Count Down Is On!!!

Ok... tomorrow morning makes it 5 more days until shotgun start in the streets of downtown Memphis for the big event!!!

The tables and chairs are set up for the dinner, decorations will be going up on Thursday afternoon. I can not believe it is all but here!!!

A few last minute details:

First, the highly anticipated weather forecast for Saturday morning... Mostly sunny... high in the low 50's and low around 31 degrees! That means, 7:00am it will be in the low 30's. The good part, it will begin to warm up fairly quick, we hope. I do not think it is supposed to be as windy as it was last year, that is a good thing. The wind chill is what made it so cold last year.

Team Dinner will begin at 6:30. The church building (Great Oaks Church of Christ) is located at 3355 Brunswick Rd. Bartlett, TN. It is on the corner of Brunswick Rd. and Ellis. It is approximately a one and a half miles from the Holiday Inn where our team is staying. Cost of meal is $10.00. Please have cash or check. We do not have a way to process credit or debit cards. All reservations are final, we can not accept any late comers at this point.

Don't forget to allow yourself time to pick up your packets for the race. You will need a form of photo id to get your packet.

For Team Believe members, do not forget to bring or wear your team t-shirt so we can get a team picture. Just told our resident photographer to make sure he packs the right lens to get a shot of a big group!!! We are an awesome and big group this year!!!!

We are going to have some very special items on display for a silent auction this year. I know Allison has already laid claim on one of the special items... highest bidder takes it home with them :) Plan on browsing the auction items, there will be some items you just might be glad you got or wish you had gotten on Saturday night AFTER the big event that morning!!

Last and most important... COME PREPARED TO HAVE A WONDERFUL TIME OF FELLOWSHIP AND FOOD! If we are not busy visiting, then we are eating or better yet doing both at the same time!!!! For any first time folks.... be prepared for a weekend you will NEVER forget. Bring your cameras and your address books.

Several of our kiddo's are here at the hospital going through checkups and scans this week. Keep them in your prayers for excellent reports. I know, Heather, Alex V, Gavin, both Trevor's and I know I am leaving out someone (forgive me) are all here and praying for good reports.

Keep Dax and family in your prayers too. This is a most difficult time for them.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Patience... just a few more days!!!!

I can not believe that we are FINALLY to the big St Jude Marathon week!! Everyone has been working so hard to get ready and get prepared for this big weekend. I don't know about any of you, but I am so ready I can't stand it. If you have not ever been a part of this special event that benefits St Jude, I encourage you to check into it, ask questions, you can leave a comment with your email address and one of us can reply to you. We welcome anyone who desires to be a part of this fab group to join us. We meet daily here at this site and in the chat room located at the bottom of this blog page, and then our biggie is when we meet once a year in December for the St Jude Memphis Marathon weekend. Yes, we get so much out of this but what we are able to do and give to St Jude is the most awesome and amazing feeling of helping these kid's fighting so hard for their life!!!

Have you checked our team page lately to see our amount raised so far? I got a message today from Allison, she is so fun! She told me she was so tired of seeing our team being $25.00 short of $17,000.00 that she donated $26.00 to get us over the hump of the big $17,000.00!!!! What a giving heart! She is in the #2 spot with $1,841.00 raised so far!!! Allison, I want to thank you here for your hard work with fundraising and for being an awesome captain for our team! Allison does alot of our communications and high tech computer stuff that I don't have a clue how to do! She helps with the t-shirt orders with our Pay Pal process. Over my head! These are just a few of the many things she does behind the scenes. Thank you for all your help. I know I could not do what I do without your help. Thank You! I think I have mentioned before, but I know that once or even twice is not enough, but I want to thank Susan and Brenda for their help with putting together our "goodie bags" for this year. That has been a group effort and it has helped me tremendously. For those wondering about "goodie bag", it's a little something special for those that make the trip and participate in the marathon event. It usually has some really cool things like bandaids for blisters, chapstick for chapped lips after a cold run, Advil for sore muscles, etc. We usually manage to have a few edible goodies and surprises too! It's a small thing, but a fun thing to show appreciation to our team members. The good news, if you join up with us next year you can get one too! I have a really cool surprise this year, that I am about to bust for the weekend to get here so I can "let the cat out of the bag".

I do want to ask each of you to be praying for this group as they travel to Memphis this week. Please pray for quite a few of our St Jude families who will be traveling to be here with us too. There are several who will be having their check up's while here this week, keep them in prayer for all clear on their scans and test! I want to ask you to be praying for the success of this event for St Jude. This money is so necessary to keep the doors open and the work going at St Jude. Pray for this to be the best one yet! I have some stats that I plan to put together as soon as things slow a bit, I will share them with you all when I get them together. I think you will find them amazing. Please be in prayer for Team Believe and for the efforts this group does as a group and also on their own to help others that most of us never even know about. Thank You Lord for Team Believe. In Christ Name, Amen

Keep Jack in your prayers. He has another big week coming up. Check out his cb page for more details. I will tell you, I went to visit him on Thanksgiving day and he is such a little heart throb!!! He is just so precious. FYI, he is a John Deere kindof man, big time!!!

