Thank You for the Thank Yous!!

Belle Announcements

I have a dear friend, Olivia Wilson, owner of Belle Announcements, who donated thank you cards for us to send to sponsors.   Now, for the record, I am the WORLD'S WORST thank you card sender.  I hate to admit it, but it's true.  It took me about six months to send her a thank you card for the birthday gift she gave me!  I thought about it every time I saw her, but writing out a card and sending it just seemed to allude me.

This act of letter writing is the very reason Liv (as she is called by friends) founded the company in the first place.  I won't go into the full story here, although it's a very interesting story it's semi-personal so you should ask her yourself.  She crafts not only thank you cards, but custom announcements, "save-the-dates", stationary, invitations, cards for any occasion, along with some unbelievably cute items offered through her Etsy site (cupcake toppers, water bottle lables and cutout photo figurines to name a few).  In the month of April, 5% of each sale goes to the Brock Rocks Fund.  (From the site:)

Brock was diagnosed with Pre-B Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on October 7, 2009, just days before his first birthday. He started intensive chemotherapy immediately and during his first round he contracted a life threatening fungal infection - Invasive Aspergillosis. The fungal infection spread to his lungs, liver, kidneys, spleen, stomach, eyes, brain, and bones, leaving permanent damage including vision loss. Brock spent 19 consecutive weeks in the hospital and has spent a combined 9 months there enduring countless surgeries, procedures, and blood transfusions. He has several developmental delays as a result of these 2 diseases. He fights every day to re-learn how to walk, talk, and eat.
Brock's family has health insurance but they are are still left with medical bills totaling over $1,000 a month, including one anti-fungal drug that costs over $500 each month. This drug has literally kept Brock alive for the past 1.5 years. Brock's mother is unable to work because of the demands of caring for a chronically ill child. Brock is in the battle of his life and the mounting medical bills are a worry we would like to take away from the family. We can't change this disease but we can change how they fight it! Thank you for all your support, donations, and most importantly, prayers. Brock is a living testimony of God's faithfulness and we believe that God will provide in this area as well.

Because I'm such a bad letter writer, I wanted to publicly thank Belle Announcements here while at the same time letting you know about Liv's exceptional talent!  You can follow Belle on Twitter, or on FaceBook.  You can also check out her blog.  But...just don't let all this time on the computer keep you from picking up a pen and paper and sending out a hand written note to that special someone!!  And, if that someone is truly special, why not just go ahead and order some custom cards to show how much you care!

Julia is Running for Verba

After yesterday's post, I got to thinking...I believe life is a series of continuums.  What we are experiencing with losing teammates is on the very MILD side of a continuum of loss.  Whereas, losing an actual family member to cancer is well on the other side.   I, thankfully, have not had to go through that experience...unlike several of my teammates.

Julia is running for her Grandmother, Verba Troxtel, who died of cancer when Julia was only three years old.  Verba lived with Julia and her family from before the time she was born.  From what she has been told, Verba enjoyed babysitting her grandchildren when she could. 

Until colon cancer took her life at the young age of 57.

Because Julia was only three at the time, she unfortunately doesn't have many clear memories of her Grandma.  Not having clear memories doesn't lessen the loss.  Julia's grandfather, Verba's husband,  passed away long before Julia was even born and she never had a close relationship with her other set of grandparents. 

All the things kids with grandparents take for granted -baking cookies, being spoiled, hearing stories of what life was like "back in the day", learning about the roots of who you are first hand, having someone there on Grandparent's Day at school, all the memories that could have been made- were stolen from Julia by cancer.  Your donation is more than just support for a nameless, faceless organization...American Cancer Society will use your dollars to allow families have more memories.

Houston We Have a Problem...

I knew it was bound to happen.  With a team of 14 women (12 relay runners and 2 alternates/drivers) getting together more than a year before the actual race, raising $15,000 for American Cancer Society plus additional funds for travel expenses while at the same time training for a physically grueling relay race...there were bound to be some...challenges.

I know what you're thinking, fourteen women coming together...hello DRAMA!!  But that's not the challenge we've had to face.  The fact is, we've lost some members of the team for various reasons, and have had to recruit some new faces.  And...the challenge has NOT been the recruitment part of the equation, thankfully that has been "easy".

