Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Dax Dances With Wings.... Part Two



REMINDER - PRAYER TIME TONIGHT IN THE PRAYER/CHAT ROOM BEGINNING AT 9:00 CT

Sweet Baby Dax.... as Julie simply said, "his heart stopped at 2:15 am this morning." Dance Dax Dance with all of the sweet angels who were in heaven waiting for you this morning.

Dear Lord, we know that You are the ONLY comfort that Austin and Julie can know at this time. We know their pain and grief is so tremendous. Father, we come to You at this time to ask for your blessings and your comforting arms be wrapped around them and their family today and each day to come. Father, we ask that a cure for this beast we call cancer be found in this New Year. We ask that You guide the hands and minds of the researchers all across the country and that one of them will find the cure. Lord, we thank You for Austin and Julie. We thank You for the life and the time You blessed us with Dax here on this earth. I pray that those who have been touched by his story will follow You Lord more closely and choose to be a better person each day. Lord, we ask that you be with each person who will be traveling to be with the family at this time. Keep each one safe. We love You Lord, and strive to be more Christ like. In Christ Name, Amen.

Visitation will be Sunday afternoon. Semi-private service on Monday.

Part Two - Update 6:36pm

The following is an email I received today with some of the best news I have heard in a very long time regarding the fight for childhood cancer. Some of you may remember when some of our St Jude mom's made the trip to Washington to attend the rally on Capitol Hill to fight for this additional funding.... read on and smile!!!

Dear Advocates,

Congress completed much of its remaining business before taking a well deserved break for the holidays. Over the course of this legislative year advocates for childhood cancer have worked hard to bring attention and federal funding to childhood cancer. Members of Congress and their staff have also worked hard to address these critical issues and the needs of children with cancer.

Our hard work has resulted in an unprecedented additional $5.6 million in appropriations dedicated to childhood cancer. This is more money than has ever been specifically appropriated by Congress for childhood cancer. These funds come through the following appropriations sources:

Labor Health and Human Services under the provisions of the Caroline Pryce Walker Conquer Childhood Cancer Act:
$3 million directed to the Centers for Disease Control for a pediatric cancer registry, a critical source of information to support research.
$1 million in the office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide much needed outreach, resource and program services for children with cancer and their families.
In addition, the National Cancer Institute received an increase in funding for FY2010, through the Labor Health and Human Services appropriation bill. The estimated amount that will be apportioned specifically for pediatric cancer research will be $4 million above last year's level.
Defense Appropriation
$1.6 million for pediatric cancer research in the Defense appropriation
At the end of this long year I am deeply grateful to our champions in Congress for increasing the federal commitment to funding for childhood cancer research and for their continued partnership and commitment to this effort as the next appropriation cycle is about to get started.

I wish you a New Year full of Peace, Hope and Health.

Kate


I just had to share this with you, it really gives me HOPE!!

ALSO, Big Trevor is headed back home after another cancer-free check up!!! So grateful and thankful for this news. He will be coming back in a few weeks to check on some bone related issues. Keep him in your prayers.

Little Trevor got some of the best news he has had since his treatment began... he had an MRI yesterday to determine if this new protocol is working on his tumor. For the first time, he had an MRI that has shown no new growth and a decrease in activity in part of the tumor. This is an indication that the tumor is dying!!! The new chemo protocol is working!!! Praise God and give God the glory for this!! Please keep him in your prayers that this will continue to work and this tumor will be completely gone in the near future. I love getting some good news!!

I am praying that 2010 will be the year to find a CURE FOR CANCER :) Please pray this prayer with me.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS!

