On a Brighter Note (Merry Christmas part 2 of 2)

Even though my last post was a vent, I am a very blessed person. I really hope everyone who read part one will also read part 2! This is by no means an exhaustive list, but rather a small portion of the goodness I'm pondering tonight. Please read on and enjoy!

I'm glad to be alive, have a wonderful husband and 2 blow-my-mind awesome kids. Just to have a family unit that's in tact, healthy, and enjoyable to be around is a rarity in this culture in this time. And I have all 3 qualities!! Amazing! I love that the 4 of us are on the same page and we're at a place where we can serve and play together. When we do stuff like host another child, we do it as a family. Even though the kids (specifically my oldest) is branching out, outside the family these days, our options for doing stuff together increases with meaningfulness as well. And it's good for us to gather others into our fold. Most days there are 2-5 extra kids hanging out with us. Broadening our sphere of influence for sure.

I have 2 jobs that I absolutely love. I look forward to going to work most days. How many people can say that? Even this week when my school job is on Christmas break, I worked 2 days at the PT aide job and left feeling fulfilled and happy that I could connect and help people by doing what comes naturally to me. I mean, when it comes to the PT aide job, they literally pay me for being myself. That's crazy! I walk in there smiling, and walk away smiling. Most of my clients walk in with ails and walk out feeling better and smiling as they have been blessed. A good set up? I tend to think so!

Living in Middle Class America, it's easy to forget what blessings we have daily. I live in a relatively clean, warm, dry, comfortable house. After working 2 years in AL w/ Alabama Rural Ministry who helps those with inadequate housing, my perspective is very different on that. And the conveniences we have! Are you acutely aware of how easy our housework is?! We have dishwashers available if we want them! And having a washer/dryer combo is quite normal. I can literally have my clothes and dishes being washed and dried FOR ME while I type this. These conveniences are MAJOR helps to those who wish to have clean dishes and clothes. We don't understand properly how nice those things are until you're washing EVERYthing by hand. So I love laundry and dishes. It's really just a few minutes of prep and the push of a few buttons.

I'm thankful for friends in my life! Both for the ones that are exiting my life, the ones that are just now entering my life, and those who are still in my life, whether here or away. I have been tremendously blessing in that category and to all of you, I say send heartfelt thanks and Love! No matter where I've gone, God has certainly brought an interesting and diverse collection of people in my life to love and cherish, sharpen and be sharpened. LOVE! And thank you to all, both friends and strangers alike, who poured out love and understanding with my last post. With me, you have to take the good, bad, and ugly all in one package. I'm super blessed by those who accept me (flawed as I am) and love me anyway.
THANK YOU!

I'm thankful for heaven. This world is not the end-all, be-all for us. So even though ails like what were outlined in my previous post happen, it's not the end of the story for me, or thankfully, my husband and kids! And this is made possible by the Reason for the Season! I'm thankful for Jesus, his birth, resurrection and life! I look forward to celebrating that with loved ones this weekend!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!

"Keeping up with the Lontzes is like being a storm chaser!" ~Maria Stout (Merry Christams part 1)

I thought about making a year-end upbeat Christmas letter/card thingy this year, but considering the past 5 months, I opted to vent first. For those of you fear frankness, consider yourselves warned; this post is not for you.

Since we've been back in VA a mere 5 months ago, we've had a tire blow on the way here, we traveled 700 miles to find the renters left our place a literally CRAPPY MESS, we're in the negative with school loans, Nathan put a knife through his hand second day back (Happy Birthday, Travis) (ER visit #1), we had an earthquake, then we had a hurricane, I started 2 jobs, Nathan snapped 2 bones in his arm (ER visit #2), Nathan went on a field trip with his school and not one, but TWO cars rear-ended them and were totaled. Thankfully, Na didn't go to the ER with that one, but 12 of his friends did. No small trauma watching them being taken away on backboards and me trying to calm other kids whose parents weren't there yet.

Then I was driving home from work and stopped (7th car back) at a red light and was rear-ended. The car that hit me was totaled and my back was/is still hurt (ER visit #3). Before I could recover from that, Travis got very sick with pneumonia (ER visit #4) and was released after meds were given. Then, 15 hours later, the hospital calls and says Travis also has a blood infection and for us to come back. (ER visit #5). That turned into a 5 day very scary hospital stint that we'd like to never repeat. And this hospital stay burned all of Travis's leave that he planned to use when our exchange student (orphan from Latvia) came 4 days after he got out of the hospital. In fact, he's in the negative and that leaves him weakened (6 week projected recovery time) and him at work playing catch-up and understandably very tired when he gets home. Which leaves me doing this solo when we planned to do this together. Just in time for Christmas. At least he hasn't had knee surgery yet. That'll be a fun start to the new year with me holding 2 jobs and him not able to drive.

Nope. Our lives have had no stress at all lately.

Welcome back, Lontzes!! Virginia is STILL the land of suffering! (Have I mentioned I miss AL??) As we are limping exhaustedly into the home stretch of December, people around us are dropping like flies. My parents left for TX on the 18th, a family we Love and have Loved for 15 years is moving away on the 27th, our former mentors are moving off this continent on the 28th, and our neighbors, who have kids our kids' ages who come over almost daily are also moving a few days after that. Oh, and the person I trust the most outside my immediate family said they're not sure if they want to be friends with me anymore. Shoot me now. (that's a figure of speech, y'all) Really, though, if any of you has bad news to tell us now is the time. Our hearts are already broken and we're already beaten up and worn down. So lay it on us. We can take it. Apparently, we're stronger than we think.

