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Friday, November 22, 2013

Adoption Puzzle Fundraiser

In case you missed it, here's a recap of our big announcement...

Family is so important, we all know that. I always  smile when I think about how awesome our God knits families together. Every family is different and unique.
 
This is our family:

 
 
 
SURPRISE! WE'RE ADOPTING!!!
 
We are so thrilled to be able to share this exciting news with all of you! And as fate would have it, November is National Adoption Awareness Month!  
You can feel free to read all about our infertility story and how the Lord has lead us to adoption here, here and here. Now, as you may know, adoption can be very expensive (about $20,000), which was one of the major factors that deterred us from exploring the option before now. In order to raise the necessary funds for our Domestic Adoption, we are starting an Adoption Puzzle Fundraiser (in addition to the wreaths for sale in my Etsy shop).
 
You have the opportunity to be an important piece in our adoption journey by donating and/or purchasing a puzzle piece/s. The puzzle piece/s purchased will have the name of the person/family donating written on the back. As people/families purchase puzzle pieces, the Adoption Puzzle will be assembled. I will be updating my blog with the progress of the puzzle as it is formed.
After the puzzle is completed, we will frame it between two pieces of glass and hang it in our baby's nursery. This will be a wonderful keepsake for our son/daughter to see all of the people who were part of bringing him/her home.
 
Each piece of the 500 piece puzzle is $10. Feel free to buy as many pieces as you want! All you have to do is click on the "Donate" button at the bottom of this post to make a secure donation via PayPal. OR, you can wait until December 12th and click here to be directed to our secure fundraising website to make your donation (our profile will not be active until after our orientation with the agency December 11th). All donations made through AdoptTogether are tax deductible! Please be sure to list your name/family in the "Donation Details" section so we know whose name to write on each puzzle piece, or provide that info in the comments section on this post if donating via PayPal. You can also mail a check if that's what you would prefer, just email me at themiksovskys@gmail.com and I can send you our address.
 
Will you please pray for our family during this process, and more importantly for the birthmother of the precious child that God has waiting for us? And would you please consider supporting us and being a part of our child's "God Story" by helping us bring him/her home?
 
Here is the breakdown of where your donations are going:
 
Pre-Application Fee  -  $250
Orientation Fee  -  $250
Pre-placement Assessment Fee  -  $500
Home Study Fee  -  $1500
Approval Fees  -  $4500
Matching Fee  -  $5500
Placement Fees  -  $6000
Miscellaneous  -  $1500
 
*Our adoption will be through Generations Adoptions, please feel free to visit their website to learn more about Domestic and International Adoption.
 
Even if you can't contribute financially, there is something even more important that you can do for us. Please pray for us and share our blog and family profile (will add link to this once it is complete) on Facebook and Twitter and help get other people to join in our journey. Your love, prayers and support mean more to us than you will ever know!

"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." John 14:18


 


Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Guess What?!?!?!

Family is so important. I always smile when I think about how awesome our God knits families together. Every family is different and unique.
 
This is our family:

 
 And we have something we'd like to share with you...
 
 
SURPRISE! WE'RE ADOPTING!!!
 
We are so thrilled to be able to share this exciting news with all of you! And as fate would have it, November is National Adoption Awareness Month!  
 
 
You can feel free to read all about our infertility story and how the Lord has lead us to adoption here, here and here.
 
Now, we need your help! Can you please pray for us as we go through this journey?  And more importantly, for the birthmother of the precious child that God has waiting for us? 
We will be updating the blog in the coming weeks on other ways that you can help us, but for now we only ask for your love, prayers and support, it truly means the world to us!
 
To date, we have submitted our application paperwork to Generations Adoptions, a Christian non-profit adoption agency, and are eagerly awaiting our orientation on December 11th! We are hoping to adopt a baby through their Domestic Adoption program, but are always open to other possibilities. We cannot wait to expand our family and give Max & Emma a new little brother or sister!
 
Let the journey begin...

Monday, November 18, 2013

That time I nearly sh!t my pants and more race recap deets

So yeah, I always wondered how runners sh!t their pants during a run, and I now I know. They have no control of it! Let me just start by saying that this race suuuuuucked!

If you've read my blog for a while, you know that my half training round 2 has been plagued with injury (sports hernia), sickness (sinus/upper respiratory infection with a pinched nerve), heat (almost ALL the time, and humidity (imagine running in a vat of soup), so why would I ever think race day would be any different?! Despite all of this, I still remained hopeful that the San Antonio Rock n Roll Half would still be a great race day for me. That is until I woke up to 72 degrees and 94% humidity... at 6:30 in the morning. As a side note, San Antonio would later go on to have a record high day at 88*.

