In Our Pain.

Pain.  A lot of people get a word for their year, some "theme word" for the next year that they want to grow in, develop, or have God perfect in them. Well for 2016 back in January of last year, that was my word, PAIN- are you jealous yet?  I thought I had heard wrong, that somehow I was picked last from the grouping of "word of the year club" and this was the word I was stuck with. That I got the reject/clearance table of Giving Keys and the only key left was one with the word PAIN on it.  Trust me, no one wants the key with the word PAIN hanging from their neck.  Why couldn't "PEACE" have been my word I wondered, or at least have God throw me a bone and give me the word, HOPE- HOPE had a much nicer ring to it.
Pain is something we avoid at all costs, and when in severe pain we will do almost anything to cure it.   Had I known how closely I would walk with that word this past year, surely I would have run from this past year entirely.

Pain started in my life last January, and it relentlessly clung on to me for dear life and hit almost every aspect of my being. Thankfully I've never been a person with physical pain, and if I did have pain- I didn't talk about it much. No history of headaches, migraines, chronic soreness, or sickness. I was a marathon runner for years so in my mind pain was something that got pushed away, ignored, it was something to overcome. Last year at this time I began having an intense flare up from a recent car accident injury that only intensified over a few weeks' time.  I have three herniated disks from my prior accident, two of which are in my neck and those two started a major revolt in my body.  I am not a stranger to physical pain, I birthed a 9+pound baby, had my eardrum explode as a young adult, ran multiple marathons in my day and nothing could prepare me for the months of pain I would have to endure. At its peak, I had lost 13 pounds in 2 weeks, which in a normal January, post holiday I would have been thrilled about. Let me tell you; Worst. Weight loss. Plan. Ever.  To the people who have not a clue what I am talking about, the pain was like when you were a kid and a peer would take your arm and wrap it behind your back and then pull up towards your shoulder blades until you said "mercy" for them to quit.  That was like the pain I was in, except I would shout, "Mercy!" and the pain never stopped, not ever. I couldn't sit in a chair, I couldn't stand for long, and laying in bed had to be done with many proppings and pillows. I would take the walk down stairs only to stand at the counter and force myself to eat 5 bites of yogurt so that I could take my pain meds with out getting nauseous.  I had the food/ medication thing down to a science. I had MRI's done, went multiple times to the ER, and specialists had been visited.  I had tried oils, naturals remedies, pain meds, stronger pain meds, various recommended specialists, muscle relaxers, and medical treatments. 

I remember laying in bed 24 hours a day, staring at the ceiling counting the imperfections on the wooden beams to distract myself, not able to focus on the TV or get my head in a position to even watch the TV.  Of course, I went to online message boards, (probably not recommended and have now dubbed "fear boards"), with people with the same injuries to the same disks.  I heard nightmare stories of chronic, lifelong pain. There were horror stories of treatments gone wrong, surgeries that only made their issues worse and I thought, "I never signed up for this." Pain had my attention and refused to be ignored. I had told my Dad that I simply couldn't stand the pain anymore and if this was the way it was going to be with no end in sight, I wanted out.  I could not live years or months with this type of pain.  I needed relief. I needed mercy.  When you are in severe pain, no matter if it is physical, emotional, or spiritual pain you'll try anything to find relief. I plead with God to remove the pain. I bargained with God if only He would take the pain, what I would do for Him.  Then came the self -examining of why I was in this position. Did I do something wrong? Had I failed God in some way and now this was my punishment? Yes, I absolutely tormented myself! (Side bar.... Sometimes pain happens to you. Period. We live in a fallen world. Period. Bad things happen to everyone sometimes. We all need Grace and do not deserve it. Period. John 16:33 says "In this world you WILL have trouble and sorrow. BUT take heart I have overcome the world.")

One day I  had spent the day just staring up at the ceiling, I was about 6 hours in, and tears were streaming down the side of my face, (a real hot mess of pity).  I had gotten off of the phone with my parents who were out of state at the time, and I was feeling SUPER sorry for myself. My husband was out of town, I had NO mom in town to take care of me, I couldn't drive my kids around, I couldn't even get up to shower.  I was feeling helpless, hopeless, and stuck. I had it out with God and just told him that He had the capacity to heal me in a instant, I had the faith to believe it, He had healed me of much harder things in the past, what was His hold up? A soft whisper came back to my heart and He said, "I am here."

