I was blown away by the money we raised…$70,000. Is that awesome or what? Even in a tough economic year, we surpassed our goal of $50,000. Also, this year we became a “Five-Star Relay”! Our chair and co-chair did an excellent job. Everyone on the committee did everything they could to make this event a success. It was great working with these special people. This was the first year that I was on the committee, and my family agrees that it was worth the effort! Paige was team captain for the second year in a row, and she did an awesome job!

I was blown away by the number of people who came out, and didn’t blow this off. I was blown away by the number of people who were out there on the track in the wee hours of the night. I think the theme laps helped. Last year, there were only two teams (Partylite and us) out there (like…actually on the track) at 3:00 a.m. This year there were lots more!

I was blown away by the fact that all my kids stayed awake all night! I think Bradley crashed around 5:00 a.m., but still…that’s pretty good for a six-year-old! Also…my sweet BC and “True Love” made it through the entire night! He loved throwing the Frisbee with the guys! Also…Grandma, Nonnie, Uh-Oh, Aunt D., Aunt C., two of our high school guys, and two cousins…16 team members stayed awake all night! Four slept there for just a few hours. Also, our other team members stayed at Relay later than we expected. Way to go, team!

I was blown away by the heat in the afternoon, and blown away by the breeze that seemed to blow things away! However, eventually it was very pleasant out there. The blow-up slides were so fun! I was totally blown away when they started to blow away! Thankfully no one was hurt! I had told the man, who set them up, to stake them down, but he kinda blew me off and said that it wasn’t necessary, as they have never blown over before. Well, the “big, bad wind” taught us a lesson!

I was blown away by the amount of survivors in the luminaria ceremony slide show. This was the first slide show I have ever done, and I have to thank my children (Paige and Michelle) for helping so much! Thanks BC, for teaching them how to do MovieMaker and PowerPoint! So many people…some remembered in memory, some in honor, some in support…whose lives have been touched by cancer! Boy, I almost blew up when I couldn’t get it to play on that DVD. Thankfully, we got it to play on a laptop…thanks to Beverly. My emotions took over as the bagpipers played “Amazing Grace”, and also when they led everyone around the track. That was too cool.

I was blown away at the sight of bubbles being blown during the bubble lap (blow bubbles, not smoke). Beautiful. My daughter Paige loved this lap the best.

I was blown away by the fact that my daughter, Grace, lost her purse with her camera in it, and some one found it and gave it to her! I (yes, we are related) also lost my camera (some time b/w pinata at 1:30, and Kung Fu Fighting shortly after). I was really bummed out. I searched everywhere. BC almost blew up at me, but then settled down. I remember sitting down (it seemed like for the first time that day) and praying that I could find it. My sweet mom said, “I bet you will find it in the morning.” Well, when the sun came up…someone found it during the Fight Back ceremony…on the ground by the stage. What a praise! I was blown away by the kind and honest people we had at Relay.

I was blown away by the last hour of singing praise songs to Jesus, especially the song: “Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord”! What a song of hope, and an excellent

reminder of our source of hope. I was blown away by the Fight Back Ceremony. The best I have ever been to. I was motivated to sign the banner. I am going to get a colonoscopy this year!

I was blown away when we won an “Oscar” (as chosen by the cancer survivors) for Best Campsite for our 80′s movie: The Princess Bride. The slides were kind of like the hill they rolled down in the movie…when Wesley says, “As you wish”. We let peopIe go down as many times “as they wished”…for three dollars! Our hope was that one day cancer would be “inconceivable!”. I was also blown away when we won “Most Creative On-Site Fund-Raising Team”. Go Team! I was blown away by one team that raised $9,000. I continued to be blown away by the team that stood up and cheered for the survivors (and the walkers) as they walked by their campsite..all night! I can’t wait till next year! I applaud all of the teams! Go Relay! Before I go, I have to say that I hope cancer will one day be blown away…far, far away.

At relay, we had two huge slides for $3 all night, or 25 cents per slide. We also had a bread basket, and sold tea at Relay. It feels great to raise money for A.C.S.

For fun, we had a donkey pinata, too. It added to our South Texas birthday party celebration at 1:30 A.M. The thought here was: “Thanks to A.C.S., more people are celebrating more birthdays.” The cancer survivors were the first ones up to bat. We do hope and pray that cancer is on burro’d time!

My children are looking forward to Relay: staying up all night—talking and walking; eating and greeting; playing and praying. They love their sister, and “Relay” is a part of their world.  So, we have been to Relay every year now for the past seven years! Oh, I did miss one due to open-heart surgery, but the others were there. We were there, even when it wasn’t convenient…like the year I was on crutches with a broken foot! Can you tell that Relay means a lot to us?

So, we are planning to do this all-night-long Relay and hopefully raise lots of money for ACS! We will remember that dark time as we walk at night, and praise God for His light-giving Son when the sun appears! Pray for us that we would all remain healthy prior to, and during the event! Please also pray for these people who are undergoing treatment for cancer: Esther Joy (age 6) and Paxton (age 5), Ian (age 5), Tia Rosa, Linda, Eleanor, Mark, Jon, and there are so many on each team that are fighting right now. We will walk to support those who are too tired to walk.

“Paige” is my main reason to relay, but I also relay for these other precious survivors: Gloria, Aunt Beth, Cousin Ty, Uncle Mike, Aunt Kathy, Aunt Peggy, Bob, Olga, Carol, Hope, Gail, Reiko, Linda, Lori, Mayra, Caroline, Clarise, Cathy, Larry, Buddy, Uncle Al, Alicia, Cameron, Leslie, and Shelly. We will walk to honor those who have battled with cancer, and have walked in the darkness.

I also relay to honor and remember loved ones who have died and their families: Richard, Earl, Vieda, Bennie, Joyce, Timothy, Evan, Moriah, Worth, Kellen, Natalia, Kaitlyn. We will walk to remember them. Our hope is that they are all walking with Jesus!

Wow! That is a lot of people. What’s wrong with this picture? I am thankful that God sees the BIG picture, and that He is in control!

~CC

Now, I have seen this phenomena before…with my own eyes…the memorable Thanksgiving when G.G.’s dressing exploded in the glass Pyrex pan (see this interesting article). We had to keep ourselves from exploding from lack of dressing (or is it the other way around?…Isn’t exploding largely due to eating too much dressing?) We are not exactly sure how to fully explain how this pan lost its temper, but we think it had something to do with the temperamental nature of glass to drastic temperature changes. Thankfully, nobody was harmed in our “exploding dressing” or “freak brownie accident.”

Well, today’s garage sale was extremely slow. Maybe it had something to do with the possibility that the wind blew my signs away, or someone (other than us) took the signs down. I didn’t double check to see if they were up until 5:00! Speaking of signs, I’m still wondering if our little incident should be viewed as a warning sign for the unpredictable nature of glass pans? Any thoughts on this one? But…we made about one hundred dollars, we cleaned out the garage a little (and every little bit counts), and we didn’t get hurt…nice day.