Keep Dax in your prayers. He is inpatient in the hospital back home and Julie feels he will be staying there. I know they know what they are facing, but if it is this hard for me to type I can only imagine how difficult it is for them. Please keep them close to your heart and in your constant prayers for God to be holding them and giving them peace. Pray for Dax to be comfortable and pain free. Pray for his peace.

Heather, Gavin and little Trevor will all be here this week for treatments and checkups. Be praying for the all clears and good labs for each of them. We praise God for how well each of these kiddo's are doing.

I hope each of you enjoyed being with your family and eating lots of turkey and DRESSING for Thanksgiving! You know I am a southern gal and we just don't know anything about that "stuffing" stuff! :) Whatever you call it, or whatever you ate, I hope it was time well spent with friends and family.

Ok, the official countdown is on..... 6 days till the gunshot at the start line!!!! .. Oh yea... Ellen Taylor, our little sweet Ellen will be singing the National Anthem for the start of the marathon this year! How cool is that!!! Congrats to Ellen on the big honor and good luck. She is 5 years old and will be singing in front of approximately 20,000 people next Saturday morning!!! How sweet, I can not wait to hear her! Good Luck Ellen. We are so proud of you!

GO TEAM BELIEVE GO... RUN TEAM RUN!!!!

IT IS NOT TO LATE IF ANYONE OUT THERE WANTS TO MAKE A DONATION... IT CAN STILL BE DONE!!! THANK YOU FOR HELPING US OUT.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Thanksgiving and Giving...

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Galatians 6:9

I will praise you forever for what you have done; in your name I will hope, for your name is good. I will praise you in the presence of your saints.

Psalm 52:9

You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.

Psalm 30:11-12

I just wanted to share a few pictures today from last years marathon.... can't you feel it, don't the pictures just make you want to get here now? We are in the final week before everyone will be flooding our city ready to run! As I drive through some of the areas of town, you will see lots of people out on the streets running.... it's amazing how many of them you will notice are wearing past St Jude Marathon t-shirts!!! One can only suspect they are preparing for this years big event. Bottom line, this is a wonderful event and there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY to describe it, the excitement, the emotions, the smiles from the wonderful families that line the streets (in good weather) to cheer you on and to simply say "thank you" for doing this. I think this is most definitely the one day of the year that has the most laughs and the most tears in the city of Memphis in one single day. As I sit and try to find words to help you be able to grasp the effects of this day and the effects it has on each person involved... I simply can not find the words to write that would adequately portray this day. I will ask you... if you have been here for this event before, either with our team or if you are on another team, please leave a comment to share with others and try to help me describe the feeling of this wonderful event. Please let us hear from you!

I also had to share a picture of Nic and Nat with their Thanksgiving turkey!!!! I wonder how long you have to cook that big bird? :)

You can still make donations to St Jude through Team Believe.... just simply click on the link at the top of this journal (Donate Now) and share with St Jude your blessings.

Todays St Jude Memphis Marathon Official Weather Forecast:

Today is absolutely beautiful!!! Pray for a morning like this on December 5th. It is sunny, not a cloud in the sky. High today 60, low today 38. Right now at 9:34 am it is a wonderful 54 degrees... perfect running weather!

The extended 10 day forecast is showing Friday Dec 4th cloudy with a high of 56 degrees and a low of 38 degrees with a 20% chance of rain. Pray for weather like today on the 5th! Again, it will change many times before the day actually gets here!


As we keep our special SJ families in our thoughts, hearts and prayers let's keep our prayers storming the heavens for them during the holidays. I also want to ask for you to say some extra prayers for little Jack Bruce and his family. You can catch up on him at his link located under "Our Friends". Katie, his mom, is really struggling with many emotions and many decisions are having to be made. Please pray specifically for her strength to make the best possible decisions and to feel peace with her decisions. Pray for Jack to be comfortable and for his peace.

We need to keep Dax, Julie and Austin in prayer too. Pray specifically for them to be able to have wonderful days to cherish each moment with Dax. Pray for their strength to get through the coming days. Continue to put up your Christmas lights for Dax and sending in your photo's to decoratefordax.com


Have a blessed day, take the time to smell the roses and appreciate your own family.

Dear Lord,

Thank you for the very beautiful day you have blessed us with. Lord, I pray for each family in pain at this time. I pray You will wrap them in Your loving healing arms and embrace them with Your love, peace and comfort. I pray that each one will lean on You, and not try to carry their burdens and sorrow on their own. Lord, we know we have trials and storms in our lives, let us all always remember at all times that if we only believe, and relay on You fully, that You will carry us through the storms.