That made me mad, furious actually. Now the tears came hot and streaming and I said back out loud, "Then YOU are a mean God, what joy do you get from watching me suffer?  Am I supposed to feel glad that you are up there just watching me?'  I just heard God's soft voice repeat back, "I am here. I am very much working on your behalf."  Minutes later, I got a random phone call from my sister with whom we don't talk over the phone with too much and lives further away than any of my family members. She called and said, "Hi, I know this is random but I was praying for you early this morning when I woke up and I felt I was supposed to cancel my plans for the day and come up and just be "Mom" to you for the weekend."  You see, God was very much in the midst of my situation, and was working- just not in the way I had planned.  

A longer story short, eventually my pain decreased on a physical level-with the help of some epidural steroid injections into my spine, rehab, etc, my physical pain is lessened. However the pain of  2016 morphed into other areas of my life and it was unbearable at times.
This past year I've witnessed up close, front and center, the pain of a daughter losing her mother to cancer, I have witnessed family turned upside down, shaken up, torn apart at its very core, I have seen parents lose children/grandchildren, I have seen people in turmoil of inner pain that is so raw and deep inside that it shows up on the outside of a body.

Pain. it is no respecter of persons; it is raw, deep, relentless, and it is powerful enough to bring the strongest of us to our knees.  I have enough experience the last 9 months of 2016 to fill a book, and maybe someday I will. The first 3 months of physical pain was only a shadow of what the next 9 months of other types of pain would entail.  I am not an expert in pain, hopefully I will never wear that title, no one wants that title.

There is plenty I do not know, but what I do know I have walked through and that can not be shaken or taken away. I do know that God is no stranger to suffering and pain. That he became pain and suffered with us..... for us. I do know that he is my Emmanuel, meaning God is with us, ever present. He is with us in every season and can be trusted. He is very near to those who are broken in heart. Some of my darkest of nights I have heard his voice clearer, gentler, and so divine.  I also know that some things in life will always be painful, there isn't a pretty bow to be wrapped around every thing that happens, and that's okay too. He is good, but not everything that happens to me is good. He can be trusted, he is sovereign and I am not. We can learn to function with some degree of pain or move around a painful situation, and we have a God that is our helper in times of need. We are enough and have enough in Him. I do know God does not cause pain, but he does redeem it. I have heard in my life more times than I can count that "God doesn't give us more than we can handle."  I think God allows us more than we can handle ALL of the stinking time. How else would be recognize our need of a Savior?

I would not wish my last year on anyone, nor would I want to repeat it. But I am better for it.  I remember last winter telling a few people in my small tribe what I was feeling in regards just to my physical pain and interestingly enough three different people at three different times had the same response.  A look of familiarity brushed over them. Their eyes filled with tears, the mouth trembled as they told similar stories and ways they had resolved that pain.  That touched me in profound ways for THEY KNEW firsthand what I had been experiencing, they could identify and actually felt my pain. From their eyes I could see that they understood in ways others could not, they prayed for me in different ways than others did.  If there was one thing good from my painful year it is that I identify pain in others more easily; emotionally, physically, spiritually. Maybe that is what the scripture means when it says, "to carry one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ." Maybe in the redeeming process of our own pain we learn to carry another's pain a bit more tenderly, a little more full of grace, a little more like Jesus did. 

 I did get a new Giving Key this fall and I had it specially made with the word ENDURE on it.  God showed me this year he was going to "Strengthen my frame," Isaiah 58:10. In James 1:2-4, it says that our "suffering produces endurance," and in Peter 5:10 it says, "And after you have suffered a little while longer, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore you, confirm you, strengthen you, and establish you." He takes our broken parts and brings his healing if we let him into our messy lives, He takes our ashes and makes something beautiful from them. My father-in-law calls it, "The Great Exchange." In Isaiah 61:3 it says, "He gives us beauty for ashes, joy for our mourning, and praise for our despair."  In the end if he can take a year of PAIN and exchange it for a year I learned to lean into his grace and ENDURE, I can get behind that kind of redemption process.

It's About Time...