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Let's Pray in the New Year Together

I trust that each of you have had a wonderful and Christ filled CHRISTmas! My family and I have had a very blessed Christmas, it has been really nice just being at home and together. Santa was very good to everyone in our house, much better than we deserve. To each of you who visit the Prayer/Chat room, I know I have not been in very much the past few weeks, I miss talking with you and I will be back as things are beginning to slow down. We went right from all of the planning and prep work for the marathon right into the holidays and I have been playing catch up for a few weeks now. It's all been good, just very busy as I am sure you all have been too. I would like to invite each of you to a Prayer Night to Pray In The New Year. I would like to have a special prayer night next Wednesday night beginning at 9:00 pm (Memphis time) to pray a prayer of thanksgiving for all of the blessing in our lives in 2009 and also pray for the things we feel in our hearts we need to ask God for his wisdom, strength and guidance for in 2010. I feel a strong need to pray for the children still fighting the beast and to pray for a cure for cancer in 2010. I think prayers for our country and the leaders making decisions effecting our lives would be appropriate also. I am asking you to mark next Wednesday evening (I know some of us attend Wednesday evening services but I think everyone is usually home by 9) on your calendars to sign in and join us for a evening of prayer to bring in our new year. Several of you have made comments regarding getting back to a more regular prayer schedule and I agree. We can discuss this more in our prayer evening next Wednesday. For any newcomers to this site, you are welcome to join in, just go to the bottom of this post, all the way down, and you will find a chat box. Just sign in and join us.

I did want to give you a little update from the marathon and Team Believe.... I just went to check out our total and Team Believe has now raised .......drum roll...............$21,420.00!!!!!! This is just amazing!!! Six team members raised over 1,000.00 with several more almost, just so close to the 1,000.00 mark and several of the ones who have over 1,000.00 are very close to the 2,000.00 mark. I do not want to take away from anyone who has raised $1.00... every dollar counts and each one of these team members is to be commended for doing a great job. Even ones that did not get to come to Memphis still raised money and helped the team with our efforts to reach $25,000.00. There may be some more posted, but I do think we are pretty much at the end and do not expect there to be much more if any posted. $21,420.00 is a GREAT accomplishment!!!!!! Thank you, I feel that God has richly blessed our efforts. I look forward to next year!!! I feel we can make that $25,000.00 goal next year.

I want to share a few prayer request with you. First, please continue to pray for all of the families who are going through the holidays facing Christmas and New Years without their child. This is such a tough reality to face. Several families have taken trips during this time and have had a wonderful time, but the emptiness and pain from missing their child is ALWAYS there. Please pray specifically for God to give them peace and comfort their pain. Pray for safe travel as they return to their homes over the next few days.

Please keep James in your prayers as he is home, without anymore options. He is doing well at this point, but the family can use all of the prayers for his miracle they can get.

Little Jack Bruce has been in and out of the hospital over the holidays. Please pray for his new treatment to be successful and for him to be able to stay outpatient. It's no fun to be stuck in the hospital during holiday times. Santa was very good to Jack, I am thinking he must have been a REALLY good boy this year!!! Pray for Jack to recover from his round of chemo he just finished and feel well until time for the next round.

For those of you who follow big Trevor, you know Pam has been telling us about Mikey. I had the pleasure of meeting Mikey and Dina on Christmas Eve. They are just the sweetest people. I want to ask you to please be praying for Mikey and PLEASE go to his CB site and leave him some encouraging messages. Mikey is an older "kid". I do not know how to explain his situation, but he is older than your normal St Jude kids but for some reason, ( I don't want to tell anything wrong, so I am gonna leave it at St Jude has it's reasons) St Jude accepted him into their treatment protocol. He lives in the Memphis area, and comes back and forth for his treatments. He can really use our prayers and our encouragement. He has a caringbridge site... it is Caringbridge.org/visit/michaelranderson I will post his link under the "Our Friends" section.

Also, Dax continues to get weaker everyday, but is still fighting to hang on. Please be in constant prayer for his family as the end nears it is getting more difficult to face each moment. All they need at this point outside of a miracle, are our prayers for their strength to face each moment. Lord, we come before you now and ask for your arms to be wrapped around Julie, Austin and each one of the family members and friends who are sitting vigil with Dax right now. Be with them Lord, You are their only comfort in this storm. We ask that Dax be at peace and in no pain. Father, we thank you for Julie and Austin and the love they have shared with each one of us by sharing Dax's story and life with us. We pray that many lives will be touched by this little guy and each life touched will live a better life because of him. Thank You Father for the privilege of coming to You in prayer to pray our hearts desires. Father, we pray our desires, but we accept your will. In Christ Name, Amen.

Take the opportunity to attend the church of your choice tomorrow and worship the great and awesome God that has given us our every breath. Don't forget to mark your calendars for our Prayer Evening next Wednesday evening beginning at 9:00.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Christmas Eve....

