Including Others, Involving Others

We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10



For all of the marathon team members there are some updates on the organization of the team. Those of us that have worked on it to organize it are getting geared up to get it kicked off again. At this time, the only info I have is that registration will begin in late spring. As some of you found out last year...THERE IS A LIMIT AND IT DOES FILL UP. It is predicted, due to the way it filled up last year, that people will not wait this year to register but will register as soon as possible to ensure they get in. So I suggest that if you want to participate that you do not hesitate to get registered as soon as it opens.

There will be a few changes this year... Our team was formed and we were all brought together because of Ethan. We know that we have honored him and his memory by being Team Ethan. He will always be a part of this team but we would like to include other patients too. Not everyone has the opportunity to organize their own personal team. We want to share and include others in this opportunity to give back to St Jude. We will be using the name TEAM BELIEVE now. Our goal is to honor a different patient each year. We will have a design on our shirt where we will add a new name each year. Names from the past will remain as part of the design. So therefore, Ethan will always be a part of us.

This year we will be running for Mary Kate Rushing. When I first ask her if we could have our team run in her name, she was so excited. I wish you could have seen her face and her eyes when she was asked. I ask her if she would come up with a design that she wanted on her shirt, this too excited her very much. As most of you know, Mary Kate lost her battle to leukemia recently. She was working on her design for the shirt, her mom will proudly finish it for her, she knows what Mary Kate wanted. We will proudly walk in loving memory of Mary Kate. Regina, her mom, and her sister Alyson will be joining us along with other family members too. If you are not familiar with Mary Kate you can read her caringbridge site at caringbridge.org/visit/marykaterushing or click on her link under "Our Friends".

The plans for now are to keep with our tradition of events from the past two years. I will set up hotel accommodations for everyone needing a room, we will have our dinner on Friday evening the night before the big day, then participate in the events of the morning downtown. Again on Saturday evening after the marathon, everyone is invited out to my house to hang out, comfort our aching feet, and eat some good ole Memphis BBQ! This has proved to be one of the highlights of the weekend. We can just sit around and really get to know each other and visit. I am not sure at this point if there will be another tour of the hospital or not.

As for our kiddo's today. I have not been to the hospital yet, but plan to get up there sometime today. From talking to a few folks and reading updates it sounds like all of our transplant kid's are doing great!!! I am so thrilled to read the good updates on how well they are beginning to feel. WAY TO GO TRANSPLANTS!!!! I talked to LaDonna last night, please keep Salena in your prayers. She is in the prep part of her transplant. She is supposed to get hers on April 22nd. We will have a night of prayer for her successful transplant the night before so keep that on your calendar. Trevor is back from his trip home for Easter, let's keep him in prayer that he will get the green light very soon to get to go home for good! Elizabeth has had some good reports too. She is no longer inpatient and they have now finally got a diagnosis on what is going on with her, she seems to already be doing better. I am so thankful for all of these good reports. I'll let you know more after I get to actually visit with them.

I hope each of you is enjoying this day which the Lord has blessed us with. For me, it's a little cold outside, but I will not complain! It's a good excuse to stay in and be lazy... however I do need to grocery shop today. This is not on my list of favorites.

Oh yea... before I forget. I do have a few reminders for you 1) I really would love for any of you who joined us last year for any part of our marathon weekend to write up a short story on your experience so I can share those here with others. Some of you were only able to join us for our dinner, I want to hear from you too! Just email me your write-ups. I'll post them along the way.

2) Toys/Gift cards to honor Sully's birthday. If you would like to participate in this, Tab and I are going to shop tomorrow to make purchases with what has come in so far. It's not to late though we will go again next week to finish up. So if you plan to participate, please get your toys/gift cards to me as soon as possible. Tabitha and Jason will be sharing the gifts with the St Jude patients on May 1st. That is Sully's birthday. We talked this morning, she and Jason and Hannah are so excited to be doing this. It will give purpose and meaning for them on that day. I love their heart and their spirit!
If you need an address to send something leave me a comment on this post with an email address to get back with you. Thank you so much for your involvement with this. This makes me so proud of this group of prayer warriors. Also, if you are new to this blog.... join us at anytime for anything that we do as a group. If you are reading this, you are a part of this wonderful group of people.

Thanks for all you do!

Believe-Prayer Works

Team Believe