So this fall we decided to finally take on a project that I had been putting off for years. I delayed it for so long perhaps because I knew once I started, it would be a lot of work and time before the job was completed.  So bottom line the longer I waited, the more work that it had become, (this kind of "stuff" has a way of multiplying). Late in the fall, I finally gathered our small army and we started to sift through years of clutter.

Yes, our playroom had far surpassed its intended use with our 15 year olds and our near 12 year old. 
So sad huh?  (Ugh, yes change is hard for me.)

The above looks innocent enough, but I assure you the amount of toys in these cupboards, and other little "storage piles" that appeared over the years were by far our most time consuming part of the remodel.  We emptied our little playroom and the study area attached to it little by little- and over 6 weeks time we cleared it out completely. I used this opportunity to purge and organize the rest of our house, thus the 6 week time-span. We sent much to our local Goodwill, we put on a large yard sale, made friends with the Craigslist crowd, and became Ebay pros.  

Our house is positioned on our land to where we are unable to have a basement, so this space over our garage has always had to be our catch-all for toys, books, our music space, the exercise area, and study. So we were a little undecided what we would actually do with this space once we had emptied it. 

We decided on a Hobby Room, which could easily make every person in our family happy with thoughts that hopefully this space could take us into the next decade. As little as I enjoy change, we are looking at least another 10 years before we see another remodel. 

Erik gave me a budget, $1,000.00 from start to finish. The rest of the money I would have to come up with; thus the yard sale, Craigslist, and Ebay postings.  That budget had to include everything but paint, (Erik let me use the household budget for paint being the last time we painted these walls was 2001). He's gracious like that. :) Our budget had to include every accessory, curtain, furniture piece, glue stick, pillow and the flooring. Yes... Everything.  Challenge accepted. 

My only rule was, I had to love it. I have the tendency to throw something together in order to complete a project with out truly waiting for what I really want.  This project had me leaving many errand sessions empty handed, but the end results have been worth it for us.

So here is the "after." It was completed right before Christmas and we have been loving our new space ever since.

The biggest challenge for Erik was taking us from carpet to a stone tile floor, it saved us an INSANE amount of money to DIY this, and totally worth it. 

Hopefully these photos will inspire some ideas for someone else to tackle that looming project, or even a drawer that needs a good organization session spent on it.

Some space allocated for relaxing, music making, and a little exercise.

Our craft space!

The above right corner is a refurbished "dry sink" turned gift wrap center.  We have added a few dowels for rolls of wrapping paper and ribbon, and the cute little drawers and cupboards give plenty of space for bows, tape, tissue paper and flat wrap. 

The top left is my favorite piece, a Cafeteria Table- heavy, sturdy and with its swivel chairs makes for easy sweeping up underneath.

Accessories-The FUN stuff!

I found this wall art that just so happened to be the very songs my paternal and maternal Grandmas used to sing to me and thought they'd bring the perfect inspiration to the room.

This large metal bottle cap served as our color palette/inspiration for the whole room-rusted in just the right places.
The bottom hutch is filled up with little glass jars holding buttons, 
staple refills, paper clips and twine.

Hayley's dress form for her sewing area.

This table I scoured Craiglist adds for, then the internet, craft stores, and countless furniture stores. I finally found this table made of a refurbished barn door , with its base constructed of a Singer sewing machine circa 1901- our favorite feature is the pump-style pedal that still works!

This storage cabinet is sturdy, metal, and is deep enough to store all of our 12x12 crafting paper, games, paper cutters- just about everything we could ever need in a craft room. The metal dress form on top is a find I stumbled upon at a repurposing store, and the red metal vintage mail box is presently filling with
sweet notes just in time for Valentine's Day.

This metal cabinet above stores oversized glass jars of glue sticks, crayons and scotch tape. (We seem to always be running low on Scotch tape around here.) The galvanized steel organizer drawers hold all paints, glitter, and glue gun accessories.

  The other half of the metal cabinet houses our "tunes"- perfect to fit our docking station, cd player, and also our newest fun find- a vintage record player to play our favorite new albums in vinyl form.

The last 2 pics are from the space right outside the Hobby Room and was included in my allocated budget. This space hadn't seen a face lift in the last 14 years and was needing some attention, I found a gray lamp shade on sale and went from there, using black and white blown up photos from some of our favorite travels so far!