My prayer is that each and everyone of you are enjoying your time with your families. I know it is a very busy time of year, and things get very hectic. I hope that each and every one of us can find the time to slow down, reflect upon the many blessings that we have been given as the ultimate gift. God sent His son, to save our souls. That is the most unbelievable gift ever given. The ultimate gift ever given to anyone. I have to ask myself, am I doing and living like God want's me to so that I can earn the reward that He gave His son on the cross for me to have an eternal home with Him. I pray each day to be Christ like.

I hope that each of you at this point has finished your Christmas shopping, got it all wrapped and have baked your cookies for Santa!!! For us, we still have to make the food for Santa's deer!!!! Sure can't forget Donner and Dixon! Merry Christmas to each of you and your families.

I am so thankful that Dax is spending Christmas eve with his precious momma and wonderful daddy. God has blessed this little guy with so much determination and fight!! Please keep praying for Dax to have many more days of dancing with Julie and Austin. If you have not read his CB site in the past few days, please go and read the entires over the past few days. Julie and Austin have shared their dream of fining a way to make it possible for money to be given to St Jude to run the hospital for one day. As most of you know, that would require 1.6 million (MILLION) dollars. That is what it takes to operate the hospital for one day. Julie points out that if each person who goes to Dax' site and reads his updates would send them just 2.00 that it could raise enough to accomplish this goal. Just think... Dax Day at St Jude!!!! The whole day being made possible because of all the people who love Dax and St Jude. I personally sent the money to Julie and Austin for my part plus for 4 more people who may read this or their CB page but choose not to participate in their efforts. I am asking for Team Believe and anyone who comes here to please go to his page, their home address is located on the CB page, mail them the 2.00 plus some extra for someone else who might not be able to do it. I look forward to the day that hospital is run all in honor of Dax on Dax Day for St Jude!!!!! Believe with me that this IS POSSIBLE, beginning with Me~~~~ I will do my part to make this happen. What an awesome way to honor Dax.

Merry Christmas! Cherish every moment with your family. Make as many memories as you possibly can this year. Take lots of pictures!!!

BELIEVE WITH ALL YOUR HEART... PRAYER WORKS!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE SUTTON FAMILY :)

Monday, December 21, 2009

Cherish Every Moment




Dax, sweet baby Dax is sleeping. He is still holding his own, drinking his bottle and holding on to his blanket. Julie and Austin are the most incredible mom and dad. They are being so strong. Dax is one blessed little guy to have them with him. My heart just breaks for them, and I stand amazed at how Julie is always worried about those around her and others who are suffering. I am so thankful that they have such a wonderful support system around them at this time. It seems Dax's days are very numbered now, however I will continue to pray that he will received his miracle. A true Christmas miracle. I ask that you join me in praying for them and the entire family as they are hurting so much right now.

I pray for each of you. I pray that you will have a wonderful time with your families during the coming days. As Julie reminds us all the time, CHERISH EVERY MOMENT with your loved ones. Cherish every smile you receive. Cherish every kiss you get. Dance!!! We have all been so blessed, let's return the blessing to someone else in need. Look around you.....

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS ~

Thursday, December 17, 2009


Here is another look at our Team Believe bracelets. If anyone would like to get one or more, you may do so by sending in a self addressed & stamped envelope with $2.00 per bracelet. Mail to: Team Believe Bracelets; P O Box 210, Brunswick, TN 38014. Checks need to be made out to Team Believe. All profit will go to St Jude through Team Believe. We do have an account set up so that anyone can do fundraisers at any time during the year to go towards the team goal for the annual St Jude Marathon. If you are interest in doing anything in your local area at any time during the year, you can notify me and I will tell you how this can work out. In the past we have limited our fundraising efforts to the time period which the marathon has our goal pages set up so we can send in checks. We have a way now to turn in and cash checks so they are not being held until marathon time. Contact me for more info if your interested. We have one family that is wanting to host a Trail Ride in the spring with their profits going to St Jude through Team Believe. This will be an awesome event. I will give you more info as that develops. Anyone wanting to have a rummage sale, or craft sale, etc. these are all great ideas and can be done at any time.






