A Weekend to Remember

This has been a weekend of accomplishments. Friday, Bradock decided he was sick of being stationary and began crawling. He does this cute little worm/army crawl, but he certainly isn't staying in one place anymore. He also loves to stand up against things, so I wonder if he will just decide to take off running. Bradock's top two teeth broke through as well, making a total of 4 now (2 bottom and 2 top). No more sticking my finger in his mouth.

Saturday morning, a couple girls from my ward and I headed out to Queen Creek for London's Run 1/2 Marathon. Let me just begin by saying I was extremely nervous about running this because I haven't been running since December and I have never ran more than 8 miles total. We got out to Schnepf Farms where the run was being held and we looked at the temperature and it was a whopping 36* outside. We were freezing and trying to stay warm near these fire pits they had placed all over. My feet and toes were frozen and I just kept thinking to myself there is no way I can do this. Before the run began London's mom spoke about the courage of these young kids who face the challenges of having cancer and the fight they face. She said that as we are running and it starts to get hard, know that we can do it and that we can overcome anything. Well, the race began about 8:15am and we took off on a steady pace. I was so glad to have Marie McDowell and Rachel Fort with me. They were such great encouragers. Each mile we passed Marie would say "only 10 more miles to go...only 5 more miles to go" I was so proud of myself to see the mile markers pass by, especially when we started getting further and further and I knew I had never in my life ran that far before. I kept telling myself "I CAN DO HARD THINGS!" All along the way were pictures of kids with their bald heads and smiling faces, cheering us on. The signs would read, "You Can Do It" or "Running is Easy; Cancer is Hard" I tried not to brake down and cry each time I saw one of those pictures, but they kept me going. I also thought about Brett's cousin, Charlee, who died a couple years ago at age 17 of cancer. I kept saying to her, "Girl you got to keep pushing me; I really need your help". Marie and I stuck together the whole run and I am so grateful to her. She truly kept me pushing, when my body literally wanted to give up. We completed the run and when I saw Brett and Bradock at the finish line I just broke down crying. I have never in my life done something so physically hard. My body is definately feeling the aftermath today, but I am so glad I finished.

Later that evening, we had the opportunity to go to a charity concert event in Celebration of Charlee. A girl in the Hawkins ward decided to begin a scholarship fund in memory of Charlee and put together the concert to raise money for the scholarship. The concert was wonderful and the stories, pictures and reflections of Charlee's life really testifies of the plan of salvation. We come to this life for a purpose. It may not be long, but we serve our needed mission and return to our Heavenly Father; and in that time we hopefully impact the lives of others. In the Hawkins home reads a quote that goes something like this "It's not about the number of years in our life, but the life in our years." I am grateful to Charlee for her wonderful example, courage and for pushing me yesterday when I wanted to give up. I know she will forever be remembered for the life in her short years.