It was near the 9 mile mark on the race . . . I had gotten a little spurt of energy when we passed the van playing the Rocky theme . . . but I was still pretty whooped!

I was pretty excited having just shaken the hand of Governor Ed Rendell about 3 miles back.  Little did I know, I would have hand-to-hand contact with another famous Philly personality.  It was actually the distict voice that we heard before we saw him . . . Mayor Michael Nutter on the side of the road, handing out high-fives. 

Frank & I both ran to that side in order to claim ours . . . another thrill for our race day, and #12 on my 30 before 30 list!

It used to take me days, sometimes weeks, to get back to normal after a visit to Philly before I moved here permanently.  Since the first full week I spent here, this city and its people have held such a special place in my heart.  I felt so full, so focused, so at-home when I was here in Philly, that adjusting back to everyday life when I was back in Ohio or at college in western PA was always tough to do.  When I was home, I would eat-up any opportunity to experience Philly from afar. 

Once when I had a layover at the Newark airport, I decided to browse at the airport's book store.  A book called "A Prayer for the City" caught my eye.  I expected it to be a spiritual book about inner-city ministry.  Instead, it was a book by Buzz Bizzinger (author of Friday Night Lights) and what was can best be described as a recent history of Philadelphia.  It followed the first term of Ed Rendell when he was elected Mayor of the city of Philadelphia.  This book helped me to understand what this city that I had come to love had been through in 90's --- the shut-down of the Navy Ship yard, one of the city's largest employers, violence and drugs out of control in the Badlands, a ugly deficit and a threat of a sanitation workers' strike. 

I not only came to understand the city of Philadelphia, but I came to respect Ed Rendell.  In fact, a few years ago when he ran for Governor of Pennsylvania, I voted for a Demorat for the first time. 

So, I counted it a high privilege to shake the hand of Governor Ed Rendell as he cheered from the sidelines of the Broad Street Run on Sunday.  (Actually, I noticed him as I was running by, so I turned around and went back to shake his hand!)  Thanks, Governor Rendell for showing up to cheer us on, and for giving me an experience worthy of one of my "30 before 30" slots!

Well, I didn't quite reach my goal, but I came close, and I did top my time from last year! 

Last year I hoped to run all 10 miles of the Broad Street Run without stopping .... I did, in 2 hours, 8 minutes.  This year, I hoped to finish in under 2 hours.  Unfortunately, I still needed to shave off 8 additional seconds per mile, so this year's finishing time was 2 hours, 1 minute, 22 seconds.  (Pretty close!!  There's always next year!)

Frank & I are already starting to train next week for our next race, a half-marathon in September.  It's been great fun training together, and very motivating for both of us! 

I also unexpectedly met 2 people along the course . . . I decided that meeting them will count as #11 and #12 on this list of 30 meaningful experiences!

How long, O Lord . . . how long? 

How many more sleepless nights on account of the behavior of those who don't honor you?

How much more mockery and cursing do your servants have to endure in this place?

The ungodly act as if they own this place.  They prepare for their party, and expect your servants to tolerate it and stand silently by.  They fill the streets with loud curses, and even louder music.  Late into the night, they celebrate.  What do they celebrate?  An empty life.  They disguise their celebration with superficial meaning, but underneath there is an empty life. 

Their children stand by as all of this goes on.  Completely shameless, they drink booze and light blunts in front of these little ones.  They deceive these precious ones as they deceive themselves.  "This is the life!" they say with their actions.  "This is as good as it gets!" 

When your servants stand up to this wrong, they curse them too.  They say, "This is a party block!"  and turn up the music even louder.  They are fueled by disrespect and anger.  They act on their own wills and on selfishness.  They lack gratitude and decency. They deny that their ways lead to death.

But your servants will proclam, "This block belongs to the Lord!"  Your ways must prevail, O Lord.  We have no hope apart from you.  Your voice thunders louder than any bass line.  Your blessings supplant every curse.  You are the ultimate reason for celebration!  The evil one means harm, but he will be ashamed when his attempts are transformed into greater glory.  Your servants will delight in being worthy to suffer as their Savior, and watching resurrection life spring up on this block.

Give your servants strenght to return blessings for curses.  Bring light on this place that exposes the rottenness of this empty way of life, and that attracts the lost ones to the abundant life that you provide for your children. 

