This weekend I went home for our Relay. As you know, Relay for Life is very dear to my heart. For the past two years, Mom and I have served on the committee as luminary chair and co-chair. We are responsible for making sure each luminary that is purchased is stuffed with a wooden block (to hold the bag in place), a candle to light during the luminary service and is placed around the track. We got to the track around 10AM to get things together and get ready to start making the bags. This year we were able to work under our tent which was really nice!
Getting started with the luminaries. We had over 500 bags!!!
We used a golf cart to drive around the track to put the luminaries in place.
Once all the bags were in place, we went home to change. While we were gone, a thunderstorm decided to come and it poured for about 30 minutes. Guess what, all the hard work on the luminaries, gone down the drain! Everything got wet and therefore we could not light the candles. This was very upsetting as the luminary service is one of the most amazing events during the night. During this service, the stadium is blacked out, the candles lit and someone reads the name of each person who has a bag in their honor or each bag that was given as a memorial to someone who passed away due to cancer. It is a very emotional time for both survivors and the families of those who have lost loved ones. Oh well, there is always next year!
The start of relay officially begins with the survivors lap. Anyone who is a cancer survivor takes a lap around the field. It is always hard to believe just how many people are affected by cancer, even in a small town. After the survivor lap, is the caregivers lap. During this time, anyone who is or was a caregiver takes their lap around the field. Mom and I always take our lap together!
(Our picture is a little fuzzy...)
Unfortantly it rained several times throughout the night and therefore a lot of people were not able to join us. However, it was a fun night. Around 5AM someone annouced that the sprinklers were about to come on on the field and we may want to move our things off the field. We were in the process of making breakfast for everyone so that made it a little difficult. But we managed and wouldn't you know, our site was the only site that the sprinklers did not effect!
Mom and I finally made it home around 7:45 yesterday morning. So say the least, we were pooped. We are not sure on our total amount raised, but they believe that we raised around $42,000 as a community. Mom and I raised a little over $4000, which was our goal. We have already began to think about ideas for next year.
Here are some fun pictures from the night, I hope you enjoy!
The day started off very windy and our tent did not want to stay in place. Therefore we had to get some reinforcements to tie it down. Scary thinking they trusted me with a hammer...
My amazingly talented Uncle Ed created both of these stained glass peices for our silent auction. They were beautiful and we truly appreciate him doing this for us! People loved them!
Alston and Uncle A with Alston's "Thomas" umbrella.
My brother Bob and his wife Jessica joined us for the evening but had to leave to take care of their little ones. We really enjoyed spending time with them.
Daniel had to work so Claire brought the boys out for the evening.
Someone donated this puppy for a raffle. Jenna and Emily had fun playing with "Relay."
Jennifer is a very dear friend of our family. Although we are not related by blood, she is the closest thing I have to a sister. My Daddy often introduced her as his oldest child and then laughed when people looked puzzled. We are thankful to have Jennifer in our family and I appreciate all that she does for us! (Thanks for being a trooper and spending the night with us at Relay!!)
Mom and I are with Hillary, our American Cancer Society representative. Hillary was a huge help to us! Thanks Hillary!!
Our tent-Although it is really hard to see, the colored pieces of cloth represent the different colors of cancer. The white things at the bottom on the picture would be the rain soaked luminaries...
As you can see, it was a great night. There are not many people who I would stay up all day and all night for. But I guess that's what you do for the ones you love. Here's my reason to relay... My Daddy!
Here is our first photo of our little girl! (Yes, it is a little hard to see and understand if you are not sure what you are looking at. Luckily the tech sort of explained it to me again before we left the appointment.) We had a little scare with her umbilical cord. We had to have an ultrasound done yesterday to make sure everything was OK and praise be to God it was!! She weights approx. 1 pound 5 ounces and is right on target. She kept her hand by her face the entire time. They tried to make her move and sometimes she would. As soon as they got ready to zoom in, she fell right back into her place.
Jay LOVED the cupcake!!
The girls at the Derby party...
