Car Accident

Last Tuesday, I was driving to work. Listening to my radio, ready to get gas and start my day at work. As I was on a 2 lane hwy I was thinking "how weird is it that one second I'm driving without a care in the world and the next second you could be in a car accident." Not 2 minutes later I got hit. Seriously. Weirdest thing ever.

I was in the left turn lane yielding to oncoming traffic. As I was turning into my turn the lady that hit me was at a stop sign at the street I was trying to get to and didn't see me and went. Crash! I was hit on my side and then on the side where Nolan would have been sitting if we was with me. Thank GOD he wasn't! Though I don't think he would have been hurt either, he would have been scared to death!

Luckily, everything turned out ok. The lady took full responsibility and my car is fixable almost $6,000 later! I have to have a rental car for two weeks which has been a bit of a pain and I had to get new car seats but not having anyone hurt is by far the biggest thing for us to be Thankful for. As you can see by the picture below (which doesn't do justice of the damage) if the lady that hit me would have been a larger vehicle she would have hit me way higher up and possibly causing way more damage and possibly injury. We are so very thankful that she was in a tiny car and I was in a big vehicle!

Guatemala Mission Trip: Canceled

It's taken me awhile to write about this post. Mainly because I'm not sure how I feel about it. A few weeks ago I backed out of the mission trip. There were a few underlying problems including me getting MAJOR anxiety about it but there is something that has came up in our lives and I had to look at both of the things and decide which was more important at this time in my life. There were other things too..... like my husbands 30th birthday and me wanting to run the Minneapolis 1/2 marathon again this year interfering with the trip. It seemed like everywhere I looked there was yet another road block to conquer.


I can only hope and pray that I will have an amazing opportunity like this again and even though I feel like God was calling me to go on this mission trip, I feel him calling me to this other "priority" much, much more.

I hope that I don't regret this decision but I know that God has a plan for me in all of this and am so excited to see His plan unfold for me!

SO yes...on a side note I have decided I am going to try to run the Minneapolis 1/2 marathon again this year! I'm really still struggling with the whole IT issue in my right knee but am hoping I can conquer it and have another successful training and race. So excited to train my body for this challenge again!!! I will start writing in my running blog: www.anneburau.blogspot.com when I start my formal training in April.

Hoping we have an early spring this year too!!!! Have a very Blessed day everyone!!

Puerto Vallarta 2011

We're back! Ross and I had an amazing time in Puerto Vallarta but missed the boys like crazy! We spent most of our trip being lazy by the pool but did venture out downtown and walked the boardwalk one day, went snorkeling on the island of yllapa, and went to a few hockey games at the local pub. The resort we were staying at was about 80% Canadian, so we met a ton of fun friends that say "eh" a lot! We were the only Americans at the resort that we were aware of. Crazy. They nicknamed Ross "Minnesota."

The food wasn't the best at our resort so we found ourselves venturing out a lot to eat. At the resort, I settled for rice and beans for pretty much every meal! I'm so sick of rice and beans I never want to eat them again! At least for a long, long time. We had Burger King one day for lunch and it tasted the best but was so expensive! Ross paid $9.00 for his Whopper meal! Crazy!

We can't wait to go on another trip!!

December!

Oh how I can't believe it is already the middle of December. How much I love this time of year and yet how fast this time of the year goes! We will be doing our annual Christmas baking this weekend and then next week will be heading to Wisconsin to see my family! Then, Jan. 1 is right around the corner and we will be leaving for Mexico!!! My "To Do" lists have started and are long! So much to do and not enough time! But so looking forward to relaxing on the beach with my wonderful husband who we just celebrated 4 years of marriage together!

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I probably won't be back blogging until after the trip!

Thankful

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I felt a Thankful post was due! I have so much to be thankful for I don't even know where to start!!!

1. First and foremost, I am thankful for my husband. He is an amazing, supportive, caring, loving husband and I could have never asked for more! He is such a hard worker and even though there are some days I really hate being alone all the time, I know he is doing it to help us and someday will pay off.

2. I am thankful for my son. (& Step son). They keep me young and give me so much joy. I cannot imagine my life without them and never in a million years thought I would have two boys. I thought for sure I would always have girls!

3. I am thankful for my job. In these trying times of the economy, it truly is a blessing to still have a job!

4. I am thankful for our Country and the people who serve our country.

5. I am thankful we have found a church in our new community that we love and that loves us! We just become members last week!

6. I am thankful for all of my friends! I don't get as much time to spend with them now that I have a family but miss them and love them just as much as before!