Please, Lord . . . act quickly!  Do not delay!  Do what only you can, and take alll of the credit for it.  Your Kingdom come, your will be done on Fletcher street as it is in Heaven. 

I'm writing this with a heavy heart.  Sometimes I'm just not prepared for the reality of the hard aspects of life here. 

One of the things the Melanie and I resolved to do this year was to celebrate the birthday of each one of the kids who we work with in some special way.  It's been great fun . . . we had a surprise party for Shaquine, a Mac & Cheese and Chicken dinner for Khalil, Melanie took Amanda ice skating, we took Gage to get his picture taken, and just last week we had an outdoor birthday party for Nafis.  Alex's birthday is next in the lineup, and he & Nafis both love football.  We got tickets to the Philadelphia Soul, the local arena football team, to take Nafis & Alex to in mid-May. 

Just the other day, I decided to pull out a paintbrush & paint, and take care of the grafitti that mysteriously appeared on our house a few weeks ago, as well as the tags on the fence to the lot next door.  (It really is quite mysterious . . . not only does no one know who scribbled with the purple marker on our house, but even those whose names are on the fence claim that they didn't write them there.  It must be the work of "Not Me" and his cousin "I Don't Know Who Did It" up to their sneaky tricks again!)

As I was painting, Alex came out to chat.  Since Nafis got his present, the tickets for the upcoming Soul game, Alex has become very concerned about what his present is going to be.  He wanted to make sure I knew what he would like, and I reassured him that I did indeed know what he would like, and he should trust me that he would be pleased with his gift. 

The kids are often full of requests, so I guess I wasn't surprised when Alex asked me a question -- "Miss -- could we do my birthday on the 5th instead of the 15th?"  I think it was the Holy Spirit that kept me from a quick "no" and instead prompted me to ask him, "Well, what day of the week is the 5th?"  Alex ran inside to check the calendar, and emerged again, telling me it was a Monday.  There was no reason why that wouldn't work, so I pressed on and asked him, "Why do you want to have it on the 5th?"  Alex's response hit me like a punch in the gut -- "I have to go to court on the 9th, and I don't know if I'm coming back." 

 Now, Alex and I have a little history.  He is hands-down the one who has made me cry the most, and the one who I've wanted to explode at the most.  He has been in trouble a lot lately, being suspended from school, getting kicked out of his own house at times.  I've seen him deal out hate and anger, and I've seen it dealt to him.  You may be picturing a teenager as I describe him, but in fact, Alex is 11 going on 12. 

Please pray for Alex, for his family, for his future.  In many ways, being placed in a home away from his family could really be what he needs for a hopefull future.  The reason that this proclamation of his was not completey shocking was that one of the other kids mentioned a few weeks ago that they though Alex was getting sent away.  It's been common and casual conversation within their family.

Even though we will surely get to celebrate with Alex on May 5th, he may not be around to enjoy the Soul game that is supposed to be his gift.  If he is sent into a group home, pray that we may be able to take him out for the evening, and that we would be given the opportunity to stay invovled in his life. 

YUm . . . . Cheese really does taste better when it's made in, and eaten in Wisconsin!  Later on this same trip, we got to have dinner at the original Famous Dave's BBQ near Hayward, Wisconsin.  Oh, what fun adventures . . .

What a lovely Easter weekend!  God has blessed us so richly with the friends that He's surrounded us with in Philly.  We spent the afternoon at an Easter "Eggstravaganza" at our friend Shera's apartment this afternoon.  Shera's cullinary creations included all sorts of egg dishes -- crab, asparagus & mozzarella quiche, easter egg basket cupcakes, deviled eggs and a new twist on the deviled egg recipe - "Angel Eggs."  So, with my first taste of Angel Eggs came my first taste of caviar, another experience to record on my list of "30 before 30." 

I remember when I was about four years old, and my mom asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up.  I responded by telling her that I wanted to be "rich."  I was wanted to live in a big house on Merriman Road, and have a swimming pool.  You would think that God would have had to majorly transform my desires between age 4 and 22 when I moved into my little row house on Fletcher Street.  However, I've come to realize that He didn't really change my desires - He has just shown me what it truly means to be rich!  The satisfaction I feel in life, the wonderful friends I have, the home and husband that God has blessed me with --- top it all off with a dollop of caviar -- what a rich life!