Major WOMP WOMP! Still, I thought, "I can do this, I may still be able to make my adjusted goal time of 2:10." I just kept chanting John 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength."

We got to the hotel on Saturday after hitting up the Expo (which was super lame btw), unloaded our bags and set out to find some grub. Ah carb loading, probably my favorite part of race weekend :) We quickly realized that a) there were only 2 Italian joints on the Riverwalk and b) the waits were atrocious if you didn't make a reservation. Uhh, yeah we didn't make a reservation. Luckily, we started our hunt fairly early (around 6p) and after an hour and a half wait, we finally got to feast on some delicious pasta. OK, if we're being real, the pasta was just meh, but considering I NEVER eat pasta anymore (paleo, holla!), it was pretty good! I guess most of the food on the Riverwalk are just meh, you're pretty much just there for the atmosphere. We finished up, stuffed to the gils, and made our way back to the hotel, laid out all my gear for in the morning, and hit the hay for an early night.

Well hello there Alamo!

The next morning, I woke up and got ready to go, a little deflated to see that the temperature was nearly 72 degrees and the humidity was a staggering 94%... yeah. J and I finished getting ready and made our way down to the lobby where I downed a banana and some PB toast (which the nice people at Einstein Bros made for me) before heading toward the corrals. The lobby was buzzing with energy and optimism, and I let it pump me up. We made it to the corrals (33 of them to be exact, with no real rhyme or reason for how they were divided up, I was in 6), and figured I'd get a potty break in before the start. This place was a mad house! There must have been a million port a potties and the line for all of them was a mile long!

 
I finally made it through, took care of bit-ness and ran, dodging people left and right, to get to my corral before the start, but alas I had to jump in with corral 8 because I missed the start for mine - whatevs. By then, I had already drank almost half the water in my bottle, and there was NO WHERE to re-fill. So I knew I would be stopping at several water stations. The only good thing I can say about the race at this point was that it was cloudy, so I had that going for me.

I started out pretty good, working hard to keep my pace around 10 min mile, as I have a bad habit of going way too fast at the beginning of a race and then burn myself out. Things weren't going so well for others, however. About a mile and a half in, I already saw people stopping to walk, stopping to stretch, and people already drenched in sweat! No bueno! I was trucking along trying to stay positive and focused on my breathing and my pace, rockin' out to my jams (cuz the Rock n Roll portions of the race left much to be desired). But in spite of my focused breathing, I had side cramps off and on the ENTIRE race - it sucked!

 
And then mile 6/7 came along. Ugh, one word... HILLS! Ugh, shoot me, it was awful! There were seriously 3 hills in a row and I thought I was going to die! I totes walked up the first 2, and by mile 8/9 I knew there was no way I was going to make my goal time. You see, in addition to the hills, I was feeling the all too familiar abdominal cramps. Yup, there was a little shituation a brewing. Lovely. At that point my new and only goal was to beat my first half time of 2:24:48, oh and not sh!t my pants.

It continued to get hotter and hotter, and I was stopping at every single water/Gatorade station, and grabbing 2 or 3 cups! I was chugging it, praying that it would some how give me the magical powers I needed to finish the race. Thank God for the awesome people along the race spraying us with water - It.Was.Awesome! And just what I needed to keep going! Several times I wondered if what I was feeling in my downstairs was a case of swamp a$$, or if I had actually done the unthinkable! I was mortified at the thought! It had never been this intense before. I was all, "This butt is on fi-yah". Too much? Yeah probably. Mkay, moving right along... At mile 12, I began to doubt if I was even going to PR and was feeling like a total failure :( Finally, the end was in sight, and I had every intention of using every last ounce of energy I could muster and push out that last mile as fast as I could. Boy was that a joke. I would sprint, and about 200 yds later have to stop, huffing and puffing. I would do a little self talk and try again. That last mile, I felt like the little engine that could. Less than a half mile left, I saw this poor woman on the side of the course surrounded by medics and thought how depressing it would be to give everything you have, and come that far, just to go down right there at the finish! There were people who were dropping like flies all throughout the race, but right there, right at the end, how much would that SUCK?! Eying my watch, I started jogging and worked up to the fastest my worn out body would let me go and kept going all the way to the finish line. My head was on a swivel, not looking for the hubs, but rather a port a potty. And wouldn't you know, there was not a single one ANYWHERE! What the hell?! So I rushed through the finishers corral, grabbed my medal, a water, a Gatorade, a chocolate milk, and a banana. Whew, that's a lot of liquid! My hands were full, but I would have dropped it all and hauled ass to a bathroom had I seen one! FINALLY, it was like the clouds parted and the sun shone down on the glorious blue rectangle, alas I had made it to the land o port-a-potties! I b-lined it, and thank God, there was no line! I took care of business and then discovered there was no tp. REALLY?! I mean REALLY?! Are you freakin' kidding me?! Ah, but you see, they were handing out these nice ice cold towels to put around your neck, and you best believe I made other use of it :) I totes realize that all of this is TMI, only my runner peeps will truly understand and empathize with me! I felt like a new woman, a woman who in fact DID NOT sh!t her pants! FTW! Ahh, now to find the hubs and get my free beer!

