2017 MustAct for the Children

I am currently raising money to help rebuild the Agape Children’s Home, which is a part of The Mustard Seed Mission(MSM).

 

MSM has been caring for & meeting the needs of the people of Taiwan for over 60 years…one of which was mine. They facilitated my adoption when I was just a baby, which brought me the opportunity to live the blessing of life that I am still living to this day. It is on my heart to give back to the place that helped me to get such a great start in life. My life was impacted greatly, because one lady cared enough to step out to start the MSM so many years ago. These last few years I have felt a re-connection to this mission and the people of Taiwan.

 

MSM is planning to continue caring for the children with their plans to build a new multi-purpose facility in Taiwan, providing a new home for the children.

The new building will:

-Meet their current needs and provide more opportunities for their future.

-It will include new & larger living spaces for the children. The current facility is old, and in need of repair.

-It will have in house counseling services to meet the needs of the children.

-House single mothers along with their children while helping them to recover during difficult times.

-Offer vocational training for the young people that will not be attending college & give them hands on experience in the occupation of their choice.

-Enable MSM to have space for the young adults(over age 18) to continue living there while transitioning into adulthood.

 

Matt & I will be running the Mercedes-Benz Marathon Weekend on Feb. 12, in hopes of raising awareness and support for the Mustard Seed Mission’s new building project.

 

We would appreciate your support. If you would like more information, or would like to donate to our project, Mustard Seed has created this website for us:

http://mymustact.weebly.com/donation.html

 

If you would like to follow my personal thoughts along the way, you can “like” this page.

https://www.facebook.com/juliamustact/

 

Thank you so much, and thank you all for being part of my life’s journey….and do please click “share”. You never know where your simple sharing may lead & who all would like to donate to such a project. ❤

 

Love you all,

Julia

 

#2017MustAct

2017 MUST ACT – Run for Kids 為孩子而跑

Julia Davis #mustact

Sometimes I run with my eyes closed…

Really…I do!

It happens during moments like these, when I turn the corner

...and there it is…

The rising sun greets me with its kind early morning warmth.
Its glow permeates from the outside in & fills my soul with joy.

Some moments in life, must be experienced with your eyes closed.

 

So now I fully understand this moment with my daughter.  A few month’s back, she decided to take the rest of her Bertolone‘s cake home with her…so she could eat it with her eyes shut…

Now, that’s some good cake.  ❤

Happy Running everyone!

The “what if’s”, running and adoption…

I recently told a friend about my birth mother search. As a new runner herself, she brought up an interesting point. My friend suggested that running may have contributed to my decision to search. She has noticed in her own life that running has helped her to be more adventurous in her life choices. I can see how that is true.

So much of running involves overcoming the “what if’s”. What if I look dumb, what if I can’t run up that hill, what if I come in last, what if I can’t finish…ect., ect., ect. In time you realize that the “what if’s” don’t matter. The “what if’s” don’t get to make the decisions in your life. The “what if’s” don’t win.

Sometimes I role play in my head. For example, let’s answer the “what if’s” I mentioned before:
-What if I look dumb…wouldn’t be the first time.
-What if I can’t run up that hill…then I’ll walk.
-What if I come in last…then I will, oh well. Plus I’ll help all the other runners that were hoping they wouldn’t be last feel better about their run.
-What if I can’t finish…then I will be terribly disappointed & I’ll be glad that I tried.

You learn that each race is different, but still awesome. You learn that the “what if’s” don’t usually happen, but when they do occasionally…..life. goes. on. You do what you have to do & You keep moving forward. You get over the loss & go on to run the next race.

Concerning adoption, I’ve realized that when I was ready for the “what if’s” to be a reality…I was ready to begin my search. For a variety of reasons, it took me 41 years to get to this point. Life’s not just about the wins, but it’s so much about the richness of the journey along the way.

Blessed….thankful…the “what if’s” aren’t so bad after all...

WATCH ME.

That’s what I said to my brain today.