Father, let us always be mindful of Your presence in our lives. I pray for Your forgiveness for our shortcomings. I come to you to thank You for all of the blessings you give us each day. Lord, you are with us always, we thank You. We are all so blessed.

Father, I pray a prayer of thanksgiving for each person who comes to this site in order to be a prayer warrior for each child and family we lift up to You. We know there are so many more who need our prayers, we know that You know who they are and hear our prayers for those unnamed. Thank You for each prayer warrior, bless them and their families. I thank You for the wonderful people You have placed in my life through this site.

Father, be with each one of your children at this time. I pray for safe travel for those traveling to be with friends and family. I pray for good health for each one. I pray a special prayer to thank You for the avenue of prayer. We serve an awesome God.

In Christ Name, Amen

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Thanks and Giving Time of Year

Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.

Romans 15:4

Team Believe Weather Forecast for today:

Cloudy, High of 65 degrees with a Low of 42 degrees

Current 10 day forecast shows Thursday, December 3rd Mostly sunny with a hight of 54 degrees and a low of 32 degrees.

Now anyone who has spent any time at all in Memphis knows this will change many times in the next 10 days... I will try to keep you up to date on the forecast each day to help you know how to pack and what to plan on wearing on race day.

So far so good. All plans are coming together. I am getting really nervous! We have the largest crowd coming to the dinner this year than we have ever had. I am excited but nervous that I will forget something! Thank you for RSVP'ing so I could get an accurate head count. With the crowd we are having this year, that has been very important. I am very thankful for the large turnout! Just a reminder, with Mac Grill cooking for us, they will not have credit card machines at the fellowship all, so we will need to bring cash to cover the cost of your meal. The cost of the meal to Mac Grill is $10.00 per person. That's a great deal on a meal prepared by Macaroni Grill. I do appreciate the manager there doing this for us since they are not in the catering business.

For those following our fundraising efforts... we are over $16,000.00 and still have money out, not yet posted. We are ahead of our overall total for last year! Way to go, thank you to each of you who are working to raise money and to those of you who have made very generous donations! Even $1.00 is considered a generous donation to me!!! Team Believe thanks you and St Jude thanks you even more.

Thanksgiving is just a few days away. I want to take this time to say that I am so very thankful to each of you who support our efforts. I am thankful to those who come here, follow the kids, leave messages on their care pages and pray for them. This is an awesome group. I am so thankful to those of you who come into the "prayer/chat room each day and evening to visit together and pray together. Very strong bonds have been formed, I am very thankful for each one of my friends that I have made here. I am so very thankful to my family. I am thankful for their support and their understanding. I am so blessed with a wonderful husband and four wonderful and amazing sons. I thank them for allowing me the time to spend with other families without having "issues" with me about it. I thank them for joining me in many ways to be of help to the St Jude kiddo's and families. Bottom line, I am thankful for my family!!!

I hope that each of you will have a wonderful Thanksgiving day with your family. But, let us not forget those families who will have breaking hearts this year. Please, be in prayer for them. Lord, we pray that you will wrap each family in pain in your loving embrace and give them the strength and comfort to get through the next few days... one day at a time. In Christ name, Amen.


BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS!!!

Leave Us A Comment To Let Us Know What You Are Thankful For

10:32am UPDATE!

Our new team total as of this time is $15,645.00. I just made a $1,000.00 team donation for our t-shirt fundraiser!!! Thank you to everyone who purchased a Mary Kate Team Believe T-shirt. We are now, $250.45 behind the #10 team in the Top Ten!!! Keep checking the totals.... I know there are checks in the office that are not yet posted.



Good morning.... IT'S FRIDAY!!

God Is So Good, have you stopped to thank Him today for His kindness, mercy and everlasting love? We are all so blessed, even when we hit "road bumps" in life. Some "bumps" may be more like Mt. Everest... but God is there with us no matter how big or small the bump is. What a great comfort and peace of mind to have this blessed assurance if we only stop in the bumps and storms to remember He is always with us. Thanksgiving is coming up, let's continue to keep leaving comments on here telling us what you are thankful for. Thank you to those of you who have left comments of thanksgiving. It is great to hear from you.