 
 

I wasn't for sure what my official time was, but I knew it was within seconds of my first half time, which is super weird. I finally met up with Jason, who had been tracking me on his phone, and found out that my time was 2:24:46.

 
 

Major WOMP WOMP! To say that this race was a humbling experience would be an understatement, but to see the pride in Jason's eyes as he looked at me, in all my sweaty, tired, and spent, glory, I managed to find just a little pride in myself.

 
My bathroom woes continued for the next couple hours, but after an ice bath and a nap, they finally subsided, and we were able to salvage the rest of the day with some delicious Pappasitos fajitas. I'm pretty sure they make everything better!

Later that night, I looked up what my time was for my first half, and could NOT believe it...


I did indeed PR, by 2 freakin' seconds y'all! TWO SECONDS!!!! How cray is that?! My time in the Metro PCS Dallas Half Marathon last December was 2:24:48, unbelievable! But hey, a PR's a PR, right?! Take the victories where you can!

That night, we decided to hit up a comedy club, and as fate would have it, we sat next to a couple who had also ran the RnR Half, AND were parents of 20 year old twins AND had also adopted a child when their twins were 3 and half. Cue the Twilight Zone music here. THEN, as if that weren't weird enough, the comedian had this whole joke series about adopting. So weird!

 
All in all, I probably won't do the San Antonio RnR again, but I am glad I did it, if only to remind me get my butt in gear! I am hopeful that the Austin 3M Half Marathon in January will yield better running conditions and a better outcome! As for now, I think I will take most of the week off, maybe get a recovery run in on Wednesday or Thursday as I contemplate whether I want to continue on with marathon training, or ditch that idea!

I hope everyone else who raced this weekend had a better experience than I did! Hope you all have a most excellent week! Stayed tuned, BIG ANNOUNCEMENT TOMORROW!!! So excited!

-Candice

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Rock 'n' Roll Half Playlist

So for the past couple days I have been carefully constructing my playlist for this weekend's San Antonio Rock 'n' Roll Half, and here's what I came up with...

RnR Half Jamz

One Direction - Best Song Ever
Jay Z - Holy Grail
Katy Perry - ET
M83 - Midnight City
Jay Z/Kanye - No Church in the Wild
Miley Cyrus - We Can't Stop
Karmin - Brokenhearted
Ke$ha - C'mon
LeCrae - Go Hard
Youngblood Hawke - We Come Running
Fall Out Boy - My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark
Citizen Cope - Let the Drummer Kick
Neon Trees - Everybody Talks
Kanye - Get 'Em High
Flo Rida - Wild Ones
Carrie Underwood - Blown Away
Flo Rida - Club Can't Handle Me
Jay Z - Run This Town
Zedd - Clarity
Walk Off The Earth - Revo
Jay Z/Kanye - Ni**as in Paris
Kanye - Jesus Walks
Young the Giant - My Body
K'naan - Better
Oliy Murs - Troublemaker
LaCrae - Gravity
M.I.A. - Paper Planes
Imagine Dragons - Demons
The Script - Hall of Fame
Mandisa - Overcomer
Selena Gomez - Come & Get It
Sara Bareilles - Brave
Katy Perry - Roar
Jay Z/Kanye - H.A.M.

It comes to 2 hours and 13 minutes and my goal is 2:10, so I better not hear one of these songs, ya feel me?! Hopefully the streets are so loud with kick a$$ music that I won't even need my jamz, but we shall see.

My 12 mile run yesterday was not so great :( It actually turned into a 10 mile run (with literally a 12 min mile pace - ouch!) because I was in such pain. I had gotten the new Mizuno Sayonaras and while I'm sure they are an awesome shoe, it was just too much of a profile drop for my poor feet and ankles to handle! This was the 3rd or 4th run I had done in them, and I just couldn't do it anymore, so I took those babies back and got me some Mizuno Wave Inspire 9s (they are supposed to be most like my Mizuno Wave Nirvanas which they discontinued... awesome).

wish they came in more fun colors, but whatevs it is what it is?
 