One final note, working on a restricted budget can be a challenge- it usually takes us about 5 times the amount of time and effort.  We have also found that these turn out to be our favorite rooms we have redone. 
Oh the thrill of the hunt! 

We went to all kinds of stores for the purchases in this space, (it took a village); World Market,(work their sales and coupons), Target, Pier 1, Kirklands, Amazon, local refurbishing stores-I have a list of favorites, Marshalls, and Anthropologie. I landed sales on 100 percent of my findings- if you have any specific location questions shoot me a message and hopefully my memory can lead you in the right direction!

If you need a neutral gray paint color that isnt "blue," try Behr paint- Dolphin Fin

To Cupid or Not to Cupid...

Valentine's Day, for many people we have a love/hate relationship with this day.  Between the over-commercialization of it all or the blaring reminder of what we have, or don't have- Valentine's Day has a way of putting an exclamation point, (with flashing lights no less), letting the world know if  we've indeed been lucky in love.

I've always loved this day, maybe because growing up in the lower-middle class it was the first holiday after Christmas that made the end caps at our local Tom Thumb change out, and in would appear the boxes of candy hearts, cherry flavored suckers, and foil wrapped chocolate hearts.  Our January seemed quite gray, (of course there was no room in the budget  for winter trips with four kids in our family on a custodian's budget), & the arrival of those shiny red hearts made a little excitement begin to erupt.

Sure, there was the painstaking reminders of the "have nots" once I entered junior high and then high school. The flower sales at lunch and deliveries to our classrooms that never seemed to have my name on them.  I wasn't exactly an early bloomer, lets be serious.  The sweat pants I wore to school every day just so that I could sleep in class probably didn't help my cause too much either.  (Credit where credit is due, I own it.) :)

Not having a boyfriend ever during those years never bothered me too much as I knew once I got home there would be something small, and something special that reminded me tangibly I was valued and cherished. It wasn't about the amount spent on us, it was just the fact that something was different and someone went out of their way to make us feel loved on that special day. My Dad would come in with his work boots, his grease stained hands, and set up flowers on the table for my mom.  Oh the whoops and hollers that gesture would emit from three little girls!  The "Ooooh Someone has a boyfriend," banter would immediately begin.  There was always a beautiful card for her with the simply words, "Love, Gary", on it that somehow seemed worded just perfectly.

My first memorable Valentine's, I must have been 8 years old. We arrived home from school to see a beautiful bouquet of flowers for my mom and three large satin hearts filled with chocolates on the table.  I thought "what was my Mom going to do with that much chocolate?"  I hadn't realized yet that my Dad had bought those boxes for his little girls.  That type of gift seemed far too elaborate and fancy in my mind for us 3 girls. I mean a satin heart, real fabric, and a silk flower attached to the ribbon. We are talking major fanciness in three elementary girls' minds.  It was a "grown up" gift to me, having an entire box of chocolates for myself was a luxury beyond luxury. I kept that satin box for a very long time, because of the way it made me feel. Apparently it meant more to that little 8 year old as I have kept the picture in my mind for the last 32 years.

Altruistically, we shouldn't need a Valentine's Day to make those in our lives feel valued and treasured.  I applaud those that every day is "Valentine's Day." They are overly intentional with their daily appreciations; in word, acts of service, and little things they "pick up" for those they love. Yes, you are amazing.

However many of us if we were honest, need a little satin wrapped shove to break up the "day in and day out" and let those whose hearts we've been entrusted with see that we are grateful, and they do matter.  Parents you may have little ones watching that are impacted far beyond what the frivolous meaning of a seemingly silly bouquet of flowers is. Do something extra, or say something extra, buy a little something extra.
Make them feel special, it always matters.

Corithians 13:13 "Now these 3 things remain;  faith, hope & love.  But the greatest of these is love."

Keep Me Little.

I need to be a lot more like my daughter, Sophia.
Not in her obsession with pink, although this time of year that's not half bad. But I could benefit in her ability to trust, her ability to see only good, to tune out and ignore the negative in life completely, to see joy in ALL things, to forgive with out a second thought or even a slight pause, to hug so hard you do not doubt for a second it's sincerity.  
She loves loudly. 