Today is the deadline day for team competition with our fundraising! This does not mean that you can't continue to raise money and turn it in. It will still post on our team totals, but the competition to rank in the top ten and get your incentives will be over. We can still keep working to reach our team goal of $25,000.00 As of this morning we are at $14,545.00!!!! I know there are more checks that have been turned in that are not listed yet. Thank you to everyone who has been working so hard to raise money for St Jude and the kids. I went to a meeting this week for the Hero's program. I was so proud of each member of Team Believe, believe me when I tell you this team is known and recognized by the Marathon coordinators. You guys are all very special and have touched the hearts of Mr. Beck and his staff. I have shared different stories about you with them, but they can look at the make up of this team and the efforts to bring in money for St Jude and see what a special group of people you are. The simple fact that each of you join this team, travel here to participate and most of you do not even have a child who has been treated at St Jude, speaks for itself. It's your heart and love for others that bring you together. I am so proud of each of you and love to hear the very kind comments made about you at these meetings. Thank you to each of you, we started this team 3 years ago with about 21 people, we have 40+ this year. I am expecting around 100 people for our team dinner!!! THAT IS SIMPLY AMAZING!!!

Speaking of dinner... it is going to be a great and uplifting evening. We will have several very special folks with us that I am anxious for you to meet. We will begin at 6:30 in the evening. The meal will be catered by Macaroni Grill. The cost is 10.00 per person ,just like last year. Only they will bring the food to us this year. We will have more room and a private setting. Since we will be at the church fellowship hall, they will not have credit card machines, so please bring cash to cover the cost of your meals. Sorry for that inconvenience but I think being able to be back in our private setting will be worth it. And YES, to answer the question I have been asked by many.... we will have that YUMMY team cake again this year. I do plan for our Saturday night "hang out" complete with Memphis BBQ and CHEESECAKE!!! It's a good thing we are walk/running this stuff off. Most people come to Memphis for the marathon to run... we come to EAT!!! An event has to have it's benefits... right? Oh yea, don't forget lunch right after the run at the awesome burger place downtown!!! And lunch on Sunday at Macaroni Grill!!!! For those reading that and thinking Mac Grill twice.... Macaroni Grill has been VERY kind and generous to our team, so we have gone back on Sunday afternoon after church for lunch to support them and show our appreciation to them. Beside, can one really get to much of Mac Grill? I don't want to leave Chili's Restaurant out of our list of credits either...those coming in on Thursday to help me set up and get ready for our dinner, will be dining with our wonderful Chili's friends on Thursday evening. We have to support them too!

I just want to ask you again to keep all of the St Jude families in your prayers as we enter into the holiday season. This is the most difficult time of the year for them. Pray for them. Send them a card or message to let them know they are being embraced and lifted up in prayer. Many of them have their addresses listed on their caringbridge page, mail a card. $3.00 very well spent!!!

I want to remind you again that I have posted a new link on our Friends list, Jack Bruce. Please check on him and pray for this precious family.

Have a great weekend! Make the most of the time you have to spend with your family.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Mardecia
rebelmom528@aol.com

Time Crunch...

Tomorrow is the last day for team competition for our fundraising. This does not mean that we can not continue to turn in money raised, it just means the competition will end for top spots and incentives.

If you are holding any checks, you can over night them tonight and have them in the ALSAC office by tomorrow and they will be counted. They do not have to be posted by tomorrow, just in the office by close of business tomorrow. They close at 4:30 pm

I am VERY proud of how well we are doing. In this economy, I was not sure. Donations overall seem a little down, but I am definitely seeing the hearts of people opening up to help out St Jude! For this I am so thankful. This hospital means so much to me and I know to you as well. Even though the competition part will be ending tomorrow, that by no means is the ending to continued fundraising. We can continue to turn in money for several weeks after the marathon. So.... keep it up!

I want to post CONGRATULATIONS to the following people for reaching or surpassing their goals for their personal goals:

Allison Fuller
Brenda Bradley
Lenzy Garner
Julie Crum

GREAT WORK!!

I personally am $600.00 short of my goal, so I will be beating the streets, email and facebook trying to get that last 600.00 by close of business tomorrow... but I will not stop there!!!

Team dinner on Friday night Dec. 4th at 6:30. Look forward to everyone getting here!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Mardecia
rebelmom528@aol.com

Couple of Quick Notes...

First of all, many of you have already been following little Jack Bruce's CB site that you have heard about from other kids that we have been following. Today I met up with Katie, Jack's mom, and she has given permission to post Jack's link on our page. She is welcoming any and all prayers for Jack and for their family. Join me is praying and encouraging this family in any way we can. Thank you, your the best prayer warriors I know!!!

Friday is the deadline for all team competition for the Hero's teams. Also for your personal incentives. IF YOU ARE HOLDING ANY CHECKS THAT MIGHT HELP OUR TEAM POSSIBLY HIT THE TOP TEN LIST OR HELP YOU REACH ONE OF THE INCENTIVES PROGRAM LEVELS, YOUR CHECKS MUST BE IN THE HERO'S OFFICE BY CLOSE OF BUSINESS ON FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20TH. THIS IS THIS FRIDAY. I HAVE A STREET ADDRESS FOR YOU TO OVERNIGHT YOUR CHECKS TO GET THEM THERE BY THIS FRIDAY.