For those of you out there who are formulating a rebuttal in your head, please don't type it out or call me. I don't want to hear how I should be joyful always or how I should be on anti-depressants for having feelings. I'm not depressed. I'm simply tired from the circumstances and couldn't fathom an end of the year letter without needing to vent first. I WILL make another post soon about the blessings going on in my life and what I'm thankful for. But it'll be another day. If you think it should be earlier, please see my previous entries. They're very positive for the most part. However, for tonight, this post is what it is.
Take me or leave me.

She's here!

I know I'm behind on this post, but we've been a bit overwhelmed lately. :)

Evija made it here safely! I will try to post a few photos next week. Some of you out there have rose colored glasses on in regards to orphan care. If you would like to continue with those on, please stop reading here and check back with me another time. Those of you who don't mind a tiny dose of edited reality, read on.

Things were off to a rough start. Evija greeted us with her arms crossed and quiet for the first few days. We quickly found out she understands little English and doesn't feel comfortable trying to speak it. Therefore she's had to endure our less than perfect Latvian grammar and our slowness in speech. It's been almost 12 years since we lived in Latvia, so Travis and I are more than a little rusty. And our kids don't speak Latvian at all. I feel for her. She had just traveled 4,500 miles to meet strangers, then have to stay in a hotel room with them. It's no wonder she was scared and less than happy to see us. Then her first impression of America was the New Jersey Turnpike. I don't care what Pat Mahoney says, that part of NJ is like the unshaved armpit of America. In addition to the smoking factory scenery and bumpy roads, her silence and unwillingness to communicate other than with body language (arms crossed and looking away) made for a VERY long first two days. We got home from our 7 hour miserable car ride and our thoughts were along the lines of, "What have we done?" and, "At this rate, this is going to be a looooong month."

Also, in the first few days, we had to deal with practical stuff, like introducing deodorant, toothbrushes, and American underwear sizes, and other feminine hygiene products. Yay me. The orphanage sent her with one and a half outfits for her month long stay (one pair of pants and 2 shirts.) Trying to navigate clothing purchases and some other female stuff within the first 2 days did not endear Miss Evija to liking me. I smiled a lot, tried very hard with the language, used my pocket translator, and my Latvian friend Marika translated some emails for me. We got through it. Introducing our household routines (like this is a dishwasher, these are the foods we eat, and here's how we do laundry, etc.) has been fairly smooth. She seems to catch on to our ways and she has an appreciation for how easy those things are here. (If only all American teens realized this!)

And I must point out the positive side: Evija is a trustworthy young lady! She's been respectful of our stuff, she's complied with bedtimes, basic rules, and such. After doing foster care, we're well aware of what we could be dealing with. I don't have to worry about her destroying things, wandering the house at night, or trying to hurt our kids. Compared to some kids who have lived with us over the years, Miss Evija's shyness and reluctance to bond right away is a cake walk (very easy) for us. So when it comes to obeying rules and being safe, Evija gets an all important A+.

So far, things are getting better each day in the shyness category. She opened up to Emily first and they have bonded. I'm so proud of how Emily relentlessly went after Evija and forged the first connection. My daughter is growing up to be a woman of breakthroughs someday!!! She's well on her path. Then Nathan showed her our rope swing and they became fast friends. Just yesterday, Evija bonded with Travis and initiated communication with him. Yes. He had to wait (and try) 5 days for that. I'm still waiting. It hasn't happened with me yet. Please understand, Travis has been at work, the kids at school, and me at home with Evija the whole time. She's not warmed to me very much and doesn't enjoy talking much with me yet. Maybe it's the language barrier? However, if you know me, you know I'm pretty good at communicating. That kind of rejection is hard to take on my heart, but I'm standing in faith that my day will come soon. Who knows what's behind her hesitancy, but I'm going to keep trying different things and bless her with Love.

This morning, Evija got to have a dose of all the Lontzes home! We have a Saturday morning brunch routine that we enjoy very much. In the past, our Saturday brunch cooking is one way we break in new foster kids and see how they react to the "real us". Well, we decided to try it today with Evija. We all broke into different jobs and cook together as we talk 90 miles an hour all squished in the kitchen at once, bumping into each other and laughing our heads off. I'm VERY happy to report that she did well with that! She helped set the table and assisted with Emily's job of scrambling eggs. And SMILED!! YAY!

We're seeing her beautiful smile more and more as this goes on. She enjoyed the Lighthouse (hilarious!) Christmas pageant last night and she delivered Angel Tree gifts with us this morning. We'll see how she does with Grace tomorrow. I discussed church a little 2 days ago because of the Trivett's nativity scene on route 3. There will be many many new things to discuss and do in the coming weeks. It should be fun to show her around and let her explore American museums and culture, etc. We hope she enjoys meeting our friends (and their kids) soon too.

So all in all, we're doing all right. Things were off to a less-than-hoped-for (quiet)start, but we're seeing the ice melt and slowly we're all bonding. We like her very much! Any prayers would be appreciated. Pray for safety, clear communication, and blessings! I may not be able to write as often as some would like, but I'm doing my best. And we DO APPRECIATE all of you who are encouraging us along the way! Thank you!