You had not even been introduced to the first person we lost.  She joined us as an alternate, but made the decision to back out fairly quickly.  We only had a couple of meetings before then so I just gave email hugs and thought to myself, "that happened quicker than I expected it to" (losing a team mate).  Little did I know we were about to lose two more, and have one voluntarily switch to an alternate/driver position.  Not to mention we have one member who is temporarily living in CANADA.

When Lisa stepped away from the team a while ago,  I put off making any kind of formal announcement,  mainly because I wasn't exactly sure how to write it up.  The fact is, it's hard to lose a member of the team.  We are working closely together for a common goal--the least of which is the actual race.  I don't know about the rest of them, but I feel like the longer we're together the closer we're getting.

We are like the Super Friends!!  I mean come on...we're the DIXIE DAREDEVILS!!  We even have cool super heroish name.  Yes, we are going to run individual legs of this race alone, but even in that we will be working together for a common goal-to finish before the cut off (31 hours).   However, the truth is, the race itself is a very small piece of the entire experience.  Think about it...it's the culmination of a fraction of what we're doing together, a very small fraction.  We have had one short fun run which lasted about 40 minutes, but we've spent countless hours working together to raise donations for American Cancer Society.

You can't be a part of something like this and not grow close.  So when someone decides to leave, or take a step away, it's hard.  At least it is for me anyway.  I know I'm not alone in that feeling.  At our last meeting when Vicki announced she was quitting, another team mate said we were like her family and she didn't want to lose anyone else.

I thought we'd have an issue with in-fighting, squabbles over how to best get the job done, what color to make the shirts, who has the best idea for a fundraiser, or even who's doing more or running fastest.  With fourteen women, there's bound to be drama...but I didn't expect to be crying over people leaving the team.  As we spend more and more time together, we are naturally growing closer so it stands to reason losing someone would become increasingly difficult.  I've got to tell you I don't like it one little bit!!

So...if you've been paying attention and watching closely...now you know why there are 15 of us on the "Who We Are" page.  As I understand it, we do have a new second alternate/driver, and I'll introduce her in short order...but not before I dry my eyes over the loss of the others.

You Can Endure

(Transcription from the video...taken from YouTube)

Part of the lure of Hood to Coast is that it is a real adventure, and it's something completely out of the norm.

You see, when you have succeeded in something, you can endure the part that you don't like.

((Dramatic music plays....random sound bites from the race...driver loses keys in his hand...driver gets massage...man tries to give nasty socks away...traffic jam...out of gas...honey bucket suction...driver gets massage......and at time marker 1:53...a team runs to the FINISH LINE!!))

It's the friendships that I have, coming back and just loving doing it.

I've really learned a lot about caring for people. Seems strange; this is a race you run.

You can do anything you put your mind to...and you should.

The effort is almost worth more than the actual accomplishment of finishing the goal.



Why am I here? I could be home in bed...and I want my orange juice!

American Cancer Society Donation Dollars at Work

Want to know where your dollars will go??

$120 provides researchers with a case of 144 petri dishes-allowing them to turn theories into cancer cures.

$250 provides 83 hours of toll-free access for the American Cancer Society's National Cancer Information Center.  The center receives 1.2 million calls every year to its 24-hour toll-free line, 1-800-ACS-2345, where specialists answer questions about cancer treatment options and local cancer resources.

$500 helps provide visits to five women from the American Cancer Society's Reach to Recovery program. This program introduces breast cancer patients to select survivors who can answer questions and provide emotional support.

$1,000 provides expense for a patient to stay for free during cancer treatment in one of the American Cancer Society's Hope Lodge facilities located in major cities nationwide.  (Hope Lodge Lubbock, TX)

Priceless...How can you put a price on a child's smile?  Camps for children with cancer run by the American Cancer Society let kids be kids.  They swim, play, and enjoy other camp-style fun in a supportive environment that recognizes their special medical needs.  The kids attend free ofcharge thanks to generous donors.

Won't you consider making a donation today?

**Reprinted from Triumph magazine.