"Ode to My Mom"- by Hannah

Did you ever think about how awesome moms really are? They truly are gifts of God. This is a poem that I wrote for my mom on Mother’s Day.

Ode to My Mom

Listen to what I have to say, please do,

because everything that is said is perfectly true.

A mother makes a promise when she has a kid;

sometimes this kid makes her flip her lid.

Like a couple that says their vows when they marry,

a mom says her vows when she carries.

She says “I do” to the diapers and sleepless nights,

to reading us stories and flying us kites.

To cooking us food and helping us clean our rooms,

thanks to mom our rooms don’t look like tombs!

To the spanking and kids screaming when we’ve been bad,

to the tears and emotions when we’re sad.

To teaching us science, math, and writing,

even when we try fighting.

To the special notes when we feel down,

to finding us new friends when we move from town.

Caring for us when we feel sick,

giving us her ice cream, more than a lick.

Being a good mother and a good wife,

she pledges to do so for the rest of her life.

Praying for her kids, wishing them good night,

saying, “sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite.”

Reading her Bible every morning,

with mom around things could never be boring.

Mom you’re superb, I just want you to know,

you could never be my foe.

A wonderful example of Christ,

by the things of this world she’s not enticed.

Strength in the Lord, in the end unbreakable,

a Child of God, overall unshakeable.

Mother of two, blessings are many,

you are a new, bright, shiny penny.

A mom of love, compassion, and care,

fixes our relationships when they tear.

Mom you’re the BEST, I just want you to know,

I LOVE YOU!!! XOXO!

As you can tell by my poem, I think that my mom really is the best!!

Thank you mommy for all you do for me!!! I LOVE YOU!!!
Running on Course,

Hannah Schilling

Learning...Fishing...Running... and finding Miss. Daisy

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created." ~ James 1:17-18 What a beginning to 2011! I appreciate the above verse from the Bible because it is so true. Anything good that happens to me (or our family) is a gift from God! Everything truly comes from Him. Much has happened over the last 3 months since we last posted. Of course, we have every day to thank the LORD for His love, His grace and His eternal Word! Vicki, Hannah, Gracie and I have been on some wonderful adventures in this time and we'd love to share some highlights!

Bible Quizzing

- In late January, Grace was part of our church AWANA Bible Quizzing team. They have been studying hard since Nov. '10 and their hard work paid off! Quizzers answer questions about the Bible from their TNT handbook. Also, in the speed round, they can recite Bible verses for points. Very exciting stuff! This year our team took 3 first place finishes and one second place. Overall, it was a banner day for our GEBC Awana program!

Science Fair

- Hannah and Grace both participated in their homeschool co-op annual Science Fair and did very well. They both received awards for their projects! Hannah's project was about magnetic fields and the the germination rate of plants. Grace's projects was on the burn rate of candles at different temperatures. Both projects were well illustrated, colorful and the girls presentation of their projects was bar none! We are blessed to be the parents of Hannah and Grace!

Running

- Vicki is gearing up for the racing season. She is currently training to participate in the Rainier to Ruston relay race with 4 other ladies. It is a 50 mile race and she is running two of the legs, specifically the first leg which starts closest to Mt. Rainier. The race is on Sat. June 4th. Should be a great time! What a blessing to have friends to spend time with doing what you love to do! (http://www.rainiertoruston.com/). (We are tentatively planning on running the Rock n' Roll the end of June...we'll keep you updated!).

Field & Stream!

I made it into a magazine: Field and Stream in the March 2011 edition! The picture below shows me with my first winter steelhead. It's from a trip with my good friend Tally!

Schilling Addition!

- Lastly, we ended our 2 month puppy search when we excitedly brought "Our Sweet Little Ms. Daisy" home on Sat. February 26th! She is an English Lab and was born on Sat. January 8th. What is the BEST part of this is that we witnessed the birth of the litter via webcam! Then we daily watched as these puppies grew and began to walk, play and develop. What a neat experience to see all that happens to puppies from birth to 7 weeks and then be able to choose a puppy from the littler! We've had her for over a month now and we're all getting used to the tail-wagging and sloppy kisses from our happy Daisy! What a blessing she is to our family! To introduce her to you, we had some fun and put together a little video for you! Enjoy!

In closing, we just want to thank the LORD for His goodness shown to us in so many ways, BIG and small! As we look forward to Easter and all that it represents, we thank the LORD Jesus for His guidance in our lives. We know that He is real, alive and one day - as the Bible teaches - will return as the King of kings and Lord of lords and reign over all! As we patiently wait, we continue to thank Him everyday for His wonderful gifts!

Staying His course, Jay, Vicki, Hannah, Grace, Daisy & Donut (our Rabbit)

Happy New Year!