On the Cusp!

Evija is already traveling to America by now. It's absolutely crazy to think that she's in the air and headed our way. We are just now getting around to cleaning up and getting ready for her arrival ~ less than 24 hours away! Having done that trip many times in our lives, Travis and I are full of empathy for the jet lag that will ensue. Nonetheless, we look forward to meeting her and finally getting to the point where our lives and her life intersect. On the Cusp indeed!

With Travis being sooooo sick last week and me still recovering from the car accident, we are both moving slowly! Even though we've had AMAZING help from some WONDERFUL friends and family, things are not as perfect around here as I would like it to be for Evija's first impression of the Lontz clan and our life. But perhaps this is a good thing. She'll know right away that we're not perfect! There will be no elevated first impression. I don't always make my bed, have the house in order, or have everything organized or neat. But I do love my family fiercely. That I can do, and do well. She'll be a part of my family for a month, so hopefully she'll experience fierce love and bask in it. And I hope she'll enjoy our extended family, both the blood related side and the chosen friends-that-are-family side that are oh so important to us!

So pray for our transition, safety in travels, clear communications despite language barriers, and for SLEEP! We should be able to post photos in a few days. Thanks for joining in this adventure!

November~ good riddance!!

The Thanksgiving season has been a mixed up season for me. On the one hand, I'm glad to have built in reminders of thankfulness and excuses to get together with friends and family (we had FIVE, count 'em FIVE Thanksgiving feasts this year!~Yum!) However, in the past few years, it's been overshadowed by the memories of losses that occurred in my life this time of year. Thanksgiving week is the anniversary of several different deeply painful things. For example, the courts turned over custody of two of our foster kids to their relatives that week a few years ago. Another year Thanksgiving week is when we welcomed some other kids that we miss dearly now. I don't want to get into details, but there Thanksgiving week these past 5 years has been a complete contrast in joy and pain on oh so many levels.

This year, I was faced with all the above plus I was in yet another car wreck. I stopped at a red light and got rear ended a week before Thanksgiving. The car that hit me was totaled and the impact hurt my back quite a bit, so I ended up being evaluated. In the middle of Frank-the-firefighter checking me, my body started to shake uncontrollably head to toe. This frightened me and thus, added me freaking out to the scenario. And did I mention my back was hurt? Well, shaking just added to the pain too. Frank had his work cut out for him. God bless him~ He stuck with me and talked me through the episode until the shaking subsided. Any of you who've dealt with me when I'm hurt and scared, you know this is no easy task.

Travis finally got to the scene, but we agreed since my life wasn't in danger, he should stay and deal with the cops and getting the van released, then meet me later at the hospital. This sounded good in theory, until I shook again in the ambulance. Then they wheeled me into the hospital room and prepped me for X-rays. I had to remove any metal, so I had to be in a lovely gown. Frank stayed with me through the prep period, and kept talking to ensure I wouldn't spazz again. I was thankful for his help, but he said goodbye as I went into the X-ray room, saying he was still on duty and had to go.

After SEVEN painful positions for X-rays were over, I was once again in a dark hospital room. There were 3 wrecks in our city within an hour that night, so the State Trooper took much longer than expected to get to Travis.

So there I lay: cold, frightened, shaky, in pain, and completely alone. :(

Not exactly how I wanted to spend my Thursday night. Much to my surprise, after a few minutes, Frank walked back into my room. He said he found out Travis would be delayed and he knew I'd need someone, so he came back for me. He was a sight for sore eyes and balm to my soul. He could only stay with me an extra 10 minutes or so b/c we had a second set of X-rays to do, but that courtesy went miles in my mind that night.

So as I bid another November good riddance, I'm still as mixed up as ever. This season also added its contrasts to my experience. The car wreck on the con, but Frank definitely helped balance the scales. Here's to all those out there who go the extra mile to care for strangers. This season I'm thankful that there are people like you in the world!

25 days!

Time is flying! We can't believe in just 25 short days, we'll be meeting Evija for the first time. Things have been challenging over here with paperwork being more than we originally understood and, of course, several glitches along the way. There were even a few weeks when we thought we wouldn't be able to meet deadlines, but it finally looks like everything is in order. We just have one last 3.5 hour training this Sunday and we'll be good to proceed!

I just found out Evija's last name this morning. I can't share the name, but I can share the significance. As soon as I read it, I was floored. She's named after a type of tree that's federally protected in Latvia. It's strong and made to endure hardship, yet thrive and provide rest for others. I felt like God allowed me some insight into her life and personality through her name. Being an orphan, she's already endured so much, yet she's willing to take risks (coming to America to stay with us) that will broaden her future and she has already been a blessing to those around her in the orphanage. I like this girl already! Also, her first name means "reliable, and stable, yet wanting to know the heart of others." The orphanage director's description of her agrees with her names. I know it's dangerous to put expectations on a person, as we're all human; but I believe Miss Evija will be a good match for our family and we're all looking forward to meeting her.

However, 25 days is not a lot of time, especially when you add everything else into the mix. There is much to accomplish on our end in that short amount of time. I just got permission for some time off work with one job and I'll be meeting with my other employer asap to agree on a schedule. There are also a swirl of other details to be tackled and a few unknowns in the mix. Please pray for favor and direction as we continue to move forward! :) Thank you!!

