Running in the House

No matter what the size your home, it is worth it to allowing running in the house. Now, I know that many people are completely against running indoors, but I watched my never-quit-moving 5 year old and realized that  it is pretty much impossible for him to stop moving. He runs every where. To deny him the ability to run to the kitchen, or any where, is to truly step on his air hose. How well I understand his dilemma! So to solve the problem of small home, multiple running people constantly causing major crashes, we have decided to get rid of more "stuff" and let the running continue. Controversial, I know. Welcome to our life. We want tons of kids and as little stuff as possible. We make due with what we have and love to have the sound of running in the house, which is much louder in our home now with all hardwood floors. We chose an older log home because of its layout and design that makes playing and running possible. I highly recommend giving thought to physical surrounding because design truly does matter to children and families. We believe in life-long fitness so our home reflects that. We have an indoor track, aka a basement where I can put the treadmill and the children do laps around the furnace to "keep up with mommy." The other day my 5 year old ran a good clip for 45 minutes straight. He gets it honest. As we watched the Olympic marathon trials Saturday, we couldn't help but dream. I promised him Daddy and I would teach him everything we know about running. With his little impish grin, he said, "yeah, and then I'll learn more!" That's my boy! Until then, we will allow running in the house, for all the right reasons. Living a simple life I believe honors our Savior, who mostly likely, would've enjoyed the sound of children running, especially as they run to Him.

Blessings as you run!

Healthy Home Class = Delicious!

 The first Healthy Home Class photo recap has arrived! This is the delicious layout of our class featuring 7 super foods that boost the body's immune system. We had fantastic guests who came armed with great questions and adventurous taste buds. We devoured green smoothie, pizza, hummus and gluten-free flax crackers, and lovely teas.

 This is my co-instructor Jessica Kruse showing off her arm strength while making the incredible hummus. Really, if you don't like hummus, you will still love this stuff! Jessica is a great cook and is the driving force behind our section on the immune system from her years as an RN. She is fabulous!

This is the breathtaking double rainbow that we witnessed at the very end of the class. We opened the front door of the Kruse's home to bid farewell to our last guests and this is what God gave us! It ended right in their front field. Our children promptly threw on their boots and flew outside to find the end of the rainbow. What an incredible blessing and reassurance of God's involvement and attention to our lives!

If you weren't able to join us, do not despair. We are hosting a Healthy Home Class on December 10th focusing on Healthy Holiday Treats.  We will also be having another delicious class on Building the Immune System Through Nutrition in February and you can sample treats until your hearts content. For more info, please feel free to email me at ejphillips@sbcglobal.net or see our FB pages for the Healthy Home Class event.

Thanks to all our guests and we look forward to seeing you on December 10th!

Healthy Home Class:Building the Immune System through Nutrition

Please Join us on 10/29/2011 @2:30 pm at

9354 St Rt 22, Amanda Ohio 43102 for our

Healthy Home Class

…because Health begins at Home

Building the Immune System through Nutrition

Come enjoy a lively, interactive class covering the science of the immune system and practical ways to keep your family healthy this winter. Enjoy mountains of information and healthy, delicious food prepared in ways your family will eat! Samples, information packet, recipes, and coupons are included.

Team taught by Jessica Kay Kruse and Elizabeth Enright Phillips, two moms with real children who have gone from miserably sick to wildly healthy by eating delicious food. Cost: $10 donation

Registar through our Facebook Event or by texting 740-255-3586 so that we know how many samples to make! Thanks so much!

New House in the Country

 Although moving is an adventure, we are happy to be settling into our new little log home in the country. We have been given a great blessing in being able to outside of town with 2 1/2 acres for the children to explore. It is challenging running new routes, which include large unchained dogs, but the quiet is much needed. Here are few of my favorite photos of our new place. Please come and visit us soon!

A loft perfect for stuffed animals to jump off!



Even a secret closet for children!



