today, and Jodie's biking to work today, we have crossed the 3000 mile mark. Today we sit at 3008. Only 4,555 miles to go..

Open letter to Uzodinma Iweala

Mr. Iweala,

I read your article “Can you stop trying to ‘save’ Africa" yesterday. It appears it was originally published in the Washington Post. I must admit upfront that I have not read your book “Beasts of No Nation” about child soldiers.

We are adopting a child from Ethiopia. In your article, you talk about the West turning to Africa for redemption for the humanitarian crisis it has created in the Middle East. Your article states “They fly in for internships and fact-finding missions, or to pick out children to adopt in much the same way that my friends and I in New York take the subway to the pound to adopt stray dogs”

As an adoptive parent, I cannot begin to express how disconcerting it is to have our children compared to selecting a stray dog. My husband and I suffered years of infertility in our attempts to have a family, as did many adoptive parents I know. We are not “saving” a child through adoption, or “saving Africa” for a humanitarian crisis that we did not support or create, that child is “saving” us. Without our adopted children, we would not be a family. There has been no greater joy or blessing in our lives. And we are not alone in the sentiment.

In an interview, you stated that you wanted to understand the experiences of being a child soldier, which is an odd thing to say, you stated, because you can’t really understand it unless you have been one. I agree, you can’t really understand what it is like to be unable to bear children unless you have been infertile, and you can’t really understand adoption unless it has touched your life. You did extensive research to write your book about child soldiers, yet you compare adoption to you and your friends going to an animal shelter with little or no understanding of adoption, and certainly no research.

Your article attempts to bring light to the potential for growth in Africa through fair partnerships with other members of the global community. In our paper, your article was 162 lines of text long. Your mention of Nwankwo Kanu and Dikebme Mutombo encompassed 2 of those lines. Your article was published in the Washington Post and picked up by countless other newspapers. You had the audience, but in the end, you focused your attention on criticizing Bono and Angelina Jolie rather than drawing attention to Kanu and Mutombom, the AU, and what fair partnerships mean and how they can be achieved.

I wish you well in your future endeavors and pray that when you try to walk in someone shoes, you aren’t stepping on another person’s feet.

Article link without login required on Washington Post website: http://www.kcchronicle.com/articles/2007/07/22/opinion/editorials/doc46a2e6e1ee69b820799143.txt

The Spirit of Racine 1/2 Ironman

Lets get right to it. In terms of Triathlon, there are a few basic classes (or lengths if you will). There are:

• sprint triathlons (generally about 400-600meter swim, a 14-16mile bike ride, and a 3-5 mile run).
• Olympic distance (aka International Distance) This consists of about a 1 mile swim (1.5 km), a 24.8 mile bike (40 km) and a 6.2 mile run (10km).
• 1/2 Ironman distance (aka 70.3) Is a 1.2 mile open water swim, a 56 mile bike ride, and a 13.1 mile run
  
• and the grandaddy of them all, the full Ironman distance (aka 140.6) Which is a 2.4 mile open water swim, 112 mile bike ride, and a 26.2 mile run.

The Spirit of Racine race I participated is a 1/2 ironman. Its a pretty big jump from the International distance which was my previous longest race.

So how did I do? Well I'm here to blog about it! So I made it. I exceeded my goal. I hoped to finish between 5 1/2 hour to 6 hours, and I ended up finishing in 5 hours 21 minutes and 20 secs.

I was not racing to win, of course you all know that from my past posts. But for those of you that like stats, rankings, and numbers, here is the nitty gritty.

There were 2000 registered participants in the Spirit of Racine Race this year, only 1256 finished the race. 5:21:20 was my overall time. Which placed me 86/173 in the 35-39 age group and 469/1256 overall.
My splits were as follows:

• 00:40:42 in the swim, which was good enough for 629 ranking overall (top 50% percentile)
• 00:02:00 for T1 (transition #1 from swim to bike)
• 02:40:05 on the bike, 21.0 avg MPH, with a 469 ranking overall (top 37% percentile)
• 00:01:06 for T2 (transition #2 from bike to run), no rankings, but one of the fastest overall
• 01:57:27 on the run, 08:58 p/mile, with a 502 overall ranking (top 40% percentile)

I felt very good in the swim, the waves in the water were minimal, the 63 degree water temp was not an issue. It was just a slow and steady for me. I exited the water feeling pretty good. Perhaps I could have gone harder, but hey, it was my first 1/2 ironman, I didn't want to use all my energy in the swim.

On the bike I felt very strong. Although in the first 10 miles my legs felt unusual. I can't say I can describe the feeling, nor have I ever felt it before. I was worried that i might be cramping up, or something so I slowed down for a bit and the sensation cleared up and never came back. Perhaps I have to much lactic acid building up, I dunno. There were some decent hills and climbs. My speedometer often read 24-26 MPH. Apparently the climbs brought the average down to 21. At mile 42 I did stop for 30-40 secs at a porta-john. I did not want to start the run feeling that I had to go to the bathroom, and I'm not crazy enough like the Ironman triathletes to just "go" while riding. Yuck!

The run, my typically strongest event, was a real challenge. In training for the Chicago marathon, I've done a number of 12+ mile runs, and I even participated in a 1/2 marathon race earlier in the year. I had held out some hopes that maybe I could hold an 8 minutes per/mile pace, but again, as my 1st 1/2 ironman I didn't know what to expect. Needless to say, I couldn't hold an 8min p/mile pace, I ended up at 8:58. I'm pleased. Especially considering that I was feeling very fatigued. In fact, for the first time ever, in any sort of race, I started walking. I walked during each of the 13 water stations (there was a water station at every mile of the 13.1 miles). And when the water stations were not aligned with the mile marking, I would walk then also. So I would run, walk, run, walk, intermittently between mile marker to aid station to mile marker. Even with that walking I held the 8:58 pace. Looking at my watch, I would guess that I was walking anywhere between 1 to 1:30 minutes each mile. So i was really running pretty quickly in between that walking, a sub 8 min pace. Not sure what a triathlon coach or sports physician would say. Not sure if it would have been better to just run slower and not walk at all, or if the walking, and running faster is better. But it worked for me.

I am very thrilled with the outcome. My stretch goal was 5 hours 3o minutes, so 5:20 was a nice surprise. One thing was clear after the race though, I'm not trained well enough to attempt an Ironman. I could survive the swim and bike on an Ironman, but I think the run would kick my butt, or perhaps its just typical to walk that much. No way could I have held out 8:58 pace for another 13.1 miles. Is a Full Ironman in my future? Not at this juncture. For now.. I'm happy to have conquered my first 70.3 (a 1/2 Ironman)

And to close, a reading from the day (taking from the Veggie Tales story I read my son at bedtime)

Reading for the Day...

Philippians 2:3-4
Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves,
each looking out not for his own interests, but (also) everyone for those of others.

Peace...
(I'll post race pictures in the coming days)