Ode to Lisa Jones!

Well, today was an interesting day. My daughter went home sick from school (something that's never happened before.) She stayed with a neighbor b/c I don't have sick leave built in. At the end of the day, I was waiting for my son to get home from a field trip so I could then pick Emily up and attend to her properly. I was on the phone organizing some stuff for my job at the school when I overheard the owner of the school saying Nathan's bus had been in a wreck. I hung up on the person I was talking to and promptly picked up Travis and drove to the accident scene. We arrived at the intersection to see around 7 squad cars/fire trucks/ ambulances. There were 2 totaled vehicles and the damaged bus. We weaved our way through the chaos until we found Nathan. He was relatively calm and unharmed, watching his friends being taken by stretchers to the ambulances. MY SON WAS OKAY! But others were not. There was nothing I could do for the children on stretchers, but I could do something for the ones crying hysterically as they watched as bystanders. I know b/c someone once helped my children as they watched horrors around them.

This scene today reminded me oh so much of when the logging truck hit us in AL. That day, once upon a time, Travis and I were trapped in our car and our kids were taken by ambulance to the hospital without us. It was our second day in AL, so we knew no one. A wonderful stranger, Lisa Jones, did something that changed my life. She saw that it would take a while for them to "jaws of life" me out of the car, so she followed the ambulance with my children, who were bawling and begging not to be separated from us (and it didn't help that they saw us hurt and bloody.) She then spent much of her day walking from the children's wing of the hospital to us, updating our family members on how the others were doing. ~At the expense of missing her sons' baseball games. It touched me so much that someone would care enough to stop and help, taking such preemptive measures against fear that threatened to consume us. I decided right then that if it was in my power to do so, I'd help other families when the situation arose.

Well, today was my day. Even though my son was okay and I had every reason to go and attend to my sick daughter, I could not leave the scene. I spent the next hour letting kids sit on my lap, holding various hands and talking non stop with the kids, explaining what was happening and doing everything in my power to ease their fears until their parents came. I'm not normally a patient person. It was the workings of the Spirit and I'm pretty sure it was the growth of the seeds that Lisa Jones planted in all our hearts April 11th, 2009. So this is not a pat on my back. An hour was the least I could do. This is a deep bow to Lisa Jones and people like her in my life. Their witness and character make me want to be a better woman. And this is a deeper still bow to God. Even though it was AWFUL to go through, I can see fruit sprouting from our wreck oh so long ago. This isn't the first time I've seen fruit from that tremendous pain and suffering. Strange how that works. I still wouldn't choose to do it again, but I can see loving hands working all things to the good.

Yes, God is good. Amen!

And then there was one........

Change is always in the air when doing fostering of any type and you learn very quickly to be flexible or you'll snap. This round of orphan care is no exception. We originally signed up for 2 kids, a boy our son's age and a girl our daughter's age. Well, the day after we committed to those 2, the director left us a message saying, "We need to talk." Between the time Project 143 interviewed the children in Latvia and the time we committed, the boy assigned to us became in need of medical care and is no longer able to travel to the US. So he's off the list and we're only hosting Evija, the girl our daughter's age. We're still excited to have her come!!

I was just reading "Kisses From Katie" this week about Katie Davis, who is adopting 13 girls in Uganda. In the book, Katie had an incident where she felt prompted to ask an elderly lady to live with her. She prayed and wrestled with whether she could handle it or not. She finally decided in faith to offer her home and let God work it out. Immediately after she offered, the woman said, "No, thank you." Katie laughed to herself and realized sometimes God asks us to do stuff just to test us and build us up. I feel a little bit of empathy for that situation. We were told it would be easier to just host one child at a time. However, when we were trying to choose between the 2 kids, we just could not say no to either of them. Even though we knew it would be a bigger undertaking, we felt in our hearts that we should offer our home to both and let God work it out. Well, God did work it out, just differently than we expected. With the boy pulled from the program, we're down to one. But we feel guided, protected, and hopeful that this will be a good experience.

Thanks for tuning in. We should know a bit more in a few weeks. :)

Change is in the Air

Well, most of you know we've had a heart for caring for kids who have no one else for all of our married life. We did orphan work a little in Latvia, did foster care for close to 6 years here in the US, sponsored kids and some other avenues along the way etc. This is not for a pat on the back, just giving some background on us. We looked into hosting programs many years ago, but our children were so young at the time (2 and 4). We always said we'd look into it again when the kids got older. Well, they're now 10 and 11, so we thought we'd look into it again. We've been researching and praying about what avenue to take for about 5-6 months now. We're happy to say, we've been accepted in "Project 143"'s winter host program. Two Latvian orphans will be coming to stay with us for 4 weeks (approximately Dec. 15-Jan 15). (Email me if you want to see pictures!)