How to have fun while running a rough race

Sunday's Nationwide Columbus 1/2 Marathon was a rough race. It just started out that way, and I knew that it was not going to be a PR day. So what do you do? Previously, I tended to pout, stew, push to hard, give up, or otherwise remain miserable. It was colder than weather.com had predicted. No Ohio sunshine came through and I had about 1/2 second to warm-up. I know that sounds strange to say that I need to warm-up for 13.1 mile races, but I do. I need lots of time which is why I prefer the marathon distance. Nothing seem to fall into place, and I had a decision to make. Be miserable or enjoy the race anyway. For the first time ever, I decided to enjoy it. I had the most fun I've ever had. I looked around. I waved to people. I smiled...alot. I knew there was no way I was going to PR so why not enjoy the race anyway. I prayed for people, all 100,000 spectators. For the gorgeous mansions and burned out slums we ran through, for the German Village and the Financial district, I prayed. Thanking God sure does get rid of misery, even at mile 11 when my IT band disagreed with my pace. The choice was clear, misery or joy. Prayer and thankfulness always trump misery and defeat, no matter how many miles are left to go.

Blessings as you run!

Sweet Feet

Have you ever felt like you couldn't even put one foot in front of the the other? Did you ever consider simply giving up and admitting failure? Every other minute some days? Good, you can be my friend. Seriously, though, having struggled like this has made a tremendous difference in my life and considering the implications of deep struggle lately has actually helped.

When I ran the Columbus Marathon last year, I was ready to qualify for Boston. During the race, I knew I was ahead of pace and had room to spare. Then, I hit mile 15 which was up hill. And the mile after that, and then another up-grade. Notice no downhills occurred. To my horror, the entire last half of the marathon was basically low-up grades or hills. They had changed the course since the last time I had run the full marathon. I hit the wall hard and missed Boston by 5 minutes. It was still a PR by 2 minutes and I had only trained for six week (which I do not recommend).  But that vision of yet another hill has burned into my brain.

Daily life, it seems, has striking similarities. We recently moved; the difficulties were endless. Dear friends recently experienced devastating job loss. Our family has been stricken by the cancer of loved ones. At times it seems that life is all up hill.

I do not pretend to have the answers. As I run, I wrestle these out with God over mile after endless country mile. I need every one of the long miles I run to process and work out my faith in the midst of struggle. Yet, I want to offer to you, my good friend who struggles, a tiny little word...hope. On those mountains of heartache and struggle with God is a hidden treasure, peace and hope.

Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news,
             who proclaim peace,
                  who bring good tidings,
                  who proclaim salvation,
           who say to Zion,
"Your God reigns!"

Blessings as you run!

PS Now that we have Internet here in the country, I am thrilled to be back to blogging! Please leave me a note or a prayer request for my prayer runs. I have many miles to do, so let the prayer requests come!

Running in the Country!

We barely have Internet out here in the sticks, so I do not have photos of the new house yet. But I did get to go for a run for the first time on a rainy Sunday morning. I met exactly 3 cars, 5 dogs, 6 roosters, 1 little old man with the dogs, and lots and lots of trees. Aahhh, summer rain and lots of trees are incredible! The air is different here. The run was not near long enough but I had to be satisfied. How could I complain? I wasn't being almost flattened by semi-trucks as on my previous running routes. I ran to an Amish farm and back, just to give you a clue, we are in a different place! The transition has been, ahem, a transition. But I now have a very clean, cool basement to run in with my bike, treadmill, weights, and a pre-existing chin up bar. How could I ask for more? I am truly blessed. The kids have a play area where I can see them while I run, and the whole house does not shake. I do not have to hide my treadmill behind my front door and bloody my fingers trying to roll it into the kitchen just to use it safely. Amazing blessings we have been given. A clean, dry basement. Is it wrong to buy a house just for the basement to run in? And my children have a pre-made running trail through the woods that circles the house. My little runners are in their element here. They run everywhere for any reason...so much to see and do! In this transition, I am trying to keep my routines that keep me healthy and sane. I have had to compromise on the length of running that I wanted but I am pleased to say that I have kept running. Sometimes, it is 10-15 mins on the treadmill, but it is still worth it.

Any one have ideas on running through transition times? I have never been good at this! Oh, and what about country dogs? Help! Pictures of the new place will hopefully come soon!