Really, that is exactly what happened.
I was a little mad that I had to run this morning, but I had a friend that was expecting me to be there.
Then that little nagging voice in my mind started saying, “You can’t do this.  You’re tired.  I can’t believe you think you’re going to run that marathon.  You should stop.”

So, I decided to prove it wrong (aka “watch me”).
I took the long route, didn’t walk at all & I ran with intention.
It wasn’t my usual, “That was fun!” -kind of run.
It was more of a “Take that!  You’re wrong again!” -kind of feel.

I’m still a little miffed with that ole’ brain.

Perhaps I should go for another run…

55 degrees…ahhh…

Today’s run was brought to you by the number “5”…as in 55 degrees!
Due to the cooler temperature, I was able to bring my pace back under 10 minutes avg.
My husband says it’s all in my head. Maybe so.

I was reminded of this pic I saved to share with you crazy people who enjoy running in the Summertime heat. 🙂

If you run for fun in the hot Sun, be prepared to be disappointed today!

9/8/15

This morning it was finally dark again at 5:15am.

The stars were back.  
The tad bit of the moon was shining.
Flashlights and blinky lights were in full force.

…there was even a slight breeze at the beginning and end.

I loved it!

Fall is just around the bend.  ❤

12:30 AM

I was so excited about a dream of mine for the future,

that I had to go to sleep to quit dreaming…

     Now, that’s a big dream.

        …and it IS

              about

            running.

Mind Games

I found this written on my 8 year old daughters memory verse homework.  I thought it was funny, but so familiar to my running thoughts.  Running, like much of life, is very much a mind game.  I’ve heard it said that running is 80% mental & only 20% physical.

During the previous week, all of my short runs were completed with an average pace under 10:00 min/mi, which was a good time for me.  So here it was…long run day.  Like my daughter, I thought, “I can do this!! I can keep my pace under 10:00 min/mi even at a longer distance.”  

…and that’s when the “P.S. maybe not” began…

Here is a snippet of the conversation in my head as the run progressed:
 Me:  “I can do this!! I can keep my pace under 10:00 min/mi even at a longer distance.”  

Mind:  “No, you can’t keep up that pace more than 3 miles…what about those hills too?  You can’t do that.”
Me:  “Sure I can!”

Mind:  “Nope.  You’re not good enough.  Can’t.”
Me:  “You said that I couldn’t run 26.2 miles too.  But I did. Twice.”

Mind:  “Look, I told you so…during mile 4, your pace was 10:35 min/mi.  You can’t catch up now.”
Me:  “Sure I can.  I’ll show you.”

Somehow, during our argument…I got in the “zone”.  Notice, mile 5 was a NINE MINUTE pace!  When the little voice in my earbud told me that my pace was 9 minutes, I was so surprised that it knocked me out of the “zone”.  If you can tell me how to get back there, I’d appreciate it…I really enjoyed that!

So….brain…you lose.  I win again!
This is the picture that came to mind at the completion of this long run…

 So don’t listen to it…just because your mind says so, that doesn’t make it true.

P.S.S.- My girl got a 101/A+ on her memory verse.  She did it!
🙂

I Like to Move It, Move It…

My ipod has chosen to play this song during EVERY run for the last month.  

I don’t mind though…it’s perfect actually!   😀

41 Rotations around the Sun…”Birthday Run”

!!!HAPPY 41st BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!
(Or as my dad might say…41 rotations around the sun.)
I was greeted with smiles and cupcakes for a 5:15am run with my “Chilton Runners” friends.
(…and yes, I did count them…each delicious mini-cupcake contains 100 calories, which takes 1 mile or in my case 9:46 minutes to burn off…)

In keeping with our “Chilton Runners” tradition, I found a parking lot and created a big “41” with my GPS.

I kept a great pace(for me), and made sure to stop my GPS at 4.1 miles!

To top it off, my music for this run happened to disperse random cuts off of the “ROCKY” album…

“Rocky” music just makes me feel like a winner…how about you?