7. I am thankful for our home. There are a lot of people these days that do not have one.

8. I am thankful for my health. I never know if it will last another day.

9. I am thankful for my parents as they are the ones who have molded me into the person I am today. They are amazing people!

10. I am thankful for God. And the life he has given me.

What are you thankful for this year?

The Calling

My life is about to dramatically change.

Forever.

Come June 4th, 2011 I will embark on my first ever mission trip to...

Guatemala!

Right when we think life can't possibly get any crazier, I am taking on this new venture and making it even crazier!

How did it all start you ask??

Well....here is my story.

It all started years ago. I have always wanted to do a mission trip. Ross and I talked about going on one when we were older. Like retirement age. Kids grown up and out of the house. No jobs. Lots of free time. Perfect...right?

Well...a few weeks ago I woke up in the morning with a burst of energy flying through my body. I was smiling ear to ear all morning and was on "cloud nine." The reason? I was being called. Called to serve the Lord. Called to help others in need. Called to leave my home. My family. The comforts of my own home. and take on the challenge of helping others in need. I have never had this "feeling" before. This huge desire that I HAD to do this and had to do it now. And alone. I was being called by God to do this alone. Not bring Ross. Not bring the kids. Alone.

So, I called my church and asked if they knew of any mission trips coming up. The secretary didn't know anything about them but said she would pass on my information to the pastor to see if he knew of any. That evening I went home and went onto facebook and I see my step brother in law's facebook status talking about hosting a Guatemala trip in June and starting to get ready for it. I sent him a message about it and within ten minutes my inbox was filled with applications and information on Guatemala 2011. You cannot tell me this is a coincidence.

The paperwork is filled out and mailed and in 8 months I will be embarking on a new journey. A journey of love. faith. hope.

Now, this may all seem crazy to all of you and honestly, it is to me too. I am a very organized person. I have my life planned out to a "t." However, how I envision my life is not always how God envisions my life. I always pictured my life to be perfect. Healthy, two kids, a husband that works normal hours, a job I love, etc. I've ended up with a lifelong diagnosis, one child, one step child, a husband with about 4 jobs, a stressful, busy job and a life of craziness. And here is God again, upsetting my "vision" of a life.

I'm scared. Really, really, really scared. Leaving my son. My husband. My step son. for 9 whole days!!! I have never done this. And alone. Going into a country I have never been to. I don't speak their language and living with a "team" of people I have never met and will spend every waking hour with for 9 whole days!!

So...I have been praying a lot. Praying for God to give me the strength to take on this wonderful challenge. I know it will be amazing. I know I will be changed forever. I know this will be the most amazing opportunity of my life and I'm ready.

So there it is! So please, I ask for your prayers as I accept this new journey in my life. Please pray I get the strength to accept this journey and be excited about it and not be scared. I ask your prayers as I try to learn some Spanish before I go there. I ask for prayers for comfort and peace and stability and be ok leaving my family for 9 whole days!!!

I will keep you posted with many Guatemala details these next 8 months!

Updates

I can't believe October is almost over with. Fall is literally flying by this year! A few weekends ago I ran the Becker 5K Halloween 5K race. It was an extremely hard race consisting of running on cross country trails! Most of it was hills, leaves and sand. Basically everything I'm not used to running in!! I finished 7th in my age group (which was out of 20) which wasn't horrible! Really dreading the rest of the fall/winter treadmill running.

Ross & I recently booked a trip for the two of us to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for 1/1/11! We are so excited and can't believe it is only 2 months away already!

I have been doing excellent health-wise but lately I have been so tired. I tacked it up to just being busy, not sleeping as well, etc. However, I went to the doctor for my quarterly visit last week and did a urinalysis and they found a "massive" amount of red blood cells in my urine. This is very unusual for me. It could be anything from a UTI to a bladder infection or kidney problems, etc. They aren't really sure at this time so the next step is re-testing me. I will be going back next Monday for a re-test. I'm really hoping that it was just a "fluke" and my tiredness and the red blood cells are not a sign of something worse.

Lastly, I just completed the book "Love and War" . What an amazing book. Every married and soon to be married couple should read it. Honestly, my views on marriage have forever changed and I will never be the same after reading it. I would highly recommend. The book starts out slow but once you get half way through it gets to be much easier reading. Especially if you have never read a Christian book, it can seem "boring" at first. But, I highly advise you to keep going and you will be throughly impressed! The next book I will be starting is called "Purpose driven life" This book is asking you "why are you here?" "What is your purpose in life" "Why did God put you here on Earth?" I'm excited to dig into this book and will share my reviews of it once I complete it!

Have a wonderful rest of October!