ALSAC
ST JUDE HERO'S
51 GERMANTOWN CT
CORDOVA, TN 38018

If you have checks, but do not have a check submission form, please call 800-238-6030 and let them know you need that number in order to overnight your checks to them. They will be able to email that to you right away. Thank you.

THIS DOES NOT END THE FUNDRAISING EFFORTS!!!!! YOU CAN CONTINUE TO RAISE MONEY AND TURN IT IN TO CREDIT OUR TEAM FOR SEVERAL WEEKS AFTER THE ACTUAL MARATHON WEEKEND. SO KEEP ON KEEPING ON..... WE WON'T STOP, WE ARE GONNA DO OUR BEST TO REACH OUR GOAL!!!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL YOU ARE DOING. THANKS TO THOSE WHO HAVE RESPONDED TO THE RSVP'S FOR OUR DINNER. I AM LOOKING FORWARD SO MUCH TO THIS WEEKEND OF EVENTS, I HOPE YOU ARE TOO.

Keep all of the St Jude families in your prayers, the holidays are coming up and this is the most difficult time for them. Pray for them.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Mardecia
rebelmom528@aol.com

TRUST AND FAITH

These statements are a direct quote from a book I read recently: These statements are based from the story about Jesus walking on the water in Matthew chapter 14. In the book, the author goes into explaining each statement, but I think each statement within itself gives each of us something to "ponder". Each statement shows such total faith and trust in Him. For any English majors out there ... I am not sure how to go about enclosing this in quotation marks, so if I have done it incorrectly please forgive me.

" 1. God develops our strength with His storms.
2. The storms will not hide me where God can not find me.
3. With God timing is more important that time.
4. The will of God will never take me where the grace of God cannot keep me.
5. What seems like a problem to me is not a problem to God.
6. God is willing to accept responsibility for a life dedicated to Him."

Where is your faith and trust? When I find myself asking questions like... "why God" I have to remind myself of these statements and strengthen my faith. Pray each day for stronger faith and trust.


I REALLY NEED FOR EACH PERSON REGISTERED ON TEAM BELIEVE TO SEND ME AN EMAIL AND LET ME KNOW IF YOU WILL BE OR WILL NOT BE ATTENDING THE DINNER ON FRIDAY NIGHT. I HAVE GOT TO TURN IN A HEAD COUNT TO MACARONI GRILL THIS WEEK. PLEASE GET THIS EMAIL TO ME BY WEDNESDAY. I KNOW MANY OF YOU HAVE TOLD ME EITHER ON THE PHONE OR IN A MSG ALONG THE WAY, BUT MY BRAIN IS ONLY ABOUT THE SIZE OF A PEA..... SO PLEASE JUST CONFIRM IN AN EMAIL SO I WILL HAVE IT ALL IN ONE SPOT. I NEED TO GIVE THEM AN ACCURATE COUNT. THANK YOU SO MUCH.

NEED TO UPDATE HERE..... 11:32 AM

I just got a message from Svetlana, one of our Team Believe members who has been in a contest with a team of her friends in Atlanta. This was a "Biggest Loser, Weight Loss Team Competition" she and her team have been doing this for several months now. The prize for the winning team was $500.00 cash. She just sent me word that their team WON!!!! They entered this competition agreeing that if they won the money would go to St Jude through Team Believe!!!!! AWESOME, we are so proud of Svetlana and her team. CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU ALL!!!!!!! It's a win for them and a win for St Jude!!!

Have a blessed day!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Be Praying for Dax and the Locke Family

"For you are my hope; O Lord God you are my confidence"

Psalm 71:5


The Dunford's and Farrar's joined in with some of the Chili's employee gang to come out to my house and put up our LIGHTS FOR DAX yesterday. We had an awesome time and enjoyed making a video complete with our "choral" rendition of WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS. Each group did a video message to include on it for Dax, Julie and Austin. The video is still in the editing process, but hopefully will be ready today and I will figure out a way to post it or post a link to it.

Be praying for Dax and the family. It seems he is nearing the end of his battle with the beast. Please pray for strength for Julie and Austin as they take care of him and spend each moment cherishing him. Pray for Dax to be comfortable. Julie and Austin are a wonderful and amazing young couple. I am so thankful they are being surrounded with so much love and support from their friends and family and even those who have never even met them. They are truly being blessed. If you and your family want to participate in bringing a smile to this wonderful family, take a little time and decorate a room or put up a tree or some lights outside and take a picture and send it to the website on Dax's CB page. This is just an amazing tribute to the Locke's. This is such a simple thing, but think of the joy it brings to them and the reward that YOU get in your heart for doing it. We were all truly blessed last night by our time together making his happen for the Locke family.


