At church we are so blessed with some amazing musicians. Bryan is our worship leader and today in the afterschool program he had roughly 50 children worshipping and praising God by singing I Am by David Crowder. Wednesday afternoons singing along to Mr. Bryan's keyboard with fifty elementary kids is one of the holiest times of my whole week. He is a rockstar to all the kids and to me too! If you love contemporary christian music please join us on Sunday morning at 10:00 in in the sanctuary. Come as you are and be ready to be blessed by Mr. Bryan's gorgeous voice.
Casey is also another talented musician that plays in our praise band. He and David are tight buds and David is now dressing like Casey with plaid shirts and jeans:) Casey has an amazing band called Forsaken Hero and today they released this new video. You. must. check. this. out! We are all belting their latest song out around here tonight. This video was filmed at church and this song gets stuck in your head. Every Sunday morning I watch this young twenty-something guy offer his talent back to the Lord and is inspiring. I am not sure how many hits their song had on youtube earlier today, but after David found it this evening I am sure that number has now doubled! Check this video out and leave some positive comments for his young, local dude and his band for giving their all to God.
Pretty awesome song huh?!
Besides all of my children being diagnosed with strep throat in the last week, two of them tonight at our urgent care, I have been super busy writing a grant for our Little League fields to be handicapped accessible so we can offer Challenger League baseball this spring.
Every child deserves a chance to come up to bat and make memories on the baseball field. Click on the link below to learn more about the program we are trying to offer to special needs children in all of southwest Virginia!
gofundme!
If you have a few dollars to spare, we would be so thankful for your support of Challenger baseball. After seeing David sit at the front door and cry last year when Mike didn't take him to sign up for baseball, I committed myself to move heaven and Earth to make this program available for David and other awesome kiddos like him. If you would be interested in volunteering in this program, leave me a comment with your email and I will get back to you. I promise however you become involved in this program you will receive a blessing!
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Monday, November 10, 2014
Strep Throat and Life
I have been a blogging delinquent and I am sorry. Poor David has been fighting a nasty case of strep throat. He was pretty pitiful over the weekend:( Because of his kidney issue (he just has one that functions somewhere between 40-50%) anytime he gets sick we take note. He made it through it okay, but just a little more spoiled from all the extra attention and loving.
I have been knee-deep in writing a grant to Little League international to get money to upgrade our current fields and dugouts to make them handicapped accessible because (drum roll.....) we are offering Challenger Baseball in Marion this spring!!! I am so over the moon excited about this I can hardly sleep.
Challenger Baseball is Little League baseball for children ages 4-18 that have physical or intellectual disabilities. Last year Mike came home one evening and told Kyle and Hope that it was Little League signup night and he was taking Kyle to signup for baseball and Hope Tball. David literally sat at the front door and bawled because he wanted to play too. Because of his kidney issue and slower reflexes, it is not safe for David to play with his peers. He can; however, play modified baseball which is what Challenger is all about.
This past summer God worked it out beautifully that I literally ran into our District person for Little League when I was volunteering in the concession stand. I started quizzing him about Challenger ball and where is the closest place for David to play ball. No one basically in Southwest Virginia from Marion to Gate City in our area) offers Challenger so I am going for it with the support of our local little league board.
It is awesome to think about the idea that all children will be able to truly play baseball, BUT the reality is that our dugouts are not handicapped accessible. I have been writing a grant (which I love to do) to get some of the money for this process to begin. So I have been writing, just a grant and not on the blog:) We are hoping to do some local fundraisers to raise the funds so that all can will truly be able to play ball!
Yesterday at church our pastor preached on the scripture from Luke 12:48 from everyone who has been given much, much will be required. I cannot talk Mike into the missionary field in Africa at this time at all, but I do love local missions like our food pantry at church and my new mission of every child being able to play baseball. I love that scripture and it is our new family scripture on our board.
I have been knee-deep in writing a grant to Little League international to get money to upgrade our current fields and dugouts to make them handicapped accessible because (drum roll.....) we are offering Challenger Baseball in Marion this spring!!! I am so over the moon excited about this I can hardly sleep.
Challenger Baseball is Little League baseball for children ages 4-18 that have physical or intellectual disabilities. Last year Mike came home one evening and told Kyle and Hope that it was Little League signup night and he was taking Kyle to signup for baseball and Hope Tball. David literally sat at the front door and bawled because he wanted to play too. Because of his kidney issue and slower reflexes, it is not safe for David to play with his peers. He can; however, play modified baseball which is what Challenger is all about.
This past summer God worked it out beautifully that I literally ran into our District person for Little League when I was volunteering in the concession stand. I started quizzing him about Challenger ball and where is the closest place for David to play ball. No one basically in Southwest Virginia from Marion to Gate City in our area) offers Challenger so I am going for it with the support of our local little league board.
It is awesome to think about the idea that all children will be able to truly play baseball, BUT the reality is that our dugouts are not handicapped accessible. I have been writing a grant (which I love to do) to get some of the money for this process to begin. So I have been writing, just a grant and not on the blog:) We are hoping to do some local fundraisers to raise the funds so that all can will truly be able to play ball!
Yesterday at church our pastor preached on the scripture from Luke 12:48 from everyone who has been given much, much will be required. I cannot talk Mike into the missionary field in Africa at this time at all, but I do love local missions like our food pantry at church and my new mission of every child being able to play baseball. I love that scripture and it is our new family scripture on our board.