Dr. Sara (Team Believe) & hubby Tom ( Team Elizabeth Grace) They split and supported both teams!!


Tyler, Garrett & Svetlana



Garrett, Chris and Mardecia



Lenzy & Nicole (Team Hope)



Natalie, Sandy, Mardecia, Nicole
Susan, Michael, Tyler and Lenzy - a mix of Team Believe & Team Hope



The Dunford Family - Team Elizabeth Grace



The Graves Family - Team Pray For Mal
Shelia, Mardecia, Brad, Tina & Heath



Laura, Mardecia, Jordan
Julie, Regina & Lisa - The Bunko Babes of Team Believe


Mardecia, Lenzy, Ben, Hope & Marcella



Natalie (Nat), Mardecia, Nicole (Nic) - These are great girls who are so special to Team Believe. Nat is a St Jude surviver!


Chris (in the middle) crossing the finish line wrapping up in his silver blanket. His goal was to complete the half marathon so he could get one of those "cool silver blankets". He did it!!!



Brenda and Susan crossing the finish line! Way to go ladies!!! We are all so very proud of our team.


Please keep praying for Dax, Jack, little Trevor and all of the others in need of our prayers at this time. Also keep in prayer the families facing the holidays without their loved ones.

Happy Holidays to everyone.... MERRY CHIRSTMAS!!!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS!

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Part Two Team Dinner - Awesome Evening


A reminder of all of those we are running for along with ^Mary Kate^.


"The Dinner" Yummy!!! Macaroni Grill prepared several different choices of entree's. Pasta Milano, Spaghetti with a wonderful suace, macaroni cheese, grilled vegtables, salad and their wonderful garlic herb bread! As always with Mac Grill, it was wonderful.


Marianna, the daughter of one of our newest team members, Angie Luce. (TN)


Natalie (TN) and Barbara (TX) Reagan's grandmother. These two had the best time talking! Two very sweet ladies.


Two of the five very handsome men in my life. Tyler, Susan (TX) and Charles. I owe a huge thanks to my guys for all of the help they were over the marathon weekend. It is so much on auto pilot (a term my husband can relate to :)) now that they just know where to jump in and what to do! I appreciate them so much. Susan was a blessing too! I appreciate all she did this year to make this a wonderful weekend.


Marcella (NY) and Nicole (TN) These two are becoming big buds! This is the third year to participate for both of these girls.


Some of the Denton family (AL) all lined up ready for dinner. We were so blessed to have them with us. They had a group that ran for ^Alex^ this year. I really love the way this marathon is spreading to other families and more are getting involved for the cause to fight this beast. That is some of the Braswell family (FL) in line behind the Denton's.


Matt, one of our new team members who works at our wonderful favorite Chili's, with Max. Everytime I looked around, Matt had a baby in his arms!! I think he will make an excellent daddy one of these days, but for now he loves playing with them and running for the cause!!!!


I told you I would get a picture on here of Hannah, well here she is sporting her Hello Kitty glasses!!! Such a sweet girl and a wonderful big sister. They had a team that ran in memory of ^Sully^, Hannah walked the 5K for the second year in a row now!! Way to go Hannah!!!


An attempt at getting organized for a team photo!


Another attempt at a team picture! I love the fact that our team has grown to such a large number, but goodness it sure is hard to get everyone ready for a group photo!!! These photo's are only half of the group!!


Nicole, Sandy (Mom) and Natalie Cravens. Natalie is a St Jude patient who has been cancer free for well over a year now! They have a team also Team Hope. I really like having Team Believe and Team Hope working so close together to raise money and awareness for the need to fight cancer.


Alyson Rushing (MS) holding Baby Jack (LA) visiting with Jordan, Patricia and Tomaneka all from LA. Jordan is a St Jude patient who has been cancer free now for over 2 years!!! Jordan gives us all such hope.


Michelle Dunford (TN/LA), Dr. Sara (TN) doctor at St Jude, Dean Dunford (TN/LA) The parents of our sweet ^Elizabeth^. We were very blessed to have them join us along with some of their family. It was Michelle's birthday, so we had the opportunity to sing Happy Birthday to her!