I REALLY NEED FOR EACH PERSON REGISTERED ON TEAM BELIEVE TO SEND ME AN EMAIL AND LET ME KNOW IF YOU WILL BE OR WILL NOT BE ATTENDING THE DINNER ON FRIDAY NIGHT. I HAVE GOT TO TURN IN A HEAD COUNT TO MACARONI GRILL THIS WEEK. PLEASE GET THIS EMAIL TO ME BY WEDNESDAY. I KNOW MANY OF YOU HAVE TOLD ME EITHER ON THE PHONE OR IN A MSG ALONG THE WAY, BUT MY BRAIN IS ONLY ABOUT THE SIZE OF A PEA..... SO PLEASE JUST CONFIRM IN AN EMAIL SO I WILL HAVE IT ALL IN ONE SPOT. I NEED TO GIVE THEM AN ACCURATE COUNT. THANK YOU SO MUCH.

Please keep praying for all of our families listed on our page. So many are going through so much. The holidays coming up are very difficult times for everyone. Pray a special prayer for their strength during the holiday season. Some will be facing the holidays for the first time with an empty seat at the table. Some will be separated from their families because of being here for treatment. Many different situations going on, just please pray for them and for God to comfort them.

Rylee has been in the hospital again over the weekend. She has really been through so much in the past few weeks. Please pray for her and her family. Pray that the doctors will be able to get to the bottom of her problems and get her back on the road to being a healthy happy little girl. You can get more details from her CB page.

Please be praying for two little guys who have recently relapsed. Jack and James. They are buddies from their first time spent at St Jude and now within a week of each other they have both relapsed. I will try to meet up with them this week and ask for permission to post their links on our page so you guys can follow along and be in prayer for them. Some of you already know their sites, but I will not post without permission... so give me a day or so. Just be praying for Jack and James.

Have a blessed week. If you can take a few minutes and post a comment on here with one thing that you are thankful for this Thanksgiving season, I think that will be a blessing to all of us to be able to read them. Just try it... take a second and let us share with each other something that we are thankful for in our lives.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS!!!

Victory

God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."

Hebrews 13:5

With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies.

Psalm 60: 12


Do you realize how close it is getting to the marathon weekend? Let me ask again.... DO YOU REALIZE HOW CLOSE IT IS GETTING TO THE MARATHON WEEKEND???? Will the chicken be running again this year? I just wonder if anyone is as excited as I am for it to get here? This is almost as big as Christmas to me... it is Christmas to St Jude! Lot's has been going on to prepare for this year's event. St Jude/ALSAC does an incredible job putting this weekend event together. I just want to remind you of a couple of things regarding the events of the weekend.

First, hotel confirmations at our team discounted rate must be made by tomorrow. See past post for hotel info if you have not yet confirmed your room on your credit card.

Second, I need an RSVP from each team member for the Friday night dinner. I have to give a count to the restaurant so they can be prepared to cook for us. Reminder, Macaroni Grill will be doing the cooking. Yummy! Please email me and let me know if you will be attending. Even if you will not be attending, please email me and let me know, that way I know you have seen this and I will not be wondering if you missed it. Please do this for me. rebelmom528@aol.com

Next, when making your travel arrangements, please make sure you don't forget to include time to go downtown and pick up your marathon packets with your race number and microchip along with your other goodies and info from St Jude. You must have this packet to participate. Just a little hint for first time team members... you really want to get this done before everyone get's off work at 5 on Friday afternoon. The lines can get really long after that time. Check the site and make sure you bring id and whatever is required to pick up your packet with you.

If there is anyone who is registered and NOT going to be able to come, please let me know. I have a list of some people who would like to participate but some of the events are sold out. We can make arrangements for them if you will let me know. The people on the list are willing to make team donations to be able to get a spot. Thank you.

Friday night is our Team dinner it will begin at 6:30. We have door prizes again this year and a few "new" things to add to the evening. There are some very special items that some of you will be the lucky ones to take home with you! We will have a memory table in memory of some of our sweet ^angels^ prepared by their families whom we will have as our honored guest. There are some more honored guest who will be joining us... but I'm keeping that info under wraps for now!! I BELIEVE this will be an evening you will cherish the time you have spent together.

We will once again plan on Memphis BBQ together on Saturday night. We will come to my house again to enjoy Saturday evening together and pass out the Advil!!! This is always one of my favorite times of the weekend!

One last note, to attempt to answer one of the most asked questions.... In Memphis, in December, no one has any idea what the temps can or will be on race day. :) Two years ago, people were coming across the finish line almost naked!!!! Last year, we froze our "patooie's" off, but we had a great day and were all very blessed by being there. All I can recommend is, come prepared for either way, and layer so you can make adjustments along the way if you need to. There is a Target and a WalMart both less than 1/2 mile from the hotel. Speaking of hotel, there is the Wolfchase Mall within walking distance from the hotel. Also, many restaurants in the same walking distance. I am very excited about the hotel we are using this year. They have been fabulous to work with so far. The Wilson family that owns this hotel is a local family that has been in the Memphis area all their lives. They play a very supporting role in financial support for the Grizzlie House on the St Jude campus. I am very excited for us to be able to support them with our business.