The idea is to bless them with some time in America, some time with a family, and some time to celebrate holidays here. I'm so glad we lived in Latvia for 2 years, so we can hopefully make this a very smooth transition for them~~ although we may be skyping with Marika (my BFF from my time in Latvia) quite a bit! Hopefully some of you will want to follow this journey with us. If not, that's okay too. One of the things I learned in AL was this: God will provide the friendships we need and prune the rest. And in other circumstances, he grafts people into our lives, whether temporarily or permanently to allow them to be a part of our family. All 4 of us are looking forward to these kids being a part of our family for a month. We'll see what comes of it! :)

Quakin' in my boots! :)

Just a quick note to let everyone know we're okay after yesterday's earthquake here in Va. The kids were in the garage and I was on the first floor. I ran through the house, yelling at them to get out of the house. I was like a mother hen with my arms open wide, shooing them out with one child in the crook of each elbow. We huddled in the driveway until the ground stopped roiling. Then 4 families from our street sat in a neighbor's front yard, awaiting after shocks and passing a cordless phone line line that worked b/c all cell service was out. A weird note, while out in the yard, the kids noticed droves of crickets and bugs hopping like made from the forest toward our road. I guess even insects have the survival instinct to get to open ground!

My parents' VA house is about 3 miles from the epicenter. Thankfully, Mom and Dad were on vacation at my sister's in TX. And with double thanks, the protective equipment worked at the local nuclear power plant!! So there was minimal damage at both our house and my parents' house. We have a crack in our porch, some stuff fell off shelves and easy stuff like that. My parents had slight damage to some of their decorations and that was it. All in all, it was not such a big deal. Scary, yes! but minor nonetheless.

Now we'll see what happens with this hurricane nonsense that's headed our way. My guess is it will be a category 1 or less by this weekend. For those of you who don't know, category 1 is like a big rain storm. I'm not too concerned yet. We'll see. Never a dull moment!!

True to the Title

When I started this blog, it was mostly for chronicling a bike event I did across Alabama~ hence "There and back again". I didn't know at the time how applicable that title would be in regular life as well. In May of 2009, we left VA bruised and battered (from a van wreck and some emotionally difficult circumstances). The first 6 months of Travis's grad work and living in Auburn were kinda rough, but the last 20 were completely amazing! The Deep South opened up a whole new world for us and we very open to staying there or moving elsewhere. After Travis applying to 70+ jobs in various places, we are surprised to find ourselves "Back Again" here in VA in the same house we left. He has a different job, but associated with the same people, just in a different company.

We're very thankful for a great job, especially in this economy, but I'm a little unsettled from the move. The adage is true: one never can "just go home" after moving away. Things are always different as people and things morph and change in this ever fluid craziness called life. But here's a good part: I don't WANT my old life back! Yes, some key friends are keepers for life, but for the most part, our family is ready to take what we've learned and apply all our changes to life wherever we are. Fredericksburg has sure changed since living here too. And it's nice to see so many positive changes in friends' lives as well. Seems we're all pressing in to find our paths.

This month should prove to be telling for us. Travis starts his job Monday, we have to make decisions about the kids' schooling next week, and I'm not sure what's in store for me personally yet. We're also searching to find our place in the greater community. We're going to be checking out some churches, service organizations, and clubs to see where our family's experience can help the most. Not only that, but we need to find what is the best fit for the atmosphere we crave.

SOME things are familiar, though. True to form, we've already had an ER visit within 2 days of being back. Our son decided to cut a cardboard moving box with his new and bigger pocket knife he got for his b'day. He ended up slicing his thumb something fierce. But all in all, this probably saved us a longer hospital stay. When the doctor asked him what his was making, he replied, "a snowboard so I can ski down our stairs." (Can you tell Monkey-boy has lived in a one level rambler for the past 2+ years?) So that prompted our 8th talk with him about what function our stairs will and will not play in his life. We sure hope to extinguish our hospital prone tendencies. Let's pray this is the last one we'll have until one of our kids is married and has a baby!

Thanks to everyone who helped us move in! Thanks to everyone who just stopped by this week. I LOVE THAT! :) And to those in Auburn, I've cried over missing you this week. You are loved and missed!!

Under da Sea !!

I'm a pretty adventurous person. Just ask anyone who's known me a while and who's gone on any "Lontz Family Outing" with us. (Several people just snickered at their memories of LFOs with us!) When it comes to food, unless it's Thai-hot, I'll try most anything once. When we're traveling~~ bring it on! I love to see new places and do new things. Go rappelling? No problem. Bobsled run? Done it! The same is true at the beach. Over the years, I've had the privilege of trying some activities in the "strange" and "slightly scary" categories of fun. From para-sailing to sting ray hunting (the big ones!), I've been up for it.
.......As long as it didn't take me far from shore.

Yep, even adventurers have their quirks. Mine is a huge fear of being underwater with a breathing apparatus. This is unfortunate b/c the two things Travis has been longing to do with me are scuba and snorkeling. Shudder! The idea of being out in open water, depending on a device to provide breathable air was enough to strike terror in my heart and send me to the fetal position sucking my thumb.

So Travis has been chipping away at my defenses for 18 years or so. But this year, he decided to change tactics and go for more of a compromise to win me over. He chose my favorite spot (Siesta Key) and asked if I would join the family snorkeling at Point-of-Rocks which is unique in many ways. First, you can swim to it from the beach, so no deep water! This also made it crazy cheap, at something like $9 a person. So I mustered up the courage to say yes for the first time.