Mostly what I love is her clinging to innocence, which makes this momma freak out at the very thought that my baby is heading to that junior high next year. I know what she'll hear there, what she'll learn, what she'll see. I've got my other two girls fresh out of that stage, there is no rose colored glasses here. 
Sophia still loves her Barbies, she loves her dolls, I can overhear her sometimes still talking to her stuffed animals.  She still thinks the worst of swear words are shut up and Hell, even if the reference in being said means the actual location of well... Hell. ("No Sophia, your Pastor did not swear at you.") She thinks bad things on the Internet are pictures of spiders, (no I'm not kidding)...True story. 
 Yep, her world is still pretty, and quite naive.

She loves us to tuck her in at night, both Erik and I, together. We have a
routine still, (I know she is 11). We arrange her animals and pillows, Erik or
I will pray for her, then she wants us to sing her a song. Sometimes it's a
current church song, but mostly she likes me to sing the songs I used to sing as a little girl in church. Her favorite these days is one I have framed by her bed, "I Love to Tell The Story." 
Sometimes I'll just sing the chorus twice, but on other more relaxed nights I'll include the verses. Each night, with out fail, she squeezes her eyes tight and smiles so hard I think her face might split.
We talk about when she was a toddler and how she would have the same response to our routine way back when she was a baby. I've wondered at times why she smiles so much, and it dawned on me lately that I think she too is trying to hang on to that part of her childhood, remembering what it is to be little.
Tonight as we went in, she wasn't feeling well with an awful case of the stomach flu so she had Erik and I BOTH pray for her, and when we finished she whispered,"Sing to me."
An old song back from my childhood found its way to my lips, and I had wondered how it got there so fast. I sang out and her eyes squeezed tight, and a big smile lit up her little pale face. A cynical train of thoughts flashed through my mind, thoughts I hate to admit.
Wow she is cute, but needy.
Oh I bet she is the kid that ALWAYS raises her hand for prayer at kids' church.
Week after week.
Front and center.
She'll outgrow that....

As soon as those thoughts came in, other thoughts quickly countered with:

Wait, I want Sophia to have that heart that is wide open to God.
I hope she never loses wanting to be "needy" towards Him.
I hope she never gets tired of coming over and over back to her Savior.
I hope that part of her never gets "old."
I need to not let that part of ME get old.
Ouch.
We live in a cynical culture. I am cynical at times. I can't let that cynicism in,
especially when it comes to my relationship with God.
I want to be "naive" enough to trust fully the God that holds each of us. I
want to be "little" enough to know I can come over and over to Him with
anything, big or small. I want to remember I don't have to figure out
everything, but HE has it figured out. I want to keep a heart that is soft and pliable.
Nope, I don't want to let the spiritual part of me get "old."

This verse came once again to mind, Matthew 18:2-5 MSG
"For an answer Jesus called over a child, whom he stood in the middle of the room, and said, “I’m telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square one and start over like children, you’re not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in. Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God’s kingdom."

The song that I sang to her, was one I hadn't heard for many years. It is simple and sweet. I can almost hear that little 7 year old Diane singing it over the grown 40 year old version of myself...

"Oh how He loves you and me.
Oh how He love you and me.
He gave his life
What more could he give?
Oh how He loves you,
Oh how He loves me.
Oh how he loves you and me"

Lasagna Cupcakes

In hopes that summer gives us some heat this August I'm posting another recipe that's a tried and true gem around here during the hot months. It's taking a comfort food that I typically serve in the colder months, and gives it a light, little facelift.
So here they are, Lasagna Cupcakes. I tweaked my recipe a few times a long while back and it now is as close to our version of "so good there will be NO leftovers" as it gets. These will make a friend out of the pickiest of little eaters, (you put anything into a form of a cupcake and it automatically tastes better). It's a gem for any dinner party and also makes a substantial appetizer.


Ingredients-
Makes 24

Saute until tender:
A splash of olive oil
1 small minced onion

Then add to the same medium-high heat frying pan:
2 pounds of lean hamburger or sausage
1 large 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes- (San Marzanos are best, but any will do)
Kosher salt and pepper to taste
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 tsp dried basil or 1 TBS of fresh basil
1/2 tsp oregano
Let simmer 10-15 minutes on low

Stir together:
15 ounce container of ricotta
2 eggs slightly beaten
1/3 cup of Parmesan cheese
Kosher salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp of dried parsley or 1 TBSP of fresh parsley
1 package of fresh Wonton wrappers
2 cups of Mozzarella cheese

Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Spray or grease 2 muffin tin pans with olive oil.