I know there are others that were at the dinner that I did not get a picture of at the dinner, but I will certainly try to make sure I have some shots of them at the run on Saturday morning or at some other point during the weekend.

I hope each of you are enjoying the very rapidly approaching holiday season. Lot's of baking, shopping, gift wrapping etc. Lot's to do! You will be enjoying your time with your family and friends. Please keep close to your heart and in prayer those who are hurting this holiday season. Many need our prayers and even words of support and love. Please drop a note on their CB pages or even send them a card and let them know you are thinking about them.

Enjoy your Sunday, worship with your friends and family and honor and praise our most awesome God.

I also have a special prayer request, Ben Powell's dad, Mr. Larry, had a heart attack this past week and will be having surgery on Monday. Please keep Mr. Larry and the family in your prayers for a successful surgery and a speedy recovery.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS ~

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Team Dinner - Awesome Evening

There are just so many people who were a part of the Friday night Team Dinner and so many pictures it is difficult to get them all out to you. I will take a day or so and just cover the dinner, then I'll move on to the marathon. I hope you enjoy the pictures and I'll try to give you the story behind them.



This is Alex V. together with Terri and Heather Braswell and their family and some friends from California (former St Jude family)


Alex V. - she did a great job calling out our door prize winning numbers!


Ben and Allison


Jordan - He had the time of his life! Patricia, her nephew and his wife were part of our team this year. She told me yesterday they plan to rent a bus and bring the whole family back next year! Also, I want to congratulate Chancelly, she will be graduating with a degree in Mass Communications this coming Saturday!!! She has done an incredible job of taking care of Jordan and keeping up with her studies. She is truly one remarkable young lady and an awesome mom to Jordan. We are so very proud of her.


Team Gavin! Lindsey and Gavin - Gavin had great reports from all of his test and scans this past week. He has done so well. They are from California.


The Farrar Family (MS) - Tabitha, Max and Jason. Hannah was there, I'll get a pic of her up in another post.


Svetlana - Check out her cap! She came to us from Atlanta, GA


Awesome Heather - need I say more??? Heather was our featured speaker and she did a fantastic job telling her story and how St Jude has saved her life. Heather is shown here modeling her monogrammed snuggie, a gift for speaking to us. They came to be with us from Florida


Some of our new team members, the Corley family. Bennett, his daughters and his nephew all ran with us this year. They came to be with us from Nashville, TN


Mameow (Barbara Key) and Angie Luce talking up a storm! Barbara and her husband Phillip are the grandparents of our sweet ^Reagan^. They came from TX and Barbara was one of our new team members. If you want to laugh, just spend an evening with Barbara, she is an awesome lady. Angie is one of my friends and neighbors from right down the road from me!!!! Angie joined up with us late in the game, and proudly wore our team shirt as she ran the half marathon. Angie is the author of a wonderful newly published book "Poppies In December, Hope for the Hurting" check it out at her blog
Poppyjoy.blogspot.com


Marcella (NY), Lisa (GA)
Lenzy (AR), Brenda (AR), Mardecia, Susan (TX) Sandy (TN), Nic and Nat's mom!


We had a memory table, the families brought pictures to set up and share with us. I'll have more pictures of the tables in a later post.


Regina Rushing (MS), Alyson Rushing (MS), Erica (LA) - In the background is a handmade quilt that Erica had made from some of Mary Kate's t-shirts and presented to Regina and Alyson. It was beautiful and such a special gift. These were the shirts Mary Kate wore every day!


Regina and Alyson with some of their friends from Mississippi who came to join them in the 5K.

All in all, we had a great evening. I will post more in the next day or two.

Please continue to keep Dax in your prayers, he seems to be having some really good days lately. We are so thankful for these days of dancing with Julie and Austin.

I told you about Natalie and Nicole's sister in law (24 year old ) Angela Cravens recently diagnosed with MS. She was transferred to Nashville to Vanderbilt on Tuesday for rehab. Thank you for your prayers, all of the prayers are being heard and she has done so well the doctors are considering sending her home by the weekend to continue rehab on an outpatient basis from home! That is awesome news. Keep praying for her and her husband and the Craven's family.

