Walk to Cure 2014, Hooray!

We had an AMAZING walk this year!! : )  Friends, family, tons of fun..it always makes the work in the weeks before SO worth the investment! : )  Sometimes it blesses me more than we bless JDRF.  I guess it's partly because some of our bestest friends are in JDRF with us.  Them, and their kids, that is.  How did we even get here?  Whew.

2014 Walk to Cure Type 1 Diabetes Team: Team CMC! (formerly Clay and Mary Claire's Friends Who Care)

It was with a tent from my parents, balloons from Party City (and they even walk them out to my van, y'all!), Nestle Crunch candy bars (red, white, and blue!), and the people.

They had too much fun climbing the HUGE hill, as all the moms are screaming not to slide down the wet grass on their bottoms! ; )

I can't begin to tell you about THE people.  The people I've known for YEARS that continue to come even when they are on their way back to MD Anderson in Houston for yearly tests (hugs, Carla and Kenny!), new walkers we are so thankful to know (Clay's new nurse, Candace and her family!), and a doctor we haven't seen in a few years (thank you for coming, Murl & Concetta Baker!).
 

Ethan's good friend, Gabe, who also has diabetes!

And all the friends in between.  Clay's friends who came out to support him, Mary Claire's friends who know how this party goes, MY friends who walk for our kids, church friends, girl and boy scout friends, neighbors, my parents, Ches' mom and stepdad, and the list goes on (praise the Lord!). May I sincerely THANK each of you for spending your Saturday morning with US!!

Sweet Girls!

And then, we are SO thankful for our supporters (even the new ones I've never met, Willeen!!).  The ones who make it work, make it possible, help us dream a little bigger.  And brighter.  The ones who make the research and the CURE possible.  In my kids' lifetimes.
 

So this little guy doesn't get it.

I can't say thank you enough, is my heart even deep enough?  I know you work hard for your money, and to part with it on behalf of my kids is sooo humbling.  But know I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
 

A few of the MOMS who rock.  The ones checking blood sugars at 2am.  The moms who listen when you can't handle one more ketone check or pump site change! : )

Feeling blessed instead of stressed in the midst of it all.  31 units left, and she has to hurry off to school?  Praying.  Take one to the doctor and back to school, only to pick him up two hours later?  Thankful I don't have a job!  One going low every day as he has marching band practice for an hour before lunch?  Rocking lowered bolus ratios.  One wanting to see his poo-poos?  Check.  Getting ready for my son's Sunday school class and my AMAZING helper is out of town?  We'll survive!  I can do this.  Every day is hard, but you know what?  Everyone's everyday is hard.  This is when we give thanks for our crosses to bear, 'cause I'm sure yours are too much for me! : )

God bless you as you go out into your day (or your night!) and slay your dragons.  I'm with you, if only in prayer.  Hugs!

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.  Romans 8:26

  

Begging You!

Ok, I'm asking nicely. P L E A S E register to walk with us (NOW!) for our JDRF Walk to Cure on September 12. We have had crushingly (if that's a word) high blood sugars this week, and type 1 diabetes is so hard to control. We desperately need a cure, and we've been told (and we place our belief, hope, and faith in it) that there will be a cure in the next 10 years. We need the research to get us there. Please help us.

I'm sending out our letters this week, so you'll get a second request... If I don't have your mailing address, you may leave it in a comment below. I will continue to badger you daily. Really. It's that important to us.

I'll have a Mary Claire's Friends Who Care team t-shirt for each walker again this year. If you'd like to register your children (all of 'em!), your mother, grandmother, brother, sister, aunt, best friend, etc. send them the message!! If you donate over $100 to JDRF, you will receive a free JDRF 2009 Walk shirt also.

I mean, what better things have you got to do??? You may think it's hard to find us (just keep calling my cell phone till we link up!), you may be socially nervous (and who isn't?), you may not know Mary Claire that well (she'd love to get to know you!), maybe you'd rather sleep in (could you find another Saturday, just this once?), you may not be in the mood (she's not in the mood to have diabetes this year either), you may have something else that day (is it REALLY at 9am also? It only takes about 30 minutes for the route we take, the Mary Claire Short Cut-last to start, first to finish! but you didn't hear it here!), you don't like to walk (could you sit in a lawn chair and stake out a piece of park for our lunch location?), I haven't heard all the excuses, but in my five years of team walking, I've heard most of them. I don't like them. I don't want stupid diabetes in my child's life, and do I get a choice? NO. So walk, and share my burden. Just try it.

If it sucks, you don't have to come in 2010. (But, I won't promise not to try to get you to go again next year.)

If you are registered already, bless you. If you aren't, click here:
Click Here to Register to Walk
then enter our team name: Mary Claire's Friends Who Care
and the team captain: Holly Jones

If there's a big excuse in your pocket, you can click here to donate to my baby's team:
Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to JDRF in honor of Mary Claire

I want to hear from you!
ps-I reposted our little video that's on YouTube now. You can see it down below.