Cunningham Craziness...

The boys with their dog

Our fall art project!

My mom on her birthday with all the boys.

The staple in Justice's head... the Dr. put it there! Crazy!
My cute Jafeth and Cami holding him.

Well, the crazy fun never stops around here. Justice bonked his head on the cupboard on wednesday and had to go to the urgent care clinic and get his head stapled!! Isn't that crazy? He is fine though and doing well. We made a fall leaf art project and put it on our door downstairs going into the garage, the boys loved it ofcourse! My mom had her birthday and doesn't look a day over...:-) Lets just say she looks great! The boys are getting ready to run the Seattle Kids marathon here in a couple of weeks, right after Thanksgiving. I decided not to teach the Varsity Hiphop dance at the highschool this year, but I am still considering at lease teaching the JV (way less of a commitment). That was a hard decision to make but one that is best for our family right now. So that is about it for the Cunningham craziness... unless you want to hear about my new running goal for the spring...

TITUS!!!

Titus, what a cute boy!


Hiding out under our kitchen table!
I just had to throw this picture in because it is so sad! His poor head. Jafe had a "scuffle" with Sloan yesterday which resulted in this and Sloan getting very busted. Cami and I both about cried just looking at him. Jafe was fine after about 2 minutes though, boys!

We finally got a dog! He is a rottweiler labrador, his mom is a purebred black lab and his dad is a purebred rottweiler. I grew up by the people we got him from, they used to breed rottweilers when I was a kid. He is a good puppy and the boys are already in love! I can't wait until he is big enough to go on the trails with us, from the looks of him, that won't be long. He is huge already and he just turned 8 weeks. Well, we named him Titus, which means "of the giants" and we figure he is going to be a giant someday. The boys, especially Sloan, really wanted to name him Jack like the Nelsons dog, we kicked around a few other names too but Titus won. Well for all you rottweiler naysayers out there, he is a good boy! I love doberman pinschers and rottweilers, they are my favorite breed of dog, I WANT my dog to look scary and be protective of our family, Zach seconds that one, he wants me to have a safe running companion too!

On the Trail Again...

I love autumn! It is the most beautiful season, especially out on the trails. This is the cedar river trail yesterday during the big wind storm!

Psalm 136

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His Love Endures Forever.

Give thanks to the God of Gods. His Love Endures Forever.

Give thanks to the Lord of Lords
His Love Endures Forever.

To Him alone who does great wonders. His Love Endures Forever.

...

With a Mighty Hand and an Outstretched Arm. His Love Endures Forever.

...

Give Thanks to the God of heaven. His Love Endures Forever.

Psalm 117

Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol Him, all you peoples. For great is His love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.

Praise the Lord.

"The gang" having a great time out on the trail like always!

This is a tunnel along the lake wilderness trail, isn't it absolutely beautiful?? I would rather be out here with my boys than just about anywhere...
The Cedar River - gorgeous!!

Psalm 118:1-4

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; his love endures forever. Let Israel say; His love endures forever. Let the house of Aaron say; His love endures forever. Let those who fear the Lord say; His love endures forever.

PORTLAND

In our hotel in Portland...
Papa Randy and Grandma Eilene stopped by our hotel for a visit after the marathon!
Jafeth found a fun place to hang out in our hotel room!

After Jafeth ran the marathon???? :-) Celebrating our finish with our fams...

Race morning, while we were still fresh...

On the trip down there...
Mama, hold me:-)
Caravaning down with the McClees's!

Keri and Kim, We Did It!!!!!

Hey, we did it! We came, we ran 26.2, we finished. I knew I could do the miles, the 12+ bathroom stops killed our time, but all we wanted to do was finish and we did. Saw a lot of crazy things out there. A lot of blood, puke, tears, pulled muscles and people crying on the sides of the road because they could no longer go on, literally. Saw a lot of people running that made you wonder... my favorite shirt said "the victory isn't that I finished, the victory is that I ever started" also an old lady had on a shirt that said "this is my 39th marathon, how about you?" Awesome. Watched someone puke up a red bull at mile 20... saw the cops pull someone out from under a train/bus at mile 22, I guess you are bound to see a lot of things on a run like that. Unless you have run a marathon the pain is undescribable. I could not get my mind past how much my muscles were hurting, I could not get my mind to grasp that soon I would be finished and the pounding would stop. Mile 22-to the finish were incredibly hard both physically and mentally, and I would say that I had a good run and felt strong the whole time. I can't imagine how a "bad" marathon run would have felt. I will say that I have no regrets although I could have run it harder and considerably faster, the real victory was in the journey...