Enough info for today.

Please keep Dax and his family in your prayers. They are having Christmas all over Illinois for Dax. If any of you are on facebook, you can go to my home page and view a video that was put together to show all of the love and support for Dax for his Christmas. Check his CB page and you can also be included in this wonderful act of love. You can decorate early and take pictures of your decorations for Dax and email them to the link on his page. This has touched the family more than you will ever know.

Please keep all of the St Jude families in your prayers. With the holidays coming up, this is a very difficult time for many of them. Many of our sweet families will be going through the holidays this year for the first time without their precious little one, please pray for them. Send them a card.

Have a wonderful and blessed day!

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS ~

We Have Work To Do, We Can Do It!

I don't know about you, but I am more than determined than ever to make a commitment to make a stand to do whatever I can to help raise awareness and money to help St Jude and the families who are treated there. This year has been the most difficult year. I truly hope that we can end this year with a positive contribution to the fight against Childhood Cancer!!! There is still plenty of time to continue our efforts to raise money for the marathon. We are over $11,000.00 with more money out that is not on the total yet, but we still have a gap to fill to reach our goal of $25,000.00. I KNOW we CAN do this!!! I am very excited about what we have done so far, don't let up, don't give up!! If you are not a big online donation person, and would feel more comfortable making a donation by check, you may do so by mailing a check MADE OUT TO ST JUDE to the following P. O. Box address. This is the PO Box we use for our Team shirt orders and any other correspondence for our team members. Again, if you are more comfortable, you may make a donation by check and mail it to the team PO Box. MAKE ALL CHECKS PAYABLE TO ST JUDE

Mail to:

Team Believe
P. O. Box 210
Brunswick, TN 38014

I ask each of you who come to this site to be in prayer about what you can do to help out too. If you made a donation weeks back and are now in a position where you can make another donation of any amount $5, $10.00 whatever.... I ask you to please consider doing so. Do it in memory of one of our seven sweet angels who have gone home to be with Jesus this year. Do it in honor of one of our sweethearts who are still fighting this battle. Do it in honor of those in remission who live each day with the "fear" of "what if it comes back?" Do it in memory of our sweet sweet Mary Kate whom we are dedicating this marathon to this year. There are so many reasons to make a donation or make an additional donation. Just think, skipping one movie night out this month, or one lunch or dinner out this month, or even one morning stop at Starbucks and give that money in a donation to Team Believe for St Jude. Will you really REALLY miss that amount, that meal, that cup of coffee??? Do you realize what that money can do for St Jude? If I sound like I am begging.... I AM! If I have stepped on any toes, I am sorry, I was aiming at your heart! One child lost to this beast is to many!!!! If you look at "OUR FRIENDS" list on the left hand side of this page you will see seven names now enclosed in angel wings ^^. There were none in January of 2009, this year. Now there are seven, SEVEN!!! Please join me in whatever effort you can to help make a difference to make that number a big fat zero 0 for next year.
I do not know if you are aware, but this past week was a very difficult week at ALSAC. It has been on the news but I am not sure if it has been national news or just our local news, but ALSAC had to let 70 of their employees go from their jobs this past week. That is very scary to me. ALSAC as you know is the fundraising division for St Jude. I know they will protect the hospital and the treatment care for the children first, but if funds are low coming in, it scares me to think what could be an outcome to this situation. So again, I beg you to do what you can. Share with your friends, family, neighbors, co workers ...anyone about St Jude and the work they do there. EVERY SINGLE DOLLAR MAKES A DIFFERENCE!

Lindsey, Team Gavin posted yesterday that she and some friends made $200.00 at a yard sale on Friday that they held for the proceeds to go to the team for St Jude. They were having the yard sale again yesterday, I have not heard how they did yesterday. Everyone has somethings to "de-clutter". Do as Lindsey did and ask your friends to help out by donating their "clutter" items to your sale too. Again, every dollar makes a difference. Way to go Lindsey! Your awesome!!! Lindsey knows first hand about the care that St Jude gives to patients and families, she just wants to do what she can to give back to the hospital that gave her son a second chance at life! She has her son now.

We need to finalize hotel plans this week. All rooms will go back into guest availability at full price after this week. At this point everyone should know what is going on and have travel arrangements made. Also, I need to get a preliminary count on who will be attending our team dinner on Friday night December 4th. You will be receiving an email with more details on this in the next day or so. Please begin to email me with your RSVP either way, yes or no. I need to give Macaroni Grill an estimated head count and I need to make sure I have enough table and chairs reserved at the fellowship hall. This is a preliminary count and not the final count, but please let me know.