That's where my courage ended. On the drive out to the equipment rental place today, I started to have raised heart rate, butterfly tummy, and moderate breathing problems. I'm so glad Travis had me persevere. And it's also no surprise to find the word "severe" in "persevere"! I made it through the fitting, the beach lesson by Travis and then we started to swim out to the rocks. Both kids took to it like Merpeople. They were floating, diving, and wishing the fins would be permanently attached. Me? I hyperventilated and had to back float to refocus. It's akin to having a 5 year old pass you the first time you're on a black diamond ski-slope as you're quaking in your boots. I think I used every calming skill I possessed to put that mask back on and try yet again.

But I'm so glad I did! Once I finally got the hang of breathing through my mouth without panicking, the sight that awaited me would lure anyone to conquer their fear! There were entire schools of fish, crabs, and all kinds of intoxicating colors in the plant life. And in order to see better, you had to dive to the bottom. Within 5 minutes of looking, I was diving and LOVING it!! I'm not a pro by any stretch of the imagination, but I did get a taste of it and want more...someday. I lasted about an hour and then entertained myself at the beach while the other 3 continued to explore. So all in all, it was a good experience. Travis is still saying we'll scuba together one day. Bless his heart. (that's southern-speak for "ain't happenin') But I would like to try snorkeling again. Maybe we'll go to a deep water reef next year.

(Pictured, Point-of-Rocks, Siesta Key, FL)

Florida.....balm for the soul

In the midst of a very stressful time in our lives~ Travis' last semester in school and the complete uncertainty of our future, we were incredibly blessed to spend 10 days in Florida "helping" my favorite cousin. I put helping in quotation marks b/c we're dog and house sitting at the beach! Twist our arms! So we've been hanging out in St. Pete beach and Siesta Key. I was most blessed to take my kids to the Key. It was where my parents and my cousin's family spent several vacations growing up. As you can see from the photo, it's like a paradise! And I wanted to share those memories w/my hubby and kids. I was most blessed when my oldest declared our visit to be the best day ever! :)

It's funny, I was reading a blog post from a friend up north who was in FL at the same time we were. She whined about the humidity and complained about the off season crowds. I was just about to think of her as a wimp, but then I remembered 3 years ago when I had my first dose of real AL humidity. Maybe she's not a wimp; maybe I'm just acclimated! Reason #74 that I'm glad I moved to AL: We've adjusted such that oppressive humidity and can enjoy summer anywhere in the South!! It certainly broadened our options and made is so we've enjoyed being outdoors here in FL 6-7 hours a day. And we've certainly enjoyed our time in AL this summer. It's been 1000% better than the last two summers, hands down!! A very soothing and loving way to end an all so important chapter in our lives.

Lastly for this post, I'm thankful for technology. Travis was able to skype his classes and come with us! Yay! And he can do homework and regular work on line with his laptop. It's amazing what can be accomplished remotely in this day and age. It's also helpful that I have a responsible hubby who can be trusted to finish well even though he's away. And to answer everyone's question of the month, "What's next??" Well, I thank you for your concern and care for asking, but unfortunately, our answer is still, "We don't know." I hope to have good news soon.

100 miles!

I'm finished with the Cycle of Service event and I biked 100.6 miles this weekend!!! It was fun and challenging, especially in the 96-97F degree heat! I do wish that I had not been sick for 2 of the 3 days, but that didn't take away the feeling of accomplishment as I reached my 100 mile goal. :) Today was family ride day, so my two kids joined me for about 12 of the 25 miles I rode. It felt good to see them working hard right beside me. For Nathan, 12 miles was a personal best. I'm proud of both of them!

So here's a big shout out to the ARM staff and volunteers who made this event happen. At our team meeting today, it was announced that we are up to about $11,000 so far in the fund raising. Please don't hesitate to go ahead and send something in. I asked my supporters to donate by July 1st. I'm looking forward to hearing a final number next week or so. The kids and I (and maybe Travis if he has time) hope to join in on one of the builds this summer. We'll see what's available that's kid friendly.

Did I mention that biking across a state for 3 days is a great way to get to know the state you live in?? I feel like I got yet another new perspective on Alabama living each day. ~a fun perk to this event!

I'm going to rest now. Preferably lying down and curling up to a good book!

Road Construction, Logging Trucks, and Bridges, oh my!!

For me, the first day of Cycle of Service yesterday could been titled, "Tara Facing Her Fear." I had a great day and reached a huge milestone for me, but it was not without some challenges. The route we took had lots of construction with barrels making the lanes tight, many bridges of varying height and arch, and it's a main trucking route. Any of you who've known our family more than 3 years will understand why I got an adrenalin surge every time a logging truck passed me in the same lane, which was about every 20 minutes. Can you say, hugging the white line? :) And although I've made significant strides in the past 5 years with my fear of bridges, driving over them is a completely different experience than biking~ where you are higher than the barrier and hugging close to the edge, therefore able to see the chasm below. Travis got some great pictures that I hope turn out. We'll publish those at a later time. But I'm proud to say I faced all of those down and road my best. And I'm all the better for it.

All the challenges aside, I reached a personal best yesterday! While training for this event, the longest distance I had ever biked was 25.1 miles. But yesterday I was able to complete 50.2 miles~ doubling what I had previously accomplished!! Yay! And I felt decent afterward and could still function. I smelled pretty rank, for we were biking in 97F that day, but I felt better than on the training day when I only did 25.1. That being said, I was still the newbie who came in last among the riders. But this isn't about comparing myself to others! It's about me setting goals and accomplishing what I can do and doing my best for the event. And ultimately, even higher than reaching our personal goals is the shared goal of helping those without adequate housing. We all rocked when it came to that!