Rylee is still in the hospital, not to sure how close to a definite diagnosis they are. She seems to be getting better, but the doctors are still uncertain of what is going on. Please pray for her, for the doctors and for Samantha as she takes care of Rylee and juggles taking care of her other children.

Jack was able to get out of the hospital and go back to the Target House. YEAH! Please pray for him and for this new protocol to be successful and put him in remission once again. Pray for him to be cancer free for life!

When your sending out holiday cards, keep all of our families in mind and send them one too. Most of their home addresses are located on their cb pages. Let them know you are a part of Team Believe.

Enjoy the holidays coming up but keep praying for those families hurting at this time of year.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Marathon Pics and News


Our little HERO Jordan walking in Memphis for St Jude
Jordan had a blast! They put him in the stroller to push him, but as soon as we hit the streets to go to Auto Zone, he came out of that stroller and announced he was RUNNING! And run he did!!! He had such a good time all weekend. He gave and received many hugs and kisses. Patricia, and her nephew and his wife were part of the team. Patricia called me today and told me that next year they will be back and the rest of the family announced they are coming too. She said they would just rent a bus and come next year!!! WooHoo!!!


Mardecia, Marcella (NY), Lisa (GA), Brenda (AR)
Team Believe members hanging out at the stadium waiting for everyone to make it in. This is the best most awesome experience. To get to see just how many have participated and watch them cross the finish line. This is a victory in so many ways for so many.


Natalie (TN), Sandy (TN), Mardecia, Nicole (TN), Lenzy (AR),
Susan (TX), Michael (TN), Tyler (TN)
Our combined team with Team Believe and Team Hope. This has become a tradition for our two teams to participate together. Team Hope is Natalie's team. Her family is pictured here with some of our group. They were at the dinner and also stayed with our group at the hotel this year. We even let the twins (officially known as Nic and Nat) come out to my house for Memphis BBQ on Saturday night with us! Sandy and Michael had to go back home to check on Angela, their son's wife, that I have posted and ask for your prayers for her. She is 24 and diagnosed with MS last week. She has now been transfered to Nashville to Vanderbilt for rehab. Please continue to pray for her and the family. We have all grown to love this family so much.


Dean "The Celebrity" Mardecia, Dean (TN/LA), Michelle (TN/LA)
The coolest thing... Dean said he was feeling like such the celebrity after completing the half marathon. He gave instructions to Michelle and I to pose for this photo! He is such a hoot :) He told me that he absolutely knew that Elizabeth had picked him up and carried him through the entire run. He did a great job as did the entire Team Elizabeth Grace team. They were all decked out in pink too! We had alot of pink on the streets of Memphis this past Saturday.


Tyler (TN), Mardecia, Dean (TN/LA), Michelle (TN/LA)



Garrett (TN) Chris (TN)
I am so proud of my boys! Each of my three who participated ran the half marathon. I also want to thank them for all of the work they did to help me prepare for the weekend events and all they did during the weekend to help out. They are great sons, Garrett, Chris and Tyler to help out and be a part of all of this. Stephen had to work again this year so he could not participate in the events of the weekend. Christmas season in the Bass Pro retail business is a very busy time for him.


Tyler, Garrett, Svetlana (GA), Michael (MO)
Again, hanging out. Each of these team members completed the half marathon. Each did an excellent job! Svetlana had on the neatest cap she had made just for this event. It said "Running For Mary Kate" on the front and "Team Believe" on the back! It was so awesome! We picked up a new team members a few weeks before the run and he joins us from Missouri. He is a runner, he has participated in several half marathons as well as one full marathon. He says he will be back with us next year.


Laura (TN), Mardecia, Jordan (LA),
Julie (TN), Regina (TN), Lisa (TN) - My Bunko Gals, new to the team this year!
I truly love and appreciate the support of this group of gals! This is some of my Bunko group that joined our team this year. Each one has told me how much they have been touched by this weekend of events and they will definitely be a part of the team in the future. I am so HAPPY to have some Memphis help now!!! I told them last night that I was going to assign them a job for next year!!! I do not want to take away any help from the others that have helped me, they went above and beyond! Allison did an outstanding job and so did Susan and Brenda with the goodie bags. I got the bags and they took charge of filling them up. I will tell you more about them in another post.