In the bottom of the muffin pan: Layer 1 wonton wrap, a small teaspoon of sauce/meat mixture, then a teaspoon of ricotta mixture and 1 tsp. of mozzarella cheese. Build another layer at a 90 degree turn; wonton wrap,sauce/meat mixture, ricotta mixture, then mozzarella cheese. End with a wonton wrapper and a small spoon of meat mixture on top.
Garnish with a basil leaf if you would like, or a sprinkle of freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Bake for 20 minutes and let rest for 10 minutes before lifting them out of the pan. If served as an entree, we put a fresh Caesar Salad along side of them.

(Surprisingly, these re-heat well in the microwave which anytime you have an instant Monday lunch in my book is a double bonus.) Enjoy!

Thankful

First off, I want to say a huge thank you to everyone and anyone who supported us in any way for the Run for the Border/Hope for Dinner Campaign. We were honestly humbled by your kind words, texts, messages, prayers and monetary donations given to this campaign.
Collectively as a group of runners, with God's grace and your help, we were able to help raise over 25,000.00 dollars for the refugees of Burma. Our sponsoring church, Cedar Valley Church, collectively raised the total given to the Run for the Border/Hope for Dinner Campaign to right under 100,000.00 dollars! That amount of money sends five huge shipping containers of food to the Thai/Burmese border. We are humbled with the amount of individuals who would do even a small part for people across the globe that they most likely will never meet.

A team is over on the Burmese border as I am typing this post, distributing a shipment of food to the very people group we have been raising awareness and money for in this endeavor.

I am moved again as I look into the eyes of these people and see a glimmer of HOPE.

In the midst of ruins, HOPE rises up......

Isaiah 52:7 "How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace proclaiming news of happiness...."

Thank you again for your support to us on a personal level as well, it helped keep us motivated during the really hard times on this journey and helped keep us focused on the reason why we were doing it all in the first place. Your encouragement in this campaign meant the world to Erik and I, your kindness appreciated.

When God asks you to do something hard, it is invaluable to have people in your life that support, encourage and help you to meet your goals- everybody needs that in life.
Below is an article written by a staff member at Feed My Starving Children. It is a fantastic overview explaining the work that is happening there, and specifically where your support is going towards. Worth the few minutes of reading time!
Article Posting Click Here.

Photo Credits: Ryan Skoog and Alicia Davis

Playlist.

I have had a few requests for my playlist during these few months of training. When you are running hours a week you can easily "kill" songs if you overplay them, so this list is pretty fluid. I must warn you there is no rhyme or reason to this playlist, as it's really a hot mess of randomness. I also must admit most of these songs I don't play outside of my training time, they may drive me crazy in "regular life" but somehow you throw a pair of tennis shoes into the mix and they compel my feet to keep moving in a forward direction, so I go with it.

Crazy In Love..... Beyonce
Carry On....Fun.
Don't Stop Believin'....Journey
Girl On Fire.... Alicia Keys- (My "stop dragging- kick it in- you can do better than this" song.)
Good Life.....One Republic
God Is Able......Hillsong Live
Brave.... Sara Bareilles -I pray this for my girls as I've seen what this looks like in it's full grown state in adults-no bueno.
Mirrors.... Justin Timberlake
Hallelujah....Jason Castro
Great I am.....New Life
Halo...... Beyonce
Ho Hey.....Lumineers
I'm Yours....Jason Mraz
It's A Beautiful Day....U2 and Michael Buble's version- impossible not to smile just a little.
What Makes You Beautiful....One Direction-Added for Sophia. (Which is really code for "Me," Yep, I'm still 11.)
Let's Hear It For The Boy.... Deniece Williams- a nod to my junior high days.
Oceans...Hillsong United
We Are Young... Fun.
Who Shall I Fear.... Passion
Home....Phillip Phillips
Brighter Than The Sun.....Colbie Calliat
Stronger..... Kelly Clarkson
Eye of The Tiger...Survior
We Come Running... Youngblood Hawke -Obvious reasons.

I also have been playing the album, "Glorious Ruins" by Hillsong Live. Which also is the term I've coined for my wrecked "summer feet" of 2013...

See? I told you it was random.
The End.