Today, for the second day of the event, I only biked 25.2 miles. (Still better than my best practice distance.) A few miles into the ride, I realized I had a UTI (feel the burn!) that made it...um... challenging to ride, hence the lower distance. By mile 25, I was hurting and realizing I needed to lay down my pride and go to the doctor. I should still be able to ride tomorrow for the afternoon Tuskegee route. Now my personal goal is to exceed the 100 mile mark for the weekend. It should be doable, seeing as I've already ridden 75+ miles in two days. Hopefully I'll be healed enough tomorrow to finish what I started and to reach my event goal. I'm looking forward to finishing well. And it will be great to see how much money is raised for helping ARM help people. It's not too late to donate! If you'd still like to participate that way, send it in!! Checks can be made out to ARM and sent here:

Alabama Rural Ministry
P.O. Box 2890
Auburn, AL 36831

Last but certainly NOT least, I'd like to thank Travis for being my personal driver. I could not have done this without him! He would leap frog my bike every few miles and cheer me on as I passed. Just knowing someone was there and having the extra water and such on hand made it possible for me to double my distance. Trav and the kids did a fantastic job today of cheering me on to beat my best practice distance even when I was sick. I look forward to having them with me tomorrow as we end this challenge together. I'm very blessed!

The "Dream Chaser" Caught His Dream!!

When we first moved to Alabama, we got AL tags for our van and Travis put DRMCHSR on it, indicating that he was here to chase his dream of being an industrial designer full time. He got his post-bacc undergrad degree in 3 semesters, took a summer off to work, then came back and has been pursuing his Masters since fall. He both turned in his written thesis last week and did his oral defense yesterday. The kids and I enjoyed dressing up and sitting in on his oral presentation and watching Travis field Q&A from his committee and other interested faculty and staff. It was all over in less than an hour. Then the committee excused all of us and deliberated on whether or not to pass him.

Within 15 minutes, they called Travis back into the room. (The kids and I came in too!) The head of his committee kept up the suspense by going over all the options. He said it was quite normal for a grad student to have either their oral presentation or the thesis fail on the first try. He said it was only in a VERY RARE case that someone's written thesis and oral presentation pass on the first time for industrial design. After all, Auburn's ID program is ranked 6th in the nation. Then his looked at Travis and said, "What category do you think you fall into?" Travis, being modest, asked the professors to spell it out for him. They smiled and said he passed BOTH the thesis book and the presentation!! YAY!! I'm so proud of my honey! And not surprised a bit! Travis was made to do this!

All that's left for him to officially get his masters is for him to finish one class he's taking this summer. He's enjoying the class and has straight A's so far, so I don't anticipate this being a problem. But he'll still be busy with 2 TA positions and contract work on top of that. We'll get through, though. We always do. :)

One more piece of good news on Travis's end: Travis is a member of IDSA (Industrial Design Society of America). They read his thesis, thought it was relevant, and asked him to be a guest speaker at the 2011 IDSA international conference in September!! Travis accepted the speaking part yesterday and he will be presenting his thesis topic and findings there in just a few short months!! So a big "Thank you, God!!!" for all of these opportunities. And of course, our biggest prayer request is for Travis to get a great job offer very soon. We need to make decisions about our rented house in VA asap. It's hard to do that when we don't know if we'll be living there or not.

Thanks to all who encouraged us over the years! And to those following my biking, I'll see if I can share my smaller success with you in another post. I want this one to be dedicated fully to Travis for such a good job!!!!! LOVE MY HONEY!!!

making a list, checking it twice

I can't believe next Friday is the date! I was very discouraged with riding last week. It felt like I had to work extra hard all the time and I was whooped after only 12 miles or so. That is mentally taxing too, wondering, "What's wrong with me??" So Travis went out to check my bike and found that my back brake was out of alignment and had been dragging. OH!! That's why everything was difficult! Going up hills with the brakes partially on is no fun! I guess I've been doing some heavy resistance training and I didn't even know it. My legs are sure stronger for it!

I went out yesterday and rode with all the new adjustments and found JOY in riding once again. I love the wind on my skin and the scenery and such. The cooler temps and better riding position helped too. If only that would hold for next week.

So next week is a big week for me, but an even bigger one for Travis. Travis got his thesis back from the reader, made necessary formatting adjustments and will hand it in TODAY to his committee for "pre-review." The head of his committee is in Italy at the moment. So if all goes well and all professors are in town, my honey will do his oral defense next Thursday, June 23rd. If not, then he'll bump it to the next week so we can serve with ARM all weekend. No matter which way it goes, he'll be ready to present by TH morning. I'm so proud of him and all that has been accomplished over the past 2 years. It's been difficult at times for all 4 of us, but definitely worth it! I hope to report many achievements by my next post!

2 weeks! (and still melting!)