Sunday, November 2, 2014
Life is more than Wins and Losses
Dear Hokie Nation,
I know your heart is broken over the loss that the Hokies suffered again yesterday. The weather was terrible, the crowd was the lightest we have ever seen in Lane Stadium, and once again the team lost. We look down the schedule at our remaining games and scratch our heads knowing that the Commonwealth Cup is in Jeopardy as well as our bowl eligibility.
Yesterday, however, there was an amazing thing going on at Lane Stadium way beyond the score on the scoreboard at the end of the cold, wet, and damp game. Special Spectators is a nonprofit group that partners with colleges around the United States to provide magical days for seriously ill children and their families. Our family was blessed and got to participate in this program when our son David was battling stage IV cancer at UVA two years ago. We were so blessed with our participation in this two years ago that we have signed on to be host volunteers to host other families.
Yesterday was Special Spectators day at Virginia Tech. Yesterday three families whose children are fighting life-threatening illnesses were blessed with a magical day at Lane Stadium. My family acted as the host volunteers welcoming the families and spending the day with them.
I know your heart is broken over the loss that the Hokies suffered again yesterday. The weather was terrible, the crowd was the lightest we have ever seen in Lane Stadium, and once again the team lost. We look down the schedule at our remaining games and scratch our heads knowing that the Commonwealth Cup is in Jeopardy as well as our bowl eligibility.
Yesterday, however, there was an amazing thing going on at Lane Stadium way beyond the score on the scoreboard at the end of the cold, wet, and damp game. Special Spectators is a nonprofit group that partners with colleges around the United States to provide magical days for seriously ill children and their families. Our family was blessed and got to participate in this program when our son David was battling stage IV cancer at UVA two years ago. We were so blessed with our participation in this two years ago that we have signed on to be host volunteers to host other families.
Yesterday was Special Spectators day at Virginia Tech. Yesterday three families whose children are fighting life-threatening illnesses were blessed with a magical day at Lane Stadium. My family acted as the host volunteers welcoming the families and spending the day with them.
We were the host family and here is our son, David, meeting Bill Roth in his radio tower for our first stop on our magical day. Mike and Bill were amazing with this group of kids and they even let them try on their headsets and sit in their chairs. I am not sure what was better up there-the beautiful view of the field or the kindness and hospitality from Mike and Bill.
My boys, Kyle and David with Bill Roth. Bill and Mike allowed the kids in our group time to ask questions, look around, take pictures, and despite their hectic game days, they were so kind and gracious to all the kids in our group. These two are true class acts.
After Bill Roth's tower, host from VT took us on the field via the tunnell! Here is my David pretending to be a player running through the tunnel.
All the kids from our group got to go on the field touch the infamous Hokie stone, and take pictures.
It was cold, rainy, wet, and damp but the kids could have cared less! They were on the field sitting on the bench in Lane Stadium!!!
We got a little off schedule and the team was suppose to be in the locker room any minute. The amazing VT reps, did not want our group of kids to miss anything, so they told our kids if we could move quickly and not touch anything we could go in the locker room for a picture! It was gorgeous in there and the guys were so welcoming and kind.
After the locker room, our kids were ushered into the Merryman Center and we waited a few minutes for Coach Beamer! On a busy game day, he took several minutes and spoke to each of our kids in our group, posed for a group picture that was later used on the Jumobtron during the game, and....
even paused to take a selfie with one of the kids from our group!! This kid was amazing and was there with his two buddies, one of whom is fighting Leukemia. He was using his Mom's borrowed iphone for his special day at VT and he was not too quick working it. Coach Beamer, who obviously had a lot on his mind 1.5 hours before kickoff, paused and patiently let this kid navigate his Mom's phone to take a selfie. Coach Beamer is an amazing guy! This kid was so proud of his selfie with Coach!
Virginia Tech hosted our group at one of the corporate tailgates and the Hokie bird and cheerleaders stopped by our tailgate!
David with the cheerleaders!
Okay, if your eyes mist when you read sweet things, get a tissue ready. Yesterday the weather was miserable and we were worried that our kids in our group would not be able to stay for the whole game due to the cold temps and rain. The marketing rep brought us our tickets during our tailgate and the bomb was dropped on us that due to the weather that they were upgrading our entire group's tickets to inside the club box so our kids would stay warm and dry. That was a game changer for these kids fighting cancer and other serious medical issues. Instead of shivering and freezing, we were inside warm and dry with free concessions during the entire game. When the marketing rep told me about the ticket upgrades, I grabbed him and hugged him. As the volunteer host for the day, it was amazing to share that news with the families.
So, Hokie Nation, I know you are totally heart-broken over another football loss, but please know that Virginia Tech may not have come away with a win yesterday, but they rolled out the red carpet and blessed some amazing kids fighting some huge Goliaths in their own lives. They treated these kids and this volunteer host to a day that none of us will ever forget. Coach Beamer patiently paused several minutes on a game day to allow a special needs child using his Mom's iphone to pose for a selfie. Marketing reps shuffled and got permission from who knows where to upgrade 16 tickets so sick kids would stay dry and warm. Virginia Tech may have lost a game yesterday, but they won a whole lot more-they truly made a difference in the lives of some sick kids. So Hokie Nation, be proud!
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