I CAN NOT TELL YOU HOW EXCITED I AM ABOUT THIS YEAR! There are several people out there working very hard to help put this together this year. This tells you how big this is getting! I want to thank Allison my co-captain who is doing a great job helping with the communications and fundraising! Also Susan in Texas and Brenda in Arkansas for helping with our "goodie bags" this year. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP THIS YEAR! Keep in mind we have several St Jude families who will be joining us again this year. I hope you are as excited to see a few familiar faces with us again and also to have the opportunity to meet some of the families that you have been supporting with encouragement and prayer this past year. They are excited to meet you, the people who have been praying for them. I am so excited that it is getting to the point I can hardly sleep at night. I just lie awake thinking and planning in my head. As always, I am getting excited to see everyone again! Our one time a year to see each other. I encourage anyone who reads this blog to join us next year. This is one amazing event and we have such an awesome time together doing good for a WONDERFUL AND GREAT HOSPITAL! We do it for the kids!

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

oh yea.... I'll throw out another teaser, as of this week, I have yet another surprise for you when you get here :)

I LOVE YOU ALL

Mardecia
rebelmom528@aol.com

A Beautiful New Angel With Purple Wings

I just wanted to share with you some of the script in the Memorial Program from Mallerie's service.

God hath not promised skies always blue.
Flower-strewn pathways
All our lives through;
God hath not promised Sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow.
Peace without pain.

But God hath promised Strength for the day,
Rest for the labor,
Light for the way
Grace for the trials,
Help from above.
Unfailing sympathy,
Undying love...


And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. Revelation 21:4



When tomorrow starts without me, and I'm not here to see,
If the sun should rise and find your eyes filled with tears for me;
I wish so much you wouldn't cry the way you did today,
While thinking of the many things we didn't get to say.

I know how much you love me, as much as I love you;
And each time that you think of me, I know you'll miss me, too.
But when tomorrow starts without me, please try to understand,
That an angel came and called my name
and took me by my hand;
And said my place was ready, in Heaven far above,
And that I'd have to leave behind all those I dearly love.

But when I walked through Heaven's gates,
I felt so much at home;
When God looked down and smiled at me,
from His great golden throne.
He said, this is eternity, and all I promised you.
Today your life on earth is past, but here life starts anew.

So when tomorrow starts without me, don't think we're far apart;
For every time you think of me, I'm right here in your heart
I'll be there in your heart.


*************************************************************************************************************


Our hearts and prayers go out to Brad, Tina, Heath and Mal's entire sweet sweet family. This is an amazing family. I do want to share one very special touching moment from Mal's service, (trust me, the entire service was very touching but this one really touched my heart), this just goes to show the sweet, appreciative and loving heart that this family has. As the service was beginning the minister thanked everyone on behalf of the family for coming to the service and for all of the many acts of love and kindness that has been done for them. Then he said that the family wanted to thank the many people from St Jude who had been caring for Mallerie and were present at the service. The family wanted them to stand so everyone could recognize them for their dedicated work. As they all stood, the family then stood and began a standing ovation for the St Jude staff. The family was very quickly joined in applause by everyone in the over packed standing room only auditorium. I honestly do not think there was one single dry eye in the house at that time. When I say standing room only, I mean that even the choir loft was filled and chairs brought in to fill every inch they could with seats. People were still standing in the back and to the door. I noticed there were two windows up on a second floor level behind us where people were upstairs looking down from those windows. It was a wonderful show of love for Mal and her family. Mallerie will be so missed by her family, friends and fellow classmates. Her senior class has been just awesome to show their support.
Mallerie, a beautiful girl on earth, a beautiful angel in God's kingdom. Love you Mal, I will think of you every single time I wear my pink cowboy boots!!!!

Keep the Graves family in your prayers.

Love to all,

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Services For Mallerie

The visitation for Mallerie will be Tuesday beginning at 3:00;pm. The service will be on Wednesday at 2:00pm. The funeral home in charge is Casey Funeral Home in Henderson, TN.

Our prayers are with Brad, Tina and Heath. May God be with them and comfort them. I just know Clay and Mallerie are riding the little scooters on the streets of gold now, they never got to do it at St Jude, but Clay wanted her to ride with him so bad. Bet he was waiting for her ready to ride.

Please leave them your messages of encouragement.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~

Love to the Graves Family

God is able to make all grace abound to you,
so that in all things at all times, having all that you need,
you will abound in every good work.

2 Corinthians 9:8


I am so heartbroken to write today's post. Our love and prayers have been with Mallerie, as much as we have grown to love her God does love her more and has called her home to be with Him now. Please pray for Brad, Tina and Heath. This has been such a long journey for them, they need our support in prayer. I will post more as I have arrangements.

BELIEVE PRAYER WORKS~