It's nice to have a smart husband. Travis is doing his thesis on how to integrate DYI communities into industrial design curriculum. Ummm...yeah. For illustration purposes, he designed a bike assist that's caused quite a buzz in the cyclist community down here. No, I'm not using the bike assist for this event!! However, the bike assist landed Travis as a guest speaker at a cyclist group. In the give and take style, the leader gave me some free help on how to help my aching elbows. One of my best friends in Seattle also confirmed what I need to correct the painful problem. It hurt so much I didn't bike much this week, but instead opted for swimming to exercise. So my bike will be adjusted tomorrow and I'll be back on the road with gusto for these final 2 weeks.

I'm looking forward to getting back on my bike and doing this event. I'm still NOT in shape, and my goal is only to do a partial ride. We'll see how far I get. But I have improved over the past month, and that's all I can ask! ARM's director recently decided to make part of our proceeds from the event go to victims of the devastating April tornadoes and part to go to AL's poor who were already on the waiting list. I'm sold on helping both groups of people.

On a more personal note, if you feel lead, please pray for the Lontz clan in general. We need direction!! Travis doesn't have any job offers yet and he ends his Masters program in 7 weeks. He's doing very well in school, loves his profession, and is enjoying applying what he's learning to contract work. He was simply made to do this! I'm so happy for him, so I'm asking for prayer that a great design job comes his way WELL before his time at school is up. 7 weeks will fly by before we know it! That's also when our lease ends on this house we're living in and the lease ends on our house we rented-out in VA. So, we have many decisions to make in the near future and virtually no information to work with. After the bike event, I guess I'll keep the countdown theme, for then, we'll be only 5 weeks out from ending this stage of life. It's been a wonderful "ride" so far. :) We're all so glad we came down here to our Sweet Home Alabama! However, we'll all wondering ~ What's next??

3 weeks and melting!

Hey All! Thanks for prayers and support! The event is 3 weeks from today and I feel like I'm melting! Our temp right now says 97F! Please pray for a cold front, a tail wind and cloud cover for the fundraiser ride!!!! I need it!:) I did two 20+ mile bike rides this week and added swimming on to my regimen. That way I can still work my muscles, but I'm able to do that with my kiddos and without feeling like I'm going to pass out. And swimming helps my very sore elbows. For some reason, they are the most affected part of my body. (??) Any tips on how to change that, I'm open.

There's so much going on this week! We've had my parents visiting, our 15th wedding anniversary, and Travis is handing in his thesis to the reader by 3:15pm today. Looks like there will be a lot of things accomplished in the life of the Lontz clan by the end of this month. Truth be told~ bring it on! We're not just finishing, but finishing well. Who knows what's next? Stay tuned. Glad you're journeying with us. :)

4 weeks from today!

Well, in just 4 short weeks, I'll be attempting to ride across Alabama. I was so encouraged by my ride today, that is until I realized I accidentally reset my tripmeter to kilometers! Bummer! I sure didn't got as far as I thought. I've learned much so far. Like how to put my chain back on when I wreck (twice), how to confront a male pickup driver who tried to run me over (he got a well deserved dose of Yankee), that the raised reflectors on the road are fun on a mountain bike and downright dangerous on a road bike, that hitting a patch of sand at 20mph will make you skid in a hilarious manner, and last but not least, how to stop 3/4 the way down a hill and wait for the light at the bottom of the hill to change to green, so I can pick up speed to make it up the next hill. This last one is very helpful!!!

As much fun as these lessons are, it's even more important that I keep my focus on the truly important, which is helping Alabama's poor have adequate, safe housing! I want to be His hands and feet! We've had a lot going on personally lately, so I've been a somewhat disconnected from working with ARM. I guess my bike training counts, but I don't want to miss ways to reach out and actually help people. If we all inspire someone to help just one family, then in turn that someone would inspire another person, we could start a domino effect! Thank you for being a part of this endeavor with me and being a part of Team Lontz!! Together we will touch the lives of the families that ARM will help THIS SUMMER!! :)

Cycle of Service!

Hey all! Thanks for reading and sharing in my journey.  It's been 2 years this week since we moved to Sweet Home Alabama.  We love it here for many reasons, one of which is that we are privileged to volunteer with the organization Alabama Rural Ministry or ARM for short.  You can check them out here for information about the ways they serve Alabama's poorest of the poor.  Our whole family has loved helping with home repairs and basic social services provided to families in need.  ARM is sponsoring a 3 day bike ride across Alabama, called Cycle of Service, to raise awareness about poverty housing in Alabama and raise money for home repair and Tornado Relief in Lee, Macon, and Sumter counties.  It's coming up June 24-26th. 

We believe in the good this organization is doing in our home state, so I have decided to ride with them this year!!!!!!!  It's 168 miles over a three day span!!!  I'm VERY new to the road biking world, with rookie written all over me.  I got a road bike and started training for this May 10th.  I'm not sure I'll be able to physically finish the ride each day, but I'm committed to trying my best!  The hardest day to conquer looks like it will be the first leg, which is 77 miles in one day!  (I think the sweeper and I will be on first name basis within the first hour or so.)  I'm committed to training my hardest and steady improvement over the next 5 weeks.  The most I've biked in one trip so far is 25 miles.  So I'm only 1/3 of the way there, but there is hope that I will improve by June 24th!  

So who's with me?  I need people to "walk" with me through this journey!  :)  I need encouragement, financial sponsors, advice and PRAYERS!  If you're interested, please send me an email and I'll get more info to you.  Please feel free to send this blog link to anyone you think would interested.
Blessings!! Tara