Susan (TX), Brenda (AR), Allison (TX) - Dinner at Chili's on Thursday evening
Several came in on Thursday to help set up and decorate for the dinner. Afterwards, we met up with Regina, Alyson, the Dunfords, The Braswell's family and a few others including some of the Chili's gang and my guys for dinner at our favorite Chili's! We had a blast being together. I also want to thank Chili's for donating our tea for the Team Dinner. That was alot of tea, and it was delicious southern sweet tea!


Official Team Bracelet
This was one of my surprises! I was just about to bust to let it out but I really wanted to keep it a surprise. I will tell you, Christopher Beck, the man in charge of the HERO's program for the St Jude Marathon was the first to get one. He saw the one I had on the day they came in and told me that I knew he had to have one, so I took the one I had on off and told him he knew he was taking mine! He has been so helpful. Team members, if you can take a minute and send him a thank you email that would be wonderful. He works so hard and this event has become so huge it is an unbelievable amount to deal with. I know things seem frustrating to us at times when we don't get what we think we are supposed to or checks do not get posted as quickly as we would like for them to, but this man is AWESOME and INCREDIBLE at what he does. For any of you who have had the opportunity to meet him, you know you can not meet a more dedicated and extremely nice man. I appreciate all he does and continues to do to help our team.

I know this is long, and it does not even begin to cover all of the events or pictures from this weekend. It may take me a month to get all of this out to you. I will do my best to cover and share as much as I can. There are hundreds of pictures and I do not even have the ones Charles (my husband) took yet. I am going to have to figure out a way to do a video.

I will give you a run down on how the events went. On Thursday, Allison, Susan, Brenda, Lenzy and Marcella came in to help out with set up for the dinner on Friday night. As I have told you, we meet up with other St Jude families for dinner at Chili's that night.

Friday, last minute errands and set up. The dinner was that night. At the dinner we had around 120 in attendance. Our team members and then we had 12 St Jude families join us. I will share pictures and fill you in on the families in attendance on another post. At the dinner we had a special guest speaker, Miss Heather Braswell. She did an outstanding job! We also enjoyed a video put together by my wonderful husband filled with pictures from the previous two years. It was such a walk down memory lane! We held a silent auction with several baskets and individual items. This was fun and we made a little extra money for St Jude in doing it. It may be just me, but I think it was another big successful pre marathon dinner.

Saturday, it was very sunny and beautiful but COLD! Thank goodness it was not as windy as last year, and it did seem to warm up a bit and was nice by the time we were in the stadium waiting on everyone to get in. Afterwards we had a change in the location for lunch. Instead of the little burger place downtown, we went out to our favorite Chili's to support them since they do so much to support us and St Jude. This worked out GREAT! Call ahead seating for 25+ people is wonderful! We walked right in and were seated immediately. Did I tell you I love this Chili's! In keeping with tradition, we came out to my house for some Memphis BBQ and cheesecake. This was a blast, we all enjoyed Mameow, Reagan's grandmother, telling her story of the events of her morning at the marathon! I'll share more on that in a later post too. She is such a sweet lady and we were so blessed to have her and her husband Phillip with us on the team this year. She prepare little bags with 5 gum balls in each bag (one for each of the fives years of Reagan's life) to go in our team goodie bags. She included a picture of Reagan in them. This was just so special for us. Thank You again Barbara for sharing these with us.

Sunday, morning church services with me at the congregation where I attend. This is always so uplifting and so neat to be able to pray and worship our most Awesome God together. Then on to Macaroni Grill for lunch. Then the really sad part saying our bye's as everyone one by one began making their way back home to their families. Everyone made it back safe and sound, we thank you Lord for the safe travel for everyone. I am already looking forward to next year and seeing each one again.

As of right now Team Believe has raised $20,177.00!!!! This is just totally amazing and I know that is NOT a final total yet. Each year, our team grows and becomes more of an advocate to promote awareness for childhood cancer. I know that I am not the only one who is so proud of this GREAT team and group of outstanding prayer warriors! I look for each of you to join us next year. Start planning now. The next big St Jude Marathon is December 4, 2010.

Please continue to keep Dax and Jack in your prayers.

BELIEIVE PRAYER WORKS~