Thank you Zach and boys and mom, I love you all. Thank you Andrea for sacrificing your weekend to be with me, you are my biggest support and strength, thanks to your family too. Thank you all my friends who have encouraged me, thank you family who came, especially Uncle Butch and Papa Randy and Grandma Eilene, the highlight was seeing you both that evening. Thank you Gabbie and Breanna and Brettney, you ladies are awesome! Thank you all my inspirations, Olivia-my own personal running hero and Patti L. I hope I am as strong as you one day. Thank you Nelson clan, you all rock! Thank you Keri for putting in the miles and running this with me, I love you so much. Thank you God that it is over!:-)

The Joy of the Lord is your Strength.
Nehemiah 8:10

Huh. Have you ever really thought about that verse in the Bible? I have a gift bag that says that up on top of the armoire in our bedroom so every morning and every night I stare at it and the more I read it the more I think...huh. If the joy of the Lord is my strength then I am going about this all wrong, you know what I mean?? Think about it. Think about this too...Proverbs 3:5 says "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all of your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." Huh. So basically everything you know and understand...don't lean on it, it won't hold you up. Trusting in the Lord with all of your heart...that will hold you up.

Feeling a little scared...

Well, there is 31 days until the Portland Marathon, I am really starting to feel a little scared. My ankles hurt all the time and my muscles ache from all this running, and I am fairly positive that there might be a small fracture on the top of my right foot...yet I must run. Pray for me if you think about it, and please don't leave a "you are crazy to run" or "I would die" comment, just pray...
One thing I am determined to know is how I can soar on wings like eagles; and how to run and not grow weary (Isaiah 40:31) I love the movie Chariots of Fire, what an inspiration! The Lord is my strength, and the Lord has called me to endure. Whenever Keri and I are running (especially long runs) we pray and ask the Lord why He has called us to run this crazy thing and the only thing we KNOW is He is teaching us to learn to endure so that we can teach our children that you can do anything. You can do anything. I take my boys on 12 mile runs (they ride bikes) and they absolutely love it! They are building strong character, becoming strong physically and have learned to not whine! I always say "God would never make Nancy run a marathon, she gets to hang out on the beach all day!" Or Keri and I secretly pray that Karen will meet us along the way with cookies made by her and her girls!! Well, all my family and friends, at least you know that about once a week a set aside a four hour block to torture myself, but you are benefitting because I am praying for you and blessing you all! I will not quit.

A few of our favorite summer 2007 pictures!

Driving towards Mt. Bachelor and the three sisters in central Oregon... (dont mind the glare on the dash) Mt. Bachelor in the background, this is little lava lake, cool!
Zach and his little guys...

Kim and her boys (yeah thats right, I'm wearing a do rag)

A deer in our campground, came right up to us!

Zachs birthday!

My good friend Nancy, she visited from Hawaii and her and her kids stayed with us for about a week and a half, I miss her!!!

Zach at Red Robin, isnt he cute??

Happy Birthday zoolan..., I mean Zach... he can't help it if he is really really good looking right?

Kevin and Cole eating whip cream...yeah right, remember he is Kevins kid, you know what he is eating? TARTER SAUCE!!! YUK!!

That is Caroline with my Aunt Gerry and my Aunt Cookie, sorry it went on twice but I don't know how to remove one??








The Adams brothers and Kim... Chandler snuck in there too, but isn't he cute? The siblings reunite!

My sister in law Anne and me, she is so beautiful!

This is a typical Kevin/Kim type picture, especially the horrified crowd of onlookers...Zach and Anne being the wise people that they are, snuck off to wait in the vehicles until we stopped making fools of ourselves...I miss you Kev!

Well, it was a great summer and it is almost over. We have already started school with the boys and things are starting to get back to normal, whatever that may be! It was fun seeing Kevin and Anne and their family. (finally)! Hope everyone had a great summer too!