Can I just say, Rogue Running in Cedar Park is the BOMB! I do have a little blister on my foot, which I'm hoping with just go away quickly (thanks a lot Sayonaras), and I can just continue right along with my last week of half training. I'm going to break in the new shoes today with my 4 mile run and a little strength training. The guy at Rogue told me that since these shoes are so similar to my Nirvanas that I should be able to run in them this week and be ready to use them on Sunday for the half - score!

In other news, we had family pics over the weekend, including a fun little photo op for our adoption announcements that we plan to include on our Christmas card, I'll give you a teaser... it involves feet - oh my goodness I can't wait, it's going to be so cute! Speaking of adoption stuff, we have completed and submitted our pre-application paperwork! My typed answers came out to 6 pages, Jason's, not even a full page, ha! He's a man of few words :)

OK, so maybe his was a whole page
 
In other news, I decided on a whim to weigh myself yesterday, no particular reason, just curious. And imagine my surprise to see 129.5?! What the what?! Mind you, I have not been lifting (or running much for that matter) in the last few weeks, so that just goes to show you what a liar the scale is. All that number represents is the amount of muscle I have lost in the last few weeks - womp womp! So yes, a part of me was a little excited, but at the end of the day, it doesn't change what you see when you look in the mirror! Gotta lift those weights!

Lifting weights toddler style! Gotta get it in when/where you can!

Hope you all have a fabulous Tuesday! Is it just me or is November flying by at the speed of light?! Cray!

-Candice

Friday, November 8, 2013

Let the fundraising begin...

It did it! I opened an etsy shop and will be selling custom handmade wreaths to help raise money for our domestic adoption! Please share with your friends and family! Your help and support is greatly appreciated!

Here are some of the wreaths that I have made for my own home:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/WithLoveFromTexas?ref=search_shop_redirect



 

Here is the link to my store:

WithLoveFromTexas

I can also make you one of these signs for $45 if you're local and interested. Just email me at themiksovskys@gmail.com if you want more information.

 

Have an excellent Friday!!!

-Candice

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Long time no see...

Has it seriously been over 2 weeks (almost 3) since my last post?! Holy crap! Life has a way of getting in the way. I won't bore you with the semantics, but here's a little run down of the last 3 weeks...

-I started subbing for elementary, and I LOVE it!!!!!
-I threw Max and Emma's 3rd birthday party at our house, Choo Choos & Tutus, so cute, I'll have another post about all the deets later.
 
 
 
 
 
-We went to Funky Town (Ft. Worth) for about 5 days for my cousin's wedding and Jason's work, and also got to stay at The Great Wolf Lodge for the kids' birthday (Thanks Gram & Poppy!)... so fun!
 
-I was sick (sinus infection), Jason's birthday, more subbing, soccer practice, soccer games, more subbing...
-Halloween...solo
Photo: So I'm not winning mom of the year this year... I only have an "after" Halloween pic. Womp womp - rollin' solo on Halloween is hard! Missing my partner in crime tonight!
-Jason left for Tampa on business, I took the kids to Mimi and Poppy's (yes they have two Poppys)
-Printed out adoption paperwork and joined Jason in Tampa on Saturday
Yup... it's really happening!!!!
view of the bay from our hotel room
 
I got my toes in the water fire, a$$ in the sand :)
 
Yup... this happened... and it was sinfully delicious!

Didn't venture into the water, but the weather was awesome!
 
 
-Came back home Monday night (sitting on a plane for several hours after running almost 10 miles, um not so much a good idea)

And here we are! I am a about a week and a half away from Half #2, and I gotta tell ya, the second half of my training has been plagued with sickness and injury, to the point that I have had to kiss my dreams of a sub 2 half goodbye :( womp womp! I know I will PR, and am now aiming for a goal time of 2:10, so I'm trying not to beat myself up too much about it. It is what it is. Between my sports hernia, a sinus infection, and recent torrential downpours here in Austin (like 15 inches and massive flooding), it has made getting my runs in a bit difficult. I was able to get in 9.5 miles along the bay while in Tampa, so there's that.
not a bad little view!

My pace wasn't great, but when you haven't run much in about 5 weeks, what can you expect, you know! I took Tuesday off, and got in 3 miles at the gym yesterday, and 6 miles today, so that's progress.

Goals for the next week and half:

Friday - 4 miles
Saturday - 12 miles
Sunday - off
Monday - strength train
Tuesday - 3 miles
Wednesday - off/strength train
Thursday - 6 miles
Friday - 5 miles
Saturday - 3 miles
Sunday - 13 point freakin 1 baby!

I'll probably take a couple days off and pick back up on Thursday. For my marathon training, I am sticking with Hal, and am going to jump right on into his Novice 1 Marathon Training Schedule at week 9. I am going to tweak it just a little to add in 2 extra weeks so that it will take me right up to race day!

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

Candice