Update

As always, I am not too stellar with posting on here. It is with a sad heart I write this next post. As many of you know, I am a Running Leader and Mentor for a group of students here in Philadelphia. This is my second year with the running team and we are training for the Philadelphia Marathon at the end of November. We started training in March and have run several longer races in preparation for the Marathon. We completed the 10 mile Broad Street Run in May and the ING Half Marathon in September. Last year we had seven students on the team. This year we have 15 students training for the marathon. It is so exciting to see their progress over the year. It gets incredibly time consuming and difficult but to see all those students cross the finish line in November makes it worth it.

About a week ago, one of our students went missing. We thought he might of run away or something to that extent. We found out this past Friday that that wasn't the case. His body was found this past Thursday. It has been very hard dealing with all this and also being there for our other students. We have a great group of running leaders and staff who support our team. Many of you already know and thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

We are still planning on running the marathon with our 14 students. We have five weeks left until the marathon and it won't be easy but we will get there together. I will keep you updated about the team and their accomplishments. They are a great group of students and I am honored to be in a small part of their lives.

New Things

I haven't written much on here about the family I am living with right now. I don't have pictures of everyone but I can share a little about them. I live with a married couple, Joe and Debbie, and there two daughters. Hannah is 2 1/2 and Samantha is about 7 months old. Joe and Debbie are actually my age so it is interesting living with people the same age as me who are obviously in a very different place in their lives.

It has been great living here and I feel very comfortable and welcome. When I am home, Hannah gives me a hug before she goes to bed and I often get to play with her. Tonight we made brownies together. Samantha still just kind of hangs around. It is nice living with little kids but I am sure glad I don't have to take care of them 24/7. It gives me much more appreciation for moms out there (you too mom). I also enjoy it because it gives me a sense of where my own nieces might be at in their development. I hope to know them as well as I know these little girls.

Here are some pictures for you:

Hannah made a picture of her family and the world. I made the picture. I am the black people figure in top left.



Burping the baby



Debbie is nursing Samantha and apparently Hannah wanted to give it a go



Samantha..you know just hanging around



Hannah "reading" a cookbook"