It’s hard to believe 2010 has come and gone! We highlighted just a few of our special family memories for 2010 on the side of this letter. How does one put down all the events that happen in a year? It seems impossible to do so! And yet, some people seem to be able to sum up a year in a few short words. So, for sake of brevity, we will sum up our year with one simple phrase that has resonated in our hearts- “We are grateful”.

We are grateful for our loving family, friends and church. We are grateful we have a home, Jay has a job, we have food to eat, clean water to drink and clothes to wear. We are grateful for good health. We are grateful for laughter, joy and peace. We are grateful for the talents and abilities God has blessed us with to serve Him and others. We are grateful for the joy we receive when we serve. We are grateful for the good times. We are grateful for the tough times– for they have caused us to depend more on our Faithful God. We are grateful for Heaven– and that because of Jesus, one day we will go there. We are grateful for opportunities to tell people about Jesus! We are grateful for the Bible and that we can read it freely. We are grateful for the privilege to pray for you!
We pray you will have a wonderful 2011!
Much Love~ The Schillings

Special Family
Memories for 2010…

· Hannah and Gracie placed in the top 3 of a Science Fair
· Hannah caught her first Steelhead
· Hannah got the “Timothy” award in AWANA
· Jay ran his first Full Marathon– 26.2 miles– in Victoria, BC
· Jay caught the biggest fish he has ever caught– a 10.6lb Steelhead!
· Gracie turned 10 and got her ears pierced!
· Gracie played one of the main roles in our church’s Kids Christmas Program and sang her first solo
· Hannah and Gracie sang and played the piano with friends from church to Seniors at a Senior Center
· All 4 Schillings took part in the plays at the Easter Egg Hunt and VBS program at church
· Vicki ran 1 Half Marathon and 2 Full Marathons this year!
· We went on a our first cruise to Alaska!
· We said goodbye to our 14 year old Golden Retriever-Ben

Gracie Turns 10 Years Old in 2010!!!

Oops...this didn't get posted in October, 2010! So...here it is...the post about Gracie's 10th B-day!

That's right... Gracie turned double digits for the first time on Saturday October 30. We can't believe that it's been 10 years since she came into our lives. What a blessing she has been. I guess the saying is true. . . . . . "Time flies by when you're having fun!"

Her birthday fell on a Saturday this year, and we celebrated the day by doing everything that she wanted to do. So here's the schedule of what we did:

8:30 AM - Sleep in until Princess Grace woke up
9:00 AM - Eat Breakfast with Cinnamon Rolls
9:30 AM - Family Devotional
10:00 AM - Hang out time with her big sister Hannah

11:30 AM - Skype(Webcam) with Grandpa and Grandma Schilling
12:30 PM - Go to the mall to get her ears pierced
1:30 PM - Go shopping
4:30 PM - Family gifts
5:30 PM - Eat one of her favorite dinners (Ranch Chicken )
6:30 PM - Played a boardgame together as a family
8:30 PM - Got ready for bed
9:00 PM - Pray with Mom and Dad
9:30 PM - Go to sleep with a BIG Smile on her face!

What a day it was and we so enjoyed our time together! Grace was relieved and excited to finally have her ears sparkling with her new earrings. She enjoyed all the wonderful gifts that she received from family and friends. In addition, on the Friday before her birthday she got the OK from her doctor to take off the cast/splint that she's had for the last 6 weeks since fracturing her wrist. She was very excited about that!

In our home, we have a tradition at birthdays. First we have a devotional from the Bible that talks about how God has worked in our lives. Then we go from person to person and share one of our favorite memories over the last year of the person who's birthday we're celebrating. As parents, we might also share how we have seen our children grow over the past year. We are so THANKFUL to the LORD for the 10 years with Gracie and to see how she has trusted in the LORD in the many different things that have happened over the year. May there be many, many more years to come. . . . LORD willing!

We LOVE you Grace! Happy 10th Birthday!

We conquered the Victoria B.C. Marathon!

This past Sunday on October 10th, 2010 ( 10-10-10) Vicki and I completed the 42 kilometer (26.2 mile) Victoria B.C. marathon that finished in downtown Victoria right in front of the famous Empress Hotel and Parliament building. It was a great race and best of all we did it together!
We spent 4 days in Victoria with my (Jay's) Mom and stepfather Bruce and we had a great time together! We went to the popular Butchart Gardens and saw them in their rich fall colors.

We also took a bus tour of the Victoria area and learned lots of history about the city. Victoria is an amazing city among all the Northwest points of interest. It is also host to an IMAX theater housed in the Royal British Museum. We saw an truly awesome movie called "Hubble" which showed the final maitenence of the orbiting space telescope. Then we returned to see in full IMAX production Toy Story 3. (Our favorite of the 3 movies!) On the walk back to the hotel, we took this picture of the Parliament building outlined in lights. A magnificant sight!


All day Saturday we began to prepare ourselves for the race on Sunday. We began seeing more and more people arriving in the city for the race. You could tell the excitment was building and before you knew it, our alarms went off at 5AM Sunday morning! RACE DAY!

Vicki and I set off for the start of the race at 6AM and here is what we experienced....

At 6:30 the start gun went off and we ran. . . . .



We ran. . . . And we ran. . . . We kept "pounding the pavement." Most of the signs on the course were posted in kilometers but there were a few mile signs.

This was "take three" of the "just past mid-point" video. The other 2 takes were too bouncy so we took a quick walk to film...



Not long after the halfway point, we saw some incredibly fast runners. These are known as the "elite" runners as they are professionals and usually run the whole course in under 2 hrs. 20 min. They were incredible! (The runner in the red jersey finished first.) We got to run by the "elite"...or actually the "elite" flew past us...pretty cool!

And then we ran some more. . . . we ran our way closer and closer to the finish line! It was cold and windy most of the race but towards the very end, the sun came out. We sure were thankful for the sunshine.
The entire time were were getting confused by the km vs. mile markers but we just kept going until we reached the final 100m. We saw our family cheering us on! It was great!

What a thrill it was to finish my first marathon! For Vicki, it was her 3rd full marathon! We ran the entire race together! She is such a patient and gracious wife & coach! And to top it off, we had a ton of fun running! Here's a short video of us crossing the finish line!



We finished the Victoria B.C. Marathon. . . . TOGETHER!

You can tell by our smiles that we were glad to reach the end!

Thank you to all who prayed for us and cheered us on! We knew we had the support of our family and friends! And Hannah and Grace were such a great support during all of the training and even the race day! They are such blessings to us!

What a great adventure it has been! Until next time, we'll keep running. . .on course!

Jay, Vicki, Hannah and Grace

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." - Hebrews 12:2,3

5 Days To Go Until We Run The Victoria Marathon!

It's been a busy start to our fall but believe it or not, we are only 5 days away from runnning the Victoria, B.C. marathon. Over the past several weeks, Vicki and I have continued our preparation to run 26.2 miles on 10-10-10! Putting in the runs to get ready has been hard at times, but thankfully, we feel ready.

We're getting excited about the entire weekend and spending time with my mom and her husband, Bruce. It will be a great time together!

Below is the what the Race medals look like! Hopefully, come Sunday afternoon, we'll both being wearing our medals!

And below is a picture from the start of the last year's race! Looks fun! And also it looks like a nice day however! Hopefully, we'll also get a nice day this Sunday!

We'll give you a full report when we return. Have a wonderful week and weekend!

Running His Course ~ Jay, Vicki, Hannah and Grace

P.S. On a side note, 2 weeks ago, while we were finishing up a training run, Gracie fell off her bike. Falling backwards, she landed on left hand and suffered a fracture in her wrist. Thankfully, she was only given a velcro splint for her hand and wrist and is doing better. She will have it on for 2-3 more weeks.

Paradise at Mt. Rainier!

The definition of the word "Paradise" according to Webster's Online Dictionary is

1. a place of rest, bliss or delight; 2. Eden..."

Last Monday (8-23-10) we visited one of our favorite places in the world.... Paradise @ Mt. Rainier! We truly had a taste of this "heavenly" place as we hiked among the meadows and hills covered with incredible wildflowers. We took the picturesque Skyline trail then out to the Paradise Glacier from the Visitor Center. The further from the main area we went, the more quiet and beautiful it became. God's delicate handiwork on full display! And then in addition to the visuals was the fragrance. Beyond description! Since pictures are worth a thousand words, I'll let them speak of the wonders we saw on our hike!

Noteworthy of mentioning, is the event that we witnessed after we headed back down the hill. It was at dusk that we saw a the marmots. There were Marmots everywhere- laying in the sun, eating flowers, running through the meadows and then some were...well...it looked like they were doing some type of wrestling dance. We found a video that shows what we saw...

We were amazed when we saw them wrestling like this right in front of us. Needless to say, we learned something new about marmots on Mt. Rainier.

To top it off, we stayed on the mountain to see it illuminated by the full moon. I'm glad we stayed! It was quite a sight to see. A perfect end to our day.

If you ever get a chance to visit Paradise @ Mt. Rainier (especailly in July, August months) maybe you'll see a glimpse of "heaven" also.

Running on His Course.
The Schillings (Jay, Vicki, Hannah & Grace)

Race Update: We have approx. 40 days until the Royal Victorian Marathon on Oct. 10th. We've been training and are looking forward to it!